dining out
We know that eating out, or grabbing food "to go", is a part of most people’s reality. That said, you have less control of portions and food preparation when you eat away from home. Here are a few tips to prevent eating out from sabotaging your goals.
Choosing a restaurant:
- Call ahead to make sure they honor special preparation requests.
- Ask for a menu to be faxed to you, or check for menus on internet sites, so you can plan in advance.
- Find several restaurants that will cater to your needs and make them your favorites. Once you’re a regular, you become special and won't have to worry about what is in a dish every time you order
Once you’re there…
- WATCH PORTIONS — If something looks like a big serving, it is. Cut it in half and take it home for another meal.
- Try two appetizers instead of an appetizer and an entrée, or select an entrée and share it with a friend.
- Ask the server or even the chef to recommend something healthy on the menu. Don’t be shy! These requests are becoming much more common.
- ALL restaurants have fruit and vegetables, even if it’s not on the menu. Ask for a side dish (or two) of fruit or steamed vegetables with ANYTHING you order.
- Ask to replace french fries, chips or other fat-laden side dishes with salads, grilled or steamed vegetables, or a baked potato.
- Stay away from dishes that are described with words like fried, creamed, in cheese sauce, scalloped, hollandaise, béarnaise, sautéed, au gratin, au beurre, and anything that says "with or in butter."
- "Vegetarian" doesn’t necessarily mean low calorie or low fat. Watch out for those that are full of cheese, made with a cream sauce, or are fried.
- Choose menu items with healthy cooking methods — steamed, poached, grilled, baked, roasted, braised, boiled or au jus.
- Ask for salad dressings and sauces to be served on the side. Ask for mustard, salsa, or low-fat yogurt instead of mayonnaise, sour cream or butter.
Asian Food
- Stay away from fried items (i.e. fried rice, egg rolls).
- Ask for vegetable dishes to be steamed, not sautéed or stir-fried.
- Select brown rice when available.
Fast Food
- Don’t select anything fried. For example, if you’re selecting the chicken, make sure that it’s grilled (most nuggets are deep fried and have as much fat as a hamburger).
- Choose a place with a salad bar. Start with a BIG bowl of greens and add more vegetables (mushrooms, grated carrots, broccoli, plain beans, etc.). Don’t add cheese, heavy dressing, or mayo-based toppings (coleslaw, macaroni & potato salads, etc.).
- Don’t order large, jumbo, value meal or super-size (it might seem like you’re saving a few pennies, but it’s really no deal at all).
- Sub shops are great because the sandwiches are made to order. Leave off mayonnaise, oil and dressings. Add on more lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, peppers, vinegar and mustard.
Italian Food
- Start with a broth-based soup, like minestrone.
- Choose appetizer size portions of pasta with marinara or other red sauces.
- Stay away from Parmesan, fried calamari, Alfredo sauce, pesto and lasagna.
Mexican Food
- Avoid dishes full of cheese and sour cream (ask for fresh salsa instead).
- Don’t dive into the bowl of chips. In fact, ask that they not put them on the table.
- Healthy entrees include fajitas with no sour cream or cheese and soft tacos (because the shells aren’t fried).
