Diet-to-Go Blog
  1. Eat Out, Eat Right: 10 Dining Out Tips 'n Tricks


    Dining out is no longer a luxury or treat. It's a fact of our busy life.

     

    When pressed for nutritional information, some servers at your favorite eateries will begrudgingly serve up a few numbers. The sad fact is many sit-down restaurants simply do not have that info available.

     

    So what's a determined dieter to do? Stick with boring old baked chicken and steamed veggies or throw caution to the wind and order whatever you want with the hopes that "it can't be that bad."

     

    Sorry, but it can be that bad... and even worse than you imagined.

     

    Making the Best Choices

     

    Diet-to-Go wants you to be prepared the next time you dine out. That's why we turned to nationally-known dietitian and diabetes expert Hope Warshaw, author of Eat Out, Eat Right.

    Hope's mission is to educate us on the best choices available at our favorite fast food joints and sit-down restaurants.

     

    "More and more, restaurant eating is simply a part of our daily life," Hope says. "The numbers show that on average we eat five meals a week in restaurants... with lunch the most common meal out.

    "We now get a third of our calories from restaurant food."

     

    Hope's 10 skills and strategies for dining out

    These general skills and strategies can be applied to just about any restaurant eating situation - whether eating in or taking out.

    1. Develop a healthy mindset and a can-do attitude

    Developing a healthy mindset and having a can-do attitude about eating healthier restaurant meals is your critical first step. Until you accomplish this first step, you'll have a difficult time putting the other nine skills and strategies, which follow here, into action.

    Think about steps you can take to develop a healthier mindset about restaurant meals. Ask yourself what changes you need to make to find a balance between continuing to enjoy restaurant dining while you order and eat healthier foods. Be kind to yourself. These changes will take some time and a repertoire of positive experiences.

    2. Assess the whens, whys, wheres, and whats of your restaurant meals

    Get to know your restaurant eating habits. Raising your awareness about your behaviors is the first step to changing behaviors.

    3. Select restaurant with care

    Choose restaurants that make it easier for you to eat healthfully. Reality is that you can choose to eat healthfully in 95 percent of restaurants. Some menus just make it easier than others. Steer clear of some of your favorite restaurants in which you typically ate unhealthy meals and the healthy pickings are slim. Take, for example, a fried chicken or fish-and-chips restaurant.

    4. Think through your action plan

    Think before you act should be your modus operandi. If you are familiar with the menu offerings from a particular restaurant you frequent, pre-plan what you might order before you cross the restaurant's threshold. Be the first of your party to order. This strategy eliminates your time to ponder changes as you wait for your dining partners to place their orders. If you want to split and/or share menu items, bring it up as people peruse the menu. More often than not, people will be pleased you made the offer.

    5. Be an avid fat detector

    Dodging the fats in restaurants is a big challenge. Fat adds significant calories without adding any food volume (or "bites"). A great example is a medium baked potato containing about 100 calories. Add to that one teaspoon of regular butter or margarine at 50 calories or two tablespoons of regular sour cream at 50 calories. You've added another 100 calories without adding any bites.

    Certain preparation methods simply mean drenched in fat, such as deep-fried, smothered, or covered with a cream-based sauce. Particular menu items, by definition, mean loaded with fat, such as pasta with Alfredo sauce or chimichangas, a fried burrito. Become acquainted with the high-fat items and learn the ingredients, preparation methods, and menu descriptions that signal low fat and healthy in each cuisine. Don't forget: feel free to ask questions about unfamiliar ingredients, preparations, and menu descriptions.

    6. Order with healthy eating goals top of mind

    Look to integrate more fruits and vegetables and lighten up on the portion of meat and fats.

    7. Practice portion control from the get-go

    Large portions are a fact of restaurant dining. You'll need to outsmart the menu to cut portions down to a healthy size. A successful strategy is to control portions from the point of ordering. This means less food will be in front of you and you'll eat less. Think of this as the "out of sight, out of mind (or mouth)" technique. It's a lot more difficult to control the amount you eat if food is just a forkful away.

    Steer clear of menu descriptions that mean large portions - jumbo, grande, supreme, extra large, king size, double, triple, feast, or combo.

    8. Practice menu creativity

    To eat healthfully and to eat reasonable portions, you'll need to be creative with menus. For example, no rule says you must order an entree. Mix and match items from the soups, salads, appetizers and side dishes. There are countless ways to combine these to eat smaller portions. Another winner: Split portions with your dining partner. Go ahead, order from soup to dessert, but split everything down the middle.

    9. Order foods as you need and want them

    Special requests are a key to being served dishes as you like (and want or need) them. A special request might mean asking for an ingredient to be left off, such as cheese, bacon, or sour cream. Or it may be a substitution: baked potato rather than French fries or potato chips; or to spread mustard rather than mayonnaise on a sandwich. It's important to take the attitude that there's no harm in asking and the worst someone can say is NO.

    10. Know when to say ENOUGH!

    You already know that portion control is a key to healthier restaurant meals. Control portions from the start by ordering creatively. If the portions are huge, request a take-home container and immediately set aside the portion to take home. If that feels uncomfortable in some situations, separate the portion you don't want to eat and place it on a small plate and offer "tastes" to your dining companions or just move it to the side of your plate.

    "It's all about making better choices," Hope says. "You don't have to throw your hands up and do nothing about it but pack on pounds.

    "If you have the will, you can do it. You simply need to develop a healthy mindset and healthy attitude about eating."

    Hope S. Warshaw, MMSc, RD, CDE, BC-ADM, is a nationally recognized and respected nutrition and diabetes expert who applies more than 25 years of expertise to communicate practical solutions for diabetes meal planning and healthier eating, whether for one person or millions. For more information, go to http://www.HopeWarshaw.com.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Recipes & Kitchen Tips
Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest RSS Feed
 

 

Get Our Free Newsletter
Get free support to help you on
your weight loss journey!


Thanks for signing up!
Get Your Free Diet Analysis


Height
Activity Level
Gender


Copyright 2024 Diet-To-Go©