Sea Dog Hazelnut Porter Review

Unlike flavored coffees and nearly all flavored beers, Sea Dog's Hazelnut Porter doesn't inspire a wrinkled nose and sweetness-induced nausea. Yes, it's slightly sweet and, yes, you can taste the slight hazelnut cast to the usual roasty, slightly smokey porter recipe, but somehow these opposing elements blend well in this silky smooth dark brew. It's got a thick caramel cream head and full body that feels good on the tongue and throat and the roastiness cuts through the sweetness without becoming harsh or bitter. It's a sipping beer, not for every day, but it's a solid and surprising offering from this Maine brewer. 3 stars.

7 Tips for Eating Healthy at Restaurants

Restaurant portions in America are huge. Often they are 2-3 times what you would serve yourself at home. Why is that? Because food ingredients are cheap compared with the marketing, rent and personnel costs involved in running a restaurant, so enormous portions are an easy way for them to try to make you happy.

Of course, you don't have to eat all of what they serve you. Unfortunately, though, our brains are designed to eat whatever is in front of us - all of it. It was part of survival in scarce times to eat as much as you could pack in. So we keep eating until we start to feel uncomfortably full. And given that it takes the brain 15-20 minutes to recognize the sensation of being full, that means we've been overeating for 15-20 minutes!

Portion control is one of my most important strategies but how do you control the portion when the restaurant decides how much to serve? Over time, I've developed several techniques that cut down on unnecessarily large portions at restaurants. 

• Split an entree and a salad - my wife and I almost always do this at restaurants when ordering dinner. Few restaurants mind (and those that charge extra for this don't get my business). In fact, many will divide the meal onto separate plates for you. This is the simple answer to double portions and, despite some initial satiety anxiety, it never, ever fails to satisfy us. Oh, and if you're alone (or with someone who doesn't share your tastes), ask for half of the dinner to be placed in a take-home container before it hits your plate. That way you'll never see it. Sound weird? My dad does it all the time and he never gets a hard time from waiters about it.
• Skip the appetizers - the appetizers at most restaurants are the size of a meal you'd make at home. I never order them because I've found after eating them I can't even make a dent in dinner (and worse, I will try so as not to appear silly for ordering it, and end up overeating).
• Or order only appetizers - if you can't agree with your dinner date on an entree to split, consider ordering an appetizer for each of you - possibly a salad to split - and no entrees at all. You'll eat a reasonable portion of what you want and so will your companion. This is another thing that's becoming common enough that waiters don't blink an eye. Just ask for what you want.
• Never order dessert at the restaurant - you may be hungry enough later for a little dessert (I often am) but ordering it at the restaurant never works out well. It'll be 3 times the size you want, add enough calories for an entire other meal and leave you feeling really bloated. So if like me you have a post-dinner sweet tooth, tell yourself you'll get something later. And if you do, it'll probably be more reasonable in size.
• Beware of entree salads - salads seem like a light way to eat a meal, but restaurant salads are huge, usually include meat and/or cheese of some kind, and are just drowned in high-calorie dressing. Order a salad if that's what you want, but don't kid yourself that it's a light meal. That means you don't get a pass on the techniques above. (Yes, you can split a dinner salad.) Another salad tip is to order the dressing on the side. You'll put less on than they do, I guarantee it.
• Ask for substitutions - I am in favor of eating things you like in moderation but there is little moderation in restaurants. In addition to the huge portions, restaurants will happily add unhealthy amounts of salt, fat (even trans-fats) and flavor enhancers like MSG to push your genetic buttons and get you to buy more and come back often. Fries (or chips or cole slaw or potato salad) may come with that, but a lot of restaurants do have healthier alternatives as options. Ask if you can have the steamed broccoli in place of the onion rings or a side salad in place of the rice pilaf. And don't patronize places that say "no substitutions" on the menu. What kind of service business doesn't care what you want?
• Order water with your alcohol - some nutrition advisors say to avoid alcohol at restaurants. It's overpriced and it lowers your inhibitions - inhibitions that are supposed to keep you from overeating. It also has calories that you don't usually think about in your mental nutrition math. For me, though, a tasty craft beer is part of the enjoyment of going out. So rather than give that up, I order water along with it so I have plenty to drink without having to order another beer (and another). Since I started doing this, I haven't once ordered a second beer while out with my family for dinner. (Okay, I am still working on that where business dinners are concerned.) 

