Helping your diet beat party invites

You’ve been invited to your neighbour’s for coffee and cake on Friday, to a friend’s birthday party on Saturday and your boss is coming over for dinner on Sunday.

You’re going to need a few tricks to make sure these invitations don’t mean extra pounds.
Having lots of friends and acquaintances in Bahrain can mean plenty of invitations. The trick is to accept them while sticking to a diet and, at the same time, not being rude about rejecting food or punishing yourself.
If a friend has spent the whole day in the kitchen baking beautiful cakes and pastries, responding with “Thanks, but no thanks, I’m on a diet” borders on rude. Anyway, few people can deny themselves every pleasure ... nor is that the goal of most diets.
“After all, eating fulfils needs for socialising and indulgence,” says Ute Rost, a university dietitian. “Constantly eating with a bad conscience is worse than occasionally breaking the rules,” adds Ilona Zubrod, a nutritionist.
Picking the right kinds of food is half the battle. “Everything that’s based on fruit, like apple cake, can’t be a bad choice,” says Mrs Rost. Most fruit cakes – especially if they’re made with a yeast dough – have fewer calories than cakes with cream or a regular sponge cake.
Taking a small piece of tart to share it with a friend is not a huge problem, says Renate Lieberknecht, a nutritionist. “Praise the hostess and tell her that you just don’t have room for any more.”
A strict hands-off policy is best when tempting cookies or other sweets are set out.
“One cookie by itself isn’t going to do much damage. But if you eat them on the side, you never know afterward how many you had,” says Ms Zubrod.
Invitations to buffets can be harder and easier to handle. You can decide what you’re going to eat, but there’s a much bigger selection and temptation to try everything at least once.
Eating salad as a first course can help keep hunger under control. “Your feeling of being full depends on how much volume is in your stomach,” says Ms Zubrod. People who eat slower feel fuller faster, since the feeling of satiety only sets in after about 15 to 20 minutes.
Guests have fewer choices with set menus. To not appear rude, eat what’s presented. But Ms Zubrod says there’s no obligation to eat everything you’re served. There’s nothing wrong with leaving a little bit on your plate.

By Carina Frey