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RUNNING A RESTAURANT AND NOT GAINING WEIGHT WHEW!

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with people first...then business Ran Right Realty 636943 licensed to thrill

I was in the restaurant business for several years running corporate and private operations. All served good decent food and had talented people in the kitchen. As general manager or owner of an operation, you get to have anything you want whenever you want. Let me tell you that being around fresh, delicious foods that smell good all day long and watching others eat is.....

SLOW PLEASANT TORTURE

In the beginning, I was taken in and went for the perk non-stop. Everyday, all day long, I would get to try the different foods offered and even have them cooked custom if I wished. This is a wonderful experience to have in the moment, but in a few short days and for the upcoming weeks, your clothes get SNUG awful fast

WHAT DO YOU DO?

I immediately went to the lesser fattening foods, but you sacrifice taste. I mean salads can only go so far and soups, while delicious have hidden fat content unless it is broth. It is fitting to remind the reader that the reason foods taste so good all comes down to SUGAR AND GREASE. This is what gives food flavor.

NATURAL AWE or AU NATUREL?

Very few people can enjoy natural food and its tastes. It is also similar to drinking coffee too. Sugar and creme make it come alive while black is well...NAKED pure coffee. There are experts who sample different coffee beans (using table spoons) for their unique taste while the sippers at large just doctor it up. This is the restaurant business

THE BATTLEFIELD DESCRIBED

1. Fresh crispy Bacon, lettuce and tomato with extra bacon and a custom mayonnaise spread on your choice of fresh bread

2. BBQ sandwiches, ribs or a perfectly flame broiled steak. Add prime baked or mashed potato, fresh vegetables

3. This one got me often. A full freshly oven roasted turkey dinner with all trimmings

4. Hamburger with onions and steak fries. Everything on the burg, ketchup and malt vinegar on fries...

5. Sandwich menu was always good consisting of all the known favorites. Five different grilled cheeses, fresh pastrami or tuna or patty melts loaded with avocados and sprouts, with sides, dips, sauces and drinks

6. Pastas every way you want them with different sauces

7. Breakfast... eggs Benedict, omelets, fresh waffles, french toast or hot cakes and combos without end

I went on a serious exercise program to offset the eating joys, but then I noticed I only lived to work, eat and exercise with a little sleep thrown in. This will never do. Eventually, I had to learn not to eat anything I liked and what I did eat had to be carefully considered. The temptation is always there and the will is not always strong to resist

Shannon Milligan, Richmond VA Real Estate Agent/Associate Broker
RVA Home Team - Richmond, VA
RVA Home Team - Winning with Integrity.

Now I am really hungry and today is National Cheesecake day...darn it! This reminded me of being a teen and working at Red Lobster...I ate more of those cheddar biscuits than I care to admit and, you guessed it, my pants were a little snug to say the least!

Jul 29, 2012 11:57 PM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

Hi there Shannon...I was at Red Lobster recently and passed on those addictive little tasty treats while I watched everyone else gobble them up....I did however find myself strongly attracted to their fresh raw clams...YUMMY

Jul 30, 2012 12:00 AM
Beth and Richard Witt
New York, NY
The best Retired Brokers !!!!

Now I'm hungry... but thanks to Paleo I can eat all the meat and fat I want...  Have a Happy Day!

Jul 30, 2012 12:01 AM
Pat & Steve Pribisko
Keller Williams Greater Cleveland West - Westlake, OH

Interesting post.  I don't really understand how you didn't get fat....

Jul 30, 2012 12:08 AM
Diane Daley
Caron's Gateway Real Estate - Northumberland, NH

I love food resisting is very difficult, it's not like cigarettes, you need food to live you have to eat , you don't have to smoke... Thanks for sharing and kudo's for your self discipline...

Jul 30, 2012 12:13 AM
Mark Loewenberg
KW of the Palm Beaches - Palm Beach Gardens, FL
KW 561-214-0370

you had me at the bacon! oh is this a good thing or not can't remember?

Jul 30, 2012 12:15 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

Beth...It is wise to eat and then be done with it....Now....I like being busy to the point where I don't have time to eat....Best dear lady

Pat & Steve...I rode the merry go round and went nuts. I would gain weight, then lose weight until I got hold of myself...My freind, I had my favorites and they had me....until I got control

Jul 30, 2012 12:16 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

Caron....thank you and loving food is dangerous. It will always be there lurking around via sight and smells wanting to be tasted...You wonder why Tofu doesn't do that to you

Mark...I could have anything I wanted and experiment with it too. So what do I do? I take bacon, have it fixed the way I like it. Sometimes extra crispy and sometimes chewy. I then stack it on a quality bread choice and I want to emphasize something Mark. I never liked the fact that there was never enough bacon on my sandwiches growing up, so what did I do? I put layers of the stuff on and then went to work on it. Mark, it is so good that you have to go into a rehab to get away from it...

