Switch To Nonfat Foods Gradually

Recently my husband brought home a gallon of milk. By accident, he’d bought 1 percent milk and not the skim milk we’ve been drinking for years. It didn’t seem like a big deal, so I didn’t tell our daughters about it.

That container of milk seemed to stay in our refrigerator forever. The girls were reluctant to finish even one glass at mealtime. No one made any effort to get seconds. We had adapted to a nonfat product, and the 1 percent was just unappealing.

After that, skim milk never tasted so good. Before long we were back to drinking lots of milk.

Our lack of enthusiasm for higher-fat products isn’t limited to milk. Recently I made a chocolate silk pie (See the recipe in today’s Cook’s Notebook column on Page D4.), and it took just the tiniest sliver of this luscious but very fattening pie to satisfy us. We filled up fast and had no desire for another serving.

In their eagerness to start a new diet, many people make a common mistake: They reduce their fat intake too much. They go from one extreme, of lots of fat, to the opposite point of very little. It works for a few days, and then, boom! They drive by a fast-food restaurant and find themselves salivating. They give in to the urge to eat and overcompensate with too much fat. They wonder why they don’t have self-control, when it’s a physiological response they’re dealing with.

It’s a great idea to cut down on fat in your diet, but a gradual weaning is much more acceptable to the body. Give yourself time to adjust to a smaller portion of butter on your toast. Switch from regular to light mayonnaise before moving on to nonfat. Be patient with yourself as you make positive changes.

Here’s a low-fat bagel sandwich that will positively taste good. And to accompany it, serve a nice big glass of nonfat milk.

Pineapple Bagel Sandwich

Recipe from Dole Food Co.

4 whole-wheat bagels, cut in half

8 tablespoons nonfat cream cheese

4 slices Canadian bacon or ham

8 slices red onion

2 (8-ounce) cans sliced pineapple

Spread 2 tablespoons cream cheese on bottom half of each bagel. Top each with a Canadian bacon slice and 2 slices each red onion and pineapple; place remaining bagel halves on top.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 438 calories, 3.4 grams fat (7 percent fat calories), 22 grams protein, 83 grams carbohydrate, 19 milligrams cholesterol, 949 milligrams sodium.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

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