Eat Out Eat Well

weight control

An Easy Way To Avoid Second Helpings

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No Seconds EOEWDo you skimp on putting food onto your plate thinking that it will keep your calorie count down?

What happens?  You eat the skimpy portion – decide you’re still hungry – and then go back, maybe two or three times, for more.

And if you keep the serving dishes on the table right in front of you, it’s way too easy to keep refilling your plate – or just stick your fork out and eat from the platter.

Get Those Serving Dishes Off The Table

If you want to make it a little easier for yourself to save on calories, one thing you can do is to get those serving dishes off of the table.  When serving dishes are left on the table men eat 29% more and women 10% more than when those serving dishes stay on the counter.

Why?

It’s harder to grab seconds if you have to get up to get them. Sticking out your fork and shoveling more onto your plate while your butt remains firmly planted in your chair makes it far too easy to refill your plate without much thought about the quantity of food that’s going into your mouth.

Men chow down on more servings than women because they tend to eat fast  – impatiently gobbling food while they wait for everyone else in the family to finish. As a result, they end up eating seconds and thirds while other people are still on firsts.  Women usually eat more slowly so they’re not as likely to get to the seconds and thirds.

To help avoid the temptation of going back for seconds:

  • Let this be your mantra: no seconds. Figure out a reasonable portion of food that is within reason but not so skimpy that you’re nowhere near satisfied when you’re finished.
  • Keep the serving dishes off of the table.
  • Choose your food, fill your plate from the stove or from the serving dishes on the counter, and that’s it. No seconds.

Freshman 15 cover

 

 

Do you know someone going off to college?  Give him or her a copy of my book 30 Ways to Survive Dining Hall and Dorm Room Food:  Tips to Avoid the Freshman 15.  You can get it from Amazon (print and ebook), and as an ebook from Barnes & Noble and iBooks.

 

How Can I Get Through The Holidays Without Piling On Weight?

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The million dollar question is how can I get through the holidays without piling on weight?

There are many strategies, tips, and techniques and you need to find the ones that work for you, your body, and your lifestyle.  You need to create your own foodMAP – your own roadmap to happy, healthy, and delicious eating.

There are certain key things to remember:

  • Portion control is key.  You can eat anything you want if you keep the portions in control so that you don’t continuously exceed your calorie needs.  When you take in more calories than your body needs and uses, you’ll gain weight. Overeating on the day of a holiday happens – you and your body can easily compensate for a day of excess. Many days of excess becomes a problem, often a habit, and leads to weight gain and of the issues associated with being overweight.
  • Another important point is to stop worrying so much about every morsel that goes into your mouth and what all that food can do to your body.  When you focus (obsess) about something you are focusing on the problem, not the solution.  Your brain then starts defaulting to the “problem.”  You make yourself miserable and create a very stressful existence for yourself.
  • Give yourself permission to eat the holiday treats that you really want. If you don’t you’ll feel miserable and deprived and find yourself gorging in front of an open fridge or freezer door at midnight. Just ask yourself what you really want – not what you should eat because it’s the holiday or Mom’s specialty – but what you really, really want – not everything that crosses your path that looks delicious (and so many things do).
  • Feed yourself well.  If you skip meals to try to save up calories you’ll just end up (over)eating everything in sight because you’re starving, your blood sugar is in the basement, and your body is screaming “feed me.”  When that happens, you head straight for the carbs right off the bat – and it’s almost always all downhill from there.  Not a great tactic for your body or your mind – or your general mood.
  • Stay active.  Move around.  Activity burns some calories, keeps your metabolism a bit revved, and is a great stress reliever – and we all know the holidays can heap on their fair share of stress.
  • Relax and enjoy the holiday – the dictionary says a holiday is supposed to be a day of festivity and recreation.  All too often we forget that.