Tag: food

Tips for dining out

Dining out has a different level of significance for every family. For some it is a daily occurrence and is the norm, while for others it is an occasional special treat. Regardless of which category your family falls into, you want the experience to be enjoyable. There are seldom any guarantees when you enter a restaurant that everything will end up exactly the way expect it to, but being aware of a few things up front can help you avoid some of the pitfalls of dining out. These tips are presented in the context of a family outing, but some can apply just as well to couples or a group of friends.

If time permits, the very first thing that should be done is research. That is not to say you should perform an in-depth study of each restaurant you would like to patronize, but listen to what other people have to say about it. Reputation in the restaurant business is an absolute. Restaurants do not get good reputations by providing lousy service or food. Keep in mind that everyone has different tastes and opinions, but a reputation is built on consistent quality service. A few minutes on the internet or talking to some friends could preclude a dinner disaster.

Once you have chosen the restaurant, you should decide if you are budgeting for this outing or if this will is a special, spare-no-expense’ outing. That decision absolutely should be made beforehand as it will help avoid any disappointments when ordering. If you are budgeting and want to minimize the expense, try having everyone drink water instead of soft drinks. The cost of soft drinks can really add up for a family of five. Appetizers and sides can add up as well, and dessert can sometimes be as much as the rest of the meal. Of course, if you are not budgeting, make sure you save room for dessert!

The restaurant industry is a service industry. Waiters and waitresses are there to provide a service for you, and most of them enjoy doing so. Don’t be afraid to ask for something. Usually, when you are seated, they will ask you if the location is acceptable. If it isn’t, politely let them know that you would rather sit somewhere else. As long as you are polite about it, they usually do not mind. They want your experience to be enjoyable. Keep in mind, however, that they have to deal with many other people throughout the day that may not be as polite or friendly as you. A little consideration for your waitress or waiter can go a long way for your dining experience.

When you have finished, be sure to continue that consideration in the form of a fair tip. If the service you received was simply marginal, but adequate, then the tip should be equal to the going rate. Current rates are around 15% to 18% for average service, higher if the service was exceptional. If the service was not acceptable, do not simply leave a lesser tip. Talk to the manager first and let them know what the problem was, and try to make sure you do not blame the server for problems that were beyond their control.

It does not take a whole lot of preparation to have a good dining out experience. Just a little pre-planning and attention to detail can make it a night to remember for the entire family.

Tips for improving restaurant service

It seems that when a person goes to a restaurant they always seem to find something that needs to be approved on. Whether it be the way the food is prepared, or even the way the service is. Now speaking as a former waitress, I can easily see when something needs to be approved on. I also think that a waitress is the hardest person to wait on, just because they know all the little secrets.

So as a former waitress I do have a few little tips that can help improve the restaurant service. Well first of all if you find yourself in a restaurant and you see that the service isn’t so great, you do have the right to do something about it. Sometimes if your on the outside of the restaurant business it may seem to be a little bit harder. But if your on the inside of the business its just a little bit easier to deal with it.

Well lets say that you own your own restaurant or you have just bought an existing restaurant. Now this so called restaurant is well known in the area, but you want to do a few things that would make it better. First of all what you should probably work on is the menu of the restaurant, you really have to know what the costumers want to eat. Honestly people aren’t going to go to a restaurant if they’ve never heard of the food items. Another tip on improving the restaurant service is of course the waiters and waitresses.

Now the waiters and waitresses are honestly the backbone of any restaurant. They are the first people you see when you walk into the restaurant, and they make the whole dinning experience pleasant. Now if you have waiters and waitresses in your restaurant, it would be better to have a group meeting to make sure that everyone is on the same page. As my experience from being a waitress I know how stressful it can be to work in a restaurant with no communication. It’s absolutely awful and it causes people to quit out of anger.

But of course if you want a real tip for improving the restaurant service. Its going to come from the management and owners first of all. I mean the employees of a business take the lead from their employers after all. Employers have to tell their employees what they want and exactly what they want their results to be. Take it from me I know all the stress that comes along with working in a restaurant. It doesn’t matter if your at the very bottom of the chain, or if your the head of the company. Everyone has to work together to improve the service of any restaurant.

Thats the best tip that can ever be given to anyone. Teamwork! I mean if a restaurant doesn’t have teamwork, then it wont improve any services that it provides.

Get All Information About Eating Disorder Types

Eating disorders are one of the unspoken secrets that permeate many families. Millions of Americans are afflicted with this disorder every year, and most of them — up to 90 percent — are adolescent and young women.

