The Better Choice

What started simply as calorie counting has turned into a lifestyle for Elisabeth. She shed 100 pounds of unwanted fat through eating small meals every few hours and burning as many calories as possible (six days at the gym a week). Currently, she’s helping her boyfriend – a self-proclaimed meat & potatoes man – to adapt some healthier eating habits from her “flexitarian lifestyle” (mostly vegetarian with the occasional free-range chicken breast). Here is the first look into her life and how her transformation has changed her life.

On Sunday night, I did a little Christmas shopping at Tower City with my boyfriend on his way to the airport for his return flight to Harrisburg. (Ah, the joys of a long-distance relationship! He lives about 5 1⁄2 hours by car from Cleveland and – for a quick weekend visit – the $200 direct flight is a no-brainer). While we were there, we decided to grab a bite at Houlihan’s. I should mention that I don’t usually frequent many chain restaurants – but dating Andy, I’ve found myself in more of them – something that we’re both planning on changing in the New Year.

As Andy and I looked at the menu, I automatically started my regular scan for anything healthy and vegetarian. Nope, nada, nothing. There usually isn’t, but I always look anyway. So it’s my job to make the menu work for me – and with these types of menus, I always scope out the burger section first. Oftentimes you can substitute a veggie patty for the standard beef. And since chain places rarely make their own veggie burgers, their typical frozen patty-version makes calorie counting pretty easy. And by choosing the steamed veggie, holding the bun and adding a salad, you can cobble together a pretty good meal. But no such luck here – no veggie burgers. Which sent me into salad territory to scope out an option with the least amount of tortilla strips and bacon with a maximum of actual veggies. I’m not at all shy about asking the waiter to hold those types of items, but if I’m spending $11 on a salad, I’d like to have more than just lettuce in my salad!

As I was figuring out my order, my boyfriend was narrowing down his finalists: grilled chicken breast with mashed potatoes and asparagus vs. baby back ribs with fries. I probably should have suggested that the grilled chicken was the better choice, but I didn’t say anything. After all, this relationship is pretty new and I don’t want to start pushing my healthy choices onto him (aka, “trying to change him”). So I stayed quiet.

A few minutes later, as a half rack of ribs and towering pile of fries got placed in front of him, I had a revelation. All these healthy ordering habits that have become so second nature to me were slowly born over the past seven years by many, many individual decisions. “No, I would not like fries with that.” “Can I get those veggies steamed, please?” “Instead of the potato and garlic bread, can I have a side salad? And yes, it is okay if there is an up-charge.”

It’s not like I became this super-careful orderer overnight…it just kinda happened…as, one time after another after another, I found a healthier option. The trick is pretty simple — whenever someone asks you, simply pick “the better choice.” It doesn’t have to be a perfect choice – but pick the better one.
Next time Andy is wrestling between ribs/fries vs. grilled chicken/veggies, I will definitely encourage him to make the better choice…and keep reminding myself to do the same!