Changing Your Bad Dieting Habits

For the working adult, it only takes a single trip to the family practice doctor to find out you have a problem with obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, diabetes, or another manageable health condition. You know it is time to eat better.

It is important to eat better. You need to follow the exact diet specifications that your doctor recommends for making meals healthier. You also need to keep up with the prescription for regular exercise.  Just as important, follow the specifications for prescribed medications and maintaining follow up appointments.

What are some general things that people can do to make a diet better? Let us say you have just been diagnosed with high blood pressure. General advice is to eat less sodium in your diet. Salt is everywhere! You must limit intake of canned foods and most frozen foods because they contain lots of sodium for prolonging their shelf life. Stop eating French fries and popcorn when you go out. Stop adding salt to food during cooking or eating or both.

Plan weekly menus to avoid foods with added salt. A good example is your trip to the deli. You can buy fresh versions of many meats and cheeses with low sodium content. These will be products without salts or other preservatives.  These foods, such as, fresh vegetables, are generally meant to be consumed in a few days.

Although your doctor requires you to change your diet, think of these diet changes in a positive way. These changes are better for you, and you probably should have done them a long time ago!

Smart and Healthy Grocery Shopping

At the grocery store, it is tempting to focus on special deals such as buy one get one free cereal deals. These deals can distract you from buying products based on their nutritional benefits for yourself and your family. It is important to save money on weekly shopping trips without sacrificing the health of your family. Make smarter grocery shopping choices by following these tips.

Try to spend more time shopping for fresh products and buy only minimal purchases from the dry food aisles and frozen food sections of the store. Buy fresh by focusing on shopping in the produce department and the meat department. If it would help, create a grocery list that starts with visiting the produce aisle.  In general, you will also want to skip the deli department because many of the foods that you could buy in this area are processed just like dry foods and frozen foods.

Plan your meals. For example, buy enough fresh meat, not frozen, by counting the number of dinners that you need to cook for the week, and then buy meat accordingly. In addition, if you need to, buy larger packages and cuts of meat and then split them up into smaller portions and freeze for later in the week.

Also, try to buy organic as much as your budget will allow.  Organic fresh fruits and vegetables are not just empty calorie products like lettuce and cabbage; they are also potatoes, carrots, apples, oranges, bananas, beets, onions, peppers, and so forth.

Aloha Salads: A Review

Aloha Salads

I typically shy away from restaurant reviews, but I have fallen in love for a place in Hawaii called Aloha Salads.  For starters, they use locally grown produce, which I could not begin to say enough about the freshness of their fruits and veggies.  The closest Aloha Salads restaurants is 11 miles from my house and I like their stuff so much, I see fit to hop in the car and make 22 mile round trip run for some good eats.  My favorite salad is the Kamuela Cobb. The Kamuela Cobb’s ingredients are grilled chicken breast with bacon, blue cheese, tomatoes, island fresh eggs, and avocado slices.  This salad comes with a creamy herb ranch dressing of which I order extra.  I never said that this was a haven for dieters.  From their sub menu, I am fond of the sinfully delicious honey glazed ham.  This toasted sub sports thinly sliced ham, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato slices, topped with mayo and Dijon mustard.  The subs can be made with your choice of Ciabatta Wheat, Ciabatta White, or Pita Bread.  I, myself, enjoy my honey-glazed ham on Ciabatta white.   As for soups, they feature a “soup of the day” menu, off which, I have had the tomato bisque.  The tomato bisque soup was simply delicious, served hot and creamy along with warm pita bread. 

The Skinny

If you have already figured out that my favorite menu choices are not for those who fall faint at the first sign of possibly gaining a pound, you can design your own salad.
Aloha Salads has a 5-step design your own salad menu item.  The 5-steps consist of choosing your lettuce, selecting four fresh toppings (additional toppings are available for an extra fee), pick your cheese from an assortment of nine, and, finally add your dressing.  Your choice of dressings is impressively versatile from house specials, traditional, and spa favorites.  If you are looking for a fresh fruit bowl, Aloha Salads has this too.  Design your very own fruit bowl from locally grown selections such as mango, coconut, papaya, strawberries, lychee, pineapple and more.

The Ambiance

Aloha Salads is a busy restaurant with heavy foot traffic and tends to be noisy.  Most of the noise is chatter from people ordering take out or dining in mixed with the staff calling out your name once your delicacy is ready for you to pick up at the counter.  This would be a good place to eat-in during lunch or on the weekends after a morning of shopping.

If you are fortunate enough to have an Aloha Salads near you, I recommend you stop in and get familiar with their fresh, locally grown, healthy and downright delicious foods.