So you don't have to be afraid to eat out and enjoy yourself if you have a plan and you stick to it in the face of the waiter asking if you are sure you don't want to see the dessert menu. Remember, the waiter may be a nice college kid, but he or she is employed as a salesperson. You don't have to buy more than you want from them just as you wouldn't buy a pair of shoes that are 2 sizes too large just because the salesperson was nice.

One thing that helped my wife get her head around this concept at the beginning was resolving to leave a good tip (for good service, of course). The wait staff make much of their income from tips and a smaller bill from splitting the meal means less in their pockets. So a generous percentage tip from you will help out without breaking your diet. 

This is a summary of my strategy #4, recognizing that restaurants don't share your interest in eating healthy. I hope it's useful.

Can Small Dishes Really Help You Eat Less?

A lot of you may not take this seriously, but hear me out. Using smaller dishes will actually help you eat less - and you will never notice the difference.

It's true. How do I know? Two sources: science and my own experience.

The Science

Cornell researchers demonstrated that people "given larger bowls served and consumed 16% more cereal than those given smaller bowls." Worse, despite this, the people given the larger bowls actually thought they had eaten less than those with the smaller ones. (Follow the link; the wine glass demonstration at the end of the second video will convince you.)

Even experts fall for this optical illusion. A study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine conducted on 85 nutrition experts at an ice cream social showed that when these experts "were given a larger bowl, they served themselves 31.0% more without being aware of it."

Now you might be thinking, "Well, I have normal-sized dishes so how does this apply to me?" Not so fast. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that portion sizes in American homes and fast food restaurants have "increased markedly" since the 1970s. (By 22% since 1960, according to Brian Wansink at Cornell.) If you didn't inherit all of your dishware from your grandmother, it's probably not helping you maintain a healthy weight.

My Own Experience

A single brownie, one spoon of chocolate sauce and 2-3 spoons of vanilla ice cream fill this small salsa dish and satisfy my cravings without busting my waistlineOne of my biggest vulnerabilities is desserts like ice cream and sweet snacks like chocolate-covered nuts and dried fruits. I know enough to portion them out into a dish so I don't just keep eating and eating, but I know I tend to dish out more than I really need.

Over time, I've used smaller and smaller dishes and this has helped me reduce the amount I eat in a serving. For ice cream, I've gone from a cereal bowl (almost 6" across) to what they actually call an "ice cream dish" (4.5") to a salsa dish (3.5"). And for chocolate-covered snacks, I've gone from the salsa dish to a custard dish (beveled 3.5").

When I'm done, I rarely look back. I've found that the satisfaction from food comes in the first few bites when I am really experiencing the flavor and the texture in my mouth. After that, I am really just finishing what's in the dish. It's hard to anticipate that when I am scooping out the ice cream, though, and it looks so good. That's where the small dish comes in. It actually looks like more if it's filling the container so it makes it easier for me to serve myself less and feel like I am going to be satisfied.

And lo and behold, my expectations are almost always met. A mini brownie sundae consisting of one homemade brownie with a single spoonful of chocolate sauce (heated together in the microwave for 20 seconds) and topped with a 2-3 spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream (yeah, the real stuff) feels like a real indulgence to me, at least partly because it fills my salsa dish to near overflowing.

This fits with my strategies of more, smaller meals and of planning for indulgences. Oh, and man that vanilla creaminess melting into that hot dark chocolate is fantastic - for about the 5 bites it takes me to finish this snack. After that, it's just calories.

