Portion Control. Dining Out.

Let's get real here. For what we get charged at restaurants we should get those ginormous plates of food but should we be eating all of that in one sitting? The answer is, no. One of my all time favorite chef's and TV personalities is Giada De Laurentiis. When she eats out she asks them to take half of the meal and put it in to go containers before it ever even hits the table. It's a solid idea but most of us are not comfortable will asking for this service so instead you have to rely on your will power to know how much of what you're eating you can have in one sitting and to stick to your plan! Believe at first it may be difficult, especially when you're out celebrating and it's your favorite dish but after awhile you will begin to get full on the portions you allow yourself to have and you won't have to think about it anymore. Now everyone's diet is different (and I hate using that word) but portion control is crucial. Sure you can have some veggies and some hummus but if you eat a 1/2 cup of hummus every day when you really should have only had 1 tablespoon you're probably going to be disappointment come time for weigh in and measurements. Moderation is key. It's okay to "cheat" once in awhile too. Just remember the only person you're cheating is yourself. If you really have to have that piece of cheesecake after dinner, earn it! Go for a walk, do something active to earn it so you don't spend the next three days beating yourself up over it and wind up going on a guilty binge eating spree. (Which we've all done before. If we're being honest with ourselves.)

An easy quick way to portion control while dining out is divide the meal in half and save the other half for lunch the next day or do what I do and take it home and share it with a family member. My mom loves when I do this. :) The biggest portion on your plate should always being veggies, the green kind is the best! Primary vegetables such as spinach, brussels sprouts, kale, asparagus, string beans, carrots etc.


Dining out tips:
1. Divide your meal in half. (Mentally, have them do it or do it yourself!) Portion control 101
2. There should be more vegetables on your plate than anything else (just like our momma's told us growing up. We weren't actually supposed to stop eating them once we became adults!)
3. Stay away from words like- basted, smothered, fried, breaded, battered, loaded, stuffed, etc instead go for words like- roasted, baked, braised, broiled, poached, seared, grilled, or steamed
4. If you want to have an adult beverage (and your old enough) don't feel guilty about it just be smart about it! Click here, for tips on how to not hinder your progress and still enjoy that glass of wine at the end of the day!
5. Look up the menu online and decide on what you are getting before you go. This can take the stress out of the situation completely and you'll know exactly what you have to adjust for the day so you can enjoy your meal and the company you're with, as you should be doing.


I hope this makes dining out easier for all of you!

Easy Bruschetta Egg on Toast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I often don't have time and i'm not usually hungry. So I often have my meal replacement shake but sometimes I am hungry and sticking with a clean healthy diet can be a challenge. I do love food. I love spices and bold flavors so bland flavors will not cut it for me! So the other morning I decided to spice things up while not taking to much time in the kitchen. When my son is in school is the only time I really have to run errands and get most of my work done uninterrupted.

I toasted a piece of fresh bread I picked up from Whole Foods. I usually get their Ancient Grain bread but they didn't have it this week so I picked up their Onion Grain and it was yummy! While it was toasting I made some bruschetta. I sliced up 4 campari tomatoes (so my mom could have some too!) 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, 2 cloves minced garlic, and mixed in a bowl with a dash of salt and fresh ground pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.  I heated up a pan on medium high heat and gave a light spray of cooking oil and cooked an egg over medium (one for each of us.) Then I placed the toast on a plate, topped it with my egg and spooned the bruschetta on top and dug in! My mouth was doing a happy dance and my mom was making all sorts of "mmmm" sounds from the dining room. Fresh, simple and a way to change up your basic breakfast.

