If You Want to Lose Weight, Stay at Home

If You Want to Lose Weight, Stay at Home

Some interesting new research indicates that you are better off staying home than eating in a restaurant, if you are trying to lose weight. Given the fact that as many as two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and many people spend at least part of their day in restaurants, the findings are particularly troubling.According to Dr. Caroline Cedarhurst, a physician specializing in weight management, in 1978, less than 20 percent of the calories Americans consumed were eaten outside the home. As late as 2003, the number had climbed to 50 percent. Cedarhurst says that restaurant food tends to be higher in calories because it relies so much on salt, sugar, and oil. Also, restaurant portions tend to be larger, making it difficult to make healthy choices. It has been estimated that restaurant servings tend to be three to four times greater than typical serving sizes. Another problem is that restaurants often serve bread or rolls with a meal, which can cause dieters to pack on the pounds.. Restaurant appetizers tend to be extremely high in calories. For instance, a basket of fried onions can pack a whopping 2,000 calories. Now, while you might not devour the entire basket yourself, chances are you will have a good share of it if it is passed around the table. A number of restaurants now offer free refills of soda. Soda glasses also tend to be large, meaning that you are receiving greater servings of this sugary beverage. Just the soda alone can put you far over your daily recommended allowance of calories for weight loss. Another problem is that we have been conditioned to clean our plates. With plate sizes growing in restaurants, this becomes a critical weight issue. You may feel morally obligated to eat everything that’s placed in front of you—even if your weight and health will suffer as a result. Once people become accustomed to large portions when eating out, they tend to increase their portion sizes at home as well. As a result, dieters can be sabotaged both in restaurants and at home. If you eat out more than once a week, toning down your portion sizes can be particular difficult. Perhaps the greatest challenge to any dieter is the restaurant buffet. There are so many different foods being offered, it is difficult to limit yourself. Also, since you can go back to the buffet as many times as you want, you may be tempted to overindulge. As a result, dieticians recommend either avoiding the restaurant buffet altogether, or limiting your second portions to fruits and vegetables. Yet another problem is the type of entrees served in restaurants. They tend to be rich in fat and calories. Fettuccini Alfredo, prime rib, and fried chicken can all cause you to gain weight. A number of restaurants are now designating low-fat entrees on their menus, a trend which bodes well for the future. However, this experiment is still limited to a small portion of restaurants—it has not yet become a widespread trend.Of course, eating out does not necessarily mean eating at restaurants. It can also mean eating in the car, where you may be prone to non-nutritious snacking, or eating at parties held at the homes of your friends and relatives. At parties, diet-saboteurs such as potato chips and cookies tend to be plentiful; at times, you may find such goodies hard to resist. Eating at home shortly before a party may be the best way to avoid gaining unwanted pounds. What can you do if you are forced to eat out several times a week? Make sure that you stick to your diet plan. Don’t be tempted to indulge in the wrong kinds of foods “just this once.” Select entrees that are accompanied by vegetables, and resist the urge to order dessert. Consider eating only half of your entrée and boxing up the rest for your next meal. And don’t starve yourself prior to eating out. Such a tactic will cause you to overeat once you get to the restaurant. Following sensible eating patterns, both at restaurants and at home, will help you to achieve your ideal weight..

