Tricks to Eating Healthy While Dining Out

Losing weight is a journey that usually demands certain lifestyle changes to be made in order to be successful. These include implementing more exercise into one’s daily routine, eating fewer calories, and avoiding sugar, just to name a few. This can leave some people thinking that their days of enjoying dinner out are over. But, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Achieving safe and effective weight loss doesn’t mean you have to live a dull life. You can still go out with your friends for dinner at your favorite restaurant. You just have to think a little more closely about what you order. Here are some tricks to try the next time you want to dine out.

Enjoy a Glass of Wine, But Limit It to One!

Many people don’t have a problem ordering something healthier on the menu. It’s not being able to enjoy a glass of wine that really throws them off. The reality is, having a glass of wine won’t ruin your weight loss journey, so enjoy yourself and have that glass of wine. The trick is, limit yourself to just one glass.

Eat 75% of Your Meal, Then Stop

Many of today’s restaurants serve huge portions, much more than what your daily allotment for dinner should include. Therefore, practice portion control and eat only 75% of your dinner. You won’t be as full; you’ll still be satisfied, and you can take the remainder home for tomorrow’s lunch.

Always Be Careful of Dishes Labeled “Light”

You should know by now that terms like “sugar-free,” “low fat,” and “light” aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. If you see a dish on a menu that’s labeled “light,” check out the dish’s nutritional facts before ordering. Sometimes a dish may be called light because it is low in carbs, even though it is high in fats and calories.

Choose Dishes with Lean Proteins

It might be tempting to order the rib-eye, but a single 10-ounce rib-eye can pack more than 800 calories alone. Instead, satisfy your steak cravings by going with a leaner protein like flank steak, tenderloin, or strip steak. Plus, that 10-ounce steak is double the recommended serving. Therefore, if the restaurant can’t give you anything smaller than a 10-ounce steak, cut it in half and take the rest home.

Edit Yourself at the Salad Bar

A salad is a great side dish, but only when it’s made right. Ideally, you should opt for more of the darker greens, vegetables, some chick peas, and maybe some edamame. Leave the chesses, bacon bits, croutons, and other fatty toppings alone. And, for the dressing, you should go with one or two tablespoons of low-fat dressing, preferably olive oil and vinegar.

 

Southeastern Offers Weight Loss Wilmington NC That Works

If you’re having a hard time losing weight, don’t get discouraged. Some people just need a little help and that’s exactly what Southeastern Healthcare has to offer. We provide medically-guided weight loss Wilmington NC that really works. If you need help losing weight or you just can’t get those last ten pounds off, call us today at 910-477-3945. We are here for you. With six locations throughout the Wilmington area, we have an office conveniently close to you.

12 Mental Tricks to Overcome Cravings

Losing weight is as much a mental process as it is a physical one. And, in most cases, it’s our inability to mentally manage our cravings that causes our weight loss efforts to fall by the wayside. Therefore, the answer is easy – overcome your cravings and you’ll improve your weight loss odds.

At Synergy we specialize in medical weight loss in Wilmington NC, and part of our success is based on our ability to help our clients overcome their cravings. Here are twelve mental tricks that we employ to help our weight loss clients reach their goals. Start using them today!

Stop and Think Before You Act

Every single thing you do over the course of a day requires you to make a decision. Therefore, before you dive into that tub of ice cream, stop, take a breath, and think about what you’re doing. Every important decision requires reflection, and everything you put in your body is an important decision. Pausing before you do will help put things into perspective.

Indulge in Heathier Versions of Your Favorite Junk Food

Mentally, we crave the crunch, sweets, and salts of our favorite snacks. But, these sensations can be reproduced using healthier alternatives. Instead of potato chips try crispy kale chips. Instead of ice cream try blending a frozen banana into a sorbet. Or, just dig in to a bowl of grapes or cherries. Your cravings will be satisfied and you will find that you won’t even feel as if you’re missing anything.

Visualize Yourself Eating

According to a study performed by Carnegie Mellon University in 2010, participants who visualized themselves eating thirty M&M candies before they actually starting eating the candy ate fewer of the candies than those who didn’t visualize eating the candy.

Don’t Deprive Yourself

When you deprive yourself of something, it makes you want it that much more. By allowing yourself the ability to have anything, you’ll be more likely to suffer fewer cravings. The key is keeping your splurges limited to once or twice a week.

