Month: December 2014

One of the tricks to losing while still enjoying your favorite foods is to get rid of the extra calories in your favorite foods while still keeping the “comfort food” aspect.

If you give it some thought, you will most likely find many ways to do this with your favorite recipes and cultural comfort foods – or even your favorite fast foods.

Going out to eat does not have to stop just because you are attempting to lose weight. What trying to lose weight does mean is that you have to substitute one meal for another, or one side for another.

Restaurant Food Switching Tricks

This might not mean that you get your favorite meals, but this does not mean you have to eat only salads.

1. One big calorie savings for me was to buy an air popper for pop corn. You can, if you want, sprinkle it with something flavorful spice like chili powder or another favorite spice, or even a product like Molly McButter if you miss that buttery flavor. This switch is good when you want something savory and crunchy.

2. At Papa John’s Pizza, you can save 50 calories a slice by ordering the Thin Crust Pizza with Pepperoni (260 calories a slice) instead of the Original Crust Pizza with Pepperoni (310 calories a slice). Every little bit helps!

3. Chili’s Restaurants make a wonderful onion dish called the Awesome Blossom and serve it with an great sauce. But, even if you share it with three friends, the calorie count is very high. You would be better off getting an order of onion rings at a fast food joint to get that “onion” craving out of your system.

4. At Wendy’s if you want to save calories and are getting tired of always having to chose Chicken, you will be happy to know that you will save 300 calories if you order a Junior Cheeseburger instead of a Chicken Club Sandwich. That will be a big help when you’re looking’ for the beef!

5. At Quizno’s Subs, their Baja Chicken small sub with cheese and dressing weighs in at 490 calories whereas their Chicken Carbonara small sub gives you a calorie boost to 570 calories! A saving of 80 calories!

6. Craving cheese but think you must always give it up? Not so at Applebee’s. You can save 805 calories by eating their Tortilla Chicken Melt (from their Appetizer menu) instead of their Fiesta Lime Chicken.

7. At Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, if you go for an Original Pretzel at 370 calories you will save 80 calories over the Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel.

8. Back to Wendy’s! An easy way to save 250 calories is to have their Garden Sensations Caesar Chicken Salad instead of the Southwest Taco Salad.

9. At the world-famous White Castle, you can save 131 calories by swapping Mozzarella Cheese Sticks (169 calories) for their French Fries (300 calories). And, if you substitute the Double Bacon Cheeseburger (360 calories) with the Double White Castle burger (290 calories) you will save another 70 calories.

10. I love Del Taco, and there are wise choices that can be made here, too. For example, if you chose to have a 1/2 Pound Green Burrito (430 calories) you will save 620 calories over the Macho Combination Burrito (1030 calories)! Also, their fantastic Chicken Taco Del Carbon (170 calories) is a better choice than their Steak Taco Del Carbon (220 calories).

11. Next time you order a salad, try swapping from “grilled chicken” to “blackened chicken.” At most places, this will trim down your meal by several hundred calories, especially if the dressing is “on the side” as opposed to on the salad.

12. Ice cream is often one of the first things to go on a diet. By swapping ice cream flavors–even within the same delicious brand–you can save yourself hundreds of calories next time you snack. Remember to watch your portions.

13. Burger King offers their dieters a smaller box of chicken tenders. This has 580 fewer calories than the Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich. Be careful though, this is not including toppings and sauces.

14. Next time you go out for ice cream, consider getting soft serve, rather than a malt. You could save as much as 700 calories! This is not including any toppings, and the toppings will then add more calories to the treat.

15. The buttermilk pancakes at Denny’s could also save you more than 800 calories when you pick them over some of the other breakfast alternatives, such as the French toast. This is again without toppings, including butter, syrup or jams.

16. When getting pancakes or French toast, consider getting sugar free jam to go on the meal instead of syrup and butter. This will help to reduce the calories significantly.

17. Starbuck’s Coffee is too good to give up, so instead switch the milk from whole milk to skim and eliminate the whipped cream. Ask for the sugar free syrups instead of the sugary syrups.

18. Subway is overall healthy, but it can be made more healthy by swapping the bread from Italian Herbs and Cheese to Flat Bread.

19. Taco Bell is rarely healthy, but by ordering the meal Fresco style. This means the cheese and sauces on the meal are cut out, but the meat and flavor is still there. Tomatoes and seasoning are still available with this style.

20. Olive Garden’s Italian foods can be made healthier by swapping from boring Spaghetti and Meatballs for Linguine al Marinara for a total savings of 710 calories.

Don’t be afraid to eat out at your favorite food establishments, just order intelligently.

These different foods do not cause you to sacrifice flavor, but rather opens you up to a whole host of different, healthy foods. Hopefully this will help you stick to your weight loss goals and be healthier.

