Eating out in restaurants can be tough if you want to stick to your diet. We are going to discuss some expert tips to include healthy food items in your plate at your favorite restaurant & eating joint.
Dieting can be tricky if you have obscure knowledge about information & tips on how to stick to consuming foods that are healthy for you. It is no brainer to have a healthy meal when you are cooking your own food, preparing your own meals & having control over what you are eating for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You may end up in a restaurant or outside once a month or once in a fortnight & then it becomes pretty difficult & this is where it becomes challenging for you to stick to your diet.
Restaurants & eating joints add many ingredients to your food & use elaborate cooking preparations to give more taste to the food. However, these are counterproductive to your diet thereby impacting your weight loss journey.
Whether you are looking to lose weight, build muscle, get toned or maintain your health, eating out can be a daunting task. Restaurants & eating joints have a tendency of presenting the food in a way which appears to be healthy but if you have proper information & know what to look for, you will find that the food is not as healthy as you thought.
What to look out for when eating outside
- When any item is described in the menu as fried, crispy or roasted, it essentially means that it will have high fat. High temperature cooking methods also means that it will destroy all the essential vitamins, minerals & other micronutrients present in the fresh product. The best strategy would be avoid such items or ask for the items to be fresh or steamed.
- Include some healthy fats: It’s always better to have items which include avocados, unsalted & unroasted nuts & seeds. You should avoid meal & food items which have cream & butter.
- Burgers, Wraps or Pastas are something which would be described as along the line, for instance spicy chicken wrap.It is always wise to ask if the burger or wraps are 100% whole grain or 100% rye. You can also explore the veggie alternative here. You could go for lettuce wrap or zucchini noodles.
- Be cautious about combo meals. These are meals where you would not be in a position to identify individual ingredients such as curries & baked pastas. These are generally pretty high in saturated fats & sodium.
- Be cautious about sauces & dressings added to meals. Ask to remove them from your meal since these are high in salt, sugar & bad fat.
- Take note of the portion size. Most meals served in restaurants are 2 to 5 times the normal portion size.When given the option of small, medium or large size always go for small size. Avoid adding side dishes to your meal.
- Stick to leaner proteins such as lean beef, lean chicken breast or fish & avoid high saturated fat animal proteins such as red meat, lamb, prawns, duck & processed meats.
- Avoid salty foods which include marinated meals, processed meats, Pasta Sauce, Pizza & French Fries. Do not add extra salt to your meal since a lot of salt is used during the cooking process.
- Choosing what your meal is paired with is very important. Ask for salad or steamed vegetables instead of french fries, spicy rice or crispy onion rings or roast vegetables. Be careful of sweet potato or zucchini fries. Although these are great vegetables to consume, these are fried with high fat content & devoid of all nutrients.
- While ordering something to drink:
- Avoid sodas, Energy Drinks or Fruit Juices
- Avoid diet sodas- these are low in sugar but high in caffeine
- When ordering hot drinks, prefer having low fat/skimmed milk without cream
- Regular coffee or tea is better than ordering flavored coffee
- Avoid adding extra sugar to your beverage
- Best would be to have lemon water with mint added
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