The “Ask Marilyn Daily Diet”

(The “Ask Marilyn Daily Diet” was originally published in
PARADE Magazine November 21, 2004.)

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I have a very light breakfast (low-fat yogurt or fruit or cereal) and a very small lunch (a bit of cheese and crackers). And during the day, I drink water and a couple of cups of tea (sometimes with caffeine).

For dinner, however, I have just about anything I want, including bread and a little butter or olive oil, most kinds of entrees and vegetables, plus a dessert.

The biggest exception is that I try to limit saturated fats, so I don’t often have foods like burgers and fries. I also skip fatty meats and gravies and soups with cream.

I think this maintenance diet is successful because it’s hard to overeat when you have only one significant meal a day. If my weight creeps upward a few pounds—which sometimes happens—I eliminate the bread and dessert until my weight returns to normal.

I also have strict rules, which I seldom break, except during vacations and holidays:

No snack food at home: only mealtime food. This means zero cookies, chips, nuts, and other treats. When it’s time for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you should find everything you need. But when you want something between meals just for fun, the cupboard should look bare.

No eating between meals. This includes “healthful” food such as fruit or juice. For your health, they’re better than “junk” food. But for keeping trim, they are just added calories. Instead, try a no-calorie beverage or a cup of tea with sweetener. One of the best things about my routine is that I always look forward to dinner, when I can have most anything I want—what a treat! Plus, food tastes much better when you’re hungry and not eating simply because mealtime has arrived.

No beverages with calories except for fruit juice or milk at breakfast. Also: Warm drinks and room-temperature drinks are more flavorful than cold ones, so I don’t add ice. I order beverages without ice in restaurants, too. Plus, melting ice makes a beverage watery, and that diminishes the flavor even more. Even in summer, iceless drinks don’t seem warm. Body temperature is almost 100°F, and so 72°F water tastes plenty cool enough. And in winter, why have an icy drink at all?

No milk or sugar added to beverages, including coffee and tea. Either drink it with sweetener or drink it black (or with lemon). All this stuff adds up. If you eliminate just one 100-calorie soda and a 15-calorie cup of coffee with sugar daily, you would lose twelve pounds in a year!

No effort to eat everything on the plate, either at home or in a restaurant. Learn to throw good food away or save it for another dinner (not for snacking). People who are bothered by “wasting” food will either gain weight or cook (and order) less. Choose the latter, which actually eliminates the waste. Eating too much is the worst possible waste of good food. This doesn’t help starving children anywhere, and it makes the overeater a bit less healthy.

Following are a couple of dos and don’ts:

Do take forever to eat dinner. The simple pleasure of dining with family or friends is underrated in our hurried lives. So is dining alone while reading a newspaper or simply enjoying good food. One of my favorite activities is going out to dinner by myself when my husband is away. I usually take a couple of questions to ponder and linger for the evening. It’s blissful!

Do savor each bite. If you love food, why not enjoy the taste as long as you can? Plus, thorough chewing makes for less tummy trouble, especially for those with gastrointestinal conditions, such as diverticulosis, which affects a third of the adult population. This is one reason I avoid drinks with calories. They disappear in a flash!

Don’t change your dining habits on the weekends. Weekends are already delightful, and you can have most anything you like for dinner every day, anyway. Adding foodfests like brunch is just plain overindulgence. Use that time to take a walk in a hilly park, bicycle with the kids, or shoot baskets at a playground. You’ll feel much better afterward.

Don’t underestimate the calories you consume. When I say “a very light breakfast” and “a very small lunch,” I really mean it: maybe 250 calories for both together. People often underestimate the calories of “healthful” food and overestimate the calories of foods that are frequent targets of dieters, such as one of the scariest foods of all: butter. Yet an average apple has the same number of calories as two pats of butter!

And one special tip:

Don’t eat food that you don’t really enjoy. This is an important part of my daily diet, whether I’m maintaining my weight or losing a couple of pounds. I won’t eat anything that I don’t think tastes great, even if I’m at a restaurant. Here’s how I view it: I have a limited number of days in my life, and time is precious. In a similar way, I have a limited number of calories to enjoy in my life. I want to “spend” them in the best way I can. So I refuse to waste precious calories on stale bread, spaghetti that’s too soft, or a giant cookie that didn’t taste as good as it looked. One bite, and it’s all over!

Talk about this article in the discussions.

