Dessert ideas!

Especially with a young child, dessert might be the hardest time to have LPLD.  Making sure Monica feels included in a special treat at holidays, family gatherings, and weddings, is almost always a source of stress for me!  So here is a list of our best ideas to make desserts feel special:

• Fresh fruit with sugar to dip in - by far the easiest for a restaurant or a wedding caterer to pull off, especially when it's a special rare fruit (strawberries!)
• Apple slices dusted with cinnamon and sugar and DELICIOUS
• Sherbet or sorbet - be careful, sherbet is sometimes fat free, sometimes not!  Serve with chocolate syrup, sprinkles, cherries, and/or marshmallow fluff
• Marshmallows!  Roasted over a campfire (s'mores can work with chocolate syrup instead of a bar of chocolate), or assembled with toothpicks into a 'snowman'
• Apple (or other fruit) 'pie' without the crust (or the crust removed)
• Fat free brownies (I'm still working on an imitation of Trader Joe's mix that's been discontinued)
• Angel food cake frosted with fat free whipped cream (or whipped topping), fresh fruit, or sweetened nonfat yogurt
• Fruit juice popsicles (buy them, make your own in dixie cups; maybe even with fat free yogurt, like a frozen smoothie)
• Merengue cookies are one guaranteed fat free cookie!
• Snow cones, either with a fancy snow cone maker or use a blender to crush ice, then cover it in sugary fruity syrup
• popcorn or kettle corn - easy to make on a stovetop, or airpop some popcorn, melt some honey with cinnamon, and toss the popcorn with the sticky delicious result.  I made about 8 cups of the stuff last night thinking it would be a sweet snack for the week.  Monica and Mary ate it all. in. one. night.  !!



So sick of Frozen, but it makes everything more special these days

What are your reliable dessert options when you need a sweet treat?

Befriend your restaurant employees!

Step 2 in eating at a restaurant with LPLD
(Step 1 can be found here)

Whether you cook every meal from scratch at home, or are a take-out connoisseur, things will have to change with the diagnosis of LPLD.  I plan to have many posts on recipes on how to cook at home, but what about eating out?  Is it even possible to maintain your diet with LPLD, and also eat out at a restaurant??

Yes!  We hope the following guide will help you make good choices at restaurants, whether a 5-star Vegas bistro, or the mom-and-pop joint across the street.

First, talk with the cashier, waiter, manager, even the Chef!  Ask about healthy menu options or a separate menu for lean choices.  Be careful: low carb and low calorie do NOT necessarily mean low fat!   Fast food restaurants often have  a list of nutrition facts posted; look for food options that are low fat.  Your daily fat intake goal depends on your doctor’s or nutritionist’s recommendation, but we usually look for items less than 10 g of fat, and then think about how much fat was eaten over the rest of the day. Don’t even look at the other options that are too fatty! Don’t tempt yourself!

All right, the colorful plate gives this away as homemade... but these mushrooms, curried cauliflower, and shrimp would be delicious any place you can get them!

Specific ideas:

• For breakfast, oatmeal, a smoothie, or yogurt with fruit often work
• For a salad dressing, or to dip French bread into, try just balsamic vinegar without the oil; it’s got kick and a lot of delicious flavor!  
• Ask your waiter to have the cook staff hold any cheese, butter, or added oils
• Ask your waiter to double or triple the vegetables, offer to pay extra; often they won’t charge you, and you’ll have something to really fill you up!
• Try not to be worried about making so many demands and requests; you are the one who will have to pay for the consequences, through your health and hospital bills, if they make a mistake.  So be polite, but speak up!

Sauteed vegetables in just a touch of olive oil are delicious and beautiful!

It is often harder to find good food choices at fast food places than ‘real’ food restaurants.  Sometimes a grilled chicken filet, salad without dressing, or chicken wrap with a fruit salad is an option, but often not.  Look at the kids’ menu, too; sometimes a kid sized burger can satisfy a craving without putting your fat grams through the roof!

If a restaurant treats you well, then tip the staff well, and become a regular customer so that you build a relationship of trust with them!  They’ll be more likely to continue to offer foods that are good for you, and maybe add to their menu with you in mind!

Keywords on Restaurant Menus

Step 1 in eating at a restaurant with LPLD

Don’t arrive starving at a new restaurant!  Eat an apple in the car before you go in to make sure you take your time to make good choices.

Certain keywords can tip you off right away to good choices or meals to stay away from.  But also talk with your server about how it’s prepared to make sure you understand the menu correctly:

What can I order at a restaurant?

Reliable standbys available at most any restaurant

Sometimes I just don’t feel like dealing with the hassle of explaining our diagnosis and specific treatment and management of the diagnosis to our server as well as trying to decipher the ingredients on the menu.  Our favorites that can be ordered almost anywhere with minimal fuss?

Yum!

• Grilled chicken with steamed vegetables
• Pasta with marinara sauce (and no cheese, oil, or butter)
• Pizza without cheese (but plenty of vegetables!) (some crusts have more fats than others; for us, it's just another reason to go to local pizza places instead of chains)
• Shrimp with cocktail sauce and brown or white (just not fried) rice

Be sure to ask to have any sauces or dressings that you’re not sure about put on the side so you can limit how much you eat.

What are your faithful standby meals that you can order almost anywhere with minimal fuss?