How you eat is just as important as what you eat. If you want to lose weight and elevate your overall lifestyle, start at the table. The foods you choose, the portion sizes, the table settings, and how you eat, all contribute to an overall elegant lifestyle. In this guide to how an elegant woman eats, you will learn a few easy tips to uplevel your dining experience.
Moderation Is Key
An elegant woman eats until she is satisfied and not a bite more. She never eats until she is stuffed. When she wants to indulge in a sweet treat, she may choose one scrumptious chocolate truffle that she savors, instead of feasting on an entire candy bar. She may share a luscious dessert at dinner instead of having an entire slice of tiramisu. She knows a few bites are enough to experience the pleasure, without consuming massive amounts of calories.
She may want to try a beautiful pasta dish, so she’ll have a small portion as a primi course, instead of an entire bowl as the only dish at dinner. In Italy, pasta is consumed almost daily. But it is always a small course as part of a larger meal, which probably includes lots of vegetables and some fish. And they eat real semolina pasta, not any of the low-carb substitute pastas.
A Mediterranean diet in not a low-carb diet. You don’t have to worry about carbs when you eat in moderation.
An elegant woman knows how to indulge without overdoing it. You don’t have to live a life without the pleasures of the table. You can enjoy all of the fine foods by practicing moderation.
Overall Wellness and Nutrition
I believe the Mediterranean diet is the most elegant and healthy diet in the world. In fact, I’ve written a book all about it. In The Big Book of Mediterranean Diet Cooking, you will find 200 healthy recipes, along with information about the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle, with tips on how to get started, how to shop and stock your kitchen, how to choose an olive oil, and much more.
An elegant woman learns about good nutrition and what works best for her body.
Eating for Beauty
There are certain foods that will make you feel and look more beautiful. It’s no surprise that most of these foods are vegetables. In my article Eating for Beauty, I outline nine foods that help naturally cleanse and detox your body, and they are all foods that are easy to incorporate into your meals.
I would add to that list healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds. We need fat in our diet to help us absorb vitamins and minerals. These unsaturated fats can help reduce inflammation, improve blood cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Talk to your doctor about what foods will benefit you and your lifestyle.
Setting an Elegant Table
The art of being an elegant woman means that nothing is ever overdone or ostentatious. That doesn’t mean life has to be boring. There is a difference in being theatrical and fancy and being pretentious and garish.
When an elegant woman eats, she may like to set an elaborate table or style her food like it was in a magazine. But she will never be showy just to impress someone. She wants to impress herself. It’s fun to have pretty napkins on the table. It’s romantic to set a table with flowers or candles.
Make your meals into special occasions. Your life is a special occasion, and you can bring beauty and elegance to every part of your day by adding little extra touches to your meals.
Don’t save the good dishes for holidays only. Use them whenever you feel like creating a special atmosphere. I don’t use mine every day because that would make them feel less special overall. But when I cook an elaborate dinner, I pull out my mother’s good china. I see everyone’s face brighten up when they come to the table because they know they are in for a treat.
Etiquette and Manners
When I was in high school — I went to an all-girls school — our principal brought in experts to teach us proper etiquette. It may seem like an old-fashioned subject to teach young women, but good manners never go out of style. I am perfectly confident that I could have tea with the Queen of England without making any faux pas.
Oftentimes people are intimidated when they sit down to an elaborate meal with many courses. The general rule is to use your utensils from the outside in. The table will be set with the specific courses in mind. For example, if there is a soup course, you will find a soup spoon to the far right of your table setting. If there is salad, the outside fork is for the salad course and the next fork in will be for your dinner.
If you get up from the table, leave your napkin on your chair, so the server knows that you will be returning. When you leave the table at the end of the meal, leave the napkin on the table.
Teach your children how to eat elegantly at the table as well. Your kitchen should be a place to relax and enjoy food, but that should also include good table manners. It will serve them well when they go out into the world and have to attend business lunches or elegant parties.
When you are the hostess, your number one aim should be to see that everyone is comfortable and enjoying themselves. If you ever do get to have tea with the Queen, you can be sure she would want you to enjoy yourself. She won’t be judging you. So relax, and enjoy the confidence that comes with good manners.
I hope you enjoyed this guide to how an elegant woman eats. We can all use a little more elegance in our daily lives. Buon Appetito.
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