Enjoy your time eating out with friends and family while not feeling guilty about your weight loss program.

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Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (Gerd), also known as acid reflux is a condition in which the acid in the stomach is forced up into the esophagus often causing great pain and discomfort.

There are several potential causes for this condition including such things as an esophagus that contracts abnormally or a stomach that empties slower than normal.

These conditions could be due to a damages stomach and could cause severe damage and burns to the esophagus lining.

Acid Reflux is more prominent and painful when lying down at night. The body is lying down leaving behind all the hard work for the acid of climbing up the esophagus. It can easily creep up and make sleeping nearly impossible.

There are several ways of avoiding the burn of acid reflux. The one that is the most permanent and works most effectively is a change in the way you eat and in fact the way you sleep.

To stop or lessen the effects of acid reflux when sleeping you should try to keep your head somewhat elevated. This will make the job of climbing up the esophagus more difficult for the acid thanks to gravity.

Diet and Acid Reflux

Acid Reflux disease

In addition to altering your sleeping positions many find results by changing their diet. There are several food types that seem to aggravate reflux due to a reduction in pressure in the lower esophageal sphincter.

If you have been diagnosed with GERD, your doctor will suggest that you avoid the following:

• Chocolate,
• peppermint,
• fatty foods,
• coffee,
• alcoholic beverages,
• citrus fruits and juices,
• tomato products,
• pepper and
• smoking

These weaken the lower esophageal sphincterwhich causes the Acid Reflux in the first place.

In addition to choosing the appropriate foods you should also change your eating schedule.

If you are used to a large meal at the end of the day you might consider a smaller meal earlier in the evening.

The reason for this is that your body has a chance to move the food from the stomach to be digested thereby eliminating it as a pressure to cause the reflux.

Learning the process of avoiding the burn of acid reflux might take a bit of time but will be well worth the effort. Taking stock in what you eat both at home and when you are out is a vital part of reducing symptoms of acid reflux.

For those suffering from this issue, the symptoms of acid reflux can be debilitating. Understanding how the foods you eat affect your body is the best way to conquer the pain of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease.

More than 60 million people over the age of 50 (and some pregnant women) experience Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) at least once a month. The most common symptom is heartburn, a burning feeling behind the breastbone.

What Causes Acid Reflux?

 

Unlike pain associated with heart disease, heartburn pain is not usually associated with exercise, and becomes more acute when you lie down and after eating.

It is caused when the muscle connecting the esophagus with the stomach (lower esophageal sphincter – LES) is weak or relaxes inappropriately, allowing the stomach’s contents to flow up into the esophagus.

The stomach contents can cause the burning sensation called heartburn because stomach contents are acidic, and the lining of the esophagus is not protected from acid.

Your doctor may also recommend losing weight, eating meals at least 2 to 3 hours before bedtime, reducing the size of portions at mealtime, and elevating the head of your bed on 6-inch blocks, or sleeping on a specially-designed wedge.

Nonprescription antacids can provide temporary or partial relief.

For chronic reflux and heartburn, your doctor may prescribe medications. H2 blockers, which inhibit acid secretion in the stomach, relieve symptoms in up to 70% of patients with GERD.

If H2 blockers are not effective, your doctor may prescribe proton-pump inhibitors, which decrease the acid in the stomach. As with all conditions, follow your doctor’s advice and make the lifestyle changes he or she has recommended. Take your medication as directed. If you have followed these measures, but your heartburn returns, consult with your doctor.

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This info kind of goes without saying but it is important to keep the kids active, even if they love video games. We have run into this very issue at home where my daughter does not care much about video games and TV but my son certainly does and we always go out and exercise as a family to make up for it.

Children who regularly exercise and limit their time in front of the TV and computer are much less likely to be over than their peers, a new study suggests.

How Much TV and Screen Time for Kids?

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children devote no more than two hours per day to watching TV and playing video games.

Experts also encourage children to exercise regularly; some groups, including the AAP, recommend that boys move enough to take 13,000 steps each day, while girls should strive for 11,000. Another common recommendation is for children and teenagers to get at least one hour of moderate exercise on most, if not all, days of the week.

For the new study, researchers at Iowa State University in Ames looked at whether there were differences between children who met or did not meet recommendations for “screen time” and exercise.

They found that among 709 7- to 12-year-olds, those who did not meet either recommendation were three to four times more likely to be over than their peers who met both guidelines.

The findings are published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Since the study compared groups of children at one point in time, it does not prove that following exercise and screen-time recommendations keeps children at a healthy , according to lead researcher Dr. Kelly R. Laurson.

However, the findings do show that screen time and exercise are each independently associated with the odds of a child being over, explained Laurson, who is now with Illinois State University in Normal.