Please Your Palate While Staying Skinny!

How many times have you gone out to a restaurant, ordered your food, and received a meal for three on one plate?  One of the greatest lessons I learned while traveling through Europe is how much we eat in America.  For instance, the french indulge in all the tasty foods, even the fatty ones, and are able to stay skinny because they monitor their portions.  Remember that it is completely OKAY to eat your fudge sundae dessert, just be mindful of the amount you are consuming.  In fact, studies have shown that finishing a meal with a few bites of dessert actually tricks your body into feeling like you have completed your meal, and will stop you from craving more food after.  Restaurants from the Cheesecake Factory to the California Pizza Kitchen serve unhealthily large portions, and what's worse is that we often finish our plates without thinking about how many calories we're consuming!  A good trick is to eat slowly so that your body can let you know when you are satisfied to stop eating.  When eating quickly, the body naturally consumes more because it cannot feel itself becoming full.  Next time you are out at dinner, really take an honest look at how much food is on your plate, and whether or not you really need to clean your plate.