Glamour on a budget - Mattie Roberts

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Surviving Happy Hour
May 17,2006

So many of you are wondering about the potentially pugifying happy hour, now that the weather is so nice and those patios are beckoning.

The problem with happy hour is that many people use it as the stepping off point for an evening of high cal, alcohol-fueled revelry. You have to start looking at it as the main event.

My advice is to give yourself a strict limit on beverages…a glass or two of wine or a light beer…and count every nacho or nut you consume. This can actually be a somewhat healthy dinner if you play it the right way. Two slices of veggie pizza…blot the grease and skip the crust, and two glasses of wine is about 400 calories. Or you could order a shrimp cocktail and a light beer for a paltry 150 calories.

Always start your evening with a big glass of water. Sometimes that first cocktail goes down so fast because you are actually dehydrated!

A personal favorite technique of mine is to have a hard boiled egg or some turkey and crackers before I even go out…80-100 calories…and I don’t even touch the bar food! I’ll nurse a couple of glasses of white wine over two hours by adding lots of ice.

If you happen to find yourself at one of the coolest happy hour joints in town — the Windmill Lounge, 5320 Maple Ave. in Dallas with $1 off already reasonably-priced drinks — you will get a $4 glass of chardonnay or bubbly and split one of the marvelous paninis ($6.50) with a friend. (Or you could just ask Charlie to go light on the cheese and make it your dinner.)

The key to staying on your diet plan during happy hour is to count all the calories…every bite and sip. Then get home by 6 or 7, hop on the treadmill or walk in your neighborhood for an hour. That will take care of about 250 calories. I don’t know about you but the only exercise I like to do after a glass of wine is walking…I can do that really well!