6 Healthy Tips to Bring to the Restaurant

Eating out is supposed to be fun but for some it is more stressful because they think it will mess up their diet. Don’t make it stressful. If you are dieting and want to lose weight or if you just want to maintain weight and healthy lifestyle, here are some easy tips for what to do while eating out.

1. Stay Away From The Bread. To make this step easy, tell the server not to bring any bread to your table (if your

Olive Garden Breadsticks… 150 calories per one

table agrees with this suggestion). That is the easiest solution. However, if they do  bring it, all it takes is self control. But if you are out to eat, don’t stress. If it’s your favorite bread then have a slice, just don’t have a meal of bread before your actual meal. Also, if you have a slice do not load it up with butter. Have the power to tell yourself that you don’t need the bread.

Here are some examples of the bread at restaurants in the U.S. and how many extra calories that bread contains:

• 1 Olive Garden Garlic Breadstick with Butter: about 150 calories
• Outback Bread Loaf with Butter: about 470 calories. Remember: Those loafs aren’t very big.
• Small Loaf of Bread at Carrabba’s: about 500 calories and the bread dipping sauce: about 50 calories

2. Drink Water.  It’s free and has 0 calories. It’s perfect! Also, beverages can get expensive. Drink water before your meal, during, and after. Since it’s free, don’t worry about refills, drink up! It’s good to stay hydrated and to keep your stomach a little fuller. Even while you are waiting for your meal and just starring at that bread, with your stomach growling, just drink water. It will give your stomach a distraction.

3. Avoid Appetizer’s. Appetizer’s to me are pointless. Nowadays, the entree’s are so large that an appetizer seems ridiculous to get. I don’t like to go to a restaurant and be full before I get my actual meal. If you must get one, then share it. Do not eat all by yourself. So many extra calories.

4. How To Choose An Entree. Look for entree’s that are not fried and DO NOT get french fries as a side.

A healthy and delicious side choice

Look to order something that is grilled or baked. And when picking sides for your entree look for vegetables, rice,  or a side salad (with light dressing). Restaurants offer many healthy choices, you just have to be smart enough to look for them and order them. Also, if you know the restaurant that you are going to, look up the menu beforehand and you can also look up how many calories are in each item. That will prepare you for a healthy meal out.

Look for menu’s like this (this link will take you to the Carrabba’s menu)! This menu tells you the serving size, calories, total fat, carbs, and protein.

Olive Garden Venetian Chicken is a healthier entree choice

5. You Don’t Have To Eat It All… To-go box it! To-go boxes are great. Many people finish their meal because they don’t want to waste it. So now you don’t have to keep eating even when you are full. You can save your extra’s and bring them home! Eat slow and take frequent sips of water so when you feel yourself starting to get full, push your plate a little bit away from you. Don’t eat more than your body needs.

6. Share Dessert. I love dessert but after my meal, I know I don’t need to eat more. However, if you can’t resist, share it with the table! Dessert’s are usually sharing size anyways so that makes it easy. Take 2-3 bits, satisfy your sweet tooth, and be done.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Going out is meant to be fun. So don’t get stressed out about what to eat. It’s easy to stay on track while on diet. All it takes is some smart choices. If you are wanting to lose weight, and if you want it bad enough, you will choose the healthier choices. It’s all up to you.

The Skinny on Soda

Diet?

Doesn’t matter if it’s regular or diet soda, soda is still soda. There is a lot of uncertainty with what exactly soda does to our bodies. There are so many variables and everyone’s body’s are different so it’s hard to say. We all have our own opinions but I think of drinking soda like smoking cigarettes. Neither of these activities have health benefits and they both seem rather pointless. I didn’t perform the studies that indicate diet soda being bad for you but all I have to say is I don’t see how it can be any good. I would just stop drinking it. If you want something with zero calories just drink water. Also, diet may say zero calories but it can still make you overweight. Even if you have always been drinking soda and it has never made you gain weight, you should just step back and think. It could still be hurting your insides and everything you can’t see. Here are some thoughts on soda and why you should avoid it altogether.

1. Obesity. Soda is full of sugar and regular soda adds calories without making a person feel full. Soda is just calories with no nutrients. I think of it as liquid candy. For example, gummy bears in a drink form. Diet soda may not have any calories but it still triggers appetite, which is definitely something you don’t want while dieting. Some say that artificial sweeteners trigger appetite and prevent brain cells sending a signal establishing that you are full. Also, if you don’t want to feel fat, stay away from soda because it bloats you and makes your waistline bigger.

2. Kidney Issues. Soda contains a lot of phosphoric acid which has been linked to kidney stones. I just don’t want anyone to have to deal with this so to make sure, let’s just stay away from soda!

3. Reproductive Issues. Soda is often found in plastic bottles. Plastic bottles contain BPA(bisphenyl-A) which is a cancer causing chemical that can cause premature puberty and reproductive abnormalities. I guess this isn’t the soda’s fault but bottles aren’t good for the environment anyways. So another reason to stay away from soda.

4. Heart Disease. Soda is loaded with sugar. Making you have a sugar overload whenever you drink it. This is definitely something no one should do. These drinks may be influencing heart disease risk factors even if people don’t gain weight. Daily blasts of too-high blood sugar can disrupt metabolism in several ways. High sugar levels increase triglycerides, lower good cholesterol and prompt the body to make an especially damaging, smaller molecule of bad cholesterol. Too much sugar also raises levels of inflammation, another risk factor heart disease.

5. Increased Risk for Diabetes. I actually think that diet soda isn’t singly increasing your risk for diabetes. Many people who drink soda are already overweight so they drink more diet soda so they feel like they are doing better for themselves by not drinking the regular soda. Soda isn’t the determining factor in causing diabetes but if you are overweight, you are more likely to develop diabetes. So I suggest exercising, rather then saving some calories by drinking diet soda. Just stay away from the artificial sweeteners. Pick up a water.

