Eating While Away from Home & Why Exercise?

Planning ahead means no surprises -- you are in control.

Be confident of your decision to take care of yourself.

I recently received these helpful tips and reminders from some new friends named Lee and Craig Coria (see more on their quest to eradicate obesity and poor health at www.coria.usana.com) and they are encouraging each of us to eat healthy and exercise while away from home.  I thought they were useful in helping me keep my focus on maintaining my health.  I hope you enjoy them as well.

RESTAURANT EATING TIPS

• Plan ahead. Be prepared. Be intentional.
• Go out to a restaurant without hesitation, because you’re not on a diet.
• If possible, choose a restaurant where you know you will have healthy options. In fact, the nicer the restaurant, the easier it is to get a healthy meal.
• Ask server to not bring bread to the table.
• Ask for your burrito in corn tortilla (lower Glycemic Load = 5; flour = 14).
• Push tortilla chips to side, or as with bread, ask server to not bring them.
• Consider splitting your meal with someone. Most restaurants serve enough to feed two or three people with each entrée.
• Put half of your meal in a to-go box right away (people will follow your example later, just watch).
• Salad bars: use salsa, low fat cottage cheese for dressing, oil & vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette. Stay away from croutons!
• Don’t be afraid to ask for substitutions. E.g., instead of potatoes, ask for steamed broccoli.
• Choose meats that are baked or grilled. Stay away from breaded and deep fried.
• Decline desserts or choose healthy option, if available; or bring along a Peanut Butter Crunch bar for dessert.
  

AT FAMILY HOMES

• Remember: Family will respect that you are taking care of yourself.
• When they say, "Oh why don't you try some", you say, "It looks great, but I'm good, thank you."
• Load plate with vegetables: great source of carbs. Pass the rolls and bread to next person and let them put it on their waist.
• Fill plate only once.
• Drink a glass of water -- helps fill you up.
• The body fills "full" up to 15 minutes + last bite.
• Portion sizes should equal veggies + fruit = 2 fists.
• Protein should be the size of your palm
  

TRAVEL

• Again, be prepared and plan ahead. While on the road, shop at grocery stores instead of fast-food restaurants. You’ll have many more choices for low-glycemic snacks and meals.
• On a flight, choose vegetable juice and skip the airline snacks, unless they’re offering fruit.
• Better yet, bring your own snacks: almonds, apple, etc.
• Take along a blender bottle with a nutritional shake mix and nutrition bars. You’ll save money on the road and ensure good health.
• Sandwiches: take away 1/2 bread – order lean meats like chicken or turkey (or drink a nutritional shake).
• Salads -- oil vinegar/ balsamic vinaigrette, salsa. Again, don’t add the croutons.
• Meals: immediately cut 1/2 and get rest to go. Nothing deep fried.
  

EXERCISE

• Goal: Keep moving and be consistent!
• The medical literature shows that aerobic exercise significantly improves insulin resistance.
• The small capillaries start to dilate, vessel walls become thinner and insulin is able to pass through arteries more easily. 
• Glucose transportation within the muscle cell improves so more of the calories are used instead of stored as fat.
• Allows you to become much more sensitive to your own insulin and help maintain a healthy weight.
• Lowers risk of diabetes, heart disease and myriad other health problems.
• Don’t forget to breathe, both while exercising and at all times.
• Exhale = exertion
• Inhale = recovery
• When we’re under stress, we tend to take shallow breaths from our lungs; try breathing deeply from your diaphragm… in through the nose, out through the mouth.
• Proper breathing improves the effectiveness of aerobic exercise (even anaerobic exercise, for that matter).

Plan it: if you’re with family or on business put EXERCISE UP FRONT – “Hey, I need to go for a 30-minute walk. When would be good time?” They will respect that BECAUSE they wish they had your conviction (plus you’ll be less stressed because you have endorphins working for you – which give you a natural high). 

• Exercise target: 30-45 minutes/day, 5 times a week. This may take time to build up to this.
• Balance: aerobic, stretching and resistance.
• If you’re just getting started, wear a pedometer and start with 3,000 steps per day, building up to 10,000 steps per day.
   

IN CONCLUSION…

• Remember: the goal is get the body to start releasing fat naturally.
• It’s not about calories in, calories out; it’s about eating low-glycemic.
• Eat low Glycemic Index foods around 80% of time, 5 times a day. You'll feel full and eat less.
• Lifestyle changes take time.
• Honesty and effort are better than perfection.

Comments

[Leia]

Great work.