10 Tips for Dining OutWritten by Meri Raffetto RD
There is no doubt about it; Americans are eating in restaurants more often than ever before. In 1970 Americans spent just 26% of their food dollars on restaurant meals. Today we spend 46% of food dollars on eating out. This is likely result of a fast paced lifestyle and more convenience of restaurants. What have also grown are restaurant portion sizes. The average restaurant portion size is large enough to feed three adults! Furthermore, studies have found a direct association between eating out and higher caloric intakes and higher body weights. This is important to know since obesity rates have doubled in past 20 years and currently 65% of adults are obese. This doesn’t mean you have to forego eating in restaurants. This may not be realistic for many people’s lifestyles. Instead, become more aware of what you are ordering and how much is on your plate. Here are 10 tips for dining out. 1.At lunch, opt for a deli sandwich with vegetable soup or side salad instead of a burger and fries. You can find these items in your local deli or supermarket. 2.Avoid specialty breads on sandwiches such as foccacia, baguettes or rolls, and choose whole grain bread instead.
| | The No Diet Way to Lose Weight and Keep it off!Written by Meri Raffetto RD
Yes, you read it right…no diets! The first step in this weight management program is to gather all of your old fad diets, quick weight loss remedies, and “magic cures”. Once you have them all together in a nice, neat pile- throw them into trash! One thing we have learned in last 20-30 years is diets don’t work and actually can make things worse. Fad diets may provide short term weight loss but they are generally too difficult to stick with for a lifetime. The majority of people who lose weight on fad diets regain that weight within 3 to 5 years. Over time this yo-yo dieting effect can slow your metabolism, way our bodies burn calories from food that we eat. Most fad diets require you to significantly restrict your caloric intake by limiting or even eliminating specific foods from your diet. They lead you to believe that it is these specific foods that are causing you to gain weight. The fact is; a cookie or a slice of French bread is not responsible for weight gain. It is total number of calories that you consume in a day compared to amount of calories you use as energy. The calories you don’t use as energy turn into stored fat and over time this translates into more body weight. Yes, its true consuming excess carbohydrates can result in large insulin spikes and cause you to store fat more readily and stimulate your appetite. However, does this mean that everyone in America is eating too many carbohydrates? Not necessarily. Does this mean we need to completely eliminate all carbohydrates from our diet? Absolutely not. It means we need to learn how to eat right kind of carbohydrates and right amount. It’s also true that eating excess fat can make us gain weight because fat carries more calories than protein and carbohydrates, but does this mean that everyone’s issue is too much fat? Once again, no. Therefore, we must approach weight management on an individual basis because not everyone is eating too many calories from bread. Just same, not everyone is consuming too many calories from cookies. We are all individuals and our eating habits are all unique which is why one size fits all diet plans don’t work. The ultimate key to success is BALANCE.
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