That's Fit

When you start dating someone new, it's easy to get a little lax in your eating habits. After all, you're going to swanky, romantic restaurants, sharing appetizers and desserts, drinking more wine than normal. Or, if you're past the "wooing" stage, you might find yourself staying in, cuddling, and chowing down on pizza and Chinese takeout.

Dining is such a social occasion that it's no wonder you want to share meals with your sweetie. However, you don't need to sacrifice your figure, wardrobe, or health in order to go on a food-related date. Check out the gallery for some fun, food-y ideas!

I'm not a big party-giver. Planning the event just seems too daunting for someone like me -- translation: Someone who doesn't cook much of anything daring or spectacular. This shouldn't hold me back, though, say the chefs at Canyon Ranch. With proper attention given to the Do's and Don'ts of party planning, I could get pretty good at this entertaining thing.

Here's what the food guru people suggest I DO.

• Plan, plan, plan -- I should pick my menu in advance, review ingredients, consider what I need to buy and how much time I'll need to prep and cook each dish. I should also determine how many dishes I can make in advance.
• Shop ahead -- I'd be wise to buy my ingredients in bulk and store them early in my pantry.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, right? Most people will agree, but there are two side to every story. Diet Blog recently discussed the other side to the breakfast debate, based on the fact that most research on the importance of breakfast is funded by companies with a vested interest in your early AM food consumption -- namely companies who sell things like cereal, orange juice, frozen waffles and so on. They give a number of reasons why breakfast might not be as essential as we think -- you can check them out there.

I'm a staunch breakfast eater, if for no other reason then I am really freaking hungry when I wake up. I don't eat a lot -- a protein smoothie or a bowl of cereal will do -- but I have to have something or I won't be able to concentrate on anything for the first few hours of the day because I won't be able to hear anything above the growling of my stomach.

What about you? Is breakfast essential to your morning? Do you think we're being misled on the breakfast front?

We are certifiable health food freaks and have been since long before we had a child. One of my husband's biggest concerns about being a healthy eating household was that none of our son's friends would ever want to eat over and subject themselves to vegetables and such.

Well, now that our little guy is three, we've been having some of his friends for dinner. How did it go, you ask? Here are two cases in point.

Our next door neighbor's six-year-old plays here almost every day after school and has recently begun to eat dinner here about once a week. She now asks every day what we are having for dinner because she has her favorites:

• taco salad made with homemade taco seasoning
• Applegate Farms hot dogs and Trader Joe's Organic Baked Beans and salad
• brown rice pasta with homemade red sauce, spinach, chicken sausage and zucchini chunks
• organic chicken burgers with avocado and salad

It's always such a bummer to get home from work or the gym and realize you don't have anything ready for dinner. You're already hungry, and you don't have the energy to put together a complicated meal, so what do you do? Call for a pizza? Eat a PB&J or two? Run out to a fast food restaurant?

No, no no! Not only are these choices detrimental to any weight-loss (or maintenance) goals you might have -- they're also not smart choices for heart health. Here are seven alternatives from MSN that are quick, easy, and best of all, heart-smart.

Raise your hand if you want your kids to journey through life on a healthful path. Anyone out there who doesn't want a healthy kid? Probably not. And while there are lists and lists of steps out there you can take to prime your kids for a life of good health, you might want to start by considering these five fascinating kid facts. Take action on what you learn if you can. Your child will one day thank you.

• The Trouble with TV

• Misery from Medicine

• Delectable Dinner Dynamics

• Scary Sleep Signs

• Apple Accolades
  

We all know that home-cooked meals are generally healthier than restaurant ones. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? It's all down to the money -- flavour sells better than bland so restaurants will do whatever they can to make your dish taste good. Here are some examples from a chef:

• Even the veggies have fat. Steamed and grilled veggies at restaurants are often cooked with butter or another fat to make them more flavourful.
  
• Egg-White Omelets are no better. They too are cooked in copious amounts of fat, often 2 tablespoons or more.
  
• Grilled and toasted sandwiches might have butter on the outside and the inside. It's adds flavour and helps keep it together too.
  
• The salad is mostly fat and cheese. Guess what? Veggies aren't healthy if they're drenched in unhealthy stuff.
  
• Grilled meat isn't necessarily lean. Meats, no matter the cut or cooking method, are typically brushed with oil before being cooked. It helps keep it from sticking to the pan or grill. Then more butter is often added after cooking for flavour.
  
• Sushi isn't always the lean choice. Pay attention to the mayonnaise, cream cheese and deep-fried tempura in the rolls.
  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thanksgiving is one of my favourite events, but it can be disastrous to anyone who is trying to watch their weight -- you don't want to seriously deprive yourself but at the same time, you don't want to gain 5 pounds in one sitting. Here are some strategies to keep you from seriously over-eating this year:

• Eat throughout the day. Don't save your appetite for dinner -- have healthy meals throughout the day.
  
• Drink lots of water beforehand. It will help curb your appetite.
  
• Eat slowly. Interact with your family throughout the meal instead of shovelling food in as fast as you can.
  
• Compensate. If you love the pecan pie that's for dessert, go easy on the mashed potatoes.
  
• Find recipes. If you're the one cooking, find lighter versions of your favourite recipes.
  
• Move. Don't sit on the couch all day before the big dinner -- go for a run or a walk to burn some calories beforehand.
  
• Be realistic. Don't expect to lose weight during the holidays. Aim to maintain, though.
  

Growing up, my family always had dinner together. I thought all did, but was surprised when I went to one friends' house and discovered that once dinner was served, each member retreated to their room to eat in front of their own TV. Still, the majority of my friends came from a family like mine, a family that ate dinner together each night.

