Our summer social calendars are often filled with cookouts, weddings, birthday parties and festivals. And food served at those events is often fried, drenched in sauce or packaged, so sticking to a healthy diet becomes a struggle.
Abigail Czekaj, a registered dietician at Celebrate Vitamins in Wadsworth, won the national Registered Dietician Nutritionist Day contest this year, and her winning entry offers great advice on maintaining a healthy diet by making small, attainable changes.
“I think of it as, What can I add to make my lifestyle more nutritious, healthier?” she says.
She gives the example of someone who doesn’t eat breakfast. Instead of recommending they prep a huge meal for the week, they can grab a yogurt cup and some fruit or fry an egg to have with whole-grain toast.
Czekaj shares tips on how to make small changes while at summer gatherings and at home.
Party Plates
Cheeseburgers, funnel cakes, daiquiris, chips, cookies — the tempting options are plentiful at summer events.
While you might have been told to avoid these unhealthy foods, Czekaj says that might be a barrier to success.
“When you restrict yourself from having these enjoyable foods, you’re only going to make yourself want more,” she says.
Instead, she advises having an 80/20 approach to your diet, with 80 percent nutritious selections and 20 percent more indulgent selections. When you indulge, do so in moderation. So rather than eating a plate packed with cookies and cakes, select a couple small desserts with some fruit.
“You’re gonna feel a lot better that you have the dessert and you enjoyed it, but that you didn’t overindulge,” Czekaj says.
This also means you don’t have to skip meaningful family dishes. Czekaj is Polish and Czech, so her family has a white sausage borscht soup made from her grandma’s recipe at Easter. She partakes in a bowl but eats a salad and other healthier sides.
It can be easier if nutritious options are on the table, so Czekaj recommends bringing a healthy dish to cookouts, like a veggie platter, roasted Brussel sprouts with an aioli and grilled shrimp or chicken skewers.
When filling your plate, visualize that half is fruit and veggies, a quarter is whole grains or carbohydrates and a quarter is proteins. Fill your plate and walk away from the food tables to avoid grazing. Czekaj also recommends seeking vibrant dishes.
“Look for things that are really colorful because they’re probably going to have fruits and vegetables,” she says.
For drinks, the tactic is the opposite. Colorless is often better than a sugary cocktail or a dark calorie-dense beer, and having one or two is OK.
“I lean toward drinks that are clear,” Czekaj says, adding that white sangria and seltzers are good choices. “Those tend to be a bit lighter and a bit lower in calories.”
As for dining on restaurant patios, order what you want for the main course but split a salad first.
“You’ll be a little bit more full,” she says. “You’re more likely to take part of your main meal home so you’re not eating the entirety of everything all at once.”
Home Hacks
The advantage of eating at home is that making healthy choices is easier, balancing eating out. That starts with having a healthy meal plan before getting groceries so you avoid unhealthy convenient packaged foods. And stay away from the junk food aisle so you aren’t tempted.
“Setting yourself up for success is the key,” Czekaj says. “Go in with a plan so that you’re having your vegetables, proteins and carbohydrates at your meals.”
For meals, Czekaj says a good breakfast might be Greek yogurt, fruit and a honey drizzle plus two tablespoons of granola. A great option for lunch is healthy leftovers from dinner with a side salad. For dinner, she often roasts broccoli, cauliflower or potatoes, and serves it with brown rice and roasted chicken or salmon.
In the summer, have fun with the grill and make a Greek flatbread, fish or veggies. Plus, pick fresh farmers markets ingredients for easy salads like one with spinach, strawberries, blueberries and pecans.
Using these tips can help curb snacking. “If I eat a good breakfast that’s very balanced,” she says, “I’m less likely to eat between breakfast and lunch.” When hunger strikes, snack on filling options by matching a carbohydrate with a protein, like fruit and peanut butter.
It all comes back to making small healthy choices that add up to a more nutritious diet to boost your well-being.
“Every food has a place in our world,” Czekaj says, “but it’s all about being mindful.”
