How To Eat Healthy When Dining Out (01/09)

Aloha readers! 
For those of you who may be starting your new plans to eat healthier and get more active in the new year, you may be wondering how to balance between eating healthy and being able to enjoy yourself when you dine out. 

This post-holiday season, you won't have to avoid the restaurants to lose weight or get fit. Today's post will give you some helpful and effective tips to eat healthy when dining out with your loved ones :) 

Skip the complementary bread basket - sometimes it's hard to give up free stuff, but the - often white - bread can easily pack on the calories. Another reason to opt out of the bread basket is saving your stomach room and calories for appetizer or dessert instead. 

(http://www.breadbaskets.com/category/Bread_Baskets.html)

Skip the soda - choose healthy, lower-calorie alternatives like water or milk instead. 

Browse the restaurant menu before going - knowing ahead of time what kind of items are available can help you make the better choices. You can also pre-select dishes that you are interested in, and ask the server is you can modify the dish to make it a healthier alternative. Many restaurants are happy to accommodate these changes, often without extra charge.  

Ask for a nutrition facts table - some restaurants have them implemented, or separate, into their food menu, or can be found online on their website. If you're following a calorie-tracking or macro-tracking diet, this will help you plan out ahead of time what to order. 

(http://www.buzztime.com/business/blog/calorie-labeling-menus-hinder-restaurant-sales/)

Ask how the food is prepared - ask for necessary modifications, Choose alternative cooking methods for foods that are deep fried, crispy, gratin, or dipped. Look for healthy alternatives on the menu that are prepared by grilling, steaming, or baking. 

(http://www.vodkaandbiscuits.com/2013/11/21/crispy-raviolis/)

Ask for sauce on the side - think back to how often a dish comes out slathered in sauce. This can easily pack on the calories, especially if the sauce is made from butter, cream, or oil. Ordering it on the side allows you to enjoy it in moderation - but be sure to pay attention to how much you actually use! Asking for it on the side doesn't necessarily mean they will give you less! 

Ask for a doggy bag - portion out half of your entree to take home with you. Restaurant portion sizes are often much larger than recommended serving sizes, and much more than you'll need in one sitting. Packed leftovers can make greater meals for later on that day or for breakfast/lunch the next day. 

(http://www.worldmarket.com/product/mimosa+take+out+boxes,+set+of+4.do)

Give yourself the option of appetizer or dessert - having both can often lead to consuming excess calories at one meal. Many appetizers like spring rolls and calamari are deep fried, but some items can be grilled or baked instead. If you choose to have dessert, consider asking how it is prepared. If there is any cream/whip creme used in cooking/garnishing, ask if it can be removed. Fresh fruit desserts may be a good alternative, if no additional sugar-rich syrups are glazed over it. 

Try out these tips the next time you dine out, and comment below what you tried and how the experience went! I would love to hear your feedback on these posts - because they're meant to help YOU succeed! Until then! 

Cheers! 

xoxo

Grocery Haul! (09/21)

Aloha readers! 

I hope you've all had a great weekend, and are all ready to kick some butt this week! 

I went to go get some groceries today, but of course I took a couple selfies before leaving the house :) 

I also like to take some time to plan out roughly what I'll be eating each day, possibly even each meal, and then use that information to plan out how much food I want to pick up! 

I was a little short on time today, but here's a rough idea of what it would look like:

Top left corner: grocery/ingredient list 

Notebook: plan of meals for the week 

I had full intentions of making this week's photo more interesting, ie taking photos with my grocery cart or while I was shopping...but I forgot =P So for another week, you will have to settle for this overfilling table food! 

On the table (left to right): celery, carrots, sweetened vanilla almond milk, light thai coconut milk, mixed spring greens, red pepper, zucchini, onion, coffee grinds, strawberries, simply whey protein bars, sour cream, burger buns, chia seed bread, broccoli, garlic, brussels sprouts, natural beef hot dogs, some milk. 

Some meals that I'm planning to make (nothing crazy) include my signature coconut curry chicken (using much of the veggies pictured, and the coconut milk), toast with scrambled eggs and cheese, tuna and legume pasta salad (not pictured), spring mix salads, sweet chili chicken burgers, and more! 

I've got a busy busy week ahead of me, but since I'm not a huge fan of prepping meals for more than 2 (max of 3) days, I'm going to opt for quick and simple foods (rather than always buying food, like I have been!)
Things like the sweet chilli chicken burger, tuna legume salad are all quick easy options! 

Not to mention the ingredients can be all made together during dinner, and used for lunch foods too! 

For some time, I always thought "why can't I meal prep like other people?" "how come they're seeing better results than I am?" Well, the result part was obvious - because I wasn't 100% committed! Why wasn't I 100% committed? Because what works for them DOESN'T work for me. In other words, in order for me to succeed, do well, and see the results I deserve, I need to find out what works for me and stick with it! Be 100% committed! 

Grocery Haul (05/18)

Aloha!

So for last week's grocery haul, I showed you a picture and gave you some details about the haul. 
This week, I was finally able to put together a quick video to verbally tell you about my haul! 

I'm still new at making videos, I don't know much about editing videos, and my camera is super old. Sorry for some quite volume and the average quality of the video :P 

My grocery hauls are never "complete" of all the things I eat, because I tend to have food left over sometimes, or I didn't use as much as I planned. Therefore, my grocery trips often consists of odd things here and there to use with my leftover groceries! 

I'll be working lots again this week, so I'm going to have to stay sharp and use my time wisely to get my workouts done and stay on track with my eating and CPT studies! 

As usual, workouts from my Bikini Booty Summer Body (BBSB) Challenge will be posted daily so that you can do the workouts too! If you want the full program with detailed rep ranges, number of sets, cardio sessions, and much more, download the program today! 

Download link can be found on previous posts or on the "workouts" page :) 

Cheers! 
xoxo

04/26 - Grocery Haul of the Week!

Sometimes it's hard to imagine that I can eat ALL this food in roughly a week! 

I LOVE grocery shopping. Mainly because I know I have the ability to control what I get to eat for the next little bit, it also allows my "nutrition-geek" side to come out and play :) 

For this week, I only have a photo of my haul. But I'm hoping in the next couple weeks I'll be bringing videos to you of my grocery hauls :D 

So from this weeks haul I've got the staples: 

• Frozen and fresh strawberries
• Broccoli and mushrooms 
• Cucumbers, Tomato, and Zuchinni 
• Greek yogurt 
• Chicken filet and tilapia filet 
• Smoked salmon 

And a few new things that I don't usually have: 

• Organic, gluten free bread 
• Kale and broccoli mixed salad 
• Annie's Creamy Shell Mac and Cheese (I probably butchered that)
• Garlic flavored Risotto 

I'm not a huge fan of box Mac and Cheese, but I hear great comments about Annie's M&C, so I had to give it a try when I found it in stores! 

A challenge of mine is to use up all my food without letting it go to waste. So this week, it is my goal to try and utilize as much as possible for my $65 grocery haul :D I'll be looking up some new recipes for my tilapia, and meal prepping roughly 3 days worth of meals at a time.

For daily updates on my meal prepping and new bikini booty challenge, follow me on Instagram! @sellychan93

Cheers! 

xoxo