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A question from OS

Keep blogging! Loved "Pesto At Midnight - Almost."

I really related to that feeling of being "shortchanged" as a precursor to, if not a binge, then to many unnecessary calories.

This problem can rear its ugly head for me in two ways, and I would love to hear your thoughts as a "professional eater."

First, friends or family will drag me to a horrible restaurant. Don't want to mention any names, but you know, one of those popular chain places, for instance. Or perhaps I'm on a road trip or on vacation in a backwater place without decent restaurants. Anyway, you get the picture. I'll do my best with the menu, but as a lover of good food, I always feel shortchanged having to eat this junk. So, I'll either go home and binge to make up for the crummy food, or perhaps I'll order one of the restaurant's equally crummy desserts, just so I can have a big old gob of sweet to cancel out the taste of the mediocre main course.

The same thing can happen to me even at a finer dining establishment, where I went willingly and was not dragged. While the restaurant in general may be good, perhaps I mistakenly ordered one of the lesser dishes or the chef had an off night. This happened to me just last night at famous chef (leave out the name) restaurant. So, of course, I ordered dessert even though I wasn't really that hungry. And, of course, I didn't like my dessert either (although it wasn't so horrendous that I didn't eat it; just quite disappointing, especially in light of the desserts that this establishment used to proffer before its high profile pastry chef departed for presumably greener pastures). My dining partner, who obviously doesn't have my eating problems, picked at her dessert. So naturally, I scarfed up what she left, even though her dessert wasn't much better than mine. Then, I waddled home feeling really lousy.

How to stop this madness, other than perhaps moving to Japan? (Your Italy was my Japan, where the food was always fresh, delicious and served in appropriate -- i.e., non gigantic -- portion sizes).

Answer: 

That's pretty complicated, but your stumbles above underscore something I truly believe: have a meal that satisfies you. That doesn't leave you feel cheated, in terms of the quality and pleasure of it. Just draw boundaries around that meal that keep it from being too lavish a calorie-fest, and exercise before or after. (Not an hour before or an hour after; you know what I mean.)

When I'm in a restaurant of my own choosing, I let myself have what I want, to prevent the dynamic you describe above. When I'm in a junky place, I try, if I'm doing well, to get something that's going to sastisfy my hunger while doing the least calorically reckless damage, and I let myself eat again after. That's when I'm behaving well. I still have less disciplined days. And what I do on those occasions is try to exercise a little harder the next day. Exercise erases, or paves the way for, much error and excess.