It’s not always easy to eat healthy when you are at home, and it can be even harder to eat healthy when you are away from home. While the best way to eat good is to make your own healthy meals, sometimes you’ll have no choice but to eat out. Maybe you work on the road, maybe you’re on vacation, or maybe you’re just out shopping for the day.
When you head out to eat it is important to remember a few things that can help you make better choices when eating out, whether you are eating fast food or in a fancy restaurant. Healthy doesn’t always mean that you need to pick a bland salad though.
Research Restaurants
Start out by doing some online research on the local restaurants in the area you’ll need to eat out in. Look at menus so that you can get a feel of the foods that they offer and maybe even do a little research on calorie amounts and other important info.
If you have to have a special diet, like gluten free, this is an extremely important task, since it allows you to find restaurants that cater to your dietary needs and lets you plan ahead for what you can and cannot order.
Cut Your Portions
Restaurants are famous for serving portions at least double, if not more than that, than you actually need for one meal. Even a salad at a fast food joint like Taco Bell can give you over 1000 calories, which for the average person is half their calories for the entire day. Do you simply want to eat one salad a day?
Cut portions in half, take a doggy bag home with you. If you are eating with someone else and you have similar tastes, split an order of fries and a sandwich instead of order two separate meals.
Pick The Right Foods
Again, salad isn’t always the best choice. A chicken caesar salad is better for you than taco salad, but your dressing choices also make a difference as well. Oil and vinegar or a light vinaigrette or the best choices.
When it comes to veggies, steamed is better. If you are ordering chicken, get grilled and not fried. There are many simple tricks like these that can help you maneuver more healthily through the menu at any restaurant.
Skip Dessert
If you think you’ll need dessert, eat a side salad instead. Dessert is usually just a bunch of empty calories and a load of sugar that is just going to weigh you down later. If you feel like dessert is a must, pick something like a frozen yogurt or sorbet, which is a much happier and healthier option than ice cream or cake.