Managing Conference Catering

This week I'm at a conference for work--unfortunately not for Weight Watchers work. I am here in town- at a hotel downtown- sitting in session after session of speakers and facilitated workshops. Although I do have the benefit of sleeping in my own house each night, the meals-- particularly lunchtime-- present some significant Weight Watchers challenges. Over the last 7 years on the Weight Watchers program however, I've come up with a few tips of my own that I use to manage the conference catering. Here are my tactics:

1. Stock up on fruit at the continental breakfast. A conference breakfast is typically my easiest meal of the day- as fruit tends to be a mainstay. Sometimes you get lucky with yogurt or even oatmeal as an option too- but I wasn't so lucky today. Instead, my options were an appealing fruit tray, or a platter of danishes, croissants, sweet treat looking breads, and the like. Naturally the fruit was my friend. I stocked up on blackberries and strawberries- and took a hearty serving that I could snack on throughout the morning too.
2. Stay hydrated. Thankfully, there is typically plenty of liquid at these catered conference events. Today I started with tea, then moved to coffee, then to the water pitcher at my conference table, and finally on to the iced tea and assorted (calorie free) soda options that were available throughout the afternoon. By keeping hydrated I was not only staying alert (sometimes a challenge in of itself at these things, right?), but I was also able to keep my stomach full throughout the day. I certainly surpassed my liquid good health guideline today!
3. Skip the rolls. When's the last time that you had a really good roll at a conference? Trick question! The answer is never! Although somehow there are always rolls at these things, the rolls are never all that good. Really- think about it! I am sure to save my POINTS for the meal itself- which is typically going to cost me more POINTS than my average lunch or dinner. When I consciously think about the actual rolls, and the fact that they are inevitably a slightly stale, dry, and relatively tasteless chunk of bread (though sometimes they do have a slight flavor: freezer burn...), it becomes easy for me to skip the rolls and save my POINTS for the entree.
4. S.O.S....Sauce On Side. The typical conference meal is a slab of protein (perhaps relatively healthy in its own regard- i.e. a piece of grilled chicken, broiled fish, or roasted beef)-then slathered with some sort of thick, creamy, sauce. In most cases, the catering kitchen has the entree prepared plain (or with minimal seasoning from the cooking process), but then ladles on the buttery/creamy sauce just before it heads out the door and arrives at your table. Don't be afraid to ask for the sauce on the side. It isn't that difficult for them to do- they simply put the sauce into a little ramekin (dish) instead of on your plate. Then, control your portion of the sauce by dipping--or just forgo the sauce alltogher. Ask the catering crew hovering in the corner about this as soon as you recognize the entree as protein with any creamy sauce, and you will be pleasantly surprised with how accommodating they can be. Note: This technique works with pasta dishes too- another common conference commodity- when any sort of alfredo sauce is on the menu.
5. Ban the Baked Good Barrage. Today alone, I could have had 4- count 'em- FOUR- baked goods (and that's just assuming only 1 baked good per "event"). This is typical for a conference setting. For breakfast I had my choice of options at the contiential buffet, after lunch a lemon torte type of item was served to me, in the afternoon we had a "brownie break", and the end of the day concluded with a networking reception where petifores and cookies were served. Note that this didn't even include dinner- (just not a part of this particular conference). Had dinner also been included you can be certain that another dessert would have been available. Yikes! I am pleased to report that I ate about 1/2 of my lemon torte- and banned all other baked goods today. Considering that I probably could have used my entire Daily POINTS Target AND a good chunk of my Weekly POINTS Allowance on baked goods today alone, this was necsessary. My advice here is to be aware of the likihood to be barraged with baked good at a conference, and plan accordingly. Save your POINTS for the ones that you really want (if you really want any at all) if you have the POINTS available. Resist the tempation to indulge just because you (or your company) is paying for it. I've played that game before- and lost. If being served a dessert that you don't want- politely inform the server that you will pass. Trust me- you do not want that goodie sitting there at your place, staring up at you with billowing frosting and rich chocolate decadance, as you attempt to concentrate on whatever message the mealtime keynote speaker has to deliver. If the conference caterers have convieniently placed your dessert down before the meal even begins (sneaky!), be strong and ask them to remove it, and/or move it yourself. Again, you do not want that thing staring you down. You are the boss here- move it and lose it!