Think Your Food Thin

    America loves to eat out.  Just look outside… hundreds of fast food chains littered with “sit down restaurants.”  However, eating out can ruin your weight loss efforts.  Each restaurant’s menus are different and every cook adds different amounts of fats and cooking oils.  Which makes it challenging to count calories.  Look at some of these great 300 calorie meals (made at home), compared to these perpared foods. 

Breakfast: 300-Calorie Meals & Portions
Here are three morning meals that each weigh in at 300 calories. Healthy and quick homemade meals (left column) pack whole grains, fresh fruit, and protein–a filling combination that will keep you fuller longer. You could only eat a fraction of the comparable restaurant meals (right column) for the same number of calories. Get more healthy breakfast ideas here.

Lunch: 350-Calorie Meals & Portions
These midday meals contain 350 calories each–the perfect amount to keep you going without wrecking your diet. Packing one of the homemade lunches on the left doesn’t take long, and look at all those low- cal and filling veggies you’ll get! Notice how seemingly healthy options like the restaurant foods on the right can be very misleading! Those 350-calorie portions are pretty small. Pack a healthier lunch with these tips.

Dinner: 400-Calorie Meals & Portions
Many people consume a larger meal at night, so we picked 400-calorie dinners here. By combining whole grains with lean protein and vegetables, these homemade dinners (left column) are a snap to prepare–and they’ll keep the late-night munchies at bay! In contrast, the high-fat and high-calorie meals on the right don’t offer much in the way of nutrition or volume. Get thousands of healthy dinner ideas at SparkRecipes.com!

The bottom line is that you can eat more and lose weight when you know how to pick the right foods and the right portions. Use the images and portions above as a guide to create your own healthy, diet-friendly and nutritious meals every day (source)!

   When people think about “going out to eat” they immediately think about money.  It’s not very often that people chose not to eat out for their health.  Eating at home and preparing your own food is not only cost affective; it’s also great for your waist line. 

Adria Ali

(CES, PES, CPT, BS)