healthmedicinet

As many of us celebrate Easter with a festive brunch, we may find ourselves staring down a monster buffet table. What should you grab? When is it okay to indulge and what constitutes a major diet setback? We asked our favorite nutrition experts to outline their absolute brunching don’ts as we head into the holiday.

What’s your strategy for eating healthfully at brunch? Tell us in the comments!

1. Brunching In The First Place

“Honestly, the biggest mistake is going to brunches at all,” says Ruth Frechman, M.A., R.D., C.P.T. “It’s calorie suicide. Typically, brunches are expensive. Most people want to get their money’s worth. They could easily consume 4,000 calories in one meal. The average person only needs 2,000 calories for the entire day.”

2. Choosing Sweet Over Savory

This is the central question of brunch: Do you go sweet or savory? Pancakes or eggs? Now we have an answer: savory (but not too salty!).

“My number one brunch don’t would be dishes that are practically made of pure carbs like pancakes or waffles. Because these are digested so quickly they’re guaranteed to make your blood sugar spike and then plummet,” says Karen Ansel, R.D. “While you might feel fine for a while you’re inevitably going to get that carb coma feeling a couple of hours later. Adding sugary maple syrup to these only adds insult to injury. Instead pick something that’s more balanced with a combination of protein, complex carbs (preferably from whole grains) and some healthy fat like huevos rancheros with avocado.”

3. Confusing Brunch and Breakfast

“One of the biggest mistakes people make, they do before they even get to brunch. And that’s not eating anything at all,” says Rachel Begun, M.S., R.D., registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “You need calories to burn calories, meaning you need to eat food to get the metabolism going. If you wait until late morning or early afternoon to eat something, your metabolism is sluggish and not operating at maximum capacity. Plus, going to brunch starving is a recipe for overeating.”

Joy Dubost, Ph.D R.D. C.S.S.D. agrees: “We may think because we are combining two meals we can [eat more],” she says. “But if you are not careful on choices and portion-size, brunch can quickly exceed calories consumed in two separate meals.”

Instead, try to have a healthful snack in the morning before you head out the door — something that combines fiber and protein, like low-fat cheese with an apple or yogurt with berries and slivered almonds.

4. Ordering From The Drink Menu

Alcoholic brunch drinks like bloody marys and “adult” coffee drinks are an easy way to go overboard on the calories without even realizing it. “Consuming multiple beverages, particularly those that are higher in calories, can end up being a high calorie meal on its own,” explains Dubost. “I would recommend keeping it to one 12-ounce beverage. For lighter options you may want to choose mimosas or wine spritzers.”

5. Beware Customizable Options

We’re looking at you, omelet bar. The egg base might be just fine, but add enough meats and cheeses and you’ve got a calorie bomb on your hands.

“Many dishes can be higher in calories because we load them with numerous ingredients,” says Dubost. “Try to keep it more basic or include various flavorful vegetables.”

6. Thinking About Calories, Fat … But Not Sodium

Between the bloody mary mix, hollandaise sauce and hash browns, brunch can amount to a salt lick. And while you might choose egg whites for your omelet and salad on the side, it won’t do much to lower the sodium of your meal. That means you can easily surpass the government’s daily recommendation of 2,300 mg within a matter of bites.

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• Hot Dogs

  Karen Ansel, MS, RD, CDN, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and coauthor of emThe Calendar Diet: A Month by Month Guide to Losing Weight While Living Your Life/em

  “As for what I wouldn’t eat: hot dogs, without a doubt. Even if they’re nitrate-free, they’re still made up of too many parts and pieces, which is just unnatural.”

• Bugs

  Elisa Zied, MS, RD, CDN, author ofem Nutrition at Your Fingertips/em and fellow Eat + Run blogger

  “I would not eat brains, frog legs or bugs. Otherwise, no foods are off limits, as I think all foods can fit into a healthful and balanced diet. And when I want something that I don’t think of as healthy — like a hot dog, pastrami, French fries, Doritos or a Hostess cupcake — I have it, but keep the portion small.”

• Soda

  Patricia Bannan, MS, RD, author of emEat Right When Time is Tight/em

  “a href=”http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2012/10/11/soda-calories-and-a-full-accounting”Sugary soda/a. Not only does it taste overly-sweet, it’s such a waste of calories. A 12-ounce can of soda has almost 40 grams of sugar, and research shows excess sugar can lead to excess pounds and a myriad of health issues. If you do love a soda, limit it to once or twice a month, and get used to other options like citrus-infused water or non-sugared iced tea.”

• Artifical Ingredients

  Jackie Newgent, RD, culinary nutritionist and author of em1/emem,000 Low-Calorie Recipes/em

  “I won’t eat anything that’s neon! Basically, if a food or beverage is a color that you can’t find in nature — like electric blue or glow-in-the-dark orange — I won’t go near it. It’s one indicator of an artificial ingredient. I always keep it real.”

• Diet Foods

  Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of ema href=”http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/flexitarian-diet”The Flexitarian Diet/a/em

  “Spray butter, whipped topping and other similar ‘diet foods.’ My food philosophy is to eat real food with simple ingredient lists. I’d rather enjoy my food with smart amounts of real butter, oil, sea salt or whipped cream rather than artificial flavors and chemicals.”

• Alive

  Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, CDN, author of emRead It Before You Eat It /emand fellow Eat + Run blogger

  “I don’t like to eat anything that looks like it did when it was alive! Whether it’s a cornish hen or a whole fish, I’d rather not see my food in that ‘whole’ state. I was a strict vegetarian for years, not eating any meat, fish, or poultry, and although I slowly added some of those foods back into my diet, certain animal products are still tough for me to swallow.”

• Diet Soda

  Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, author of emS.A.S.S! Yourself Slim: Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds and Lose Inches/em

  “Diet soda. It doesn’t offer any nutrients, and my rule of thumb is: If it’s artificial, it’s not going into my body. Also, some research has linked diet soda consumption to an increased risk of stroke, heart attack and depression. Plus, one analysis found that, on average, diet soda drinkers weigh more than regular soda drinkers.”

• Hydrogenated Oils

  Rachel Begun, MS, RD, spokesperson for The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

  “I avoid all foods that contain hydrogenated oils. There is absolutely no need for them in our diet, and nowadays, it’s easy to find foods that don’t contain them.”

• Meat

  Andrea N. Giancoli, MPH, RD, spokesperson for The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

  “By preference, I’m mostly a href=”http://health.usnews.com/best-diet/vegetarian-diet”vegetarian/a. I wouldn’t eat bacon, hot dogs, chicken, hamburgers, steak, soup made with animal broth or anything cooked in lard.”