If you and your family love to eat at restaurants, you may think that this lifestyle is not good for a healthy diet. In many cases, you would be correct. However, you can still enjoy restaurants occasionally and maintain your healthy diet. Its all about making good food choices, which starts with learning about the nutrition you need to stay happy, physically healthy, mentally stable, and active.
When you pick up the menu, start by skipping over the drink section. Although you may be tempted to enjoy a beer or mixed beverage with your dinner, these usually have many empty calories, which is not good for your body. The exception to this rule when it comes to alcohol is wine, especially red wine, which can be fine if you have a single glass and can actually help prevent heart disease for some patients.
Also skip over the appetizer menu, unless it’s to over a side salad. The appetizers at restaurants are usually high-fat foods that are not meant to fill you up and can in fact make you crave even more high fat foods. Examples of these are mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and wings. Instead, simply focus on your main course or, if you must indulge, share a single serving with the entire table of people.
When choosing your main dish, it is of course important that you look at the ingredients of the dish. Anything with cream sauces or high-fat meats should be avoided, and pass up the potatoes or onion rings. Instead over side dishes like vegetables or ask for jus the main course when possible.
Remember too that portion is everything. Order off of the lunch menu whenever you can, and ask for a diggie bag right away. Split your meal in half from the start so that you are not tempted to eat the entire thing, which is usually enough for two or three portions.
At the end of your meal, stick over the desert menu, just like you did with the appetizers. Again, you can share a single desert with the entire table if you feel compelled to order something, or split your portion in half. Many fancy desserts are restaurants have more calories than your entire meal, so keep this in mind before you flag down the waitress to put in an order! Of course, on special occasions, it’s alright to cheat a little, but overall healthy eating requires lots of resisting temptation around you.
If you currently do not eat a healthy diet, it can be difficult to start such a plan. However, healthy eating is important for maintaining bodily function and living a disease-free life. If you struggle with healthy eating, than you know that breaking unhealthy habits can be the most difficult part of the process. However, if you truly want to live the best lifestyle possible, it is important to follow tips in order to start eating a more healthy diet.
A good beginning step when you want to start eating more healthily is to rid you home of all founds that do not into healthy categories. Keep junk foods and beverages out of your house so that you will not be tempted to snack during the day. If you’re worried about getting hungry, keep healthy snacks like carrot sticks, yogurt, fresh fruit, or whole-wheat crackers on hand. If you find that you just cannot bear to toss out the sweets, try keeping something tiny on hand, like chocolate chips. Eating a few of these won’t ruin your diet but also will give you that little sugary fix you rave.
Another great step to healthy eating when you are first starting the process is to take a few moments to learn about what foods are the healthiest for you and how they work in the body. Most people understand that fruits, vegetables, and low-fat means and dairy products are good for you, but few people understand why. The key is learning about nutrients. When you understand how specific nutrients work in the body, you will be more likely to make these healthy choices for your body. Knowledge really is power!
When cleansing yourself to prepare for a new healthy diet, you should also take into consideration your schedule for meals. If you often eat in a rushed hurry at odd times of day, you probably are not getting the best foods possible. Plan ahead! Instead of grabbing a fast food lunch on the go, take a bagged lunch to work, complete with a healthy wrap and some fresh vegetables. Plan ahead for healthy meals in the evening as well by cooking ahead if you are not currently getting healthy dinners and have little time to cook when you get home every night.
Start with baby steps. Even if you only replace one soda a day with a glass of water, you are really improve your calorie intake. If you eat fast food every day for lunch, try replacing that even half of the time. When you start by taking small steps, it does not seem like you are cutting out all of the foods you love and you can take your time to learn about healthy foods which you can love equally as well.
Fit Beauty: Get your closet in shape with "The One Hundred"
Filed under: Book Reviews, Fit Beauty, Fit Fashion, Stress Reduction
Normally I wouldn't work a book review into Fit Beauty, but this is just too perfect. I recently read Nina Garcia's The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own, and just like watching an inspirational sports movie makes me want to hit the gym, this book made me want to shop. But with a purpose.
It seems like each season, I look in my closet and think, "Holy crap, I have nothing to wear." I know that's completely untrue, but I also know I'm not alone. And while that might not seem like a big deal, it really can take a toll on you emotionally when you can't find anything to wear, and you know you spent a bit of cash on clothes just a year ago.
With some help from this book, I now feel confident that I can shop in a way that will be productive and stay relevant from season to season, year after year. Let me explain.
For Maggie, it's her thighs -- the area she most wants to tone and firm. I'm with her on this problem area but right now, I'm on the hunt for exercises that will make over my butt. I don't have any huge issues with it but I think I could definitely target the area a bit more.
Here, About.com features the top 10 butt exercises. Many of them, I already do -- squats, lunges, biking, running, and walking. I want more. Prevention.com likes these -- All-Fours Kick-Back, Dog Walk, Side-Lying Side Kick, and Standing Press Back -- and I do too. There's more here, from womens-health-fitness.com. And our friends at AOL Health offer these step-by-step instructions for building a better butt.
I'm armed. I'm ready. I'm starting tomorrow. Maggie, you tell me how your thighs shape up. And I'll report on the state of my butt. Anyone else want to join us in our quest for better body parts?
