Making Healthy Food Choices At Restaurants

You might think that it's not possible to maintain a healthy diet when you eat out at restaurants. In many cases, you would be correct. It is, however, quite possible to stick to a healthy diet while occasionally enjoying a restaurant meal. You simply need to learn a little bit about nutrition, which will allow you to make the correct food choices to stay healthy, active, mentally stable and happy.

When you pick up the menu, start by skipping over the drinks section. Beer and other alcoholic beverages have many empty calories, which do your body no good. The exception to this rule when it comes to alcohol is wine, especially red wine, which can be fine if you have a single glass and can actually help prevent heart disease for some patients.

You should also skip the starters, unless you order a side salad. The appetizers at restaurants are usually high-fat foods that are not meant to fill you up and can in fact make you crave even more high fat foods. Examples of these are mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and wings. Rather just have a main course, or share a single serving with a couple of other people.

You should carefully check the ingedients in the main dish you select Avoid anything with fatty meats or cream-based sauces, and don't order the onion rings, fries or baked potato. Instead order side dishes like vegetables or ask for just the main course when possible.

Remember too that portion control is everything. When possible, order from the lunch menu. Ask for a doggie bag at the beginning of the meal. To avoid being tempted to eat the whole main course, split it in two and bag one half.

At the end of your meal, skip over the dessert menu, just like you did with the appetizers. If you're really tempted, share a dessert with the whole table, or split the portion in half. Many fancy desserts in restaurants have more calories than your entire meal, so keep this in mind before you flag down the waitress to put in an order! On special occasions, you can cheat a little, but you should learn to resist temptation in order to stick to healthy eating.

Source: http://www.classicarticles.com/Article/Making-Healthy-Food-Choices-At-Restaurants/23529