Nancy Katzman of Columbia, Missouri, wrote:
Marilyn: Your diet is excellent for staying slim, an admirable health goal. But you don't appear to get enough vegetables and fruit. A piece of fruit with breakfast and a small salad with lunch would not break the bank, calorie-wise. This would go a long way toward getting more vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

I replied:
Nancy: I love vegetables, and they're an important part of dinner, which often starts with a salad. I also take a vitamin and mineral supplement every day. As for fiber, you won't get enough from fruit and vegetables unless they make up the bulk of your daily diet. No wonder so many people have bran cereal for breakfast. (Popcorn is my favorite high-fiber food. I enjoy popcorn--with salt but no butter--every time I go out to a movie.) Fruit and vegetables make a great between-meal snack if you become truly hungry. (I keep dried plums at my desk and dates in the refrigerator.) And if they don't look appealing at the time, you're not really hungry!

Kathryn Fenner of Columbia, South Carolina, wrote:
Marilyn: I appreciated your sharing your eating plan with us. I have struggled with my weight all my life and have observed that what nutrition experts tell us to eat and what slim people actually eat are two different things. My slender friends do not eat a good breakfast or consume enough calcium. It looks as if you don't, either.

I replied:
Kathryn: Note that slender people get osteoporosis more easily, maybe because heavier people develop denser bones from carrying more weight year after year. So I make sure to get plenty of calcium in chewable calcium carbonate throughout the day.

Corey Dean Schmidt of Austin, Texas, wrote:
Marilyn: So that's how you stay so trim! I've been curious about your diet, especially as you're involved in cardiovascular disease research and prevention. I hope this helps many people with their weight, including myself. I'm confident that I can stick to your maintenance diet--my biggest vice is snacking at night. I know that 3,500 calories unused equals a pound of weight gain, but I just lacked the discipline to stay lean. Each time I lost ten pounds, I'd gain it back eating mostly healthful foods. But a calorie is a calorie!

Melisa Blum of Portland, Oregon, wrote:
Marilyn: Your diet did not include any mention of fitness. What are your exercise habits? What are your thoughts on morning vs. evening exercise?

I replied:
Melisa: On weekdays after work, I try to run in the park, weather permitting. I run from two to six miles depending on whether I feel energetic. On weekends, I run in the morning. (My husband and I like to run together. He also has the same day-to-day diet, but with a bit more calories because he's bigger and taller.) About timing: I am not naturally motivated to exercise (and that's putting it mildly!), so I vote for exercising whenever you're more likely to follow through on your noble intentions. If you feel better in the morning, exercise then; if you feel better in the evening, exercise then: Whatever works to get yourself moving!

Lavon Sutherland of Modesto, California, wrote:
Marilyn: The females in my family loved your daily diet. Our males liked it, too. However, they are tall, have big muscles, and do labor-intensive work. They think they should eat more for breakfast and lunch. Do you have any ideas for them?

I replied:
Lavon: They could try having only fresh fruits and vegetables for breakfast and lunch, but as much as they want.

George Renner of Loon Lake, Washington, wrote:
Marilyn: What about alcohol consumption?

I replied:
George: I can be convinced to have a glass of wine on rare occasions, but I generally don't like the taste of the stuff, and I certainly don't like getting sleepy or high. So I drink very little.

Noah K. of New York, New York, wrote:
Marilyn: I have so many questions that I can't ask them all! What do you do about business lunches? Or when you go to a ball game? Or after exercising? Decisions, decisions, decisions!

I replied:
Noah: I make exceptions, exceptions, exceptions! I love business lunches: They're a great excuse to have dinner in the middle of the day. And I always have cotton candy at the circus. (I seldom go to ball games.) But on ordinary days, I stick to my routine. Whenever I'm tempted, I remind myself that being interested in food is not the same as hunger.

Julie (city unknown) wrote:
Marilyn: I like a lot of what you said about your day-to-day diet. How tall are you? And how long have you been eating this way?

I replied:
Julie: Okay, here's the full disclosure. I'm 5 feet 8 inches tall, and I weigh 125 pounds. (Note: I have a small frame, so my weight is low for my height. I would happily weigh ten pounds more if they would distribute themselves pleasingly all over. But my extra pounds behave like rich people in the winter: They head south.) My blood pressure runs about 110/70 with a heart rate of 60. My last cholesterol level was 200, with 120 HDL and 57 LDL levels. I've been happily eating this way for about twenty years–but don't tell my mother!