Q:What are the keys to healthy eating out?
A: Put the following five keys into action to eat healthier restaurant meals. Learn more strategies for healthy eating out and gather plenty of tips and tactics in my books about healthier eating out:
- Eat Out, Eat Right
- Guide to Healthy Restaurant Eating
- What to Eat When You're Eating Out
- Fast Food Guide to Healthy Restaurant Eating
#1: Don't treat restaurant meals as a special occasion. Years ago restaurant meals were special occasions, so a splurge on these occasions was fine. Today, people eat out, on average, 5 times a week. These are hardly all special occasions. So to combat the battle of the bulge and the large portions of restaurant meals, you've got to change your attitude and approach. Learn to find a balance between enjoying what you eat at restaurants and not overeating or over indulging each time you eat out.
#2: Have a game plan in mind. In all likelihood, you frequent the same restaurants - whether independent restaurants or chains - time and time again. You know what's on the menu and you have a sense of what you'll order when you contemplate the menu. So think through your order as you walk or drive to or thru the restaurant. Stick to your game plan when you walk up or sit down and order and don't let the smells or sights sway you from your game plan.
#3: Keep an eye out for fats. Fats, whether found in fried foods or in spoonfuls of thick salad dressing, will quickly raise your calorie count and lower the health quotient of the meal. Limit fat dense ingredients, such as cheese, butter, cream cheese, or cream sauce. Search out lower fat and calorie preparations, such as light wine sauce, marinara or tomato sauce, grilled, or blackened and limit cooking techniques that add fat, such as fried, cream or cheese sauce, or crispy golden brown.
#4: Practice portion control from the get go. Huge and growing portions are our nemesis in restaurants today. You've got to outsmart the menu to get smaller portions. Make this happen by practicing portion control from the get-go. Order less to eat less! Put these practices into action: Split and share menu items. Avoid large portions by looking for these menu descriptors - jumbo, extra large, supreme, triple, double, and grande. Search for the words that mean smaller portions - small, regular size, petite, junior, or appetizer size. Lastly take advantage of those take-home containers. If you've got to order more than you know you should eat, put half away when your meal is delivered.
#5: Use special requests to get foods your way. Be pleasantly assertive and use those helping words. Don't make requests that will turn the kitchen upside down or upset the chef. Try requests like these: baked potato rather than French fries, salad dressing on the side, hold the butter and sour cream, use mustard rather than mayonnaise on a sandwich, and low fat milk for cereal or coffee rather than whole milk or half and half.