Rarely talked about, an eating disorder can affect up to 5 percent of the population of teenage girls.

Why are adolescent and young women so susceptible to getting an eating disorder? According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it is because during this period of time, women are more likely to diet to try and keep a slim figure and/or try stringent dieting. Certain sports (such as gymnastics) and careers (such as modeling) are especially prone to reinforcing the need to keep a fit figure, even if it means purging food or not eating at all.

These eating disorders carry serious health risks and can sometimes result in death. Medical and Dental complications can occur as a result of starvation, vomiting and abuse of exercise.

A small but significant number of eating disorder patients die from their disorder, convinced that it is better to starve to death than to be fat. It is vital that eating disordered people receive treatment for their disorders. Appropriate treatment includes medical attention and psychotherapy, both from professionals specializing in eating disorders treatment.

Preventing Eating Disorders
Cognitive-behavioral strategies may help prevent the development of eating disorders in adolescent women, particularly those who are overweight. A 2006 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported success with an Internet-based cognitive-behavioral program that targeted at-risk college-age women. The women were taught how to become more comfortable with their body weight and image. The program also provided education on healthy eating and weight management.

Eating Disorder Types

In Anorexia Nervosa, the sufferer shows a desperate fear of weight gain and a desire to be abnormally thin, and severely restricts her diet in an attempt to achieve this. Some sufferers also use excessive exercise and sometimes self-induced vomiting as a means of weight control. This behaviour leads to a wide variety of harmful physical and psychological consequences and can be life-threatening; in fact anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychological illness.

Bulimia is characterized by eating excessive amounts of food in short periods of time,
Usually in secret, and is followed by some form of purging behavior. Most individuals suffering with bulimia realize that their behavior is abnormal and try to keep it a secret. Individuals are either slightly over, or at average body weight.

While bulimia is not as physically harmful as anorexia, the psychological effects can be devastating, leading to depression and even more serious outcomes including suicide in the worst of cases. The physical signs of bulimia which can be observed tend to be related to the purging methods used, and include regularly bloodshot eyes, swollen glands, and dental erosion. In the long term, the dangers include digestive system problems such as ulcers, weakness and exhaustion, and even heart problems.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a type of eating disorder not otherwise specified and is
characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of compensatory measures to counter the binge eating.

Binge Eating Disorder is characterized by:

1. Frequent episodes of eating large quantities of food in short periods of time.
2. Feeling out of control over eating behavior

A fast food observation

Please Boycott Fast Food

After three years of working in fast food, I have decided to boycott the industry. If people knew the truth, they would agree with my educated decision. Below are the reasons why people should not support the fast food industry.

First of all, no standard for quality exists. While a few restaurants may serve delicious food, the majority of them purchase the most inexpensive, lowest grade food possible. By giving us practically dog food, these companies maximize their profits. To increase profits even more, employees keep expired food, unless if it seriously endangers their customers’ health. Even though many companies make food after customers order it, the food still sits on the counters for hours. If you kept food on your counter for hours would you consider it fresh?

The quantity is a joke. One fast food chain literally puts a tablespoon of meat and a pinch of cheese on its products. The hamburger buns and tortillas create an illusion of feeling full. Please do not let these deceiving companies fool you. Fast food is inexpensive because they cut costs by barely giving you food, if you can call it food.

To kill all the germs on your hands, one must lather them for twenty seconds. How many times have you seen an employee wash their hands in only five seconds? Soap still clings to your hands after five seconds. Also, while making food, employees may go hours before washing their hands again. To employees, hand washing becomes a nuisance. Imagine washing your hands over 1,000 times a month. Another sanitation destructor is the innumerable flies, which enter restaurants in the summertime. Please think of the high probability that your dinner contains germs, soap residue, and fly feces. Yummy!

Most of these companies treat their workers as ants, unimportant and replaceable. They pay their employees minimum wage-the minimum needed to survive (if you have no children, at least). Minimum wage barely provided me, a single male, enough money for shelter and food. These employees cannot afford luxuries, like cars and health insurance. If the millionaire franchise owners offered ridiculous things, such as health insurance and paid-vacations, they might have to purchase a smaller vacation home. I would, however, like to tell you that McDonalds does offer paid-vacation and health-insurance. Unfortunately, most companies do not. Next time you eat at fast food, please think if the cashier can feed her own children.

