If you know what you’re going to order before you sit down at a restaurant your chances of making a healthy choice will go up tenfold.  Once you sit down at a restaurant and have a few sips of your martini you will pretty much order anything on the menu regardless of calories or your health, particularly if you’re hungry.

My personal training clients were always asking me what to eat when they go out to dinner. For years I used to frequent restaurants that my clients would go to so that I could recommend healthy choices for them while still letting them enjoy a delicious meal. It was fun and challenging going out to different restaurants in New York City like Jean Georges, Union Square Café and Le Bernardin to name a few to determine what I thought were the least fattening appetizers, entrees and deserts for my clients to eat. I would even study the drink menu and make my recommendations. But this process was very time consuming and costly. My clients frequent some of the best restaurants in New York and to try to keep up with them and the changing menus was impossible for me.

Over the years the Internet has made my job a lot easier. Most restaurants have their menus on their website. When one of my clients is going out to a restaurant, all I have to do is look at the menu and make my suggestions. Every now and then I call to ask some questions but most of the time there is enough information right on the web.

I recommend trying this the next time you plan on going out to eat. Go online and look up the menu and decide exactly what you’re going to eat and drink before you get there. Not only will you make a much healthy and sliming choice you will enjoy your time at the restaurant more.  You will have plenty of time to socialize without the pressure of not knowing what to order. Call the restaurant and ask some questions like what are the specials tonight and how are the dishes prepared. If you’re going to a fine restaurant they will be happy to help you.

Follow these rules when deciding what to eat at the best restaurants in New York

• Stick to vegetables and protein (meat, fish and poultry) when it comes to appetizers and entrees. Ordering meat and vegetables are all good choices as long as they’re not breaded or fried. Tuna tartare, grilled octopus, vegetable salads, grain & cream free soups are all good choices for appetizers. Steaks, chops, whole fish, poultry entrees served with vegetables are all good choices as long as they’re not breaded, fried, glazed or caramelized.
• What you don’t want to eat are grains or potatoes. No bread, rice or pasta. Even so called healthy grains are off limits like quinoa & couscous. No mashed, baked or roasted potatoes and stay away from all pasta.
• In addition don’t order anything that has a sugary coating. No sugary glazes or barbeque sauces. Avoid anything caramelized.
• Have a small portion of cheese or fruit for desert
• When ordering alcoholic drinks stick to martinis and wine within reason.

I have found over the years that this style of eating works very well in fine restaurants. It lets you enjoy the taste of fine food by not limiting the fat and spices in the preparation. What you are avoiding by sticking to my recommendations are the empty calories and the sugar content on the menu. Eating the bread, pasta, rice and potatoes is what puts you over the limit and adds the inches to your waistline.

The next time you plan on going to a fine restaurant decide what you’re going to eat ahead of time. You will be a lot happier in the morning when you step on the scale.

If you need some help making the right fine-dining decisions drop me an email.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Weight Loss

Trying to control your weight with a lot of exercise is a losing battle. Eventually you will wind up burned out, unhealthy and have a number of over use injuries. You have to learn how to control your weight with your diet.

I know this is a hard principle for most people to accept but once you embrace it the whole weight loss process will be demystified for you. It’s hard when conventional wisdom will tell you that the only way to lose weight and keep it off is with hours of hard exercise every week. You might have a friend or two who look great and spend hours in the gym or run long distances every day to stay thin. You have to realize that it is much easier on the body and better for your health; however, to keep yourself thin by eating the right foods. It’s healthier to eliminate unhealthy processed foods instead of over exercising and burning them off.

It’s so easy to get addicted and over do it with exercise. Most of the exercise classes people like to take, like spinning, keep their heart rate up too high (85% of max and even higher) and for far too long. People get addicted to the runner’s high and don’t feel like they had a workout unless they push to the limit. It’s ok to push to the limit every now and then and for short periods of time, but when you exercise at 85% of your max heart rate and higher for an hour or more on a regular basis to stay thin, you’re risking your health.

