Restaurants
At least a few times a week the topic of food and eating out is brought up at our training facility. First of all I should mention that I love to eat good foods as much as much as the next person but for many reasons outside of the scope of this monthly article I’m not a big fan of most restaurants especially the larger chains. However, in just this last week I have been asked about a dozen questions about what to eat, or where a good place to go is, or what should I avoid and so forth. So let’s talk about some of the best choices when eating at restaurants.
First of all, restaurant food is typically loaded with huge amounts of additional fat and salt which obviously cause the calories to skyrocket. In fact, speaking of calories, did you know that the average meal consumed at a restaurant is about 1200 calories? However there is a solution when eating out.
One of the biggest things that people forget when eating out is that the restaurant is there to serve you. So keeping common courtesy in mind, remember that restaurants more often than not will accommodate you. The lesson here is if you don’t ask you won’t know. When speaking to the server just ask a few questions; for example do you use butter or margin, how do you prepare the fish or chicken, are your vegetables buttered or do you use olive oil? Taking the time to ask a few questions and then asking for the healthier alternative will severely reduce your calories and generally increase your health.
Another important thing to remember is most restaurants will accommodate side changes if you ask. For example a typical chicken or fish meal might come with fries or a baked potato. Even if it’s not on the menu most places will have vegetables or a side salad to offer you. Also many dinner meals come with two sides like rice and beans and in this case you can ask to change both of the sides out. Specifically with salads one alternative is to ask for the dressing on the side. This has two benefits, one it allows you to control the amount of high calorie dressing that is put on the salad and two the salad is typically fresher because it was not pre-made and has not been sitting for some time.
Now that I’ve helped you with the ordering process here are some generally healthier choices found at most restaurants. The first and easiest for many people is a nice mixed salad. With this choice opt for a salad with a good quality protein in it, like a chicken, fish or lean beef. On the other hand though watch for un-healthy additions like bacon, tons of cheese, or a calorie loaded dressing like ranch. If a salad is not what you’re in the mood for then most restaurants carry a variety of protein based dishes. Good choices are a nice piece of fish, chicken or lean beef with an accompanying side of veggie like asparagus or broccoli. Soups are another area which can be very healthy and are often over looked. Opt for a vegetable and not a cream based stock as this will typically save you hundreds of calories and even help to boost the immune system.
Last but not least many restaurant portions are twice what the average person would eat in one sitting. Therefore smart diners have the tendency to eat half of the meal and save the other half for a meal later that day or the next day.
Overall by implementing the strategies presented in this article you too can enjoy the ease of dinning out without all the unnecessary calories and lesser quality food choices.