I do not understand why customers put up with the poor customer service. Here is an inside secret, THEY DISLIKE CUSTOMERS. Employees begin to resent customers and complain of their stupidity, rudeness, and slowness. In fast food, the customers are expected to be fast. The drive-thru runs on a timer. When a car sits there, after they receive their food, it makes the timer run. When you eat in the lobby, have you heard a loud, annoying beep? That beep tells them to hurry, or else. Or else, the mangers threaten their jobs. By the way, do not make an employee angry. Otherwise, you might receive smashed food, no napkins, or even violated food. Employees view customers as a permanent, ugly, pus-filled boil on their faces.

Experiencing fast food first hand has made me resent the industry. The customers help them survive. So they can continue to give you unhealthy food with bad service. I would rather take five minutes and make myself a sandwich. I know my sandwich does not have fly feces on it.

Choosing a location for a new restaurant

Most important thing is that find out several things of pre-opening area; such as peoples’ population, average age, people’s eating habit and their purchasing ability etc. Make a comparison from different area to find out the better result.

Try to find the location near the commercial area or office towers. The location can be reached by walk or drive, it just takes a few minutes to arrive. The location should avoid facing another restaurant because it may mislead the people to enter the wrong place when they want to go to your restaurant.

Find out the location in the convenient zone, the transportation tool and pedestrian can pass by it conveniently. Ensure the parking lot has enough space for your customers parking.

Investigate the town, which area is well known dinning area and find out the location to open the new restaurant. More people will go to your place because your restaurant is in the famous area.

Choose a location near the street corner to open a new restaurant because everybody will know when they pass by it no matter car driver or pedestrian. When people feel hungry or they think the location is convenient they will come to your restaurant enjoying your place without hesitation.

If open a restaurant inside of the building, avoid opening at the upper floor, because people always think they want to find a convenient place to diet not to go high floors to waste their time. The best location is open at the ground floor because where are most people concentrated.

People can find your restaurant easily when they get together at the lobby of building. Everybody can see your restaurant if your restaurant at the lobby level.

Nowadays more and more people to use the transportation to go to diet at the restaurant. The best way is the restaurant should have its own parking lot or the restaurant location should be close to the city parking lot. The street face to the restaurant should be wide and without any traffic jam. The street’s name also should be well known and people can be found it easily.

Dealing with emotional eating

Emotional eating is often referred to as stress eating and over eating in general. Regardless of what it is called, it is a common problem in today’s society. Technically, it would be considered a type of eating disorder in the sense that the person that is emotionally eating is using food as a crutch to deal with their problems.

I am an emotional eater. I use it as an escape when things don’t go my way or to celebrate when I am on top of the world. If I get a promotion at work, I grab a snack cake. If I am having a bad day, I grab two snack cakes. I eat because it is available and rarely just because I am hungry. Actually, many of the times that I have turned to food for comfort, I have not been hungry at all.

Of course we all need food for survival but it is when that line is crossed that a problem begins. When food is used for something other than sustenance or a means to nourish the body, it is defeating the purpose. Yet, because there are a lot of foods out there it is often hard for many people not to reach for something to eat to help them cope.

There are a variety of reasons that people use for emotional eating. They may do it because it is available or because they are bored. They may stress eat because they are in pain or searching for a temporary solution for their broken spirit. Perhaps they are even overeating to avoid a craving for something else.

Emotional eating acts as a cushion. It provides comfort when bad things happen. It is a way for the people eating to deal with their problems and pacify themselves. In truth, it is just a far too convenient method.

Emotional or stress eating may falsely solve one problem but it brings a multitude of other problems to deal with. If a person stress eats, they are probably not taking time to read labels and make healthy choices. They are likely to gain weight and could even develop health issues. In the end, a temporary fix such as emotional eating just isn’t worth it.

Once a person gets used to stress eating, they often do it without giving it a second thought. Dealing with stress eating is very important. If a person gets too used to emotional eating, the outcome may not always be a desirable one. People can become addicted to food but no matter how delicious it tastes, very few people would want to make the world record book as fattest emotional eater.

The first step to get past this lack of impulse control is to work towards pinpointing the actual problem. If you are able

Should restaurants be required to list calories and fat grams on their menus?

Sanitation and employee infectious disease requirements should be the only things mandated by law.

Why take business, especially small family owned restaurants on a consistently longer financial ride? All we really do is run small businesses out of business and allow the larger corporations to increase charges and lower food quality.


What do I mean about running small businesses out of business? I am personally familiar with a small restaurant located on the third floor of an old building. The State Legislature passed a law requiring all businesses to be accessible for the handicapped. As the old building had no elevators and the small restaurant could not afford to install one, good-bye business.

