Want Faster Results? Try These 3 Food Tricks.

Working out hard is an essential part of any fat loss plan. It sculpts your muscles, raises your resting metabolism, whittles down your waist and gives you functional strength and endurance.

The only catch is that you can seriously slow, or even reverse, your results by eating poorly. There's nothing quite as frustrating as when you are working out like a champ only to face the same belly rolls each morning.

To keep you from giving up in frustration, try these 3 Easy Food Tricks to amp up your results.

Why am I calling these tricks? A trick usually implies that someone is getting fooled, and, well, in this scenario you're that someone. These tricks will fool your taste-buds and your mouth into thinking that you're eating your regular favorites, when, in fact, you'll actually be eating a meal with fewer calories, fewer carbs and more fiber.

This means quicker fat loss and smaller belly rolls.

That sounds fantastic, right? So let's dig right in...

Easy Food Trick #1: RICE
Rice is a big part of many a meal. There's white rice, brown rice, stir fried rice, sticky rice, wild rice and the list goes on. All of these kinds of rice (yes, even brown rice) are packed with carb and calories. This is great, if you are a growing child or an athlete, but not so great for someone like you with a fat loss goal.

Rather than give up rice completely, because that would make your veggies and meat look really lonely on a half-empty plate, let's turn to Easy Food Trick #1.

CAULIFLOWER RICE: Now, don't get skeptical on me until you give this food trick a try. To make rice from cauliflower first wash it and trim the leaves and stems. Chop into small pieces and then run those pieces through a food processor with the grating attachment. This will result in a rice-like consistency. Place the cauliflower rice in a large skillet with a Tablespoon of olive oil and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and you are good to go. Serve your normal vegetable and meat dishes over a bed of cauliflower rice just as you would traditional rice.

Easy Food Trick #2: NOODLES
Have you ever noticed that when you crave your favorite pasta dish, you're actually just craving the sauce? Noodles alone are bland and unspectacular. The magic, as well as the protein, is in the sauce.

Noodles, like traditional rice, are packed with calories and carbs that get in the way of your fat loss results. So, rather than just eating a bowl of sauce, try Easy Food Trick #2.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES: Again, try this trick before you knock it, I'm guessing that you'll be pleasantly surprised. Wash a zucchini, and then run a vegetable peeler down its sides, creating long, wide noodles. Stop when you reach the inner, seedy part of the zucchini. These raw, zucchini noodles do not require any cooking, simply throw them onto your plate and top with your favorite pasta sauce. (Of course, I'm assuming that you're not going to use a white, cream-based sauce, but that's another article for another day.)

Easy Food Trick #3: BREAD, BUNS, TORTILLAS
Cauliflower rice and zucchini noodles are all find and dandy for those meals that you prepare at home, but what about your meals eaten out? Many restaurant meals revolve around bread, buns or tortillas. These things are tasty, yet filled with calories and carbs that add to those annoying belly rolls.

That's when you turn to Easy Food Trick #3.

THE LETTUCE WRAP: This trick is more popular than the first two, so you may already be familiar with it. How does it work? When ordering your meal, be it a sandwich, burger or tacos, ask that it be wrapped in lettuce in place of the bread, bun or tortilla. Most places are really cool about it, and you end up getting to eat the good part of the meal – the meat and flavors—without the carb-filled extras. If for some reason the restaurant is unable to wrap it in lettuce for you, then ask for the filling to be placed on a pile of greens and eat it with a fork.

Try these 3 Easy Food Tricks out for the next 30 days, and see how quickly your fat loss results ramp up. The improved results will motivate you to workout harder and more consistently, which will then add to an even greater level of fitness.

Tricks Become Tradition

The real fat loss benefits from the 3 Easy Food Tricks above come when you make this way of eating a part of your lifestyle. It may sound strange or hard at first, but – like anything—once you grow accustomed to that style of eating it will feel comfortable, and you will be leaner!

From the Desk of John Hall Studios

Yogurt and probiotics promote digestive health.

