Confessions of a Monday 'night in' with the boys

Here I am, happily advocating healthy eating and prattling on about encouraging you to choose a healthier lifestyle, and I sat down for dinner (our evening meal) tonight and looked down at the meal before me.

I had to laugh… and I thought I would share it with you as I thought you would find it encouraging. I have inserted the picture, but incase its not clear enough for you, it is two reasonable (not too big, not too small) slices of pizza and a pile of salad. I think one slice is a 'Godfather' and the other slice 'Supreme'

2 slices of pizza with salad

Pizza is not ideal by any means when one is talking about a healthy eating plan. But of course you can't be rigid all the time. I would certainly not have pizza more than once a week…. preferably not more than once a fortnight, and even more preferable… once a month. If that.

However tonight my boys (read 'young men') have friends over, and when I invaded their space (the family room) to look at options for dinner, they informed me that they were ordering pizza and would we like to join them.

'We' being my husband and myself.  I'm no fool…. I thought hard about it for 10 seconds…. and agreed to pizza, gave them our portion of the cost, and said I'd make the salad. The salad part raised a few eyebrows, but they know what I'm like.

The pizza came with garlic bread and bottles of fizzy drink  neither of which I was interested in. So when the pizza arrived I loaded up my plate with salad and picked out two slices of pizza…. pointed out the salad to the boys, and then left the boys to their fun.

If I know in advance we are having pizza I save my 'sometime carb' portions… 1 serve per middling pizza slice, and one cheese serve per two slices (unless its super cheesy). I also try to choose a pizza with mostly protein, and veg from my 'anytime vegetable group' (the dietician recommended vegetarian from memory)….and then I just eat and enjoy.

Today I haven't really had my full quota of either cheese or 'sometimes carbs' so I'm doing okay. If I was overly concerned I could have just added a small can of tuna to my salad and perhaps two small slices of garlic bread (no pizza) which would have been a more moderate choice.  Or even 1 slice of pizza if I'd had a big day.

I washed it all down with a drink of water (rehydrating after my big ride today), and my trusty cup of black tea.

I hope you found this confession illuminating and that you can appreciate how one can work the 'modified food intake plan' in with the vagaries of real life.

And maybe the boys might eat some salad!!! You never know.