Dining Out Guide for the Health Conscious Eater

Here's food for thought! Did you know the average restaurant meal has over 1,000 calories? That's enough to blow any healthy eating plan. Fortunately, by following a few simple guidelines, you can dine out without having to sacrifice good taste and nutrition.

1. Avoid ordering an appetizer. It's a little known fact that some appetizers have more calories and fat than the main course. Plus, many appetizers are fried and served with heavy sauces which will add to your intake of saturated fat as well as trans fats and calories. It's not a healthy way to start your meal.

2. Say "yes" to salad. Salad is a healthy eater's best friend. Not only will it fill you up so you'll consume fewer calories overall, but it will also give you a hefty dose of antioxidants which are heart healthy. Be sure to ask your waitress to hold the croutons and cheese which will further reduce your caloric load. Also, choose your dressing wisely. Avoid cream based dressings and go for the vinegar based ones. You also have the option of using vinegar and olive oil which is heart healthy.

3. Make the right entree selection. Go for broiled and grilled rather than fried. Not only will you save calories and fat grams, you'll also avoid trans fats which are so prevalent in fried foods. Instead, consider asking for a doubles order of vegetables with your entree. Very few Americans are getting the 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables recommended for optimal health. Plus, by avoiding the starch, you'll be reducing your caloric and carbohydrate load. Also, stick to tomato based sauces rather than cream based and you'll enjoy a considerable calorie savings. Lastly, ask for the sauce to be served in a separate dish on the side so you can control the amount you eat.

4. Think about what you're drinking with your meal. By not ordering an alcoholic beverage, you've saved yourself a considerable number of calories. Try sipping iced tea sweetened with a noncaloric sweetener, a diet soft drink, or water with lemon. You'll be glad you did when you consider the calorie savings.

5. Indulge your sweet tooth wisely. Many of the chain restaurants now offer a low fat or low carbohydrate dessert selection such as a low carb cheesecake. These are wise choices for the health conscious eater and still allow you to end the meal on a sweet note. If a healthy dessert option isn't available, try a cup of coffee with skim milk to help satiate your desire for something sweet.

6. Learn to control your portions. Many restaurants are serving larger quantities of food than in the past. If this is the case, put aside a portion of your entree at the beginning of the meal to take home with you. If you remove it from your plate before you start eating, you'll be less tempted to overindulge.

By following these steps, you can make your dining experiences not only healthy, but enjoyable. Your heart will thank you!

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Becoming A Healthy Eater

Being a healthy eater requires you to become both

educated and smart about what healthy eating

actually is. Being food smart isn't about

learning to calculate grams or fat, or is it

about studying labels and counting calories.

Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate

eating, consisting of healthy meals at least

three times per day. Healthy eaters eat many

different types of foods, not limiting themselves

to one specific food type or food group.

Eating healthy requires quite a bit of leeway. You

might eat too much or not enough, consume

foods that are sometimes more or less nutritious.

However, you should always fuel your body and

your brain regularly with enough food to keep

both your mind and body strong and alert.

A healthy eater is a good problem solver. Healthy

eaters have learned to take care of themselves

and their eating with sound judgement and making

wise decisions. Healthy eaters are always aware

of what they eat, and know the effect that it

will have on their bodies.

When someone is unable to take control of their

eating, they are also likely to get out of control

with other aspects of life as well. They could

end up spending too much, talking too much, even

going to bed later and later.

You should always remember that restricting food

in any way is always a bad thing. Healthy eating

is a way of life, something that you can do to

enhance your body or your lifestyle. If you've

thought about making your life better, healthy

eating is just the place to start. You'll make

life easier for yourself, those around you, and

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Your Diet And Nutrition Are You An Emotional Eater?

Many people suffer from the same eating problems, but among those eating issues, there is on that stands out. Emotional eating. For most people, it is the leading cause of abnormal weight gain, as you end up compensating for your emotional distress by sitting down for a large snack. Once and a while this is fine, but do it too often and you will find it hard to lose any weight.

Every time you eat anything, you need to write down your state of mind in your food journal. Were you feeling tired, upset, depressed, happy or energetic? Just writing a few words about how you felt at the time you decided to eat can make a world of difference when it comes time to analyze your eating behaviors.

While your emotions are a good starting point, if you want to get even more in depth in your journal, you should go ahead and make that extra effort. At the end of each day, make a note about what happened during that day. Were the events good or bad? Did they lead to you eating more than you normally would have?

Once you analyze your emotions in regard to your hunger levels and how often you eat your meals, you may be able to find a pattern which you can use to become a more proper eater. Maybe you'll find that you eat more when you're depressed, even if you do not feel that hungry. Or perhaps you will find that you bolster happy days with food to make you feel even better.

The ultimate goal of any food journal you create is to be able to track your dietary patterns to see what needs to be changed if you hope to lose weight. While the core of your food notebook should be based on what you eat and how much of it you ate, you should also take the time to write about your state of mind, how often you eat, and where you have your meals. While these facts may seem useless at first, they can provide you with a number of interesting observations about what you need to change if you hope to lose weight.

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