Eat Well And Eat Wisely on Summer Holidays

Written by Riviera Reporter

Your summer holiday is an ideal time to lose a bit of weight. Advice from Dr Walt Ambruster.

I’m not telling you to take up with one of those faddy American diets – all veg or all fruit, no meat, no bread, no alcohol, or whatever. Some work well in the short term, some don’t seem so effective – and some can be harmful in certain cases. Rather I’m urging you to use the opportunity a vacation offers to slim down a bit without pain or risk.

“Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables”
Before we get to eating and drinking, a period free of work constraints gives you the time to do things you mightn’t have time or inclination for normally. Don’t jump in the car every time you want to fetch a newspaper. Get in some walking – like an hour a day. And go swimming. Thirty minutes before breakfast is a good idea. As to what you should consume on holiday, let’s start with drinking. There’s always the risk, with no work to return to, to put away too much wine at lunch. Try to stick to two or three glasses a day, preferably red. In moderate quantities, it is good for you. Too much beer, though, won’t help you lose weight and be careful with your choice of apéritif. Though I don’t like the stuff I have to say that pastis is, in this context, a virtuous drink, offering four times fewer calories than kir, for instance.

Basic advice has to be – on the positive side – go for lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Among the best are apricots, peaches and strawberries; the cherry is a bit of a villain, with a very high sugar content. When you’re making a salad don’t stint on the cucumber and tomatoes which are recognised to have important nutritive properties. And take a tip from the old niçois: tuna, along with the sardine and salmon, is a fish much to be recommended, including as a component of salad. By the way, don’t overdo the olive oil. It’s good stuff – in moderation.

“Try not to relapse into bad old habits”
When you’re thinking of preparing (or ordering) meat and fish go for grilled. I’d recommend especially faux-filet and escalopes over, say, gigot or chops. As to fish, cod, sole and whiting (merlan) are all low in fat content. And bread? Well, as that lady who isn’t fat tells us in her book, the wholemeal variety – pain complet – is to be preferred and, again, in moderation. About cheese there’s bad news. Many kinds – including my favourite roquefort – are very fatty. Best to try and lay off cheese, in fact. And a last word of advice: if walking, swimming and wise eating get you home from holiday leaner (but hopefully not meaner) try not to relapse into bad old habits. That would be sad ...

From Reporter 110 - Aug/Sept 2005

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