Food For Thought

At a business luncheon or gala dinner, it is hard (or impolite) to avoid eating. PEARLYN THAM finds out how to be a gracious, well-fed guest in the healthiest ways.

IT HAPPENS TO the best of us. You’ve been feeling a little sluggish and pudgy, and you’ve made up your mind to eat less or go on a boiled-food-and-coconut water-only regimen.

But then you take a look at your Google calendar and the week’s already packed with breakfast meetings, business lunches, catch-ups over high tea buffets, family dinners, baby showers and gala launches where the canapés and champagnes continue to surface before you.

So, to eat or not to eat? Yes, go ahead. But it’s important to focus on what you are eating and how much of it you are eating.

There’s More to Soup and Salad

Case in point: You are at a business luncheon with a three course set menu. Don’t be fooled by how wholesome the soup or salad sounds in writing. There’s a reason why their ingredients are usually listed on the menu. For Jaclyn Reutens, dietitian at Aptima Nutrition & Sports Consultants, tomato-based soups (such as minestrone) or clear ones (chicken broth) make better bets than something creamy such as lobster bisque.

Salads doused in dressing can be as sinful as the main course. She suggests “safer” salads such as mixed greens, Nicoise and Greek salads that tend to use vinaigrette. If you must have your Caesar or potato salad, which usually come with heavier creams and sauces, get the staff to leave the dressing on the side so you can decide how much (or little) you really need.