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The
Don't Diet Digest
Stop
Dieting. Start Eating.
www.RealPeopleDontDiet.com TO SUBSCRIBE: Send e-mail to dontdietdigest AT aweber.com THIS ISSUE: What I Ate On My Caribbean Cruise That's why you haven't heard from me the last couple weeks. The family and I escaped freezing cold upstate New York for... ...freezing cold
Florida (Port Canaveral) and 15-degrees-below-
normal Bahamas. But I'm not
whining. Not at all. We found a "kids go free" deal
back
in September for a 4-night Disney cruise and booked it. What a bargain it
was! We drove 24 hours down to Florida (and back)
and would do it
again in a heartbeat.
Pictures here!
Now...what do
most people talk about after they go on a cruise?
The food, of
course! It's all-inclusive, it's gourmet, it's unlimited,
and it's usually
offered 24 hours a day, including room service.
So we were
understandably a bit nervous about how we'd handle
all that fabulous food. When I wrote the bonus to "Real People Don't Diet" on how to eat to stay slim on vacation, I didn't include cruise advice, since we hadn't done one. Well, I needn't
have worried. Just like I say in "Real People Don't
Diet", if you
decide not
to diet and just change how you eat or
drink every day,
in little ways, you build habits that totally overcome
temptations.
Both of us walked
off the ship the exact same weight we were when
we got
on. Our clothes fit the same. We felt great the
entire time,
enjoyed our meals
and treats thoroughly, and--best of all--watched
our kids make fun
but healthy food and drink choices without any
prompting from us
at all! Our habits have definitely worn off on them.
Let me get more
specific.
Breakfast was
easy--an abundance of fresh eggs, meats, fruits,
cereal and
more. We just skipped over the pastries (as we always
do) and feasted
on omelettes made-to-order, bacon, eggs, ham,
fruit, and
more. The kids enjoyed Mickey-shaped waffles, too.
(A little
tip: always have a box of bran flakes with
breakfast. It keeps
things humming, if you know what I mean.) For lunch and
snacks, DCL has fast-food options near the pools
that include burgers/dogs, pizza, wraps/fruit/salads. While we enjoyed a burger with fries one day, more often than not we headed for the galley that served fresh cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple. We grabbed apples and snacked as we walked on deck. I had a salad one evening, since we had a late dinner seating and needed to eat something during regular dinner hours. Even when we had pizza, we opted for the veggie pizza, which was covered with fresh, crunchy peppers and onions and olives. The kids enjoyed
the fast food, for sure, but more often than not they
headed to the fruit counter, going back over and over again for the watermelon. And this was right next to the free ice cream! They literally ignored the ice cream to get fruit! When it came to
dinnertime, oh...if I could only describe the total
awesomeness.
We avoided the bread/rolls or just tried half. Most
of DCL's appetizer, salad and entree selections were healthy, with little fried or battered items in sight. Everything was fresh, light, flavorful and
tasty.
What did I notice
most about our meals?
Portion
size. Each appetizer, salad, entree and dessert was about
one-third the portion you'd get in the average U.S. restaurant. We found that we were pleasantly full after dessert, and hungry a couple hours later (a
good sign). If you want more, you can certainly ask
for it, but no
one at our table did--not even the kids. I enjoyed chocolate
mousse,
cheesecake, beef filet, mashed potatoes and other "non-diet"
items, but didn't
gain a pound.
Slow-paced
dining. Each meal took around one-and-a-half to two hours
to
complete. We talked with our tablemates, relaxed and enjoyed
each
course. When you take the time to eat slowly, savoring your
food,
you find you can
be much more satisfied eating less!
One dilemma we
faced was the fact we'd requested the late dinner
seating at 8:15
p.m., in order to have more time to enjoy the day's
activities.
We normally eat dinner early (4 or 5ish), so we were
ravenous when we
got back to our stateroom to shower and dress.
We thought an
extra meal would make it easier for us to gain weight,
but then I
remembered that eating several small meals a day has been
shown to be much
more preferable to eating just three big meals. So,
as we continued
to make light, healthy and lower-carb choices at
all our meals, we
could easily eat at 5 (salad, chicken noodle soup,
cheese and
crackers and fruit, veggie pizza), eat again at 8:15, and
then enjoy a
late-night snack or surprise pirate buffet. :-)
If you think
vacations are time for binge eating, think again! Pick up
a copy of "Real
People Don't Diet" and check out the bonus on how
to go away, have
fun, relax, and stay trim.
If you want to
ask more detailed questions on cruise dining--yum--
just email me at
cate AT realpeopledontdiet.com.
Don't forget to
check out the photos!
Now it's back to the "real" world...and a real schedule. Warmly,  http://www.RealPeopleDontDiet.com REDISTRIBUTION POLICY I encourage you to forward this newsletter to your friends, associates, and colleagues for their review and enjoyment. However, please do so only by sending it in full, thereby keeping the copyright and subscription information intact. Also, if you wish to post this newsletter to a newsgroup or electronic discussion group, you may do so if you preserve the copyright and subscription information. Thanks. Copyright (c) 2008 www.RealPeopleDontDiet.com and Cate Brizzell
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