The Structure House Weight Loss Plan by Gerard J. Musante Ph.D

Author:Gerard J. Musante, Ph.D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2007-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

If eating at home presents a variety of opportunities and risks, the same holds true for eating away from home. In public, you have fewer chances for succumbing to food habits—sneaking snacks, nibbling as you prepare your meals, and so forth—but you also have far less control over when and what you eat. In addition, many restaurants cook with highly energy-dense ingredients, serve massive portions, and offer all sorts of high-calorie temptations.

In fact, most people feel that they do a better job of staying Structured at home. However, others can actually do better in a restaurant. At home they’re cooking, serving, and cleaning up for the whole family. Food cues may be far more abundant and tempting at home. “Closet eaters,” for instance, may stay Structured more easily in restaurants because they do their heavy eating when they’re alone. When they’re in a restaurant, they don’t have access to the refrigerator and to second servings. Nevertheless, most people have more difficulty controlling their food intake in a restaurant than they do at home. You may arrive when it’s already past your usual eating time, so you’re extrahungry; you smell many enticing aromas in the air; and you read the menu and all those tempting descriptions like “tender morsels cut from the heart of the filet, cooked to perfection, and smothered in Madeira sauce.” Then, once you’ve ordered, you have the bread basket and appetizers to contend with. And after the entrées, you face the challenges of coping with the dessert menu or, worse yet, “temptation on wheels”: the dessert cart.

How can you respond to these situations and still stay Structured? If you know what to expect, strategize ahead of time, and follow these four straightforward tasks, it’s not as difficult as you may imagine.

TASK 1: LEARN TO STAY STRUCTURED IN RESTAURANTS

Although there are advantages for some people, others may find that eating in restaurants creates some special challenges. It’s hard to plan ahead. There’s the potential for social pressure from your dining companions. It’s easy to make impulsive choices. And options may be more restricted than at home. It’s also tempting to decide, “Okay, I’ve been Structured at home, now I can let loose and reward myself,” or “I can’t help it if I get unstructured—I’m just a guest here.”

Are you reluctant to preplan your meals before you arrive at the restaurant? Perhaps eating out is part of your business entertaining, or perhaps you go out only for social occasions. You may be thinking, “Wait just a minute! Preplanning isn’t realistic. I frequently go out to eat, but I don’t necessarily know where I’m going to be, which friends or coworkers I’ll be with, or which restaurant we’re going to visit.” I realize that under circumstances like these, Structured Eating in restaurants may seem like a daunting task.

Rest easy. You can master these situations and use them to your advantage. How? Let me tell you.

First of all, keep this core principle in mind: Any situation can be Structured. Granted, some

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