The leaves are turning, the days are shorter -- it's impossible to ignore the fact that fall is coming ... er ... make that already here. Despite the fact that it means the impending doom of winter is just around the corner, I like fall -- the colours, the clothes, the warm food and the selection of produce at my local farmer's market.
Mark's Daily Apple Recently counted down the top veggies for fall -- next time you go shopping, stock up on these:
- Endive
- Broccoli
- Brussel Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Celery root
- Onions
- Pumpkin
- Spinach
- Zucchini
We Love To Gawk At Fit Celebs - Jennifer Lopez completes triathlon
Filed under: Celebrities, Fitness, We Love To Gawk At Fit Celebs
Jennifer Lopez's much-anticipated triathlon occurred this weekend, and the singer/dancer/actress/new mom completed the race in two hours, 23 minutes, and 28 seconds, smiling the whole time. She wasn't the only celebrity taking part in this year's Nautica Malibu Triathlon -- Matthew McConaughey and Anna Kournikova also competed in the half-mile ocean swim, 18-mile bike ride, and four-mile run.
Lopez received plenty of encouragement -- she was cheered on my hubby Marc Anthony as well as McConaughey. However, the cause she was running for might have been encouragement enough, seeing as how she raised $127,000 for the Children's Hospital of L.A.
But, if you know JLo, you know that drama tends to follow her, and this is no exception. She pulled out of a guest judging stint for the finale of Project Runway the day it was set to film, just days before the triathlon. Her excuse? A foot injury. I'm thinking (well, hoping, actually) that she was just experiencing a little pain and wanted to get it in the best shape possible for her race. And, she obviously did -- not only did she finish the race, but later that night, she was dressed to the nines for her husband's birthday bash ... in New York
Would you want your kid running on a treadmill to stay fit? More importantly, would your kid be interested in running in one place? One toy manufacturer says yes to both questions and has developed a couple of new fitness products designed with little ones in mind -- Fitness Fun's My Treadmill and Glide-a-Stride. But the exercise machines are causing quite a stir, according to Boston.com.
On one hand, something has to be done to combat childhood obesity and inactivity. On the other?
Dr. David Ludwig, director of the Optimal Weight for Life Clinic at Children's Hospital Boston, says, "We have to remember that children are not just little adults. Kids' bodies and their minds are not designed to spend 20 minutes on a treadmill. [This] reflects, I think, a misguided mentality, where we're trying to make physical activity for children a commodity rather than a natural integrated part of their lives." (You can read more of the debate here.)
A few decades ago, kids didn't need a treadmill to get fit -- they didn't have video games, computers and 102 channels of programming to keep them indoors. If you ask me, parents should save their money and instead limit the amount of sit-down activities their child is engaged in. Maybe a treadmill will get them moving for the moment, but if you ask me, it's not an effective, lasting solution to combat obesity -- building a child's love of exercise through regular fun, engaging activities is the way to go.
What do you think?
2 fresh tomato sauce recipes
Filed under: Food and Nutrition, General Health, Healthy Recipes, Organic, Vegetarian
Our CSA Farm has begun to produce an abundance of tomatoes these past few weeks. Aside from eating them like apples, as my three-year-old often chooses to do, you can make fresh tomato salad, salsa, or fresh tomato sauce.
Our very informal uncooked recipe goes something like this:
- Chop a bunch of tomatoes and put them in a bowl.
- Add enough balsamic vinegar and olive oil to cover them.
- Stir fresh minced garlic and chopped fresh basil into the tomato mixture.
- Season with seas salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Let marinate at room temperature at least 30 minutes before serving.
Battle your bulge with 5 super colors
Filed under: Diet and Weight Loss, Food and Nutrition, General Health
Two good diet foods: Fruits and veggies. They're low in calories and high in fiber, which makes them great ammunition in the battle of the bulge. They have a pretty super side effect too -- they're loaded with antioxidants to boost your health.
Next time you're shopping for your diet goods, pick up these five colors, each featuring unique antioxidants to keep you healthy while you whittle away at your weight.
- Red: Pink grapefruit, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and watermelon all contain lycopene, a lung and prostate cancer fighter.
- Purple: Concord grapes, blueberries, and prunes have anthocyanins to ward off heart disease and lower the risk of cancer.
- Green: Spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, and bok choy come with lutein, great for reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, and macular degeneration.
- Orange: Carrots, mangos, pumpkin, and oranges are the keepers of beta carotenes, the stuff that prevents cancers of the lung, esophagus, and stomach and keeps heart disease risk to a minimum and immune function to a maximum.
- White: Cauliflower, mushrooms, banana, and onions are stocked with anthoxanthins and allicin to help lower blood pressure and protect against stomach cancer.
You exercise, you eat right, you get a good night's sleep, and you try to stay organized; you're doing everything you can to manage your own stress. But what if you work with someone who isn't managing stress well?
Regardless of where you might work, there are a lot of reasons for stress in today's workplace -- threats of layoff, increased workload due to reduced staffing, and so on. When you add in all the non-work-related causes of stress, it's no wonder some people aren't managing the pressure well. And, no matter how well you handle stress, when a co-worker is stressing you'll be affected by it.
So what can you do to help a stressed out co-worker? As long as you don't take on the reasons for their stress (e.g. taking their workload), it's a good thing to help out. And, if you happen to be the boss, it's imperative that you do so in order to maintain a positive workplace and to prevent productivity from slipping.
