Tips For Eating Out Low Carb

Following a new way of eating is hard enough at home, but what about when you leave the house? Worried you’ll fall prey to temptation? Concerned that well-meaning friends will sabotage your diet (C’mon, a little ice cream never hurt anyone!")? Here are some ideas to help you through.

Plan Plan Plan!

The more you decide ahead of time, the fewer choices will confront you when the waiter hands you the menu. Be clear about what you’re going to do. If possible, look at the menu ahead of time (many restaurants have menus online now).

At First, Take the Easy Street

If you are new to a particular diet, make it easy on yourself. You can handle pasta places some time down the road. For now, think about restaurants with easy low-carb choices. Places where things come separately (like steak and salad) are easier than cuisines that emphasize dishes with lots of ingredients.

Don’t Be Shy

Order confidently. Restaurants are used to special orders. As someone who can’t eat wheat products, I have become comfortable asking questions about the various dishes. Although I don’t expect a dish to be changed for me, I often get offers if I am polite about explaining my needs. You might think about adopting the attitude of someone with a medical condition who just can’t eat certain things. You may be surprised at how accommodating the chef can be. (The more casual the restaurant, the less likely this is to happen.)

Look for These

Here are some of the easiest things to order which are low in carbs:

• Look for fairly plain (and unbreaded) meat with vegetables and/or salads (no croutons). Ask for extra veggies instead of the potato or fries (often if you say “no potato” you will be asked if you’d like more veggies, or the chef may just "fill out the plate" with them).
• “Meal Salads” are getting more popular, and can be very tasty. If you don’t like the options, pick a sandwich that looks good, but ask for the “innards” to be put on top of a green salad.
• Order the burger, steak sandwich, etc, without the bun. Have a salad on the side.
• If it’s an “breakfast all day” type of place, order an omelet for lunch or dinner, with low-carb veggies such as spinach, peppers, mushrooms, etc. Have fruit on the side.

And Always…

- Substitute salad or veggies for higher carb sides like fries and macaroni salad.
- Ask for no bread basket or chip bowl –- or at least keep it as far from your seat as possible.
- Nothing deep fried.
- If you're feeling dessert-deprived, taste your table-mate's. A small spoonful could be all you need to satisfy your curiosity.

Finally, if you see something that you really wish you could eat, try to figure out how to make it low in carbs at home.

Eliminate procrastination

Are you affected?
Have you ever seen your most important tasks being put off until later and then later and later, while you are getting busy with many not so important activities? Did you hope that you may have more time and better mood in the future to start the task and do it properly? Does an approaching deadline mean a crisis for you? Do you keep hesitating every time you make a decision?

If you often see yourself in such low productivity situations, then there is a big chance that your life got under control of the procrastination habit. And those situations are only the most explicit symptoms.

What is it?
A basic definition of procrastination is putting off the things that you should be doing now. This happens with all of us time after time.

Yet, what makes a big difference for your success is your ability to recognize procrastination reasons and expressions in their different forms, and to promptly take them under control, before this bad habit steals your opportunities, damages your career and pride, or destroys your relationships. So why do not you do it now?

Causes of procrastination

What are typical reasons why you procrastinate? Procrastination: Do it now! Here are a few of the most common situations to consider in your anti procrastination efforts.

It can be as simple as

    Waiting for the right mood
    Waiting for the right time

Then look at the way you organize your work. You may notice other reasons for procrastination like

•     Lack of clear goals
•     Underestimating the difficulty of the tasks
•     Underestimating the time required to complete the tasks
•     Unclear standards for the task outcomes
•     Feeling as the tasks are imposed on you from outside
•     Too ambiguous tasks

And there are also many connections with

•     Underdeveloped decision making skills
•     Fear of failure or fear of success
•     Perfectionism

Motivating your spiritual side

In order for us to be healthy and happy human beings, we cannot neglect our spirituality. This does not mean that we need to be intensely fanatical about religion or about a particular organization. In fact, spirituality does not have as much to do with religion as one might think at first glance. What it means is that we get in touch with our spiritual side. It is possible to go to place of worship frequently, but still neglect spirituality. In fact, many atheists would argue that they are more spiritual than religious people because they focus more and the here and now because this time is all we have.

Spirituality is a lot like physical fitness. It takes practice and motivation. Here are a few ideas of things than you can do to motivate yourself to increase your spirituality.

Read sacred writings or uplifting books.
The wisdom of the ages is found in books. Just as the written word has allowed us to become a technological civilization, books and sacred writings contain the human race's cumulative wisdom and spirituality.


Watch uplifting movies.
There are so many movies and television shows which are degrading, vulgar, rude, violent, and pornographic. This kind of material takes you further away from spirituality. If you can find movies where people forgive each other, show love to each other, and lift others up, then this will be time well spent.

Practice praying, meditating, or sitting quietly.
Just as in physical exercise, spiritual exercise takes time, practice and motivation. Commit to spending a certain amount of time each day in prayer according to your beliefs. Spend part your prayer time in silent contemplation. Don't try to use
God as your personal genie, but spend time praying for others, and listening silently for thoughts and impressions. Meditation is a good idea regardless of your faith. The goal of meditation should be to empty your mind of all the daily activities and troubles, and try to be quiet and enjoy being part of something larger. Spending this time daily will help you to see things differently in your daily life. You will be more in control of yourself instead of just acting out the script that life hands you. If you don't believe in God, and don't have the discipline to meditate, when you have a quiet moment, just sit quietly for a certain length of time and see what comes to your mind

Begin or increase your donations to charity.
Giving makes you feel good. Helping others in need is one of the best and time tested ways to increase your spirituality. You can also volunteer for worthy causes.

Practice focusing more on others.
When you find yourself in a conversation, and you catch yourself talking too much about yourself, stop and shift the focus of the conversation to the other person. Ask questions about them, compliment them, and show them that they are important to you. If there is somebody that you do not like, do something nice for them. If someone has done something to offend you or hurt you, forgive them. Try and put yourself in other people's place more often. Practice putting the desires of your spouse before your own. Treat members of your family with great respect.
Cultivating spirituality in your life is more important than anything else you can do. It requires motivation, perseverance, and a lot of hard work, but so does almost anything worth doing. The things that are the hardest to do often pay the greatest dividends.