One quarter of Americans dine out for Valentine’s Day – that’s 25 percent of the population! Talk about crowded. And you know how it usually goes – you drink champagne and red wine, eat a multi-course meal of heavy foods like blue-cheese salad, creamy lobster bisque, filet mignon, and a sinfully rich chocolate soufflé for dessert. Sure, that dinner sounds delicious, but afterwards you just want to curl up in a food coma.

I don’t know about you, but that’s not the way I like to end the night on Valentine’s Day!

Mistake #1: Choosing the Wrong Restaurant
Unless you have the date booked at a favorite small eatery with a quiet, romantic atmosphere, you’ll be trying to make your sweet-nothings audible over the persistent roar of the V-Day crowd. Wouldn’t it be more romantic to set the mood with candlelight and soft music at home?

Mistake #2: Dining Late
If you really want that heavy Valentine’s Day dinner, go for it. Everyone deserves to splurge once in a while. But, if you’d like to uh… have your cake and lick the icing off him later too, then plan to eat earlier in the evening. That way you have some time to recover from the inevitable food coma!

Mistake #3: Drinking Too Much
I love champagne to celebrate, and red wine – anytime! But when there’s just the two of you, it’s all too tempting to split the entire bottle of champagne, and then start pouring the red. While a little alcohol can be wonderfully relaxing and help set the mood, too much will lead to an early bedtime and headaches in the morning. So, instead of buying an entire bottle of champagne, buy a split (a half-bottle) instead. That’s just enough for a first-course toast.

Mistake #4: The Slippery, Butter-Laden Slope to Food Coma
Restaurants tend to add butter, cream and salt to everything, which is exactly what you don’t want on Valentine’s Day. The butter and cream will make you feel full fast, but on a multi-course meal, the food keeps coming whether you want it to or not! The result? Food coma. And all the sodium added to restaurant fare will cause you to retain water, which doesn’t feel very sexy.

Mistake #5: Eating All the Wrong Foods
Meat and dairy-based dinners won’t help your libido, but these foods will:

The Right Foods for a Romantic Evening

• Asparagus (raises your histamine levels and may help you climax faster)
• Celery (increases androsterone – a pheromone)
• Watermelon (dilates blood vessels, improving blood flow)
• Pomegranates (may increase testosterone)
• Avocado (its healthy fats are great for blood flow)
• Spicy foods (the active ingredient in hot chili peppers heats up your metabolism and gets your heart pumping!)
• End your romantic dinner with chocolate-covered strawberries and bananas – they’re light, packed with antioxidants, and you can have a lot of fun with a good chocolate drizzle…