 

Jul 30, 2012 12:21 AM
Lenn Harley
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate - Leesburg, VA
Real Estate Broker - Virginia & Maryland

"Very few people can enjoy natural food and its tastes"

Thank goodness I'm one of the very few who love the natural tastes of fruits and vegetables.

Otherwise, I'd be a big as a sow.

That said, I could never work in a restaurant because, when it comes to good food, I have an insatiable appetite and little discipline.

Jul 30, 2012 12:29 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

Lenn...as big as a sow?...lol......I could never work at a bakery either while we are on the subject matter...Anything out of the oven Lenn...like breads, cakes, muffins or even pudding makes me give up my mothers maiden name and enemy positions...Right now, however, I am glad to say that I am on the fruits and veggies track....I join you dear lady....

 

 

Jul 30, 2012 12:46 AM
Mary Stewart
HomeTrust Real Estate, LLC, Homes for Everyone - Wilsonville, OR
Wilsonville and Surrounding Portland Metro Areas

I have not had breakfast yet and I have found myself to be really hungry with all of your descriptions.  I love to cook and experiment a little, and I make a very mean spagetti sauce from scratch that will make your taste buds explode (well maybe not explode).  I love cooking Italian but also enjoy lots of other things like soup for instance.  Fresh, no fat soups made from scratch and one tray dinners of fish on one side seasoned just right and fresh vegetables on the other side, all of which is ready to be baked.  So good and good for you plus the cleanup is easy.  Wow, I think I had better have breakfast, something lean and mean but tasty.  Have a great day and I am off to the kitchen (LOL)!

Jul 30, 2012 01:01 AM
Richard Iarossi
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Crofton, MD
Crofton MD Real Estate, Annapolis MD Real Estate
Thanks Richie, I'm at the beach right now and it's too early to eat. Who am I kidding...it's never too early, or too late to eat.

Rich
Jul 30, 2012 01:33 AM
Dr. Paula McDonald
Beam & Branch Realty - Granbury, TX
Granbury, TX 936-203-0279

You had me at bacon. I admire anyone that can own/run a restaurant and stay slim.  My will power only goes so far.

Jul 30, 2012 01:46 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

Mary...I want so bad to be your neighbor...or to be able to go through your trash....My dear, I ate things that are as you described...ALL THE TIME.....Not good to do...Less is more and I learned something very important too Mary...Only to eat when I am hungry....Best dear lady

Richie to Rich...I am surrounded with food right now and would love to be at the beach instead...Rich, Imagine being able to have anything you want cooked the way you want any time you wanted it....Rich, I would have made the National Inquirer front page...if I didn't find discipline

Little Paula...I am talking high quality perfectly smoked and then prepared BACON...something a pig would really be proud of. Every bite I took of a Bacon sandwich, it was so crispy it hurt the roof of my mouth as I chewed and released the flavors. After eating a monstrous sandwich, I felt like I worked out my whole mouth...BTW..I noticed the veterans in the business early on and they were either overweight or skinny....Check it out next time you go out there

Jul 30, 2012 03:33 AM
Sharon Lee
Sharon Lee's Virtual Assistance - Jonesborough, TN
Retired and loving life

Richie-This was a post that I can very much relate to. While I didn't work in a restaurant My parents owned a vending business when I was growing up. We had a variety of meats we cooked in our oven plus made salads like macaroni and potato with full fat mayo. Homemade pies, puddings, etc. There also the pastry and IC that went in a vending machine. Needless to say it would have been easy to put on a lot of weight at a young age. I did have a brother that did and my Mom.

Maybe that started the yo-yo dieting for me. I can't imagine the feast that you had at the restaurant. I think I would have been on the losing end and not in weight either. Two other places that wouldn't work well with my weaknesses for sweets would be a bakery and a IC place. I love donuts and soft ice cream but so do my hips.

It is interesting that the young ladies that work at the local IC stand are all slim. I commend you for your strength and determination to keep your weight in check. It isn't easy. It goes on fast and comes off slow.

Jul 30, 2012 04:01 AM
Richie Alan Naggar
people first...then business Ran Right Realty - Riverside, CA
agent & author

Sharon Lee...good commenting, sharing and compliments the subject....You have a $50 credit at Richie's general store & post

Jul 30, 2012 04:32 AM