But according to this article, only one in four families eat together every night. And only 34% of families eat together most nights. Most families get together on Sunday nights for dinner, but only a few can make it to Friday night dinner.

These statistics are pretty alarming to me. Are family dinners old fashioned? What do you think?

(via Diet Blog)

A neighbor of mine told me he's trying to lose weight by eating only Special K cereal for breakfast and lunch. I assume he's eating a normal dinner. But virtually skipping those first two meals of the days just isn't going to work.

When you skip meals, your body thinks you're in famine mode, and it reacts by reducing your metabolism. A lower metabolism means slower weight loss. Instead of skipping meals, you should eat at least four times per day -- breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. Try not to leave more than three or four hours in between meals and snacks, and you'll find losing weight is not as hard as you'd imagined.

I know, it seems eating less would help you weigh less. But it doesn't. Consider this news a gift. You get to eat -- the healthy stuff, anyway -- and lose weight too. Is there anything better?

I always get a kick out of the bizarre gimmicks that people use to stay slim. For instance, have you heard of this trend of ruining your food? People will dump a whole container of salt/sugar/hot sauce/liquid soap on their food to keep them from eating any more. It seems extreme, but for someone who picks at their food while it's in front of them, I can see how it works.

Here are some other gimmicks from WebMD:

• Dinner-for-breakfast diet: Have something hearty in the morning, a salad for lunch and some fruit in the evening. This way, you're eating the most calories in the morning, and you have a chance to burn them off.
  
• Container diet: Measure all your food for the day into a Tupperware container and munch from that throughout the day. When it's gone, you're done eating, so you'll have to learn to ration.
  
• Liquid diet: By giving up chewing and living off of liquids, you can drop weight fast. A smoothie for breakfast and soup for lunch and dinner, plus lots and lots of water, will help you shed the pounds without feeling deprived.
  
• No white stuff diet: If you haven't already, cut out the white stuff -- sugar, flour, rice and dairy. What's left? Veggies, protein and whole grains. Really, you can't go wrong with this one.
  

What gimmick works for you?

I'm sure that being diagnosed with diabetes would be tough to deal with both emotionally and physically, and one of the hardest aspects must be the many lifestyle changes that those with the disease must undergo to get healthy again. For example, I'm a big fan of food and I love going out for dinner at a great restaurant. I think that if I were diagnosed with diabetes, giving up sumptuous meals at local eateries would be pretty tough to deal with.

The good news is, that according to this, all of you fellow foodies out there who are trying to overhaul your diet because of a diabetes diagnosis don't have to give up tasty meals out at restaurants. As the piece point out, not only can you still eat out, your lunch or dinner doesn't have to be boring.

However, it will take some advanced planning. It's important to know what exactly you can eat, how the food will be prepared and how much of it you can safely consume. Diabetic diners will also need to remember to eat at the right time in order to stay balanced. While it will take a bit of time, preparation and research ahead of time, dining in restaurants doesn't have to be a thing of the past. If you'd like more in depth information, please view the entire article here.

Turkey Day is rapidly approaching -- the big day occurs on Monday for Canadians and next month in the US -- and one of the greatest pleasures of Thanksgiving is that it kicks off the beloved holiday eating season. It's easily the best and the worst time of year. The worst because it's almost impossible not to end up wearing elasticized waist pants rather than admit you've gained enough weight to go up a size, but the best because all of that food is so, so good.

Sadly, Thanksgiving hasn't been the same for me since I became a semi-veggie (the only type of meat I eat is fish making me a 'pescatarian'), and I'm sure other vegetarians and non-turkey-eaters feel the same. It can be tough navigating turkey dinner situations at the homes of non-vegetarian family and friends.

If you're not sure how to deal with being a vegetarian at Thanksgiving, take a look at this piece for ideas on how to comfortably navigate social situations where not eating meat may be an issue. It includes ideas on what to do if you've been invited out to a meat-eater's celebration, as well as how to handle it if you've got carnivore friends heading over to your place.

Eating healthy meals is important. But timing your meals is really important too. Most people are stuck in an age-old way of eating throughout the day -- very small breakfast, small lunch, no snacks and a huge dinner and dessert right before bed. But we seem to have it all wrong; this article from CBC advises the following:

• Eat a hearty breakfast as soon after waking up as possible. You might have all sorts of reasons for skimping on breakfast or missing it all together, but keep this in mind: On average, those who always eat a good breakfast are healthier, have a normal BMI and are more productive throughout the day.
  
• Don't let a busy schedule annihilate your lunch plans -- those who skip lunch are more likely to have high cholesterol
• An afternoon snack is a necessary way to keep your energy up between lunch and dinner. Plus, if you don't have an afternoon snack, you're more likely to over-indulge at dinner. Just make sure it's a healthy one -- between 150 and 200 calories is ideal.
  
• Don't eat dinner right before you go to bed. And there's no need to make it the biggest meal of your day -- afterall, those extra calories won't be used when you're sleeping.
  

I'm a firm believer in eating small meals throughout the day when I'm hungry, but I have a flexible schedule that allows me to do that. When do you do most of your eating?

Your friends might be making you fat, according to recent reports. As Bethany pointed out, some friends might purposely undermine your healthy habits, but even the ones who wouldn't stoop so low might be bad for your waistline, according to this article.

How, you ask? Well, did you know that you eat 35% more when your with one friend than you would alone? And if you're dining with seven or more friends, on average, you'll eat 96% more? Those are some scary statistics. So if you're trying to lose weight, you might need to pare down your social calendar.

Do you have any tips for eating well and still having meals with friends?