If you’ve spent any time in the yogurt section of your local supermarket lately, you might see more and more products that highlight their “live active cultures” – a nice way of saying that the yogurt is full of bacteria.

While the idea of consuming bacteria in the diet may not sound appealing, probiotic bacteria found in yogurt and other fermented dairy products can promote digestive health.

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that help maintain the proper balance of the microorganisms (called flora) that live in your digestive tract.  Your digestive system is home to hundreds of types of probiotics, and these helpful bacteria keep the growth of other, potentially harmful, bacteria at bay – thus promoting healthy digestion.

The bacteria in your system also help to break down foods that are resistant to normal digestion, allowing you to obtain more nutrients from your foods.  In the process, gas is produced – but we have other gas-guzzling bacteria that keep its production in check.  So, a healthy balance of these various intestinal ‘bugs’ is key to a well-functioning digestive tract.

One of the most common strains of probiotic bacteria that reside in your intestines is Lactobacillus acidophilus, which is found in yogurt.  When you eat yogurt that has ‘active, live cultures’ (the label will tell you), you can be assured that you are consuming this healthy probiotic.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. 

How to put diet advice into practice

You know what you should be eating because you’ve heard most diet advice before – but you just can’t quite figure out how to apply that diet advice to make it part of your daily eating routine.  Here are some tips to help you put your nutrition knowledge into action.

For those of us in the US, mid-April means one thing – it’s tax time.  Many dread it, and put it off to the last minute – in large part because completing your own tax return is difficult,  it’s  complicated, and just so darned…. well, taxing.  But as tough as it may be, it’s apparently not nearly as hard as figuring out how to eat well… in an online survey¹ of more than 1,000 Americans that was released last year, 52% said that it was harder to figure out “what you should and shouldn’t eat to be healthier” than it is to figure out “how to do your own taxes.”

Choosing a healthy diet just shouldn’t be that hard.  And, it’s not for lack of knowledge.  In general, people seem to know what they should be doing – in the same survey, for instance, most people said they were trying to limit their intake of salt, fat and sugar and were trying to eat more fruits and vegetables.  But when you look at  what people say they’re trying to do – and what they’re actually doing – there’s a bit of a disconnect.  We may be able to “talk the talk”, but we don’t seem to be “walking the walk” – the majority of Americans don’t get the recommended number of fruits and veggies every day,  intake of added fats and sugars is at an all-time high, and 44% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week.

So when people say it’s hard to figure out what to eat, the problem isn’t really that they don’t know what to do – it’s more that they just don’t know how.  (Of course, you also have to want  to do it, too…).  But the bottom line is this – all the knowledge in the world isn’t going to do you much good if you can’t figure out how to put it into practice.

How to put diet advice into practice

Diet advice:  Eat more fruits and vegetables

How to:

• Make it convenient to eat them – keep a bowl of fresh fruit on your kitchen counter and keep cut up veggies on a shelf in the refrigerator.  If preparing them is too time-consuming, you might opt for pre-cut fruits and veggies and ready-to-eat salad greens. 
• Frozen fruits and vegetables are nutritious and convenient – you can add frozen fruits to your Herbalife Formula 1 protein shakes, or thaw and stir into yogurt, cottage cheese or hot cereals. 
• Add extra veggies to mixed dishes, soups, stews, omelets –  even to your Chinese takeout. 
• At restaurants, skip the starch and order double veggies for your side dish, and start your meal off with a salad.

Diet advice:  Reduce fat intake

How to:

• Fried foods are a big offender here – so that means that a good place to start would be limiting your intake of things like chips and French fries. 
• Choose low fat dairy products – milk, cottage cheese, yogurt – over the full-fat versions, and opt for fish and poultry more often than fattier red meat. 
• Added fats – sauces, dressings, mayonnaise, butter, margarine – add up quickly, too, so use sparingly or find lower fat alternatives. 
• And watch for “hidden fats” – there’s plenty of fat lurking in foods like desserts, snack foods, breads and pastries.   
• When you’re cooking at home, use fats sparingly when you cook, search out low fat recipes, and give your own high fat recipes a makeover to reduce fat. 

