Holy Frijole! You ate how many calories?!?

Holy Frijoles!!

I absolutely love Mexican food! I will usually pick Mexican every time I eat a cheat meal and sometimes I even manage to convince myself that I’m not really cheating...

Not Anymore!!

After we’ve tried so hard all week to eat healthfully and exercise...that burrito just may not be worth those 1179 calories!

I think the one that shocked me the most was the P.F. Chang’s Pork Lo Mein which weighed in at 1820 calories and 127 grams of fat. WOW! If that information was on their menu, I bet that no one would order it!

Another one that I found was misleading is the ‘Bella Turkey Burger at Ruby Tuesday....sounds like a moderately healthy choice right?? WRONG...it weighs in at 1145 calories and 71 grams of fat! So the moral of this story is educate yourself...go to restaurant’s web sites and check the nutrition information before you get there or at the very least ask questions that might give you clues as to how something is prepared. ALWAYS order sauces and spreads on the side...and if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is! Have a great weekend and remember...think before you eat!

And by the way...I didn’t eat the whole burrito...I had to have some room for the chips!

Just like Valerie Bertinelli... you can take it ...

One Day at a Time!!

One of the best pieces of nutrition coaching advice I ever received was at a Nancy Clark seminar. She said that you have to take your nutrition goals ...one day at a time.

Let’s face it, every day isn’t going to be a good day nutritionally...in fact some are going to be really bad...I mean REALLY BAD...like pepperoni pizza, six beers, and hot fudge sundae BAD. You know who you are!

So every morning when you get up, you have a decision to make. Is today going to be a weight loss day, a weight gain day, or a maintenance day?? Be realistic...if you are going out to dinner that evening then probably at best it will be a maintenance day. But if you make your decision and stick to it, then the gain days really can be offset by the days that you REALLY put some effort forth to practice good nutritional habits...the TRUTH is that we ALL really know what we’re supposed to do...we just gotta do it! At least once in a while!

Remember...there really are no bad foods
...we just get out of balance with them!

So what kind of a day will you have tomorrow???

You Ate HOW Much?? Part Two

I like to eat chips out of the bag, peanut butter out of the jar, and ice cream out of the carton. I usually tell myself one of two things:

1. I’m only going to have a little or...
2. I really don’t want to dirty a dish

But, of course, the truth is I really want to eat these foods with wild abandon and have no clear notion of how many servings I just consumed! Do you know any one that does this?? It may be time for you to intervene...as I know that this is my own personal cry for help!!

A few years ago, Ruby Tuesday started including nutrition information on its menu for all of its menu items. The interesting thing is that their business dropped off by almost 40%!! So they quickly changed their menus...knowing that ignorance is bliss...at least when it comes to calories and fat content.

The moral of this story is that we really don’t want to know! We don’t want to know how many tablespoons of peanut butter we just ate or how many calories the Rib Platter at Ruby Tuesdays has or how many grams of fat we consumed in that “almost” half pint of Ben & Jerry’s we just scarfed down!

So there’s nothing wrong with having a treat...now and then! In fact, I think we all need to treat ourselves! But just be sure you know how much you are going to eat and stick with it. That’s why I advocate buying individual portion sizes of the really good stuff...because I know that I have no self control! So put that ice cream in a bowl...no, not a mixing bowl next time! Or place your serving of chips on the plate with your sandwich...don’t just take the bag with you to the den! It will make a huge difference before you know it! Have a great rest of the week!