16
Jul
Restaurant Eating Guide
Restaurant eating, drive through food pickups, home delivery of food and packed meals are getting increasingly popular. Long hours at work, high stress levels faced today, lack of enough time and patience to cook homemade meals and a fast paced lifestyle today have steered people towards the convenience of eating out.
Eating meals away from home is something we all do more often these days.
You can have healthy eating out food options if you plan your food choices and meals prepared away from home beforehand. If you are working on healthy eating habits, dining out doesn’t have to be off limits.
Guidelines for making sensible and healthy food choices while eating out
- Carefully read food descriptions. Ask your server if you have questions about how the recipe is prepared; cooking method used, whether they food has sauces, gravy, sugar, added fat, seasonings used and so on.
- Watch portion sizes! Go with someone so you can share your food rather than eat it all alone in a single meal. Ask for any leftover food to be wrapped so you can eat it at another meal or even the next day.
- Do not hesitate or feel embarrassed to specify cooking methods to be used in a dish; such as less salt, less fat. Most restaurants are eager to please their customers.
- Skip dinner rolls, soft breads and butter served before a meal. Instead pick a healthy appetizer.
- For Appetizers, choose fresh salads and fruit pieces rather than snacks such as salted nuts, fried starters such as chips, French fries, fried vegetables, breaded cheese or ravioli. Ask for baked chips or pretzels instead of fried snacks.
- Try having two appetizers and a soup instead of a full meal entrée. For e.g. Shrimp cocktail and a garden salad can make a good meal. Choose clear soups with a variety of vegetables such as minestrone soup. Vegetable soups or bean soups are low fat soup options.
- Watch out which salad dressings or dips you choose at salad bars. Mayonnaise dips, creamy toppings and marinated foods are often high fat, high sugar and high calorie. Plain crispy vegetables (salads) with diet dressing, lemon and vinegar make great salad dressings. Spinach, lettuce, carrots, cucumber with dressings on the side are some great healthy salad choices. Raw veggies with fresh lemon squeezed or a little low calorie dip is great. Go easy with mayonnaise dips and bacon bits.
- Menu selection: Choose foods which use low fat cooking techniques. Such foods have lower calories. Spot high calorie menu choices from the words creamy, cheesy, pan-fried, breaded, deep fried, crispy, battered. Some Good Menu Ideas are steamed vegetables flavored with a dash of lime and some herbs, grilled, broiled, baked or roasted meats, seafood, sandwiches made with whole grain or multigrain breads, whole meal breads, whole wheat, pita bread. When ordering burgers, ask for small or junior sized burgers. Ask for grilled chicken in place of fried. Choose lean meat like turkey, lean chicken, tuna over beef or lamb. Use catsup or mustard instead of mayonnaise. Baked potatoes with low fat sour cream topped with broccoli or salsa is a great food selection. In Chinese menu, ask for steamed rice rather than fried rice. Steamed dumplings and momos are a better choice over fried wantons, spring rolls or egg rolls. In Italian menu, if you order noodles or pasta, ask for whole grain or whole wheat pasta cooked with tomatoes and marinara sauce rather than cheese sauce, cream sauce or butter sauce. Go for seafood or chicken versus meatballs or sausages. Flavor foods with mustard, vinegar, peppers, herbs. Be on the guard against high sodium pickles, olives and cured meats. Ask for “heart healthy” menu items which are marked on the menu card of many restaurants.
- Good dessert choices are angel food cake, low fat or nonfat frozen yogurt, fresh fruit cup with sorbet.
- Do not overeat. If you feel full before you are finished, stop and pack the rest to take home and eat later. Resolve to make wise food choices while dining out.