Diet advice:  Reduce added sugar intake

How to:

• A lot of the sugar we take in comes from beverages, so choose calorie-free water or tea as often as possible, and limit your intake of fruit juices. 
• If plain water doesn’t appeal to you, add a slice of lemon or lime, a few pieces of fresh fruit, or a tiny splash of fruit juice to your water for a bit of flavor. 
• Let fruit take the place of dessert, and limit the amount of pre-sweetened foods that you buy.
• Pre-sweetened cereals and yogurt, for example, can have a lot of added sugar – you’ll take in much less if you buy plain yogurt or unsweetened whole grain cereals and sweeten it yourself – preferably with fresh fruit.  Don’t worry about the natural sugars in fruit, milk and dairy products – just focus on reducing the amount of sugar that’s added to everyday foods.

Diet advice:  Eat more fiber

How to:

• See item #1 above -  “eat more fruits and vegetables”.  Fruits and vegetables are great sources of fiber, and when you make a point to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal or snack, that can go a long way towards meeting your daily fiber goals. 
• Beans and whole grains are also good sources of fiber – try adding some canned beans to soups and salads, or mashed into a hummus dip to eat with raw veggies. 
• Turn to whole grains – like brown rice, barley, quinoa, millet – and whole grain foods (100% whole grain breads, pasta, cereals) rather than the refined “white” versions to boost your fiber intake.

Diet advice:  Watch your sodium intake

How to:

• Most people get much more salt from processed foods than they do from the salt shaker – so a good first step is to eat most of your foods as close as possible to their natural state. 
• If you buy canned foods – like veggies, tuna or soups – look for reduced sodium versions. 
• Cut back on processed meats which are often loaded with sodium (even the so-called low-sodium versions), and lean towards fresh meats and poultry which naturally contain very little.
• You can also ‘dilute’ the sodium in convenience foods by adding extra veggies to canned soups or doubling the amount of grains when you prepare something like a packaged seasoned rice mix (and use brown rice when you do….). 
• And find other ways to season foods rather than always relying on salt.  Herbs, spices, onions, garlic and citrus add flavor without sodium – and you get a nutrition boost, too.

¹International Food Information Council Foundation, “2012 Food and Health Survey:  Consumer Attitudes Towards Food Safety, Nutrition and Health”. 

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD.

Mindless to Mindful Eating for Weight Loss

Do your clients eat mindlessly? From our underlying clean plate mentality, to dietary danger zones, to chicken wings, storage containers and taller glasses, help them discover strategies to incorporate mindful tactics to overcome barriers to losing weight and keeping it off.

The art of successful weight loss remains elusive for many. On one hand we learn that effective weight loss programs should shift their focus from outcome-based goals where we exhibit less control (e.g., losing 20 lbs. in 15 weeks) to more behavioral-based processes where we exercise more control (i.e., small strategies implemented daily). But we also learn that to better motivate by building importance and anticipation, we should de-emphasize daily caloric differences (e.g., 300 kcal deficit in 24 hours) in favor of speaking to a 31 pound weight difference in a year (i.e., 300 kcal x 365 days = 109,500 kcal or 31 lbs.). Although both effective, they might also be interpreted as somewhat contradictory strategies, so what do you do? In a practice where strategies generally target diet and activity, consider adding a new strategy that incorporates elements from both, yet also addresses the impact of environmental stimuli and how they influence eating behaviors. This strategy is slowly taking center stage as a key player in tackling the challenge of weight loss (1). Examine environmental cues and learn how to shift eating behaviors from mindless to mindful.

