One Step to Lose Weight, Spend Less and Save Time

If you had to choose between losing weight, spending less or saving time, which would you pick?

The bathroom scales tell me the first needs attention. My bank account is in overdraft. And my calendar requires pruning.

Here’s one step I take to do all three.

Cut dinner in half

Portion plates help you serve healthy meals:

• Half your plate: vegetables of different colours
• Quarter of your plate: carbs (potato, pasta, rice, couscous, or quinoa).
• Quarter of your plate: meat, poultry, eggs, or beans

I do something easier ...

I eat half of my dinner now, then eat half for lunch tomorrow as a sandwich.

Eating like the Earl

John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, was a compulsive gambler.

He became absorbed in long gambling sessions and didn’t what to leave the table. So he told his valet to put a slice of salted beef between two pieces of toasted bread. This let him eat one-handed and continue gambling.

The idea caught on and soon others ordered “the same as Sandwich.”

Get inspired

Putting half of last night’s dinner between two slices of bread may not appeal to you.

McDonald’s, Subway and Burger King beg to differ. Use them as inspiration. Then mix and match bagels, baguettes, bolillo, bread, ciabatta, English muffins, flatbread, hamburger buns, hoagie rolls, kaiser rolls, pita, rolls, rye bread and vada. If you need more inspiration, browse through these two lists of breads and sandwiches.

I’d love to hear what you try.

Note:

British historian Nicholas A. M. Rodger (1949–) wrote The insatiable earl: A life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, 1718–1792. He says there is no evidence to support the Earl was a gambler. That story comes from an isolated passage in Pierre-Jean Grosley’s Londres (1770). Rodger agrees the sandwich (in its original form using salted beef) is named after the Earl. He suggests the Earl probably ate them while working long hours at his desk when he was a busy Cabinet minister.