I, myself, am disabled. However, there is no glee in watching a business close so my healthy neighbor cannot climb the stairs to enjoy a restaurant.

If you think that the Alfredo sauce in that corporate restaurant does not come out of a package for mixing with water, you might want to think twice. If you ask your food server, they probably will not have a clue.

In a small family owned restaurant, you can pretty well bet your cream, butter and garlic they know what is in the food.

Should we create a new law to go with the many others we have? Let us go with a listing of calories, fat grams, and maybe later a full list of ingredients and amounts of those ingredients.

Maybe a list of the cleaning agents used and with what soaps what employees shower?

Do you think that sounds ridiculous? It is, and so is this constant push for legally mandating what and what not restaurants must or cannot do.

If it is best for his business to include any specific information on their menu, that should be the restaurant owners prerogative. A full list of food temperatures and ingredients, a separate low calorie low fat menu section, or simply daily special’. French fries are fattening. Anyone who does not know this should avoid restaurants.

If a restaurant considers it good business to include a low fat, low calorie section on their menu, that should be up to them.

Sure restaurants should have certain responsibilities. However, those responsibilities should be limited to current civil suits, not new laws demanded by irresponsible peoples.

If my child is allergic to peanut products, it should be my responsibility to notify the food server. I should be the restaurants responsibility that the serve know the food ingredients. If that server allows us to order a hamburger with ‘special sauce’ for the child and that sauce turns out to (oddly) contain peanut butter. That restaurant should be responsible in a civil court for damages.

Why is the restaurant responsible because their coffee happens to be hotter than from the average restaurant? Common sense alone would tell me that any hot coffee would scald me if I spill it upon myself. Good Grief, hot means what it says, hot. We have gone way to far, demanding businesses be responsible for what we ourselves should know.

How many grams of fat are in an ounce of lettuce? How many calories in an average hot fudge sundae? If I care about it, I will become informed myself. Not make the restaurant responsible to inform me.

We have gone too far already in blaming others for what should be our own responsibility.

Mandating that restaurants list calories and fat grams on their menus is simply a lack of accepting personal responsibility.

Eating Disorders Cause and Symptoms

Eating disorders afflict millions of people, thousands of which will die from them yearly. There is good news though, eating disorders can be beaten. This causes dramatic weight fluctuation, interferes with normal daily life, and damages vital body functions. An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat, or avoid eating, that negatively affects one’s physical and mental health. They affect an estimated 5-7% of females in the United States during their lifetimes. Eating disorders are very complex, and despite scientific research to understand them, the biological, behavioral and social underpinnings of these illnesses remain elusive. Eating disorders are serious behavior problems.

An eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25. An eating disorders involve self-critical, negative thoughts and feelings about body weight and food, and eating habits that disrupts normal body function, and daily life activities. It’s common for kids – particularly teens – to be concerned about how they look and to feel self-conscious about their weight. Although eating disorders primarily affect women and girls, boys and men are also vulnerable. One in four preadolescent cases of anorexia occurs in boys, and binge-eating disorder affects females and males about equally. They include Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa and Binge-eating. Eating disorders can cause heart and kidney problems and even death.

Causes of Eating Disorders
Environmental
Psychological
Biological
Academic pressures
Genetic factors
Trauma
Symptoms of Eating Disorders
significant weight loss
regularly buys laxatives
preference to eat in isolation
depression
becomes very thin
physical health complications
swollen glands in the neck and below the jaw
Diagnosis for Eating Disorders
Trying to help a child who doesn’t think he or she needs help can be hard. Remember that it’s not your job to diagnose your child – only a doctor can do that.

Treatment for Eating Disorders
Treatment can include medical supervision, nutritional counseling, and therapy. The professionals try to address a child’s perception about his or her body size, shape, eating, and foods. There are a variety of treatment options available: individual therapy, group therapy, nutritional support, psychiatric care, outpatient, inpatient, residential and we can help you locate these resources. Fluoxetine and other antidepressants may reduce binge-eating episodes and help alleviate depression in some patients. Low mood may be difficult to spot in an uncommunicative teenager, and lack of interest in physical activity is not something most parents worry about in their teenage daughters.

Prevention for Eating Disorders
Parents and other family members are important in helping a person see that his or her normal body shape is perfectly fine and that being excessively thin can be dangerous.
To make sure that your child knows that you love him or her for who she is and what she does, not how she looks.
By reducing or eliminating behaviors or thoughts that lead to disordered eating, and preventing relapse.
Maintaining a regular diary of eating, thoughts and feelings can be helpful.