What we are discovering is many of us remain mindless, consciously unaware, over 100 – 300 calories of nibbles and bites throughout the day and only become mindful of what we actually eat when surpluses or deficits reach 500 – 1,000 calories (2). For example, if you overate today with an extra meal or 1,000 additional calories, you would probably think consciously about the consequences and quite consider compensatory actions or resolutions. However, the mindless 100 – 300 calories accumulated throughout the day (e.g., two small candies at a co-worker’s desk, a bite of your child’s ice-cream bar, etc.) generally fail to trigger conscious awareness. By the same token, many feel that they pay attention to everything they eat, but on average, we make more than 200 daily food decisions, although we believe we only make about 15 (3). The truth is that we often behave mindlessly around food and although some may discount 100 – 300 kcal daily, it can amount to a 10½ – 31 lbs. (4.8 – 14 Kg) weight gain in a year. The focus therefore of this article is to examine various environmental cues that stimulate sub-conscious overeating and offer helpful mindful takeaways to consider sharing with your clients.

Portion Size It is probably safe to assume we all agree portion sizes have increased steadily over the past 30 years for many reasons – technological improvements to economically mass produce food and consumer demands for more cost value. Yet, this slow and ever-expanding portion distortion, coupled with our ‘clean-plate’ mentality has spurred overeating. One interesting study examined different portion sizes with stale five-day old popcorn revealing that people consumed 53% more popcorn (173 kcal) when given larger containers (4), even with bad food.

As portion sizes expand, so do the tools used to eat (e.g., plates, glasses, etc.). Try reducing portion sizes by mini-sizing eating tools (e.g., use smaller plates or side-plates; use taller thin glasses, rather than shorter fatter glasses which can reduce over pouring up to 37%). Try capping portion reduction to 20% as this generally goes unnoticed. Portion size reductions reaching 30% or greater increases conscious awareness of the reduction inducing a sense of deprivation, and may trigger a psychological reactance effect (1). This is a phenomenon defining behavioral responses that occur when regulatory actions threaten or eliminate specific behavioral freedoms (5). In other words, when a person feels deprived of their choices or freedoms then undesirable behaviors become more appealing, motivating a person to recapture that threatened parameter.

Pace the Clock After eating, the presence of food in the stomach and gastrointestinal (GI) track, and the entry of food into the blood trigger neural and hormonal responses that turn off our hunger sensation. Hormones such as leptin from the fat cells and cholecystokinin released from intestinal cells can suppress the urge to eat further. However, it is estimated that these responses may take up to 20 minutes after those first bites to take effect, which raises the question over how much calorie consuming damage one can do in 20 minutes. On average, fast food is consumed within 11 minutes, whereas food consumed in a moderately-priced restaurant takes 28 minutes (6). Implement a strategy to control your client’s eating pace by taking the time to stop, sit and eat, or to sit with the slowest eater in the group. Be mindful however of the dining ‘pacesetter’, the person who may unknowingly sets standards for how much food and how fast it will be consumed (7). If this person eats chips and salsa, he or she may influence others to mindlessly join in and eat comparable amounts. Identify the slowest eater and mindfully avoid the pacesetter.

In Sight Equals In Mind The power of sight (what we see) can stimulate or suppress appetite, so be mindful of both. In a bottomless soup bowl study (automatically refilling bowl v. regular bowls) those eating from the bottomless bowl consumed more soup and 73% more calories (155 kcal v. 268 kcal) (8). Interestingly, the bottomless bowl group never made mention to feeling full and both groups, as expected, under-estimated total calories eaten.On the other hand, we have also learned that sometimes what we see can raise our level of consciousness or awareness as to how much we are overeating. In a chicken wing study, when bones were left in plain sight for people to see how much they ate, they actually consumed 28% less food (9). Considering our stomach cannot count, and how we consciously or subconsciously are forgetful in tracking what we eat, we may need mindful reminders.Interestingly, individuals who pre-plate their food (i.e., bring all they plan to eat to the table before eating) as opposed to making several trips to the buffet line will eat 14% less food (1). The takeaway message is that we need to be more vigilant about our ‘clean-plate’ mentality; sometimes visibly seeing what you plan to eat or have eaten may give reason to pause and be more mindful.

