Eating Out

It's a lot easier to make healthy choices when you are the one fixing the meals, but what to do when you go to a restaurant? Should you avoid eating out entirely so you can stick to eating healthy? No! A lot of people who "diet" (I hate that word in relation to losing weight) feel like they need to be social outcasts and refuse all lunch/dinner invitations because "there's no way to eat out and stick to their 'diet.'" That is untrue, you just have to know how to maneuver the menu to choose the healthiest choices. Here are some tips for eating healthy while eating out:

1. Stay away from options described as "creamy"- This means that they are undoubtedly made with heavy cream and/or whole milk which adds mucho calories to that piece of chicken or bowl of pasta.

2. Be salad smart - It's true that salads are definitely a healthy choice while eating out, but what gets people is the salad dressing. When those good for you greens are drowned in ranch, your healthy salad just turned into a fat bomb! If you're like me and still like dressing on your salad, order the dressing on the side and dip your fork in the dressing before you dig in. This way you get the yummy-ness without ALL the fat and calories.

3. Think H2O- Instead of ordering the magically refilling glass of soda, order water with lemon. This will save you hundreds of calories because the waiter refills your soda glass how many times before during and after the meal? I mean who keeps count of how many times the sneaky guy comes by and refills your soda glass anyway? Water is definitely the way to go.

4. Go grilled - Order your food grilled instead of fried. One tablespoon of oil is 100 calories and when foods are fried they practically take a bath in the stuff so that adds a few hundred more calories and, you guessed it, lots of fat to your meal. Even if the menu doesn't have the grilled option you can usually still get it grilled if you ask.

5. Substitute the fries - Ask for fresh fruit or steamed veggies instead of those fried fries, same things applies, even if the menu doesn't have the option, you can substitute for a healthier choice.

6. Ask for a box as soon as your meal comes (or before) - Portions these days are out of control, so ask for a box and place half of your meal in the box before you start eating. This way it's not on your plate tempting you when you are full.

Those are some of my tips. Does anyone else have any other tips or ideas to add?

Of Diet Pills and Food Journals...

Unfortunately there is not a "magic" pill that will make you thin and healthy, if there was everyone would be taking it!!! There are no substitutes for eating healthy and exercising. My take on diet pills/appetite suppressants is if you talk to your doctor about them and he prescribes you one then by all means go for it, but if you just want to shed 10 or 20 pounds, I wouldn't experiment with diet pills. They can seriously mess with your body and not in a good way (remember ephedra?) So to answer your question, there are not any diet pills that I would recommend.

I've found that the thing that works best for people trying to change their eating habits, rather than taking a diet pill, is to keep a food journal. Write down EVERYTHING that passes your lips for a week, then go back andreview it. What you find may surprise you. I've had people, who before I asked them to do this, thought they were eating healthy and then, when we went through their food journal, were taken back by how much food and how many calories they were actually consuming on a daily basis.There are online food journals that can be helpful also. SparkPeople has one that I used to use when I worked at the gym, just click on the link and you can check it out. Just remember when you're keeping a food journal you need to write down EVERYTHING, even if you just eat a couple peanuts or drink a glass of milk, write it down!

Clean Plate Club

When you were growing up did your parents ever say to you "You can't leave the table until you eat everything on your plate!" or "If you don't clean your plate no dessert!" Your membership in the "Clean Plate Club" could be sabotaging your efforts to lose weight. As adults we still think that we need to eat everything on our plates or we're wasting food and the people in Ethiopa are starving while we're not finishing everything on our plates! Well, even if you boxed your leftovers and mailed it to them, the food would spoil and get thrown away anyhow, so what's the difference? =) Now is as good a time as any to relinquish your membership to the "Clean Plate Club"! Don't feel like you have to eat everything on your plate, when you're full, put your fork down and push the plate away or take it to the sink, that way the temptation to clean your plate is gone. My mantra is "If you want a little behind, you need to leave a little behind!" I love that saying and besides being cute it is SO true. Did you know that by just cutting 100 calories out of your diet a day that's cutting 36,500 calories a year, which translates to losing 10.4 pounds?!?! And that's just by cutting 100 calories!

Couch to 5K...

Valerie told us about this site and I checked it out, it's a great way to get yourself going if you've been at a lost of how to get started on a program. It maps out a week by week program to get you from the couch to a 5k in 2 months. The site is www.coolrunning.com then click on the Couch to 5k link. Thanks Valerie!=)