Important Things To Avoid At Restaurant

Dining out is a big part of most people's lives. Maybe you have to eat out frequently because you entertain clients at restaurants. Perhaps you don't even like eating out. Regardless, if you want to keep a nice fit body, restaurant meals will give you a huge obstacle to overcome. 

In fact, eating out at restaurants is one of the biggest reasons why so many people fatten up while traveling.

Below, I'll give you a few very simple tricks you can use to eat healthier and stay lean even while dining out at restaurants.

The 3 most important things to avoid that are everywhere at restaurants are:

• deep fried foods (anything battered that got a scorching bath of trans fats)
• refined starchy foods
• any sodas, juices, or other sugary foods (except whole fruits, which are great)

If you can skip these major culprits, this eliminates the major food sources that do the worst damage in our food supply - trans fats, refined vegetable oils, refined starchy carbohydrates, and processed sugars.

This means you should try to skip the table bread, skip the french fries that come with every single sandwich on every menu known to man, and reduce all of the heaping portions of pasta and rice that are often loaded on the plates as well.

Instead, try to order just meat with side vegetables, and a salad, asking for the vegetables or salad as a substitute for the typical french fries, pasta, or rice, that most restaurant meals usually come with.

Almost every restaurant I have ever been to will always allow me to substitute vegetables or a side salad for the french fries or chips that almost always come with burgers or sandwiches.

On a side note, it always amazes me how many people scrutinize me because I substitute veggies for fries by telling me that I am "not living" because I refuse to eat french fries... are you kidding me! If that's your idea of "living it up", you need to get some better hobbies!

Ironically, these are also the first people to complain that they are overweight and have "tried everything", yet can not lose weight, no matter what. I am not sure why so many people think that eating french fries equals "living it up"... hey, I am all for moderation with many things, but if there are 2 things that should be totally removed from everyone's diet because these foods are simply that dangerous... it is sodas and fries!

Take a look at the typical difference this simple substitution makes between choosing smart and doing what most people do...

Most people will eat a meal out such as this:

• Burger or sandwich or burger
• chips or fries
• soda or other sweetened drink (and no, diet sodas are NOT healthy!)

A MUCH smarter alternative if you care about your body and health is this simple change:

• Burger or Sandwich
• Salad or veggies
• unsweetened iced tea or water (no diet drinks -- unless you like to drink poison!)

These 2 simple substitutions save at least 400 - 900 calories every time you dine out (depending on drink refills and fries portion sizes)... AND you are cutting out the most harmful foods to your body as well by avoiding the evil trans fats and high fructose corn syrup from the fries and soft drinks.

Another side note: a little-known way to eat full portions of pasta, rice, and breads and actually get away with it without packing on the body fat is to make sure to schedule a high intensity full body resistance training workout (can be free weights or body weight training) before your scheduled meal time.

Sometimes it may be hard to fit the workout into your schedule right before the meal, but if you can, the meal can be your "post-workout meal". After a high intensity resistance training workout, your body can handle a higher amount of carbs than normal to help replenish the muscle glycogen depletion you had during the intense workout.

A typical moderate intensity cardio workout will NOT cut it for this... it must be high intensity resistance training workout to deplete enough muscle glycogen to handle restaurant portions of carbs.

I hope these dining tips help you choose smarter and healthier for a leaner body next time you eat out.

Author : Mike Geary - The Truth About Abs

Fruit Juices Makes You Fat?

The 2 fattening foods that I'm going to talk about in this article may actually shock you... most people falsely believe these 2 foods are "healthy".  In all of my years working as a Certified Nutrition Specialist, this usually surprises people when I mention they should consider eliminating these foods from their diet.

Everybody these days knows how bad trans fats and high fructose corn syrup are for you, so I figured I'd spare you yet another lecture on those... Instead, read on to see a couple foods that may shock you that they may be packing on the blubber.

The first type of food that is often falsely believed to be healthy is wheat products... this includes most breads, cereals, bagels, muffins, pasta, crackers, and so on.  And yes, I am including "whole wheat" in the category of this fattening food.