People don’t understand how stressful a long hard workout is on the body. World-class athletes don’t workout at maximum intensity every session. These hard workouts break down muscle tissue and put stress on joints. You need to recover from these workouts and mix it up with some easy exercise, as well. Muscle damage in the blood (creatine kinase levels) is known to be elevated for weeks after a very hard workout. In addition, over training leads to a suppressed immune system, insomnia, over use injuries and an inflammatory response throughout the whole body.

Be smart and exercise to strengthen your body instead of breaking it down. Eat properly to control your weight and you won’t have to risk your health to stay thin and fit.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Weight Loss

I ran a contest last year called Get Fat Fast. In this contest I asked everyone who is having trouble loosing weight to write down the 10 foods they would eat if they had to gain weight quickly (clink the link Get Fat Fast and checkout some of the lists people sent in). This is an exercise I have had my personal training clients do to help them lose weight. The reason for making the list is to change how you feel about eating the foods that make you fat fast.

If you can change the association you have with the unhealthy foods you eat, you will stop eating them. You have to convince yourself that eating the foods on your list will bring you more pain then pleasure. To change your behavior and stop eating foods that will make you over weight, you have to develop various negative associations (physical, mental and medical) with these foods. The pain has to greatly out way the quick pleasure of eating these foods.

How to use your get fat fast list

Foremost, if you have not made up your list, do it right now. Write down the 10 foods you would eat if you had to gain weight as fast as possible. Next, take each food on your list and go through the following process.

1. Write down all the pleasure you get from eating this food and how it makes you feel.

2. Write down all the pain it will cause you if you keep eating this food on a regular basis. Be very specific. List what it will do to your physical appearance. List what it will do to your health. List how you feel mentally after you eat it. List how it will effect your family, friends and your career. You have to convince your brain that eating these foods will cause you so much pain that it’s not worth eating them.

3. Write down a healthy replacement food for eating the food or drink on your list.

4. Write down how much pleasure you get from eating the foods on your new  healthy list.

Here is an example of a food on my list – Meatball Parmigiana Hero

1. The pleasure I get from eating a meatball parmigiana hero:

• Tastes good
• Filling
• Quick and easy to eat.

2. The pain from eating a meatball parmigiana hero:

Physical Appearance Pain:

• It will make me fat
• If I’m over weight I will not look like a personal trainer
• I will not look physically fit

Health Pain:

• It’s loaded with salt and can raise my blood pressure and lead to a number of health issues like diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol to name a few.
• It’s fried in unhealthy oil, can lower good HDL cholesterol and raise bad LDL cholesterol.

Mental Pain:

• I feel guilty for over eating and knowing that it is not good for me.
• I feel like I’m out of control of what I eat and have no will power
• I can’t think clearly because I over ate

The Pain it Will Cause My Family, Friends and Career:

• I will not live a long life
• I will not see my kids grow up and have a family
• I will not be able to play with my kids because I will be overweight and out of shape
• I won’t be able to play sports competitively with my friends
• I can lose my career; no one is going to listen to a personal trainer who is overweight

3. Replacement Food:

• Grilled chicken over salad

4. Pleasure from Replacement Food:

• I have no guilt; I know it’s a healthy meal
• It tastes good and is filling
• I will not get fat from this meal; it’s good nutrition
• I  feel in control of my eating by making a good choice
• I  feel healthy; no sugar crash
• I’m helping my career by eating healthy

I know it’s time consuming to go through this process for every food on your list but it works. If you can associate a great deal of pain with eating these foods and than a great deal of pleasure for eating healthy foods you will never have a weight problem again. Keep sending me your lists. Give this exercise a try  and let me know if this process is working for you.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Nutrition

The first challenge for avoiding summer weight gain is Memorial Day weekend. I was at three different barbeques this weekend and saw a lot of people having a good time but unfortunately over indulging on empty calories. Opposed to conventional wisdom, most people can eat red meat and have an alcoholic drink at a barbeque while avoiding summer weight gain. All you have to do is follow a few simple Fitness Contrarian rules on what to eat at a barbecue to beat summer weight gain.

What to Eat at a Barbeque to Beat Summer Weight Gain

• Always start off with a salad. I have never been to an adult barbeque where there was not a salad.

• Don’t pick on chips or pretzels. They’re just empty calories that you don’t even realize you’re eating. Must people will grab a handful out of habit when they’re not even hungry.

