Eating Out, Sweet Potato-Carrot Soup, Push Up Challenge

Tip of the Day: Eating Out

Eating out is quickly becoming a way to gain weight. I would say just to stay away from it all together, but it's become such a social norm that it's hard to just not go out and be waited on on your night off! Plus, when you're dieting, you need to be able to take it easy for a day, or at least a meal! So, work really hard during the week with your diet, and when the weekend comes, go out for dinner! With these eating out tips, you won't have to break your diet!

- Study Before Hand. A lot of restaurants have their menu online. Look it up, look over their menu and decide before hand what you're going to get! You can even go to livestrong.com and enter the restaurant into the daily plate, and see what the calorie count is for the dinner you want to get. If it's a well known restaurant, livestrong.com will most likely have it! If not, use your best judgment with some of these other tips.

- Beware of these words! Cream sauce, butter, oil, au gratin, breaded, Alfredo, battered or batter-dipped, "with gravy," or smothered. These are code for "would you like a side of 10 pounds with that?"

-Make it your own. You're there to eat what you want, and the servers are there to serve you! So don't be afraid to get the sandwich with honey mustard instead of mayo (Honey mustard is fat free! In fact, any mustard is a million times better than any mayo!). Anything that says "deep fried" you can get without it being deep-fried. Ask for grilled instead of crispy, sauce on the side (you'll eat so much less sauce if you just dip your fork in it before each bite, instead of it being smothered on your food), no sauce at all, wheat instead of white, veggies instead of fries, I can go on forever!

-Plan for a take home box. Restaurant serving portions are ridiculous! If you can't share with the person your with because, like me, your husband is a meat eater, and you're a vegetarian, then plan to take half of your meal home ahead of time. Ask for a box with your meal, and pack up half before you start eating. Pretend what's left on your plate is all you were given, and see how you feel after you're done! Chances are you'll be surprised that you were once able to eat the whole thing!

See?? Eating out can be evil for your diet, unless you're smart enough to know how to read between the lines, and make it better for yourself!


Healthy Recipe: Gingered Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup

Only 126 calories a serving! This makes 4.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 C low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 5 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 tbsp jarred ginger, chopped
• Plain nonfat Greek-style yogurt (optional)

1.

Heat oil in large saucepan. Add onion and cook until soft, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add stock plus 2 cups water, then add sweet potato, carrot, and ginger. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

2.

Strain out vegetables and put them in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth, adding a bit of broth if needed. (If you're using a standard blender, allow the mixture to cool first; hot liquid may cause the blender to squirt out contents. Depending on the size of your blender, you may have to do this in batches.)

3.

Pour vegetable puree back into the saucepan and stir until well blended and smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a dollop of yogurt on top, if desired.

Exercise: Push Up Challenge

I've talked about push ups before, but wanted to expand. I had a comment on a post a while back from my husband's dad telling me about a daily push up challenge him and his friend started. My husband is actually doing it also! They're challenging themselves and each other to do 200 push ups a day! On days they want to do a little less, they just make it up the next day. My Father-in Law says he started being able to do 30-35 at a time and only a month later was able to do 50-66 at a time! My husband has seen huge differences in his arm muscles, and feels great since starting this goal. It won't only be a great benefit for men, but for women also! I would probably shoot for 100 a day, just because I can barely do 2 at a time, but do what you can ladies! By the end of the year my husband will be at 73,000 push ups!