The tale of two feasts, or how to eat healthy during special occasions.

Valentine’s day has come and gone. I hope you all enjoyed the time with your loved ones.

We had a nice low-key Friday evening. Brian and I decided to go out to a nice restaurant instead of exchanging gifts. I did receive a gorgeous bouquet and chocolates though. They made the day extra beautiful. I can’t imagine my Valentine’s Day without flowers:)

A big part of celebrating Valentine’s Day, as most other holidays, is food. In this case– chocolate and other “romantic” kinds of dessert.  I was prepared to meet the calorie-overload challenge. It felt good to be able to enjoy the food without guilt or regrets attached. Here is what I did:

• I did a 20-minute work- out earlier in the day: not unusual for me, but definitely helped to process the additional calories I was about to consume.
• I prepared light appetizers for Brian and I to eat before heading out to the restaurant. It let us survive the wait time, and not go overboard with our order. We skipped appetizers at the restaurant,and saved calories and money.
• When choosing the entree off of the menu, I tried to look beyond the fancy names and embellishments. I’ve been tricked by elegant entree descriptions before, and was often disappointed because the dish would not live up to its description. This time, since I knew I wanted a light meal, I went for salmon with pretty straightforward accompaniments. It was simple and delicious.
• We skipped dessert! That says a lot, because I think I have 32 sweet teeth. I did what I often do lately: I asked myself if I’d rather have calorie-bomb dessert from the restaurant, or some really good chocolate that was waiting for me at home. I chose the latter. I only had a couple of pieces because with really good quality, a little goes a long way! Go ahead and enjoy your dessert, just make it count.

I was able to enjoy the holiday meal without stuffing my face, felt good about my choices, and felt great physically.

My other special dinner was wonderful too: we had friends over that we hadn’t seen for a long time. The evening flew by with great conversation, great company, and tasty food. I had planned the logistics (we had 7 kids in the house so planning was a must!) to keep the evening running smoothly so everyone could relax and enjoy.

I did exactly that and it was fantastic! Except I ate too much. We started with some appetizers– yummy cheese and dips that our friends brought ( it was hard to stop eating them!), followed by pelmeni (Russian variation of dumplings), and dessert.

I am sure I could have enjoyed the night just as much, but without “stuffing my face” part. Hind sight is 20/20, right? Next time I am going to do a little thinking ahead, and:

• Add cut up vegetables to the appetizer platter, in addition to the cheese, crackers and dips.
• Cut down on the “appetizer hour”. We were having such a great time, munching away. Lots of cheese and crackers were consumed before we even sat down at the dinner table. The conversation could easily carry over to the dinner table, and when you are done with an entree and dessert– you are done! The conversation can now happily move to the living room, away from food.

I truly love having friends over to enjoy some yummy munchies together. But I equally look forward to the socializing and conversation part of the evening. I am convinced it is possible to have both, and stay where you want to be weight-wise.

Do you do anything special to have your cake and eat it too? I could use your tricks! Please share.

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