Out of Sight Equals Out of Mind We appreciate a bargain and often buy in bulk because of its value. In industrialized nations (e.g., U.S.), this mentality is amplified by abundant wholesale stores and larger vehicles, whereas in nations where individuals walk to purchase groceries or drive smaller cars, buying in bulk is sometimes not an option. Generally, when buying in bulk, we tend to initially overeat from these larger containers, then grow tired of the food whereupon it becomes a castaway in the refrigerator, freezer or pantry (10). Researchers have also discovered that individuals consuming snacks from clear jars consumed 71% more food versus food concealed in opaque containers (11). Removing food visibility decreases temptations for mindless snacking (seeing, smelling or thinking). The takeaway message – if buying in bulk, immediately repackage larger containers into smaller, non-see through containers and store out of sight – this helps curb subconscious eating. Even a small strategy such as placing a lid on a container or covering it with foil can curb mindless munching.

Don’t Deprive Foods (Comfort Foods) – Control Them Many food desires and cravings are trigged by thoughts, emotions or environmental stimuli. When we have such desires, comfort foods become a prime target to satisfy needs (1). People seek out comfort foods for many reasons, including rewards, celebrations, or feeling happy, bored, depressed or lonely. Although positive moods generally lead to healthier food choices in comparison to negative moods, we must help our clients consciously understand their triggers that spark specific food desires (12). Once mindfully aware of triggers, strategize distractions since these thoughts and emotions are generally short-lived. Aim to satisfy the thought or emotion while simultaneously reducing the likelihood of eating (e.g., calling a friend, expressing thoughts in a journal, playing with a pet or doing an activity). Keep things simple – the idea is to distract a short-lived desire, but also recognize that if the desire still persists after the distraction (i.e., a few minutes), allow the individual a small mindful indulgence to avoid any psychological reactance. A trade-off is another effective strategy for controlling mindless eating. Give people autonomy (ability to choose) to choose their behavioral action, but use consequential persuaders (i.e., give client the power to choose from several options, while concurrently making them aware of the consequence of each choice). This again reduces chances of psychological reactance. For example, making them aware that a 100 kcal snack is equivalent to a 23-minute walk or standing for 52 minutes (13). Present these consequences and let them decide.

• Women: 1 kcal = 20 steps walking (1-minute walking = 4.3 kcal).
• Men: I kcal = 17 steps walking (1-minute walking = 5 kcal).

Control Choice When more food choices and colors are presented, we typically imagine more enjoyment from the food. By comparison, when we have decreased food choices, we often experience a perception of less food enjoyment (1). Putting the same food into multiple bowls can also result in people perceiving more choices and eating more, by up to 18% (14). A challenge with food choices is that we don’t fully comprehend how much we should take or want, so we gauge our decisions by what we think is appropriate. When there is more food or when we perceive there is more food, we tend to think eating more is appropriate, a concept called sensory-specific satiety (1). In a study using M&Ms^®, researchers compared 7 colors versus 10 colors, and while each color tastes the same, those given more color choices ate 43 more M&Ms^® (99 v. 56 in total) (15). The takeaway message is that by controlling the number of food choices available, we may subconsciously develop a perception of less enjoyment from the food and may actually eat less.

De-convenience Convenient Foods – Create ‘pause points’ This approach is to make snacking a hassle and not a habit. This can be accomplished by making snacks less accessible and creating ‘pause points’ where one has a moment to consciously contemplate the consequences of snacking and possibly avoid mindless eating. In one study chocolates were placed on the corner of a desk, in a drawer, and then on a file cabinet six feet (1.85 m) away in random order (16). The results demonstrated that when chocolates were easily accessible (i.e., on the desk), an average of nine chocolates per day were eaten. By comparison, only six and four were eaten per day with chocolates in the drawer or on the filing cabinet, respectively.Another classic and often-cited study looked at eating behaviors when conscious cues where utilized to help control eating. Participants were served tubes of regular Pringles^® potato chips and allowed to eat as many as they wanted, but in some tubes red chips were placed at regular intervals (7^th or 14^th interval; 5^th and 10^th interval in follow-up study), a process called segmenting. Interestingly, in the tubes with no red chips, individuals ate significantly more chips whereas they ate less with the smallest red chip intervals (17). Individuals eating from the red chip tubes were also better at estimating how many chips they ate. Segmenting packages appears to effectively reduce food consumption by helping:

• Call attention to and encourage better monitoring of eating
• Controlling portion sizes
• Breaking automated eating sequences by introducing a pause
• The takeaway is to move snack foods outside of six feet where an individual has to physically move to access the food, giving time to structure an opportunity for a‘pause point’ where consequences can be contemplated (e.g., that 100 kcal snack will require 20 minutes of walking). Likewise, implementing strategies whereby eaters are given conscious ‘pause-points’ may also help curb mindless eating behaviors.