How to make baby food

Making your own baby food saves money. On top of that, there is no question about what is in the baby food when the parent makes it himself. Here are some tips for making your own baby food.

1. Select fresh fruits and vegetables. Some good fruits to start with are apples, pears and bananas, and some good vegetables are carrots, peas and green beans.

2. Wash the fruit or vegetables thoroughly to remove any pesticides. Better yet, start with organic produce, and wash to remove any dirt or contaminants.

3. Peel and steam the fruit or vegetables until soft. It is not necessary to cook bananas.

4. Puree the fruit or vegetable in a blender until the fruit or vegetable is the desired consistency. Baby food prepared for babies who do not yet have teeth should be completely smooth.

You may need to add some water to the blender in order for the fruit or vegetable to blend properly and to be thin enough.

5. Pour or spoon the blended baby food into ice cube trays and cover with plastic wrap. Place into the freezer.

6. Once the baby food is frozen, remove the cubes from the ice cube tray and place the cubes of frozen baby food into zippered plastic bags or plastic containers. Store the baby food in the freezer until time to serve the baby food.

7. When you are ready to feed the baby, remove the number of cubes of baby food you think your baby will need. (The frozen cubes of baby food are ideal because as your baby grows, you simple use more cubes of food at a time, but a single cube is great to start with.)

8. Microwave the baby food until it thaws and is at a comfortable temperature. In most cases, this should take less than 30 seconds. Be sure to check the food’s temperature, so you don’t inadvertently feed the baby food that is too hot.

If you do not have a microwave, you can simply remove the food earlier and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. It is also safe to allow the food to thaw outside of the refrigerator if you are going to serve the food within the next hour.

Here are some additional things to keep in mind when making your own baby food:

1. Although fresh fruits and vegetables are ideal, you may also use canned or frozen fruits or vegetables when making your own baby food. If using canned or frozen fruit and vegetables, be sure to purchase ones that do not have any additives.

2. Introduce only one new food to your baby at a time. Feed your baby the same food for at least a few days so you can detect any type of food allergies. Down the road, once you are sure the baby is not allergic to any of the foods, you may mix various fruits or vegetables together.

3. If you have already started your baby on rice or some other cereal, initially mix in the fruit or vegetable with the cereal, rather than giving it to the baby straight. The cereal tones down the taste of the new food which may help the baby to be more open to the new taste.

Preparing your own baby food is really easy and will save you a lot of money and provide you with peace of mind since you can hand pick the ingredients. Additionally, since homemade baby food can be frozen, you only need to make baby food once a week or even once a month, which makes preparing your own baby food convenient as well.

Identifying common eating disorders

What is An Eating Disorder?

Eating disorders are serious medical and emotional illnesses that require prompt diagnosis and treatment for full recovery and to avoid long-term health issues and side effects. According to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), current research confirms that eating disorders are biologically-based and influenced by emotional and cultural factors. Eating disorders are potentially life-threatening illnesses, but help is available and full recovery is possible. Eating Disorders are now prevalent across all age groups, in children, adolescents, teens, and adults. Studies indicate that as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting anorexia or bulimia, with millions more struggling with binge eating disorder. Eating disorders are about feelings. They are not really about food or body image.

Types of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders fall into one of the following categories, although sufferers may combine types of disordered eating or transition from one type of primary eating disorder to another.

Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by self-starvation and extreme weight loss. The sufferer is often unable to maintain a minimum healthy body weight and often suffers from body image dissatisfaction or distorted body perception.

Bulemia Nervosa Eating Disorder involves repeated eating binges or cycles followed by purging, either through self-induced vomiting or other methods, including laxatives, diuretics, excessive exercise, or fasting. Some sufferers combine bulemia and anorexic tendencies.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is characterized by recurrent binge eating without self-starvation or purging.

Symptoms For Identifying Eating Disorders

extreme, sudden weight loss

change in eating patterns

preoccupation with body image and weight

visits to the bathroom immediately after meals

lies about food consumption or food purchases

complaints about body size, shape, and image

complaints of dizziness or heartburn from weight loss or vomiting

replacing other activities with eating

depression

Where to Go for Diagnosis

Any therapist or medical doctor can make an initial evaluation. These professional eating disorder organizations also offer screening tips and treatment referrals on their web sites.

http://www.nationaleatingdisor ders.org

http://www.anad.org

http://www.somethingfishy.org/