Day: April 12, 2011

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Four Tips To Healthy Restaurant Meals

Eating out has become a part of every American household’s life. It is that one occasion where Mom gets to forgo cooking and the family gets together over delectable meals whether to celebrate special occasions or simply to just unwind and relax. But with the recent statistics on American obesity coupled with the revelations on the exceedingly high amount of calories found in most restaurant meals, many point to one as the cause of the other.

The problem is that avoiding the cafes, fine dining restaurants, and fast food joints all at the same time seems to be quite inconceivable for some, especially with the increased temptations of the many Italian, French, American and Asian restaurants proliferating in our cities today. The good news is that there are effective ways by which you can enjoy your usual dining outs while still staying true to a healthy and nutritious meal.

Screen the Restaurant’s Menu

Before your dinner date with the family, experts advise taking the time out to pull up your restaurant’s menu online. Doing this will allow you to sort out the healthy meals from the not so good ones and the internet is also a good way to conduct a calorie count to check on your chosen dishes. Plus it makes ordering much easier and you can easily check on whether you can use your O’Charley’s coupons to save on extra money.

Order a Meal to Your Specifications

If you feel that the menu items falls short on healthy choices then feel free to specify on how you would want a particular meal to be prepared. You can always ask to have your meat grilled, steamed or broiled instead of fried and you can opt to exchange your greasy fries for vegetable side dishes instead.

Ask Questions

Asking questions at a fine dining restaurant does not mean to say that you are ignorant, on the contrary it simply means that you are smart enough to familiarize yourself with their menu. In fact, many weight loss blogs emphasize the importance of asking about the ingredients in your dishes and how they are cooked. You will be surprised to know that even your healthy salad can be packed with calories you don’t even realize.

Get your H2O Fill

Instead of ordering wine, soda or juices that are all sugar enriched, why not gulp down on healthy and all natural water. If you find it too boring, then ask your waiter to add in a fresh squeeze of lemon or lime to invigorate your H20.

Living healthy is a matter of choice and once you’ve chosen this path, sticking to it is all about being conscious of what goes inside your body.

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Swap It, for a Better You

Woman Running Barefoot (IMG_1153)Losing weight is not an easy feat especially if we cannot seem to do the big lifestyle changes that weight loss programs demand. But as any process, starting small can go a long way and is a fantastic start to the journey to a better health. One of these baby steps that you can easily adhere to is setting your mind on choosing better alternatives not just on matters of picking out food, but of daily activities as well. Remember that eating healthy and moving helps you lose fat while decreasing your risk to heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

These changes may seem small but overtime it will pay off if you stick to them and successfully train yourself to the “swap it” mindset. Encourage your family and friends to do the same. Here are some swap it ideas that are easily incorporated in your lifestyle.

1. Bigger portions to smaller portions.

If it is hard to stop eating your favorite dishes regardless of how unhealthy they may be, then go ahead and eat it, just in a smaller portion than usual. Then eat slowly so you can recognize it when your stomach is full. Avoid going back for seconds. When eating dessert, divide it into two and share it with someone. Make this a habit and gradually you’ll start managing your appetite better.

2. Frequent to Sometimes.

Control the number of times you go for take-away foods or eating out. You don’t have to  put a stop to it right away as again, we are doing baby steps here. Otherwise, you’ll just be resistant to change and readily fall back to bad habits. So instead of passing by the fast food every Friday, do it every fortnight instead.

Keep a tab on your diary to help. Instead of having soft drinks every dinner, make it every other day, cutting them down further over time and choosing water instead. Same goes for treats such as ice creams and lollies. You’ll find it easier to remove it altogether in a matter of weeks with this method.

3. Inside to Outside.

When you find yourself sitting in the couch having nothing to watch really, then make a swap for the outside. Grab your runners and walk around your neighborhood instead. You’ll be burning fat and get your heart pumping, definitely way better than doing nothing important.

Encourage children to do the same, choosing outdoor games at the park instead of sitting and playing video games. You can also work out your social life this way by inviting friends for a walk instead of having coffee at home. Go for a tennis or bowling game instead of watching a movie. Swap inactivity to activity.

4. Diet to Healthy. One of the main reasons people fail in their quest to lose weight is their false mindset of “dieting”. They avoid and stop eating altogether so they often bounce back to their old habits. Swapping it instead to a healthy lifestyle mindset is more effective as you will be convincing yourself that the priority is improving your health to avoid diseases.

Losing weight will follow nonetheless. And striving to be healthy makes swapping choices easier. Picking up a fruit instead of a chocolate bar, having a cup of tea instead of snacking, and buying low-fat instead of full cream milk. Do the tips mentioned above as they point out to a healthier lifestyle.

Dieting fads are hard to live by. But learning how to live a healthy lifestyle is more likely to stick with you as it becomes a habit.  So start making simple everyday changes and the benefits will follow.

Jessy blogs on health dieting, frugal living and eco-friendly gadgets. Her most recent blogs are fiber weight loss and carb diets. You can follow Jessy on Twitter as @JessyTroy

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Guide To Buying A Fitness Treadmill

The electric treadmill has become the hottest selling exercise equipment over the last 15 years. This means the sales of treadmills have exceeded any other kind of exercise machine. This is not surprising as the treadmill is the only machine that you can actually run and walk on. They have also many new features that enable you to make your workouts more interesting and challenging. Sports computers allow you to simulate the speed and gradient of specific races such as a marathon. With heart rate monitors you can gauge your performance and maximise the efficiency of your workout sessions. The huge demand for the this particular exercise machine has resulted in many brands coming on to the market such as Nordic Track, Trimline treadmill and Precor.

When it comes to buying a treadmill you want to make sure that you plan ahead otherwise you could end up paying a lot of money on a machine that you find out later is not suitable for you. Many people fall into this trap and end up with a very expensive piece of exercise equipment that just gathers dust in the corner. Before you make a choice there are a few considerations that you should make. With treadmills you tend to get what you pay for. For $1200 you will get a decent machine but for quality and long term treadmill exercise performance you should focus on machines within the price category of $3000. What sort of features do you want? Today treadmills can come with a variety of pre programmed workouts, incline features and heart rate monitors. These kind of features can add to the overall cost therefore, make sure that you really want them. In general terms the longer the warranty is the better the quality of the treadmill. Look for a warranty that has at least 3 years for parts and 1 year for labour.

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