Portion Your Snacks

If you had a child, how much of one thing would you put in their lunch box? You should adopt a “lunch box” mentality when it comes to your snacks. Instead of sitting down with an entire bag of chips, dole out an appropriate portion in a baggie. This way, your snacks will last you longer, you won’t feel deprived, and you can account the calories that much easier.

Drink a Glass of Water

Often, thirst is mistaken for hunger. Therefore, before you head for the snack cupboard, drink a glass of water. If you’re still hungry after the drink, then you probably really are hungry. Going for an apple will give you the crunch you desire without the salt, calories, and fat of an unhealthy alternative.

Choose a Cheat Day

If you give yourself one day a week to indulge in your favorite treats, then you will have something to look forward to every week. This will also help you stay on track the rest of the week because mentally, you will feel guilty if you indulge outside of your chosen cheat day.

Identify Your Ideal Distractions

What takes your mind off of your cravings best? Is it calling your mom? Playing a video game? Reading a book? Make a list of your ideal distractions so when a craving hits, you can check your list and do something that will help keep your mind off of your craving.

Use Smaller Plates

We’re a super-size nation, so we want to see a lot of food on our plates. But, a lot of food is counterproductive when you’re trying to lose weight. Instead, try using smaller dinner plates when you plate up your food. This will make smaller portions appear larger and your mind will be tricked!

Resist, Resist, Resist

Think of your resistance like a muscle. Every time you use it, it gets stronger. So, every time you get a craving, resist, resist, resist. Eventually, your resistance will strengthen and cravings won’t have the power they once did.

Don’t Eat with the TV On

When we eat while watching TV, we often lose sight of how much we’re shoveling in our mouths because we’re focused on whatever it is we’re watching. Therefore, turn the TV off at dinnertime. This will help you focus on your food so you can pay better attention to what’s going in your body.

Get Technical

If you’re like most people, you’re never too far away from your smartphone. And, when you’re trying to lose weight, that can be a good thing. There are several motivational apps out there that you can use to help keep your weight loss goals on track or you can set daily reminder alerts on your phone so you can receive an inspirational or motivational note at those tough times of the day when your cravings tend to hit hardest.

Try Medical Weight Loss in Wilmington NC Now for Just $99

If you’re looking for a safe and effective way to lose weight, Synergy Medical Weight Loss provides doctor-supervised weight loss programs in the Wilmington NC area that deliver quality results. All of the appetite suppressants, vitamin injections, and prescription hCG therapies used in our programs are FDA-approved components and effectively proven to help patients lose weight safely. And best of all, it’s just $99 to get started!

If your cravings are making it impossible to lose weight, our medical weight loss in Wilmington NC can help. Call Synergy Medical Weight Loss at Southeastern Healthcare today at 910-477-3945 . We are here to help. With six locations throughout the Wilmington area, we have an office conveniently close to you.

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Tips for Healthy Living

One of the key components in any weight loss journey is living the healthiest lifestyle possible. But, not everyone really understands what it takes to live healthy. At Southeastern Healthcare, we provide services like medical weight loss Wilmington NC in order to help people who have had difficulty losing weight in the past to achieve their weight loss goals safely and effectively. But, we also stress the importance of making the changes necessary to live a healthier lifestyle in support of weight loss. Here are some proven tips for healthy living that will help accelerate your weight loss.

Get Enough Sleep

When the body gets fewer than seven hours of sleep a night, it can cause an increase in the production of a hormone called cortisol. High cortisol levels have been linked to weight gain and depression, therefore, simply getting more than seven hours of sleep per night will help you avoid this dangerous hormone spike. To help you achieve this, stop watching TV or using a computer (or smartphone or tablet) about an hour before you go to bed. You should also dim any excessively bright lights. This will help relax and prepare your body for sleep and this will help you sleep through the night.

Eat a Healthy Diet

Your diet provides the fuel your body will be using throughout the day, so why not give it the best fuel possible? Foods laden with white sugar or high fructose corn syrup are not only nutritionally-void, they have been proven to increase your risk of heart disease, obesity, and depression. Stick with fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products. For proteins, choose lean meats, poultry, Omega-3-rich fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. And, if you’re trying to lose weight, avoid eating a large meal before bedtime.