Can You Eat the Good Stuff? The Power of Small

I've been tweeting what I eat. (You can follow me @madeofgood.) I get a lot of comments and questions, so I hope it's useful for people. It's also been instructive for me to see it all in black and white. Among other things, it's brought home to me how often I do eat things you might consider indulgent or possibly even unhealthy.

Image courtesy of Maggie SmithTwo days ago I tweeted that I'd had half a whole wheat bagel sandwich with egg, cheese, tomato and bacon. I got back the comment "real bacon?" Absolutely. Why? Well, two reasons.

First, I believe real foods are better. When manufacturers try to make foods healthier by substituting ingredients that don't naturally go into a food, it usually makes matters worse rather than better. Turkey bacon has fewer calories and less fat, yes, but it also has additives not found in regular bacon and actually has more salt.

So if you're going to eat bacon (and I'd argue a diet without something you really love is a diet that's not sustainable), then EAT BACON. Just don't eat a lot of it. It's high in calories and fat so keep the portions small. I eat it about once a week in that bagel sandwich, but I eat half of the sandwich (and my wife eats the other half).

Does eating half a bagel sandwich sound like not enough food? I have to admit, I was a little uncertain at first, too, but I'm glad I went with it. I have it with fresh fruit and coffee, and if I'm hungry later, I have some fruit juice or even a little more fruit to make sure I'm not ravenous when I get to lunch. I've never regretted the choice to have a smaller portion.

I've used this strategy of small in several ways to help me attain and maintain a healthy weight. I'll write more about that.

What If You Don't Like Fish?

Image courtesy of Catherine Hadler / FreeDigitalPhotos.netMaybe like me, you've read at length about the health benefits of eating fish. And maybe like me you've tried to improve your diet in a number of ways but have had a hard time with that one recommendation.

When my wife tells me we're having fish for dinner, she says I get this "brave face" on. I am dedicated to eating healthy but the truth is I have just never liked fish. So if you're like me, what do we do?

Fish Oil Supplements

Like many experts, I believe it's best to get your nourishments from food rather than supplements. We've isolated certain compounds we think are good for us, but there is a lot we don't know about how they work in the body, what else they need to do that work, and how it's best to obtain them. So if you can happily get salmon, mackerel, cod or trout on to your dinner plate twice a week, good for you. I just can't face fish that often so I go the supplement route.

Maybe I'm just being a wuss, but one of my principles is tasty, and for me fish just doesn't often enough qualify. Convenience is another principle and fish oil supplements do qualify. With me?

The Science

Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.netMen's Fitness Magazine is not always long on good citations, but this summary of the health benefits of the omega-3 fatty acids found in certain fish is well-supported and comprehensive. WebMD has more detail on the science and how fish oils differ from other sources. (They also have good advice for choosing fish to avoid mercury. Summary: chunk light tuna.) And in Unhappy Meals, Michael Pollan argues that our shift from a balance of omega-3s and omega-6 fatty acids to a heavy emphasis on the latter may be one of the largest problems of the Western diet.

How much? The sources above suggest at least 3 grams a day of fish oil. I take 3 1000 MG fish oil pills from CVS every day and so do my girls. The first day or two, my burps tasted a bit fishy but that passed quickly. There is a lawsuit about PCBs in popular fish oil supplements (including those from CVS) but they seem to be mostly about lack of published information rather than about actual levels.

Other Sources

There are a number of plant-based sources for omega-3s and I've added a number of those into my diet as well. Walnuts and flax seed, for example, are good sources, though WebMD says they are not as effective as fish. I put both into my granola and trail mix bars, hopefully balancing out the inflammation-producing omega-6s in the rest of what I eat.

And I'm still working on the fish thing. The other night my wife made tuna melts with chunk light tuna, an absolute minimum of mayo, and a combination of parmesan and Monterey jack cheese on a slice of 100% whole wheat bread. I actually liked it, so maybe there's hope. But in the meantime, I am taking a pragmatic approach and going with the supplements.