Simple Ways To Lose Weight Even When Dining Out - Eat slowly

Have you ever had your healthy diet plans sabotaged by well meaning friends or colleagues who invite you  to join them while they dine out?  Do not worry, you can accept the invitation, join in with your colleagues or friends and still remain healthy and focused on your diet.  But you must follow a few basic tips for healthy eating when dining out.
Eat more slowly.  This is the foundational concept.  When you eat fast, you are able to cram in more food and calories than your body needs.  When you eat slowly you are allowing your hypothalamus (in your brain) to send signals to tell you to stop eating because your brain believes that you are 'full.'  Eating fast bypasses the hypothalamus until its too late and you've eaten far more than you should.  Eating slowly allows you to enjoy the flavor of your food more, as well as reducing the amount of food you eat.
Blood sugar levels trigger your brain to tell you, "I'm hugry - go get something to eat!", or else the blood sugar levels trigger your brain to tell you, "I'm full! Stop eating now."  The hypothalamus is responsible for sending these messages, but it does not react quickly to changes in the body.  You can literally force yourself to eat more if you will eat quickly - before your hypothalamus has a chance to respond.
Use that concept to help you lose weight.  If your brain needs time to discover that you are full, then lets give it time to learn these things.  By slowing the pace at which you eat, you give your brain a chance to learn whether you are truly full or not.
In this article you will earn some smart dining tips for staying healthy and losing weight even when dining out.  The main concept which is the foundation of this article is 'eat slowly'.  This is the key idea behind each tip in this article.
Tip number one: Slow down by chewing more.  Most people today only chew their food a few times before swallowing.  Instead, you should chew each bite 20-30 times before swallowing it.  This will slow the pace of your meal and give your body and brain a chance to communicate with each other about how full you are.  This will also aid in the digestion process, which is an added benefit.
Tip number two: Sip more water.  You should know that you need to avoid empty calories found in sodas and other sweet beverages.  Instead drink water or unsweetened tea.  Take a sip or small gulp of water between each bite of your meal.  Doing this causes you to slow the pace of your meal, just like chewing 20-30 times.  It also adds to the feeling of fullness in your stomach.
Tip number three: Follow this pattern: bite, chew, sip, repeat.  Bite your food and enjoy the flavor.  Chew it 20-30 times before swallowing.  Then take a sip of water.  If you have fresh fruit or vegetables with your meal (and you really should!), then alternate between taking a bite of the entree, then sipping water, then eating a bite of fresh vegetables or fruit.
Tip number four: Eat slowly, eat smaller amounts, but eat more frequently.  Now that you are eating more slowly, you will find that you are eating less at each meal, but you will also realize that you feel hungry more frequently.  Instead of feeling starved, enjoy a healthy light snack.  Feeling hungry or starved will trigger your brain to tell you to eat a lot of food and eat it fast.  Instead, keep your brain from sending hunger signals by eating every 2 hours throughout the day until evening (at least 2-3 hours before going to bed).
Eat a healthy meal, then a healthy snack 2 hours later.  Do this for three meals and snacks.  You should have a total of 6 meals or snacks throughout the day.
Follow these tips and you should see results in 2 to 3 weeks.  You should be able to notice some weight loss after this time, if you've been following these tips each day- even if you dined out every day.
For more healthy dining out tips, you should read the Hubpages article, Healthy Tips For Dining Out When On A Diet - Avoid Temptations, where the fundamental concept of avoiding temptations when dining out is taught.