 Halo Effect Healthy foods continue to garner more attention and popularity, but be cautious not to lose sight that healthy does not necessarily mean fewer calories. In a study comparing individuals who ate at McDonalds^® versus Subway^®, it was the people who ate at Subway that underestimated total calories consumed by a larger margin (34% underestimation v. 25% at McDonalds) (18). The notion of healthy may give eaters a false sense of confidence, believing that choices are healthier and leaner. The takeaway is to read the fine print – don’t be fooled by ‘healthy marketing’ where because food appears healthy, it must contain fewer calories.

Know your Dietary Danger Spots
Many of us are unaware of our dietary danger spots, those locations where we tend to exhibit poor dietary behaviors (choices, portion sizes, or rate of food consumption). Take time to become more aware of your client’s problematic eating environments as this is certainly an area where we can help them improve. Table 1 provides simple strategies to implement to take control of these danger zones.

 Table 1: Dietary Danger Zones

Expectation Assimilation

Be aware of what is called an ‘Expectation Assimilation’ which refers to the expectations that the environment may have upon current and immediate eating behaviors (1). In a wine study using the same wine, but labeled either as a new wine from California (known for good wines) or from North Dakota (not known for good wine), participants were served the same food from the same servers, in the exact same environment, yet those drinking California wine consumed 11% more calories, dined for 10-minutes longer, and enjoyed their experience more, indicating that the food tasted better (19). The findings of this study appear to be one where our expectations of the eating experience may influence choices and quantities before we even eat. The takeaway is to explore environmental stimuli where clients find themselves overeating or choosing more calorically-dense foods.

In closing, whereas traditional weight loss models focus more exclusively upon the parameters of diet and activity, the goal of this article was to present another opportunity we can address when helping our clients target weight loss. Whether you’re a personal trainer or an NASM Weight Loss Specialist (WLS), it is important to simplify the process of behavioral change while motivating them with some of these simple ideas. Recognize that you should not implement multiple strategies concurrently, so create a to-do checklist, identify easiest strategies to implement first, challenge your clients to try them once, then build repeated behaviors as their self-efficacy and ability improve, then progress your program to target more problematic areas.

By Fabio Comana, MA, MS, NASM-CPT, CES, PES. NASM Director, Continuing Education

Your must-have guide to smart ordering in restaurants

Keep a few smart ordering ideas in mind when you’re eating out and you’ll stay in control of your calories, your appetite and your waistline! 

Here are some ‘little things’ you can do every time you eat out – and rack up plenty of calorie savings in the process.

Smart ordering tip 1 – spoil your dinner

One frequent problem with restaurant dining is that it takes time to get seated, look over the menu and place your order –  and by the time your meal arrives you’re starving.  That’s why many restaurants pop down a basket of bread and butter or some tortilla chips and salsa to tide you over.  So, spoil your dinner a little bit – have a piece of fruit, a few bites of cottage cheese or yogurt or a small handful of nuts before you go – and turn down the bread and the chips which can add hundreds of calories to your meal before you’ve dug into your first course.
Calories you could save: 150 (1 slice bread + butter) to 500 (basket of chips)
Smart ordering tip 2 – the water’s fine
Cocktails, wine, soda, and sweet beverages like lemonade don’t fill you up, but they can sure fill you out.  And, in the case of soda, free refills are often the norm in America – and that could mean hundreds of extra calories.  Instead, ask for unsweetened iced tea, plain water or mineral water with a slice of lemon.
Calories you could save: 100 (glass of wine) to 400 (large soda + 1 refill)
Smart ordering tip 3 – skinny dip
Starting your meal with a salad is a great habit to get into – as long as the salad isn’t loaded down with fatty ingredients and heavy dressing.  Opt for plenty of greens with an oil and vinegar dressing – served on the side – and ‘do the dip’.  Dip your fork in the dressing, then pick up some greens with your fork.  You’ll get a little taste of dressing with each bite, but you’ll use far less.
Calories you could save: 200+ (75 calories per tablespoon – most restaurants add about 4 tablespoons of dressing to the typical dinner salad)
Smart ordering tip 4 - go fish

