...  to your healthy eating regimen when eating out at a restaurant can be difficult. You can’t look at nutritional information labels and quite often the tasty looking pictures of unhealthy foods can be tempting. Sometimes you may choose to just avoid going to a restaurant altogether, but depriving yourself of these events could mean you’re missing out on exciting social gatherings. With a few tips and a little willpower, dining out doesn’t need to be a stressful experience. Substitute What You Can Choose a salad over fries or add another vegetable side in lieu of the mashed potatoes. A lot of restaurants will have a healthy eating section of their menu that makes these choices for you. Instead of having a burger, get your patty lettuce wrapped instead. In some cases, you may want to omit instead of substitute. If your salad comes with garlic bread, ask that they leave the bread off your order entirely. By omitting the items you tell yourself you just won’t eat, you won’t be tempted at the end of the meal when they’re still on your plate. Limit Sauces and Dressings You may feel that ordering an entree ...

...  to your healthy eating plan when your fridge is filled with vegetables and there’s no temptation in sight can be much easier than sitting two feet away from a buffet table loaded with gingerbread cookies and eggnog every night for a week. Once the holidays come around, you’ve got food filled parties and get-togethers to attend every night so it’s important to have a strategy to avoid binging until January rolls around. Stay Full Having a healthy breakfast that morning and filling up on fruit and ...  you. Choose a lower calorie beer or mix spirits with a sugar free type of mix. Alternating alcoholic beverages with a glass of water or low calorie juice can greatly reduce the amount of extra calories you’re consuming. If having eggnog and hot chocolate is a tradition you just can’t give up, limit yourself to just one of those types of drinks. These beverages are loaded with fat and sugar, so drinking too much of them too many nights in a row can destroy the benefits of all the other healthy eating habits you’ve been practicing. Another option could be watering these beverages down with some skim milk to cut out a bit of the extra fat. Bring Healthy Options A lot of get-togethers around the holidays tend to be potluck style parties. Especially if you know your friends aren’t the type to bring healthier options, be sure that what you bring is geared towards healthy eating. You may even find that quite a few other people will enjoy the healthier options you’ve provided ...

...  any good healthy eating plan, snacking can throw a wrench into your best efforts. You can have the healthiest meals planned out, but when you can’t make it from lunch to dinner and have to grab something to tide you over, be sure you aren’t eating something that will sabotage you. Satisfy Your Cravings Always have a snack alternative for every craving. When you want a salty bag of chips, eat a handful of nuts instead. For that sweet tooth, grab an apple or banana rather than a pack of candy. ...  cause you to feel hungrier, so sticking to water and low calories juices are usually your best bet. TV Snacking Either completely cut out the snack sessions while watching television or switch to something that isn’t loaded with calories. Plain popcorn without the extra butter, sunflower seeds, or a bowl of grapes are all healthier options than a bag of chips or pretzels and they will still take quiet awhile to eat. You don’t have to give up your afternoon snack times in order to practice healthy eating habits, just choose your snacks more wisely. Picking the lower calorie or lower fat varieties of your favourite snack can be the first step in eating healthier. Changing to a different type of food altogether or cutting down on how many snacks you have throughout the day can be your next step. Start off slowly and gradually switch to healthier foods for long term success in healthy eating ...

...  your kids the importance of healthy eating while they’re young will not only ensure they’re getting the proper nutrition they need to grow, it will help establish good habits for when they’re older and start making their own food choices. By sticking to healthy eating rules, your children will become accustomed to making better choices and will hopefully carry these lessons with them through life. Involve Them When Deciding Meals By giving your kids a choice of which vegetable to have with dinner or what type of healthy snack to have between lunch and dinner, they will feel more invested in what they’re eating and less like they’re being forced to eat something they don’t want. If they really hate one type of vegetable, give them the ...

...  you’ve decided to take the first steps in healthy eating, creating a plan to guide you will help you in your efforts. Eating healthier can start with small changes at first and you can progress from there, but creating goals for yourself in advance will help you stay focused and measure your progress. Make Realistic Goals If losing weight is what you hope to accomplish with your new healthy eating habits, set reasonable goals for yourself in terms of how much weight you’d like to lose. For some, gaining weight, lowering cholesterol, or building muscle may be the goal. Regardless of what you’re working towards, making goals that aren’t too easy or too impossible is a great way to stay motivated. Stay Away From Convenience Foods Not in every case, but quite often, packaged foods that are ready to eat are much less healthy than something home cooked. Cooking healthy ...