Just a chart on what soda may be doing to you

There’s a lot of controversy over if any of this is really true but I never drink soda so that makes it easy on me because now I don’t have to worry about it. I like to get benefits from what I’m eating or drinking so I choose water, juice or milk whenever I get thirsty. It takes 21 days to make a habit so if you are up for the challenge, try going 21 days without soda. If you feel the need to go back to drinking it because you MUST HAVE SODA in your life then I guess go back to drinking it. I can’t make you do anything. All I want you to do is just remember some of the things mentioned above.

Why Your Workout Isn’t Working Out

I see this all the time. Many people workout but don’t see any results. This can be so frustrating. It may make you want to give up and throw in the towel because you feel like you are wasting your time. However, all you have to do is change a few simple things to make that workout start working out! So why isn’t your workout working out… read below.

1. Not enough variety. When working out you can’t repeat the same workouts everyday and expect to see your body continue to change. You have to add variety. Things get easier the more we do them so the more you keep doing those exercises the easier they will get. You will burn fewer calories and they will stop helping you move forward. I don’t know what exercises you are doing but if you are using weights start to increase them. You will burn more calories. If you are on a cardio machine, add more resistance, go harder, faster or longer. Change up your workouts. Make different muscles work. Make your body keep guessing and that will cause you to keep seeing results.

2. Too long of breaks. It’s okay to take breaks in between sets. Depending on what you are doing will determine how long to take. If you are lifting heavy weights you may need a little longer then if you are lifting light weights. Other factors may include your age, nutrition, the intensity of the set, how tired you were prior to working out, or if you may have any injuries. Taking a shorter rest(45-60 seconds) works better for building overall muscle mass. This will keep stress on your muscles without giving them time to recover so when you work them the next set they are still pumped. Longer rest periods(3-5 minutes) are used for people who are training for strength and power. So usually heavier weights and smaller reps. Remember it’s up to your personal goals to decide what exactly you want to do. Also, remember to change up days for working out each muscle group. Allow each muscle group time to recover.

3. Being tricked. I always think to myself while on the treadmill or elliptical, “Am I really burning this many calories?” Don’t go by the calorie readings on your machines. Most machines are known to say you burn 30% more calories then you actually have. Most machines don’t know your weight, height, fitness level, age, etc. so it’s hard for it to give an accurate reading of exactly how many calories you have burned. I’m sorry to say this but from now on, always make your calories burned less then what you see. If you want to know how many calories you burn, try going by this model: to burn 300 calories you can jog for 3 miles, walk for 4 miles or bike for 10 miles. This isn’t right on but it may be close. If you want to make sure its 3oo calories just do a little extra and you will probably hit that mark.

Watermelon… no matter what shape it is, still contains vitamin A, C, and B6. So eat on!

4. Your workout makes you too hungry. It’s good that you are getting hungry but burning calories mean that we can fill our body up with more nutrients not overeat to the point that working out is reversing what we want! Sometimes working out makes people overeat because they are so hungry from working so hard. But eat normally and if you are still hungry fill up on vegetables or fruits. Give your body more of what it wants. Stay in the healthy calorie range of losing weight.

5. You kill yourself in your workout. This is not good. You want to be able to keep up a good workout schedule but if you over work yourself… working out regularly won’t last very long. Don’t workout to the point were all you want to do is lay on the couch because your muscles are too sore to walk. Over training can do more harm then good. It can result in insomnia, sugar cravings and cause injury or illness. You want your workout to be challenging but not to the point of killing your body.

I hope these tips help. If you have more, feel free to share!

How to get your Body HOT… and Sweaty

Feel the heat and feel the burn! I sure did! HOT YOGA kicked my butt today. It was my first time experiencing all that hot yoga had to offer and it only cost me 5 dollars, which is a phenomenal price. By the end of the 90 minute session in up to 100 degree Fahrenheit heat, my towel, clothes, and headband could be wrung out. I sweat a lot usually, but no complaining… I love it! It makes me feel like I’m making my body really work, which is what I want. 

At the Pure Yoga & Fitness class, I was the only newbie out of roughly 20 people. It was a little intimidating at first but once I got passed the warm-up, the moves got a lot more complicated so no one was focusing on me. The focus was on themselves. The class had everything you could ask for in a workout session: sweat, increased heart rate, shaking, relaxing, stretching, challenges, rest, and a great after feeling!

10 minutes into class I already had my heart rate up, the sweat was starting to rapidly roll down my body, and I was facing challenging poses. I have done some yoga before but nothing like this. My body was not used to bending or staying in some positions for very long. But if I happen to not me able to perform a move… there was always a modification I could do. Some poses we had to hold for what seemed like an eternity because my body was shaking so much. But that’s good! That means my body was working hard so all my muscles were getting worked out, which is how the body tones itself. I want those tone arms! Also, I hear you can burn roughly 600 calories a class. That would take over an hour and fifteen minutes running at around a 6.0 pace! Hot yoga gets it all done! It’s a cardio workout, a stretch workout, a challenging workout and a breathing workout. All at the same time.

 

Shine like a star

The first class was tough for me. But challenging your body and seeing what you can do and how much you can improve is one of the greatest feelings. I’m so excited to go again. After class, my body felt so relaxed. I definitely drank my fair share of water during and after. I recommend hot yoga for everyone, both men and women. The class also had a very large age group, ages ranged from teenagers to people in their 60′s. It was great motivation to see some of the older participants in class because they were really good at it! If you have done hot yoga before, share your experiences! I would love to know more about it and I highly recommend it for people who have never done it.