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Some Tips On Dieting & Eating Out

Before you began dieting, you didn’t fear going out to eat – you enjoyed it. Whether you went to a Chinese buffet or an elegant $40-plate, you ate to your heart’s content, stuffing yourself until you were full and maybe even getting a big chocolate cake for dessert.

Unfortunately, your new diet though allows for none of this. While you may have certain days that you can splurge and eat whatever you want, we’re assuming that you’re going out to eat and trying to be loyal to your diet.

Some tips on eating out:

1. Select a meal from the appetizer menu. These are always smaller portions. Do you need to eat more than this? Order a side salad in addition to the appetizer. This way if you’re with another person, you can still be eating when they are and it won’t make them uncomfortable.
2. No endless meals. Some restaurants have endless shrimp, other’s endless possible. Even if the food may be healthy, it’s a bad habit to have the “clean plate” mentality. Your parents may have told you to eat everything from your plate, but if you’re dieting – it’s a bad thing.
3. Lean meat. While going to get a bucket of fried chicken and some biscuits seems appetizing, especially if you’re from the south, avoid meat cooked in fatty ways. You can still eat meat, just try to have some that’s roasted, broiled, boiled, grilled, baked, steamed, or poached. If you want to have some beef, have lean cuts like flank or loin.
4. Before you start eating, take it to go. Not only do you want to get a to go box and take half or your entrée for another meal, you won’t to box it up as soon as you get your food. You will be much less tempted to finish the entire course if it’s already out of sight.
5. Stay away from buffets. They’re bad -- very bad. One of the most important things about eating out is portion control. You need to do away with buffets altogether as studies have shown that the more food readily available for us, the more we will eat. Though, it should be obvious for most of us to know that if you put us in front of a buffet, we’ll get at least a couple of plates.
6. Change the menu. Even though something may not be on the menu, that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for it to be made. If you live in the country for example, you might have local restaurants that only have chicken that is fried. Ask for it grilled – they’ll most likely oblige.
7. Avoid the bad buzzwords. Any menu item that says: oil, butter, breaded, batter-dipped, fried, battered, Alfredo, au gratin, or gravy – don’t order it. That is unless you plan on running a few extra mile this week.

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