What to Eat When You Are Dining Out

If you are on a weight loss plan, it is easier to maintain your diet when you are home. But there are times when you’d have to attend a social function or eat out with your partner or family. Foods that are served on an event or in a restaurant do not take any health regimen into account. Instead, all you will see are dishes which are so delicious that you simply cannot resist eating them. They are also overloaded with fats and calories. Most people easily give in to the temptation, but if you are really serious about your health goals, you will be more prudent.

In order to stick with your health plan, you must realize that restaurants use ads that will trick a person into eating an unhealthy meal. These are often posted with pictures of mouth watering foods, which will convince you to forget about any diet you have and indulge on them. They also use flowery phrases in describing their dishes, which will make it more difficult not to eat them.

You should have an idea of the healthiness of certain foods when you dine out. Pasta, for example, is a good source of carbohydrates; but when you eat out, you will most likely be served with one overloaded with fattening sauces. Meatballs may have more red meat in them than what is good for your health, but when taken in the right amounts, red meat can be good for you. You must consume such foods in moderation. By ordering dishes that have all the necessary nutrients that you need and eating only the right amount, you will be able to keep your diet plan intact.

To help you have more control, bring a container with you where you can put half of your meal. You can also bring a friend along who is also on a diet plan and split your meal with her. If you are not sure that you can control your cravings, you can choose an organic food restaurant instead.

Wu Long Te

The Wu long (also referred to as oolong) family of teas is characterized by a partial oxidation process that is controllable by varying degrees of heat. Wu long tea has the benefits and taste of both Green Tea and the fully oxidized Black Tea. Although a number of countries now produce Wu long tea, China is the largest and best known producer.

Health Benefits of Wulong Tea

Recently, wulongs have become interesting to the West because of current research being done with obesity and weight loss, but wulong teas with heavier oxidation have been famous for hundreds of years for aiding digestion, curing headaches, and cleansing the system from excessive use of smoke and alcohol. Though promising research has been published, the weight loss claims surrounding wulong tea have yet to be substantiated by a large body of western medical research. Beware of unscrupulous merchants trumpeting claims of weight loss to mask poor quality tea. As with all tea, we suggest the health benefits are just icing on the cake, the experience of drinking these teas are what it’s all about.

Still, physiological comforts to drinking wulong can be quite blatant if one takes some tea (especially Dan Cong!) after a heavy meal. Soothing to the stomach, wulong tea is a great counter balance to rich or greasy food.

A famous culinary grease cutter in its own right, Rock Wulong tea also offers nutrients from the mineral rich soil of Wu Yi Shan, which are popularly believed to benefit joint health, to relieve muscle aches and are considerably popular in Japan as an aid to liver health.

On the other end of wulong’s spectrum of processing, the lightly oxidized teas Anxi and Taiwanese wulong is viewed by traditional Chinese medicine as beneficial to the respiratory system.

Oolong Tea Brewing Tips

The better form of Oolong tea is the loose tea form. Tea bags are not as ideal because tea bags only hold dust and tiny pieces from the leaves.

1. Brewing Accessories

A pot or kettlefor boiling water

A tea pot for brewing tea

Tea cups for serving tea

2. Brewing Steps

First pour cold water into the pot or kettle and bring it to a boil. It is not recommended to reboil water because water looses oxygen as it boils. Using reboiled water can affect the taste of the Oolong tea.

While waiting for the water to boil, put 1 to 2 teaspoons of Oolong tea into the tea pot for every 5 to 8 ounces of water depending on personal taste. It is a common practice to rinse the tea leaves with the first brew. Pour some water into the tea pot when the water temperature is right. After a few seconds of rinsing, dump the water out. Pour water in agian and let it sit for 1 minute or until the water turns golden yellow and serve. You can reuse the same tea with new water for 3 or 4 more times or until the tea has lost its flavor. Oolong tea can be served cold as well.

A Quick Look at Some of Today’s Most Effective Diets

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

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The Idiot-Proof Diet

The idiot-proof diet is all about calorie shifting. That is, in this diet, you shift your food intake throughout the day instead of eating just 3 meals a day. The diet is popular because it’s actually very easy to follow and there are hardly any restrictions when it comes to the types of food you can eat.

The ‘calorie shifting’ model takes place because you eat every two and half hours. The theory is that because your body is consuming calories (energy) constantly throughout the day, it’s always in ‘burning calories’ mode instead of the ‘saving calories’ mode.

When you sign up for the diet, you get access to a diet handbook, an 11-day diet-plan and a diet calculator. You get to pick what foods you like to eat so don’t think that you’ll be tarving in this diet!

NutriSystem

The NutriSystem way of dieting is all about proper meal planning. People love this diet because it takes away the burden of trying to figure out what to eat during their dieting phase. You see, a lot of people actually get confused as to what they can eat when they want to lose weight. That’s not really surprising because there’s so much information out there and for every yay sayer, there is a nay sayer so it’s really tough to know what to eat.

However, with NurtiSystem, they do all the meal planning and portion controlling for you. You just need to sign up to any of their diet programs (e.g., Women’s Program, Men’s Program, Vegetarian Program, etc.) and order a multi-day (usually for 28 days) diet program.

After you choose your diet program, a menu is presented to you and you simply choose what you want to eat. The meals are then delivered to your doorstep at various intervals during your diet program.

The South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet is popular because the name alone conjures bikini-clad bodies! Add to that the fact that it was founded by a cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, then you have a sort of ‘doctor recommended, doctor approved’ seal on the diet as well.

At first glance, the South Beach Diet looks a lot like the Atkins Diet in the sense that it restricts carbohydrates during the initial phase of the program (there are 3 phases). The first phase (14 days) encourages ‘normal eating’ in the sense that you can pretty much eat whatever you want but you must NOT eat bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, or baked goods. Fruit is also not allowed. No sugar. No alcohol.

The second phase allows you to SLOWLY introduce these items back into your diet but at lesser levels that you consumed them before of course. The third phase is more about general maintenance.

Weight Watchers

Probably one of the longest running diet programs out there is Weight Watchers. It believes in the overall approach where food, exercise, behavior and support are addressed.

Weight Watchers is known for advocating a point system for foods. Using this system, one calculates the calorie intake of the foods he or she eats. The number of points you can have in a day varies depending on your weight. The beauty of the program is that there are no gut-wrenching food restrictions so you never feel deprived of anything. However, the point system teaches you how to balance your meals so that even if you indulge on one food item, you don’t go overboard and consume too much in a day.