Many people I talk to know they should eat more fish, but they don’t cook it at home – either because they don’t know how to cook it properly, or they say it makes the house stink….two good reasons why it’s a good choice when you go out.  There’s another good reason, too.  As long as it’s grilled and broiled – rather than deep fried – fish has a lot fewer calories than an equivalent serving of red meat.

Calories you could save: 200 (4 ounces grilled fish vs. 4 ounces broiled steak)
Smart ordering tip 5 – take the first crack
If you’re dining with a group, try to order before everyone else does.  If you’ve planned ahead, and have a pretty good idea of what you want to eat, it’s a lot easier to stick with your agenda if you place your order first -  before you get swayed by everyone else’s choices.  When dessert time rolls around, you can ask for fresh fruit or coffee before you even peek at the menu – and before everyone else orders pastry.
Calories you could save: 300 (piece of layer cake) to 1000 (piece of cheesecake)
Smart ordering tip 6 – do the splits
It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating – restaurant portions can be huge. Split an entrée with a dining companion and order an extra side of veggies, or have your leftovers packed up as soon as you’ve eaten your portion.  Those in the restaurant business know that customers want value – in other words, they want big portions at a reasonable price.  And since it costs the restaurant much less to buy the food than it does to cook and serve it to you, most places are more than happy to super-size portions.  They may be able to afford to “pile it on” – but can you?
Calories you could save: Hundreds.  Restaurant entrees can easily run 800-1000 calories.  

Written by Susan Bowerman

Make snacking frequently your healthy habit

Spend some time around kids – or your household pets – and you’ll see that frequent grazing is more the instinctual way to eat over the course of the day.We certainly evolved as frequent foragers, not meal eaters, and frequent snacking isn’t necessarily a bad thing – if the foods you choose are appropriate, and if you are truly hungry, it can be a healthy habit.
We usually get hungry about every three to four hours, and so several smaller meals spread throughout the day may actually prevent you from eating too much at meal time.   Snacks should have some healthy carbs – like fruit, veggies, whole grains (like crackers) – along with some protein (like nuts, soy protein products or nonfat dairy foods).
The afternoon stretch between lunch and dinner can be a difficult time – many people try to “tough it out”, but end up eating too much at dinner.  Rather than a small snack, try having a ‘second lunch’ – something a little more substantial like a protein shake, a cup of cottage cheese with some fruit, or a low calorie frozen meal.  Then, you can do your cutting back at dinner time.If after-dinner snacking is a problem for you, try brushing your teeth after dinner.   It works as a great signal to stop eating. 
By Susan Bowerman

How you eat is how you feel.

Make sure your diet includes fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. This can seem like a no-brainer, but eating does more than nourish you and keep you healthy. There are studies that show how you eat is how you feel. If you want to be at the top of your game, you've got to put the right fuel in your body. Get on the treadmill and start running away the pounds! By running you will be increasing the amount of calories that you burn as well as improving the physical shape of your body. This will help to keep you looking and feeling younger well into your middle and old age. When going out to dinner, ask the server not to bring appetizers. Many restaurants offer their customers a basket of bread or chips before they eat their meal. Keep in mind that you need to avoid this type of food and not overeat. The best way not to be tempted is to ask for these items not to be brought to your table. 

The process of dining out starts before you even leave the house. Luigi Gratton shares ways to ditch the bread basket and learn how to read the menu when dining out, for some healthy choices.

How-To-Make-Healthy-Dining-Choices.mp4