The Holiday Season would be the best choice for you when dine out with family and friends. And it is essential to remember that while you are on diet, you don’t have to exclude yourself from all of the holiday cheers, but just try not to cheer as loudly as others!

Chinese Restaurants would be one of the best restaurants for you in the season, as they offer numbers of food, a wide variety of broth-based soups , stir-fried specialties ( with seafood , tofu, vegetables and lean meat ), steamed fish and vegetable dishes , steamed rice , hot mustard sauce , chow mein , and other menus that you would love to try for low-fat , low-calorie , choices.

However, you should avoid some kinds of food for your health, for example, fried egg rolls, fried wontons, dishes made with duck, egg foo yung, and fried chicken. Just try to eat healthy food, avoiding food above and be ensure that you would be healthy. If you really want to eat rice, try to avoid Fried rice and eat steamed rice instead. The all-you-can-eat buffet is also not a good choice for your healthy reason, and should be avoided at all costs.

If you have a chance to dine out in a restaurant with Indian Cuisine, you would be offered a number of delicious menus to choose from for healthy, low-fat options, such as Chicken, fish, veggies, steamed rice; legumes are included in healthful dishes in every menu. Bean soups are tasty and healthy. Or you can try Chapati, Chicken or Shrimp Vindaloo, or Lamb kabobs. However, try not to eat fried breads, dishes served with large amounts of nuts and dishes made with coconut milk. Overall, Indian cuisine is a fantastic dinner when you are monitoring your food.

And in Italian Restaurants, there are some of the most fattening dishes you could possibly dream of , such as Fried Mozzarella sticks, Lasagna, thick creamy Alfredo pasta dishes and many others you can choose. However, there are some dishes offered for you to make your mouth water as well, for example, Thin crust pizza with vegetable toppings, pasta with tomato-based sauces, chicken cacciatore, chicken Marsala, and biscotti that will keep you enjoying your meal without having to cutting down calories and watching fat intake. Salads and soup dishes would be also interesting. Try to avoid all deserts in the Italian Restaurants, because most of them have a lot of cheese.

Mexican Cuisine is also another option for your healthy diet. You can try Black bean soup, grilled chicken or shrimp dishes, chicken soft tacos, chicken or shrimp fajitas, salsa, and chicken quesadillas, but try to nachos, refried beans, enchiladas, and fried choices, such as chimichangas.

The Holiday Season is the best time for you to spending your time with your friends and family, going shopping for Christmas, watching football games by a warm fire , and dining out in fabulous restaurants. And if you are on diet, trying to monitor your weight, you would probably lose the best chance to try healthy dinner at your favorite restaurants!

There’s Chocolate and Then There’s Chocolate

Healthy chocolate? How can that be? After all, we’ve been trained to think of chocolate as a guilty indulgence at best, and as a health disaster at worst. Yet there is a large body of scientific evidence that supports the notion that chocolate is not only harmless, but that it can actually contribute to health and longevity.

That’s not to say that all chocolate is created equal. If you think that those sugary confections you find in candy stores and on grocery store shelves are nothing but empty calories, you’re not far off the mark. Chocolate candies are often full of the refined sugars, milk fats, and hydrogenated oils that are important to avoid.

But those unhealthy ingredients are masking a dark healthy chocolate that is filled with antioxidants, flavonoids, and amino acids that can contribute to health and well being. Unprocessed cocoa has antioxidants that can slow the aging process and cellular decay, as well as flavonoids that have been shown to be beneficial to cardiovascular health. These cardiovascular benefits include improving blood flow, lowering LDL cholesterol, and reducing blood pressure. Dark chocolate also has essential amino acids like tryptophan, as well as alkaloids like theobromine and phenethylamine, all of which can help elevate and regulate moods.

Latest Trends in Healthy Chocolate

As the concept of healthy chocolate gains momentum, products are being brought to market that combine the best qualities of chocolate with those of other ingredients. The mixture produces a high-powered blast of benefits with all of the intrinsic satisfaction that eating chocolate brings.

What makes healthy chocolate different from the kind you find within candy bar wrappers? First, there are no sugars, milk fats, or hydrogenated oils. Second, it has not been subjected to what is called the Dutch process, whereby an alkali is introduced that all but destroys the antioxidants. Rather, it is cold pressed to preserve the antioxidants and nutrients. Third, it is often combined with Acai berries and blueberries to further boost its antioxidant properties – so much so that some products give you the equivalent of a half-pound of spinach or three-quarters of a pound of broccoli in one small nugget. Fourth, the dark chocolate has no trans fat, no wax, and no fillers.