First of all, a large percentage of the population has some degree of intolerance to the gluten in wheat and some other grains. Full blown celiacs are the most sensitive to it, but what most people don't realize is that the majority of the population was never meant to eat large quantities of wheat.  The human digestive system has never adapted to large amounts of wheat in the diet.

The introduction of wheat into the human diet has only been in the last couple thousand years, and it has NEVER been in such large quantities in the human diet until the last 80-100 years.  This is a small time frame compared to the traditional diet that the human digestive system developed over several hundred thousand years eating a hunter-gatherer diet of meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

From my experience with many of my clients, when they heed my advice and eliminate wheat from their diet for 2-3 weeks to see if they start to lose weight and feel better, this almost always makes a HUGE difference.  Many times, they not only start losing body fat much faster, but they also finally get rid of headaches and indigestion that has plagued them for years.  Sometimes even skin problems go away when eliminating wheat from the diet.

The 2nd example of the worst fattening foods that shocks many people because it is thought to be "healthy" is -- fruit juice.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti-carb advocate per se... I actually think most fruits are VERY healthy for us. However, we were NOT meant to separate the juice from the rest of the fruit and only drink the high calorie sugary mixture and leave behind the fiber and other beneficial components of the fruit.

When you only drink the juice of fruits (apple juice and orange juice being 2 of the worst culprits in the western diet), you are not getting the appetite satisfying effect of the fiber in the fruit, and you're left craving more carbs.  Also, the fiber in whole fruit helps to slow the blood sugar response when eating whole fruit compared to fruit juice.

Bottom line... overconsuming fruit juices makes you fat.  On the other hand, eating whole fruits including all of the fiber helps you maintain a healthy balanced diet and high nutrient density (as long as the rest of your diet is whole unprocessed foods as well).

If you want the REAL truth on eating strategically for permanent fat loss, read these 5 tips for Losing Body Fat the smart and effective way.

Mike Geary -
Certified Nutrition Specialist,
Certified Personal Trainer,

Author of the world-wide best-seller: The Truth about Six Pack Abs

A Type of Trans Fat Helps To Burn Off Abdominal Fat

"There is a type of healthy natural trans fat that actually helps you to burn off abdominal fat"

Sound far fetched, but it's true.

I'm sure you've heard a million times by now, artificial trans fats in our food supply from hydrogenated oils are one of the most unhealthy foods (if you can actually call it suitable to eat) you can put in your body.

Artificial trans fats cause everything from obesity to various cancers to heart disease, and more.

They are pure evil, and everyone knows by now that this is a fact.
Stay away from artificial trans fats from hydrogenated oils at all costs!

However, what most people don't know is that there is a specific type of natural trans fat that can actually stimulate fat loss and lean muscle building.

This specific type of natural trans fat actually occurs in the meat and milk from ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, sheep, venison, bison, kangaroo, etc. It is called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and is not only known to help prevent cancer, but is also a potent fat burner.

CLA is highest when these animals are grass-fed instead of grain-fed.

WARNING!

Do not buy CLA supplements! The only form healthy CLA is from grass-fed ruminant animals such as grass-fed beef, bison, lamb, etc.

The CLA that's found in CLA pills is an artificially created form that is a different isomer than the natural CLA isomer found in grass-fed meat or dairy. The CLA isomer in the pills is not a healthy form, and will not benefit you.

Only the CLA that you get naturally from grass-fed ruminant meats actually has health benefits and can help increase fat burning (particularly from stomach fat) and building lean muscle, which helps increase your metabolism.

While most trans fats (the artificial ones) will just make you unhealthy and fat, now you know that there actually is such a thing as a healthy natural trans fat makes you burn fat instead.

If you like this unique tip to burn belly fat with grass fed meats, I have ton more Fat Burning Tips here to give you a leaner, healthier body.

Enjoy... and good luck on your lean healthy body.

Mike Geary
Auhtor of the best-seller: The Truth About Six Pack Abs