• It’s ok to eat hamburger but avoid the bun. Same thing for a hotdog; if you have to have one don’t eat the bun.

• The best choices for your entrée would be grilled fish or lean meats but fattier cuts are ok as long as you avoid other empty calories at the barbeque like bread and sugary deserts.

• Stay away from potato and pasta salads. Potato salad and pasta salad is too carbohydrate heavy along with all the other food you will be eating and drinking at a barbeque.

• Eat as many vegetables as you like. Corn on the cob is great along with any grilled vegetables.

• When it comes to drinking alcohol, I like to drink beer at a summer barbeque. What I do to limit the calories is drink light beer on ice. I drink light beer on ice all summer long. It‘s a great summer drink that is low in calories and limits the amount of alcohol consumed. It’s my version of a white wine spritzer. A white wine spritzer is a great idea at a barbecue, as well.

• Watermelon or any fruit is a great choice for desert at a barbeque. Just stay away from cakes and pies.

Everyone loves going to barbeques in the summer but doesn’t like to gain weight. I’ve been helping my personal training clients avoid gaining weight in the summer by following the above simple rules.

Let me know how you avoid gaining weight at a summer barbeque.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Nutrition

Eating less can be as simple as not putting the serving dishes on the table.  A new study from Cornell University called “Serve Here: Eat There” looked at the eating habits of 78 adults.

Brian Wansink, the director of the Cornell Food & Brand Lab said “We looked at whether serving foods from the kitchen counter, instead of at the table, would reduce the number of times a person refilled his or her plate”.  The research showed that when they kept the serving dishes out of sight and not on the table, women eat 20% fewer calories and men eat 29% fewer calories.

The researchers also pointed out that this strategy can work to increase the number of healthy foods your family can eat like vegetables and fruits by keeping them out in the open and easily accessible.

Brian Wansink is the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.

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Best  - Mike Cola

Demystifying  Nutrition

You should be able to miss a meal and not be hungry. If you’re the type who can’t miss a meal or has to eat by a certain time without getting lightheaded or ravenously hungry, you’re most likely burning sugar all day instead of fat.

My wife and I went out to dinner with friends this weekend. As soon as we sat down, one of are friends said he was really hungry and asked the waiter to quickly bring over some bread.  I instantly said to myself  “his body must have been surviving on sugar for fuel instead of burning fat”. I know it’s common for people to be so hungry that they can’t wait for their main meal to come and have to instantly eat tons of bread to get some sugar in their systems and feel better; I witness this all the time.

Unfortunately, it’s not good to get so hungry and have to quickly eat a bunch of empty sugar calories like bread to feel normal again. You should be able to skip a whole meal or not eat for a number of hours and not be overly hungry. If you can’t do that I would bet your eating too many empty calories and I would guess you’re most likely over weight. Even if you’re not eating very much but snack on small amounts of sugar all day like pretzels or sodas, what you’re doing is programming your body to burn sugar all day and not letting fat release into the blood stream to be burned as fuel.

What you have to do is reprogram your body to burn fat. You do this by eating protein and healthy fat while reducing simple insulin raising carbohydrates. When you eat sugars the first thing the body will do is burn the sugar as fuel. If you eat too much sugar your body will produce insulin, a storage hormone that helps remove the sugar from the blood steam and can store it as fat. If your snacking on carbohydrates like pretzels all day you will always be hungry. As soon as your body removes the sugar (pretzels) from your blood stream with insulin, you’re hungry again and you haven’t burned off any fat. You are pretty much living off of sugar all day.

If the scenario above sounds like you, your goal should be to eat mostly organic vegetables for your carbohydrates with organic meats, chicken, fish and eggs for your proteins and fats.  Snack on nuts, seeds and some fruits. By eating this way your blood sugar will be more stable. You will keep insulin under control, you won’t be overly hungry if you miss a meal and your body will be programmed to burn fat as a fuel when ever possible.

I know conventional wisdom suggests that all that matters is calorie intake to calories burned when it comes to weight loss. But my 25 years of experience has showed me its not that simple.  My contrarian view is that insulin can play a large role in weight gain, hunger and a number of other healthy related issues.

