Sandwiches, Snacks, And Tea Breaks

THE dieter often works out a good scheme to control calories and fats at the three main meals of the day, only to run afoul in the uncharted area of mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks, sandwiches, appetizers, and snacks. Morning and afternoon tea breaks, a trusted meal in a cafeteria or bar, appetizers before dinner, and snacks before bed can add up to wreck the dietary plan.

The old chestnut about the fat lady found by her doctor tucking into a plate of egg and chips who explained that "after I've had my diet I have my dinner" is not so far-fetched as it sounds. People tend to get the idea that a meal is not a meal at all unless it contains at least one hot cooked item. Another idea that gets fixed in people's heads is that they only eat three meals a day. In fact, most people in the British Isles eat six meals a day. It is an uncommon household, and an even more unusual office or factory where there is no "elevenses" between breakfast and lunch. And neither the British housewife nor the British soldier would operate without tea in the afternoon. Then in Scotland and the North of England where the main evening meal is high tea there is almost always supper or at least a snack before bedtime. All these supernumerary meals contribute-to the diet, some to a very marked degree.

There is no magic virtue in a hot cooked meal in the middle of the day provided sandwiches or other cold carried foods give equal variety. Indeed, the middle-aged businessmen would be well advised to forgo the immense dreary lunches bought on each other's expense accounts, which are eaten for prestige rather than hunger.

For a light lunch we suggest a bowl of soup, a green salad, a glass of skim milk, if it can be found, and a piece of fresh fruit. If this is not enough, add a small sandwich of suitable type (see below). A cottage cheese salad with or without fruit goes well, as does potato salad with chopped green pepper and celery. Avoid adding much mayonnaise or similar salad dressing if you are worried about calories and total fat; however, these dressings are not forbidden, because usually they are not too rich in the saturated fats that push up the blood cholesterol. Similarly, we do not object to a moderate amount of oil and vinegar on the green salad.

Sandwiches

Ever since people began making bread they have been putting all kinds of foods between pieces of bread to make a convenient combination easily eaten without plates or tools. Their virtue, or lack of it, depends on the filling and the bread used. It is a good thing to remember that there can be other kinds of sandwiches than those made by putting fat ham between two slices of buttery bread.

The first essential for a good sandwich is good bread. Where to get it is a problem (see the chapter on Breads), and all we can say here is that good bread for sandwiches need not be a square or even a symmetrical loaf, it is certainly not an air-filled monstrous sponge.

Further, on the matter of butter or margarine, we note that many acceptable sandwiches are being made nowadays with unbuttered bread, so forget these sources of highly saturated fat in making sandwiches if you want to control the blood cholesterol. If needed to reduce dryness, use a little mayonnaise, salad dressing, or mustard instead.

Here are a few figures for sandwich quantities to help in your sandwich making to conform with your dietary plan. Note that the calorie and fat values below are given separately for the bread, dressing, and filling. For example, you make an onion sandwich on brown bread, with a leaf of lettuce and a teaspoonful of mayonnaise. The calorie total is 114 + 31 45 = 190 and the total fat is 5.2 grammes and the saturated fat is negligible.

BREADS : (Values are for 2 slices,	Calories	Fat,	grammes
about 1/2 inch thick)		Total	Saturated
Home-made:
Oatmeal*	148	0.6	-
Whole wheat*	122	0.6	-
Italian*	100-160	0.5	-
Commercial
White	113	0.3	-
Brown	107	1.7	0.3

DRESSINGS : Here are a few figures on mayonnaise, salad dressings, and mustard. The values are for 1 teaspoon which is a sufficient but not a generous amount for 1 sandwich.

Calories	Fat,	grammes
	Total	Saturated
Mayonnaise* 31	3.3	0.7
Salad dressing, commercial 19	1.8	0.4 (?)
Cooked oil dressing* 9	0.8	0.1
Boiled dressing* 5	0.2	-
Prepared mustard (1 teaspoon) 10	0.9	0.1

FILLINGS : (Put in all the lettuce, shredded carrots, tomatoes, onions, or pickles you wish and forget both fat and calories for these items.)

	Amount	Calories	Fat,	grammes
			Total	Saturated
Canned salmon,	1 ounce	41	1.8	0.4
mixed with I stalk celery,
chopped, and 1 teaspoon
boiled dressing
Sardines, drained (5 small	1 ounce	61	3.1	1.0
sardines) with lemon
juice
Jam	1 tablespoon	55	0.1	-
Churned honey	1 tablespoon	62	-	-
(Especially good on
whole-wheat bread)
Spanish onion (1-inch slice)	3-4 ounces	45	0.2	-
Chicken	1 ounce	56	2.3	0.7
with lettuce and cooked
oil dressing

For one sandwich Amount Calories Fat, grammes Cold baked beans (If you like a hearty Bacon Cottage cheese, with jam or chives

FILLINGS (cont.):
with tomato sauce	3 tablespoons 81	2.0	0.2
sandwich)
Bacon - not too fat (1 slice)	ounce 33	2.1	0.5
and tomato	1 slice 49	4.4	2.1
Cucumber	cucumber 13	0.1
or raisins	3 tablespoons 60	2.3	1.1
Corned beef	1 ounce 52	2.3	1.1