Tip #23: Best Practices For Eating Out

• There are times in a busy schedule where you will be eating out or ordering take out. Maintaining healthy eating when having food from a restaurant can be challenging. Part of developing a sustainable healthy habit lifestyle is knowing how to handle and deal confidently with eating out situations. 

• Here are 5 tips to make eating or ordering out more successful: 

• Have a go-to healthy dish or dishes to order for places you regularly order from. And if you are eating at a restaurant, check out the menu online and decide ahead of time what you are having before you go.

• Pick healthier sides. Veggies or a side salad instead of fries, onion rings, or rice.

• Get sauces and dressing on the side. Sauces and dressing can quickly increase the calorie count of the food you are consuming, not to mention they can be high in sugar and/or poor quality oils. So rather than have them already poured all over the food, get the sauces and dressings on the side. Then dip your fork in them and take a bite of food.

• Ask your server not to bring the chip or bread basket. If you tend to make a meal out of chips and salsa or bread and butter before your actual meal arrives, ask the server not to bring the temptation basket. No meal before your meal.

• Salads aren’t always the healthiest option. Some salads are loaded with fried meat, cheeses, dried fruit with extra sugar, crunchy strips, not to mention creamy or too much dressing. Best to pick salad with not so many extra fancy toppings, made of dark leafy greens, and lots of other veggies. And as mentioned earlier, get the dressing on the side. Or go with lean meat and veggies.

• If you choose to make one of your restaurants or take out meals a treat meal, that is fine. Just make it part of your plan for the week and make it good.

Tip #22: Limit Late Night Snacking

It is 9 or 10 at night and you are starting to get the late night munchies.  Maybe you are craving some chips or that pint of ice cream that has been calling your name.  Here are some tips to help with limiting those late night snacks:

• Drink water: Drink a glass of water if you feel like eating when it’s late at night.  You might think that you are hungry but you may actually just be thirsty.  See if you are still hungry after you drink some water.

• Replace sweets with fruit: At night we might crave something sweet, maybe it’s ice cream or cookies.  Instead of eating processed sweets, try eating some fruit.  It’s more nutritious and won’t make you bloated.  It will also help to satisfy your sugar cravings.

• Commit to a cut off time: Set a time where you will stop eating so you are reminded to drink water instead of to start snacking.  You could set a time such as 8pm as your time, don’t eat anything after 8pm.  Not eating so late at night will help your body to digest better.

• Go to bed earlier: The later we stay up at night, the more hungry we will get.  Getting to bed earlier will help with limiting those late night munchies.

Tip #18: Where to Start With Nutrition

• So you know you need to make changes in what you eat. And you know that it is best for you to eat mostly real whole food. But making the shift to all real food seems overwhelming not to mention a huge challenge to maintain. So where do you start in your busy schedule?

• Back in Video 2, Coach Veronica discussed how to break large goals into smaller habits. So instead of attempting to implement a huge overhaul in your eating, let’s start with a smaller focus. In addition, rather than focusing on what you need to take away, focus on what you need to add.

• So with that said, the first habit we recommend for those with a goal of mostly eating real food is adding more vegetables in your day. 

• We recommend adding veggies because it is the area that the majority of adults need to improve. Only 1 out of 10 adults get the recommended amount of 5 servings everyday of veggies.

• If 5 servings a day seems unachievable right now, start by adding just 1 or 2 a day and then work your way up to that minimum of 5 servings. Here are some simple ways to get more veggies: have a salad instead of a sandwich, have veggies for a snack, or add greens to your smoothie.

• For more on this, see our article 7 Easy Ways To Get More Veggies In Your Adult Day linked below. Also use the Healthy Habit Starter Guide to help you stay accountable. 

Tip #17: View Food in a Different Light

• How do you view food? Your thoughts about food may be what is getting in the way of you being successful with healthy eating. At the start of this video series we talked about how success is first won (or lost) in the mind.

• We are not advocating food obsession but rather being more intentional about what we eat so the food we consume can best serve us physically as well as emotionally. 

• Many people decide what they are going to eat based on feelings, emotions, and creating current moments of pleasure rather than the impact it has on them long term.

• Our bodies deserve the very best quality food we can get. We don’t deserve fake food. And moreover, our bodies weren’t designed to digest and process fake food. Our bodies are pretty incredible how they can heal and adapt to change, but the repetition of ingesting the chemicals from fake food does a lot of damage over time.

• So consider these two questions when deciding what to eat: 

• What is the food made of? Does it consist of primarily whole real food or does it consist of mostly processed, artificial, and/or sugar? If it's more of the latter, how can I make it more like the former?

• How is this food serving me? Am I picking this food because it will help me feel better emotionally in the moment, or because it is best for me in the future?

• This doesn’t mean you can never enjoy tasty treats and decadent meals. We just need to be more intentional about having those occasional treat meals by planning them ahead of time. You will actually enjoy them more. 

• In summary, food is a vital teammate for good health and wellness. What type of teammate do you work with regularly?

Tip #16: Practice Mindful Eating

• In our busy day to day lives we tend to not realize what we are putting into our bodies. Oftentimes we don’t pay attention to how much we are eating, what we are eating, how fast we are eating, etc.  It is important to take the time to be more mindful when we are eating.  Here are a few tips:

• Eat slowly: Chew your food slowly, set your fork down after each bite, pay attention to the flavors in your food (smell and taste the flavors).  You will digest better when you are eating slower instead of stuffing your face because you are so hungry or are in a hurry.

• Listen to your body: Our eyes tend to be bigger than our stomach when we are really hungry.  We regret most of the time when we overeat, we get really stuffed and don’t feel as good.  Listen to your body and pay attention to when you are 80% full and satisfied.  Make the decision to stop when you are satisfied.  To help with this, put food away when you are done eating so you aren’t tempted to continue nibbling.

• Portion control: Eat from a smaller plate to help with portion control.  Make the decision ahead of time that you will have one helping so you don’t overdo it.

• Enjoy your food:  We are nourishing our bodies as we are eating.  Take the time to enjoy the food you put into your bodies.  It can help you to be more mindful of the things you put into your body and help you have a better relationship with food.