If your always reaching for the bread before dinner, try eating like I recommend in this article for a few weeks and let me know if you are less hungry and have lost some weight.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Fitness, Health & Nutrition

I’ve been telling my clients for years not to control their weight with too much exercise. Most people think they have to exercise for numerous hours per week to burn the extra calories and lose weight. The popular belief for weight loss is the longer and harder the better. But my 25 years of experience has shown me a contrarian view to weight loss. Seventy-five percent of how low your body weight will be has to due with your diet. The remaining 25% is related to exercise and genetics.

The New York Times Magazine had an article last week called Weighing the Evidence on Exercise. Eric Ravussin, a professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center who‘s been studying weight loss for years, said “In general, exercise by itself is pretty useless for weight loss”. What he meant by his statement is that long hard exercise sessions increases your appetite to a point where you wind up consuming more calories then you burn up by exercising. I have seen this happen to my clients for years. They want to lose weight so they start running hard for an hour, five to six days per week. They become so hungry that they start eating way more calories than they burned up running. The end result is no weight loss or weight gain and an overuse exercise injury.

In my opinion, you reach a point of diminishing returns very quickly with exercise. Exercising too much, just to burn extra calories, will ultimately make you ravenously hungry resulting in overeating. In addition, too much exercise can lead to injury, burnout and insomnia, and a host of other ailments. Learn how to control your weight with your diet. You should exercise for maximum results in a minimal amount of time.

How to Exercise Without Getting Hungry

You can strengthen your cardiovascular system for maximum results with short interval work-outs in less than 20 minutes, once or twice per week. For muscular strength and endurance,  most people need only two full-body basic strength training routines lasting no longer than 45 minutes, twice per week. Round  your weekly exercise program off by walking, hiking or biking easy for longer periods of time without putting any stress on your body.

The Fitness Contrarian way to building a healthy body and lose weight without getting hungry is short hard aerobics, moderately hard full body strength training work outs, and long and easy daily activities like walking with a perfect diet.

Let me know if exercise makes you hungry.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Fitness, Health & Nutrition

Unfortunately, eating a modest 100 extra calories a day can make you ten pounds heavier by the end of the year. It’s really hard for my personal training clients to understand that just cutting 100 calories from their diet by not eating that extra piece of toast in the morning can lead to a 10 pound weight loss by year’s end.

The best way to cut 100 calories from your diet is to get rid of empty sugar calories. Not only will you lose some weight but you will feel better due to more stable blood sugar. If you follow my list below and just reduce your sugar consumption by 100 calories, you will be 10 pound lighter in 350 days.

Best Ways to Cut 100 Calories

Breakfast:

• Skip the large glass of orange juice and have an orange instead.
• Never eat a whole bagel, ½ is more than enough.
• You don’t need over a cup of oatmeal, try ½ a cup instead.
• Have eggs without the toast.
• Keep in mind every packet of sugar in your coffee is 10 empty calories.

Lunch:

• No soda, have sugar free ice tea or water.
• Don’t have the roll or piece of bread with your soup or salad.
• Stay away from sandwiches that are made with rolls or heroes. Have a small pita instead.
• Eat tuna or chicken salad on a bed of lettuce not on bread as a sandwich.
• Tortilla wraps are 13-inches of empty calories; make the wrap with ½ a tortilla.

Dinner:

• If you’re having grains, measure out 1/3 of a cup. Anything more is overdoing it.
• Substitute  vegetables for another serving of rice.
• Have ½ of a large baked potato instead of a whole one.
• Start the meal with salad instead of bread.
• Keep the bread off the table; try thin bread sticks if you have to

Snacks:

• Buy pre-measured snacks, no more than 100 calories.
• Choose fruit over a bag of pretzels.
• Choose plain yogurt over flavored yogurt.
• Choose flavored seltzer over soda.
• Choose celery stalks over dried fruit.

Getting rid of 100 calories can be pretty easy if you follow the list above. All you have to do is just pick one meal and make the 100-calorie change and you could be 10 pounds lighter by the end of the year.

Let me know if you have any good ideas for cutting 100 calories from your diet.

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Best – Mike Cola

Demystifying Nutrition