Healthy Chocolate as a Weight Loss Tool

Unarguably, it’s counterintuitive to think of chocolate as being a central component of a weight loss plan. But healthy chocolate – without the additives, sugar, and milk fat – can, indeed, help you lose weight. Eating a nugget with a glass of water about a half our before a meal can quell hunger and satisfy chocolate cravings. You’ll eat less at meals and get a boost of nutrients in the process. Similarly, eating a nugget as a snack is a healthy alternative to more calorie-laden fare.

The bottom line is that you can incorporate healthy chocolate into your diet without even a twinge of guilt. What a relief and a blessing!

If you look forward to eating different kinds of healthy foods for breakfast, you are less like to skip this meal. If time is your hurdle, think about packing your breakfast or eating on the ‘run’, its better than skipping it altogether.

It is always surrounded by silly excuse of lack of time. And still no one denies that fact that “breakfast” is the most important meal of the day.

Why such a hullabaloo about this early morning meal? Well, for starters, this meal comes after a break of 8 – 10 hours; hence your blood sugar level will be low. Since your body has gone with out food for such a long time, it needs nourishment to kick-start its day. Therefore “breakfast” is considered to be an important and essential meal of the day.

Breakfast benefits both, young and old. It is the key to jump start your muscles and your day. People who eat breakfast (healthy) daily are more likely to

- Consume more vitamins, minerals and less of fat and cholesterol.
- Increased strength and endurance.
- Better concentration and productivity all day long.
- Control over weight
- Low cholesterol = no risk or little risk of heart disease

Children who eat breakfast are likely to have better concentration, problem-solving skills and eye-hand coordination. They will be alert, creative, and less likely to miss days of school.

If you think skipping this meal, will help you lose weight, think again. By passing over this meal, your body will go in the starvation mode and make you crave for snacks especially sweets. Impulsive snacking on unhealthy foods can lead to weight gain. So you motive of losing weight by skipping breakfast stays unachieved.

Try to choose healthy foods from at least two food groups each morning

- Fruits & Vegetables
- Grains
- Dairy
- Proteins

A glass of pure fruit juice, bananas, yoghurt, low-calorie muesli with semi skimmed or skimmed milk, fresh fruit salad with few spoonfuls of low fat yoghurt, fresh and raw veggies mixed with flavoured yoghurt, a slice of toast or plain bread with eggs, boiled or poached are some of the options for breakfast. Kids can enjoy a Smoothie with their favourite fruits; add dash of yoghurt or honey to make it more delicious.

My favorite beverage to have in substitute of a soda is orange juice. It tastes good, it is natural, and is readily available. Orange juice provides a good dose of Vitamin C. An 8 ounce glass contains as much potassium as a banana. It has a remarkable variety of phytonutrients. Beyond the great vitamin and nutrient content, a study has shown that orange juice can lower your blood pressure.

It is important to have a variety of health beverages in your diet. Today, there are too many people subsisting on diet sodas, regular sodas, and energy drinks. These consist mostly of artificial sweeteners, artificial flavoring, and caffeine. The body will not perform to peak performance with a steady intake of these types of beverages.

Another great beverage is apple juice. Fresh apple juice carries a significant amount of Vitamin A and C. The old time saying that an apple a day can keep the doctor away is true. Recent studies have shown that drinking apple juice can help slow down the process that leads to heart disease.

Cranberry juice is another powerful drink that should be added to your diet. Medicinal properties of the cranberry have been recognized for centuries. It provides powerful antioxidant qualities. A common treatment for urinary tract infections is to drink cranberry juice. It is thought that the strong acidic content of the juice provides an inhospitable environment for bacteria.

Beyond the standard juices, you can get a bit more exotic. Mango, pineapple, carrot, wheatgrass, and tomato are all great juices that provides wonderful health benefits. Many companies are now offering smoothies and other freshly made juices. As people become more health conscience, these will become the future of the beverage industry.

I hope you will see that there are many options to sodas. You will feel a great impact to your health once you have given them up and integrated the more healthy juices into your diet. At first it will take will power, but as time goes on, you will find that you will completely loose your taste for those sugary sodas.