Beware of Restaurants: Part 2

Continuing from the first post, the second reason why you should be careful at restaurants is because of the amount of food they serve.  This is an even bigger reason why there are so many overweight people these days.  Your body was expertly designed, there is no question about that.  It was designed to hold on to vitamins and fats in case food becomes scarce.  The problem is that humans, smart as we are, have found ways to overcome the possibilities of famine.  There is a very good reason for this which I explain completely in my book.  For now, just know that restaurants overdo it when it comes to portions.

On top of adding copious amounts of fat and sodium to foods to make your mouth water, restaurants need to make sure you are satisfied.  And by satisfied, I mean stuffed to the brim.  It makes sense.  They want you to feel as though you are getting your money's worth.  Most of the time you are.  But is it worth it when your waistline starts expanding too?  You may be getting your money's worth at the restaurant, but then you'll have to go and spend more money buying bigger clothes!  Not too cost effective if you ask me.

At the majority of sit down restaurants, there are actually 3 servings of food per dish.  THREE!  That's a lot of food, and it is most likely a lot of sodium and fat as well.  I actually realized this a few years ago when I went to a very upscale restaurant with a friend.  We'd always wanted to go to this restaurant but were always too cheap.  One day we said, "what the hell" and just went.  The food tasted great, but for $40 a plate, there wasn't much there.  Needless to say, I was pissed!  I LOVE food.  I really do, and this was before I was "educated" on what goes into food preparation.  Looking back, yes it was expensive, but it had proper proportions on the plate.  It actually had healthier vegetables and a good protein option as well.  Now, I'm not saying you should only eat at expensive restaurants.  What I am saying is that there is nothing wrong with eating half of your food and taking the rest home to save for tomorrow.  I know it is hard for a lot of people because many of us were taught (actually forced) as kids to eat everything on our plates.  I know I was, but I think it is the wrong approach.  It teaches kids to overeat.  Adults can't accurately judge how small a child's stomach really is.  I'll do a future post on kids and food.

I truly believe that large food portions are responsible for the majority of people's weight problems.  How  much you eat is just as significant as what you actually eat!  My whole philosophy is that you really can eat whatever you want and lose weight, or maintain your weight, but you have to outsmart the natural design of your body.  Think for a minute.  Your stomach is not rigid.  It is elastic.  At any given moment, your body only requires a certain amount of nutrients from food to survive, but if you put more into your stomach than you actually need, your stomach won't disallow it.  It will just expand to accommodate the abundance.  Sneaky.  It is up to you to control how much food you put into your stomach.  I describe some very effective techniques in my book to "trick" your body into actually disallowing further input of food after a meal.  To the point where you won't feel the need for seconds or thirds and you may not even crave dessert!

So maybe I should end this post here and go write some in my book so I can actually get it done!  It's coming along great.  Remember, be smart when you go out for a night on the town!  Eat until you are honestly satisfied, not until you are stuffed.  But don't be too conservative either.  Not eating enough won't do anything beneficial for you either.  You have to experiment and find the balance that's right for you.  Obviously, a satisfying portion for a middle aged woman who weighs 160 lbs is not going to satisfy a 30 year old man that weighs 200 lbs.  In any case, if you feel like the frog looks in the picture above, you've probably overdone it!

Happy eating!