Tips and Tricks When Eating Out

Whew! I have been so fortunate to travel quite a bit lately. Eating out can certainly be tricky when you are trying to stay on the healthy side of life.

People often say that you have to have a lot of willpower to change the way you eat and stick to it. I guess I can see the truth in that somewhat. For me, I make sure that I limit my exposure to items that are not on my list of yes foods.

Avoid the Free Stuff

Having a piping hot bread basket or a bucket of tortilla chips plopped down in front of you would require super human effort to avoid or even moderate your intake. Therefore, my answer is to make sure to ask the waitperson not to bring them to the table.

Substitute a No for a Yes

Same goes for the menu items that have mashed potatoes, grits or pasta included. Some people can take the amount of food on their plate and decide to eat only half. I am not that person!!! Unless, of course, the food isn’t good but how disappointing is that?!

Almost all restaurants these days are use to people asking for modifications to the dishes on the menu. I politely ask to substitute another vegetable for any starchy one or order a side salad.

If it isn’t on my plate, I am not tempted by it. Easy peasy!!

When You Just Don’t Want to Say No

When there is a restaurant that I know has particularly good bread or that they make their own pasta, I just might indulge…in ONE of those. Pick your favorite and limit yourself to a serving. Pasta is particularly hard for me because a serving size is about 1/4 of what you are usually served here in the U.S.

More Hacks

There are many hacks for surviving eating out at restaurants in addition to those I have covered.

• Check the restaurant menu online. Thank goodness we live in the day and age we live in. Almost all restaurants have menus on their websites and many also include nutritional information as well. Decide what you are going to order before you go. I can’t tell you how many times this has saved me.

• Always, always, always skip the fried food. Not only is the food probably fried in a low quality oil but it will also be heavy on the calories, carbs and fats.

• Start your meal off with a salad or a vegetable side if there isn’t a veggie-heavy low carb appetizer. This is a win win since you have started to feel full and squeezed in some extra servings of vegetables. Yippee!

• Don’t underestimate the power of water! Drink a glass or two before heading out to a restaurant and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how this simple act can knock down your hunger. It is definitely easier to make good choices when you are not starving the second you sit down.

Hopefully you have found an idea or two the next time you find yourself in a drive-thru or sitting down in a restaurant.

Bon appetit!