The Mediterranean Diet: Healthy Dietary Advice from Across the Sea
The popularity of the Mediterranean Diet began with a rather simple equation: the people of Greece and Southern Italy tended to eat a diet rich in fat, yet had less cardiovascular disease than people in the U.S. How could this be? The answer seems to lie in the Mediterranean’s reliance on the monosaturated fat known as olive oil. Olive oil forms the basis of Mediterranean cooking—it is the key ingredient in preparing everything from pasta to steak. Olive oil is also considered an antioxidant, so it can be effective in the fight against cancer.However, following the Mediterranean Diet can be a challenge. While 40 percent of one’s total calories are derived from fat, dieters can only eat small portions of red meat. Even fish and poultry are de-emphasized, as are milk and milk products. However, unlike other diets, the Mediterranean Diet allows you to eat a fair amount of bread and potatoes, and you can eat eggs as often as every news:The%20Mediterranean%20Diet:%20Healthy%20Dietary%20Advice%20from%20Across%20the%20SeaMediterranean Diet: Healthy Dietary Advice from Across the Sea other day. You can even drink wine in moderate amounts.It should be pointed out that the Mediterranean Diet offers little in the way of saturated fat or trans fat. This means that dieters have to avoid certain oils as well as margarine, peanut butter, cakes and cookies. Dieters are also encouraged to cut the total amount of fat they eat each day.A study conducted in France showed that people who had had at least one heart attack who planned their meals according to a Mediterranean diet were less likely to suffer from subsequent heart attacks than those who followed a typical diet recommended by the American Heart Association. Another study conducted last year indicated that those who used the Mediterranean diet, exercised, and abstained from smoking were less likely to die than those who followed a traditional diet.However, not all the foods found in a typical Mediterranean Diet are considered healthy choices. For instance, cheese-rich lasagna and ravioli can be roadblocks to weight loss. In addition, tiramisu and canola can also cause an individual to pack on the pounds.A number of dieticians recommend taking the best elements of the Mediterranean Diet and incorporating them into your lifestyle in order to achieve good health and weight loss. This means emphasizing vegetables in your diet, along with whole grains and nuts. You might be surprised to learn that the average Mediterranean consumes red meat less than twice a week. If you’re following the Mediterranean path, you should also ban the butter and sugary snacks and opt for fruit when selecting a dessert.But there are also other parts of the Mediterranean lifestyle, which should be considered when you are attempting to lose weight. Mediterranean’s tend to walk and bike a great deal, which contributes to their calorie burning. In addition, meals tend to be a leisurely affair. As a result, the body has time for proper digestion.A typical Mediterranean menu would include cereal and banana for breakfast; minestrone soup and a slice of garlic bread for lunch; and pasta primavera and berries for dinner. One of the great advantages to the Mediterranean Diet is that it is a feast for the senses—the colors are bold, the flavors are enticing, and the aroma is unbeatable.Cardiologist Michael Ozner has been recommending the Mediterranean Diet to his patients for almost 30 years. In response to the diet’s popularity, Ozner published a book called Miami Mediterranean Diet, which offers hundreds of tips for cooking up Mediterranean specialties.In addition to helping people lose weight, the Mediterranean Diet has been credited with improving longevity for people within the Mediterranean Basin. Therefore, the diet is considered a healthy, life-giving alternative to a number of other diets that are on the market today. But perhaps the diet’s biggest selling point is the fact that dieters say it helps to satisfy their cravings—while enabling them to lose weight. Therefore, a number of people see the Mediterranean Diet as the ultimate “un-diet,” a weight management plan that doesn’t scrimp on taste.

Description

What Is Diet?

Food involves many changes in personal and social habits and these often come in conflict with the habits of thinking and acting of your family and associates. Unless, however, you are afraid of being lost out of the social package on the way down town, you have nothing to fear. You do not need to become a social outcast and should not do so unless you are big enough to be an outcast.

DR Tahir says:
"Food reform begins and ends with discrimination, choice and pleasure. Abstinence from unwholesome food is not a good beginning, and it is a very bad end. Abstinence is healthy only when it easily and invariably results from choice of something better." The emphasis should be placed on the positive side--on the side of wholesomeness, integrity, pleasure and fitness to supply the needs of the body; not on the negative side--that of mere abstinence from unwholesome foods, as essential as this is.

Food reform can take place without altering the way of feeding. White bread can be supplanted with whole-wheat bread and one may then go on eating excessively of bread and eating it in all possible wrong. Eating reform may and may not accompany food reform. Eating reform occurs only when one begins to eat properly.