If you know someone who would enjoy this recipe please feel free to share it! I share pictures on my instagram all the time of recipes I try and when requested I'd be happy to post the recipes here on my blog. Instagram is @dreadigiglio

Cocktails and Dieting

How many times have we been going about our new lifestyle of clean eating and our new workout regimen mostly without a hitch, until our girlfriend's invite us out or we get invited out on a double date and now the stress of what can I drink starts to erupt in our minds? We do things like, well Friday is date night so it's my "cheat day". Setting ourselves up for failure and being sour in our disappointment when we get on the scale or take our monthly measurements. Being informed about is part of the battle so I hope this information can help you out as it did me. If you are select few who can skip the cocktail's altogether good for you! For me, that just wasn't the case so I needed to know the in's and out's of my choices. (I found this information from health.com)

First thing first, drinking basically presses 'pause' on your metabolism, shoving away the other calories ordering the break down of the cocktail you just drank, first. The result is that whatever you recently ate, gets stored as fat. This is why all of us coaches push so hard to try and eliminate alcohol from your diet during your fitness journey because it truly does hinder your result and at the very least it slows down the speed at which you reach them. Another thing is when drinking most people's inhibitions lower and become hungry and though they normally wouldn't order those mozzarella sticks with a side of ranch, after a few drinks they sure as hell are thinking about it now. 

Tips

#1 Always eat when you drink

Yes you should factor in the calories of your drinks but it is more important to eat right than to eat less. At least that's what the experts say. "Before you go out, have dinner or a snack with protein, fiber and a healthy fat," says Karlene Karst, RD author of The Full-Fat Solution. Like Greek yogurt with berries, almond butter with an apple or a protein shake. 

#2 Know some drinks will make you more hungry than others

Waist friendly drinks = simpler the drink the better. What I mean by simple; straight up, wine or beer. The more items you add into a drink the more calories you're adding and likely the more sugar and carbs. Any wine or beer works but to trim 10 calories per glass pick a rose or white wine instead of a heavier red. A whole pint of dark beer is around 170 calories compared to 195 for the same amount of regular beer. Vodka, gin, bourbon with club soda and a twist are a good choice too. Club soda is calorie and sugar free, dilutes the alcohol and its effects on your cravings. You should avoid juices, liqueurs that are sweet and syrupy, tonics, sweet bottle mixes (like sweet and sour mix, margarita mix, daiquiri mix, etc) and cola's.

#3 Stick to a drink or two, max 

According to Dr. Pamela Peeke, MD, author The Hunger Fix, going all week without alcohol and saving your seven drinks for the weekend is the worst you can possibly do for your weight. It has a much bigger effect than having one drink a day. Don't forget your body stop breaking down the calories you've previous eaten to breakdown your cocktails calories. All those drinks throw your blood sugar out of whack and make you feel hungry and you won't think twice about ordering greasy fries smothered in things that defeat what you've been working so hard to achieve. The extra calories alone are enough to pile on the pounds but have four or five cocktails every Friday night you'll be up ten pounds in a year. 

#4 Beware the starving feeing the next day

The next morning has a new set of diet challenges. Hangovers suck all on their own but now you're craving greasy fast food. Part of the issue is you are dehydrated. The body wants energy and the richest source is fat and greasy food does tend to settle the stomach. To avoid this disaster, well first don't go past the two drink max, obviously. Drink a glass of water for every cocktail you have. You can drink it in-between or alternate sips. Also drink a glass before you go to bed and one when you wake up as well. Also have a snack before going to bed that is high in fiber and protein such as a high fiber cereal or oatmeal. 

Hopefully these tips help you out! Remember be safe out there and never drink and drive!

Thank you to Health.com by Sunny Sea Gold article How to drink without gaining weight

Health and Fitness Journal #GetFit

I am one of those people who as much as I love the digital world we live in, I love journals. It's an obsession really. I have more journals than I should probably admit to. When it comes to fitness journals however, I just never found one that quite fit to what I was looking for. I wanted something that fit with my beachbody programs also. I am currently doing the PiYo program, so I wanted the daily food log, exercise log, water intake checklist. Another huge part of me continue to commit to my fitness, are the challenge groups. I love challenge groups, they keep me accountable. It's one of the reasons I became coach, to keep myself accountable and to help other's stay accountable so they could obtain their goals. Seeing people reach their goals is extremely rewarding. So I set off to create a health and fitness journal that was simple but included all of these things. Small enough to carry around. Sleek but not girly so anyone could use it and most importantly not twenty dollars like the ones you find at your local target. So I created the #GetFit Health and Fitness Journal, available through amazon.com I hope it helps like minded souls on their fitness journey as well!

Keep on keeping on my friends.