Exercise Every Day

The type of exercise isn’t important; the simple fact that you’re exercising every day is the most important element. Even if you can only fit in a 20-minute walk during your lunch break, something is better than nothing and over time, you will see the results. Exercising every day will improve every aspect of your health and help you lose weight quicker, and by sticking to your regimen, the weight will stay off.

Drink More Water

The human body is made up of mostly water, so when the body’s fluid levels drop off, it can make you feel dizzy, tired, weak, and generally “off.” Drinking at least eight full glasses of water a day works wonders. It helps remove toxins from the body, lubricate your joints, and increase recovery rates, among other health benefits. If you replace sugary drinks with water, you’ll find it has a remarkable impact on your weight loss efforts.

Eliminate Bad Habits

If you smoke or drink alcohol regularly, then you are sabotaging all of your weight loss and healthy living efforts. While it can be very difficult to stop these habits cold-turkey, gradually cutting back to the point that you can eliminate them will help make the process easier and more bearable. Likewise, if you have a bad habit of binge eating junk food over the weekend or eating late at night, finding alternative ways of managing those cravings is important. For example, medical weight loss in Wilmington NC may be able to help you find better ways of controlling your cravings.

Southeastern Healthcare Offers Medical Weight Loss Wilmington NC

Losing weight isn’t always easy, but in some cases, what we do every day can actually make the process even harder. If you’re not living a healthy lifestyle, then you’re not giving yourself the best chance at achieving the weight loss you desire. Call Southeastern Healthcare today at 910-477-3945. Right now we are offering a $99 medical weight loss Wilmington NC start-up special. This includes a consultation, lab work, exams, prescriptions, and your first injection! Be sure to contact us today to receive our special offer.

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The Benefits of B12 Injections

Fatigue is something that affects millions of people on a daily basis. For a good number of them, the fatigue can be so overwhelming that it impacts practically every part of their day. It makes it impossible to find the energy needed to work out, to be productive at work, or to simply enjoy the small things of everyday life. People who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are often found to be lacking in one very important vitamin – B12. As such, Vitamin B12 injections offer CFS sufferers many potential benefits that can help them get back on track so they can live a healthier and happier lifestyle. Here are just some of the potential benefits of B12 injections and how it may even help you achieve weight loss Wilmington NC.

B12 Gives the Body a Boost of Energy

For people who are deficient in Vitamin B12, an injectable form of the vitamin may be the ticket to improving their energy and stamina. The reason is because B12 is needed to help get the body’s metabolism up and running. By receiving a B12 injection, you are supplementing this important vitamin in your body and it will engage your metabolism, leading to a natural increase in your energy levels and stamina. Of course, one of the side effects of an engaged metabolism is the enhanced ability to shed pounds. This is why Vitamin B12 injections work so well at helping those deficient in the vitamin gain the energy they need to improve their weight loss efforts.

B12 Helps Improve Sleep Patterns

In a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology in 1996, it was revealed that scientists found one type of vitamin B12, methylcobalamin, was beneficial for some people who suffered from sleep problems. This particular type of B12 was found to affect the body’s melatonin levels, which is crucial to regulating the sleep-wake cycle. As a result, B12 injections are often used to help treat those suffering from circadian sleep disorders and other sleeping problems. As we all know, a good night’s sleep is very important for weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

B12 Helps Maintain Healthy Nerve Cells and Red Blood Cells

Healthy nerve cells and red blood cells play active roles in how your body functions. But, if you’re deficient in Vitamin B12, there’s a good chance that you could be anemic and this alone will make you feel tired, weak, and in some cases, depressed. Vitamin B12 is essential for a healthy life because it is what makes new cells in the body, including new red blood cells and nerve cells. For those deficient, getting B12 injections can improve their body’s ability to produce and maintain healthy nerve cells and red blood cells.

Other Potential Benefits of Vitamin B12 Injections

There is current research being conducted on Vitamin B12 injections and how it might prove beneficial to helping treat a variety of health conditions. Researchers are currently investigating B12’s effect on diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia, heart disease, high cholesterol, male infertility, asthma, sickle cell disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

Medical Weight Loss Wilmington NC Might Be What You Need

If you are having difficulty losing weight because you’re simply too fatigued to exercise, medical weight loss Wilmington NC can help. Call Southeastern Healthcare today at 910-477-3945. We are here for you. Right now we are offering a $99 start-up special. This includes a consultation, lab work, exams, prescriptions, and your first injection! Be sure to contact us today to receive our special offer.