5 Easy Ways To Cut Carbohydrates and Calories

Check out my latest article at The Examiner:

5 Easy Ways To Cut Carbohydrates and Calories

I'll be posting more there soon including an updated product review of the BOSU 3D Sculpting System, as well as Power 90X workout reviews.

Unfortunately I woke up at 2 am with a blooming allergy attack. It's that time of year in Northern Nevada when the sagebrush blooms and the tumbleweeds give off their seeds and pollen. I feel like somebody jammed a flame thrower up my nose. So I'm under the weather and behind on my writing schedule. And there's a couple of litter boxes calling my name..."Clean me! Clean me!"

Healthy Dining Out

No matter what your dieting style - low carb, low fat, low calorie, special dietary needs - dining out can present problems that make staying on program difficult. If you have several dietary issues like I do and must avoid multiple foods the logistics are a nightmare. Asking questions helps ("Does the cook add milk to the eggs?" "Is there corn in the Mexican rice?" "Do they use wheat flour in the breading?")

Personally, I've chosen to rarely eat out and when I do order steak and potatoes. Those two items are usually safe and chef proof. They can't screw them up colitis-wise.

Below are some links to help you make the best dining out choices for your unique situation:

Healthy Dining Out

For Low Fat and Calorie / Portion Control Dieters

CNN’s Eating healthy when dining out is getting easier

Healthy Dining Finder

Healthy Fast Food” Guide to Healthy Choices at Fast Food Restaurants

For IBD / Colitis / Crohn’s / Celiac Diets

Before You Eat Out

By Amber J. Tresca, About.com
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by Kate Grossman, MD
Eating out at restaurants or at social functions can be a tricky situation for people with inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis [IBD]). It is especially difficult when you are dining with people you have a professional or casual relationship with, since they are not likely to know about your health problems. (Nor would you necessarily want them to know.) How can you handle a high-powered business lunch or romantic dinner without bringing attention to your problem? Read more.


Eating Out When You Have Ulcerative Colitis

Dining Out With Celiac Disease and Food Allergies

Gluten-Free Restaurant Dining
Tips for Safe Gluten-Free Restaurant Meals

For Low Carb Dieters

Restaurant Eating Low Carb

How do you stay on your diet when someone else is doing the cooking? Here you'll find handy tips to use when dining out, what to eat at specific types of eateries, and links to low-carb menus at popular chain restaurants.

Low Carb Eating Out

Leigh Peele of Fat Loss Trouble Shooter Has Made A Must See Video

Leigh Peele runs Fat Loss Trouble Shooter and she really is an expert on fat loss. I get her newsletter but also received one today from Tom Venuto, fat loss coach from Burn The Fat.com about Leigh's video on why many people can't lose fat.

Bottom line, our bottoms (and bellies) are fat because we have a case of portion distortion. And we're not talking Big Mac versus a regular hamburger. We're talking small errors in measuring that add up to big calorie errors.

Believe me this will open your eyes to the value of accurate portions, careful measuring, weighing instead of eyeballing portions, and saving as much as 150 calories or more in one CLEAN meal. If you eat six small meals a day that could mean 900 calories more than you thought you were eating.

Do you really know how many calories you're really eating? Check out this video at Tom's blog. While you're there subscribe to his newsletter and buy his book. You'll be glad you did.

Here's what Tom said about Lee's video:

"In my last blog post about a recent low carb study, I wrote:

“One of the most firmly established facts in dietetics research is that almost everyone underreports their food intake BADLY, sometimes by as much as 50%. I’m not saying everyone “lies,” they just forget or don’t know. In fact, this underreporting of calorie intake is such a huge problem that it makes obesity research very difficult to do and conclusions difficult to draw from free-living studies.”

Well, hardly anyone believes that either. When they can’t lose weight, they blame it on something else: it’s not under-estimating portions, it’s genetics, thyroid or some kind of hormonal anomaly.

“Help Tom! I’m eating 900 calories a day and I still can’t lose weight!”

Yeah right.

And that brings me to this video you’re about to watch and why I like it so much.

It’s hard enough to explain this verbally with logic when you’re up against so much resistance and denial. But what if you could see with your own eyes an example of just ONE OF MANY ways that you may be eating far more than you realize?

Like I said before, NOTHING beats a good demonstration.

So, watch this demonstration, and appreciate a much needed wake up call about calories.

Credit and a big thank you go to the producer of this video, LEIGH PEELE…
THE FAT LOSS TROUBLESHOOTER!, we love you!… well, us nutrition educators love you… some other people may hate you after watching this (but even THEY will love you too after they get lean and mean by following this advice.)"