You can enjoy most restaurants – anything from from fast food joints up to four-star establishments – and still stay on track with a healthy diet for weight loss.
Here are six crafty tips to keep in mind when you decide to dine out.
1. Add Fruits and Veggies
When you choose these at restaurants, you are automatically increasing your fiber intake, which will help you stay satisfied once your meal has been fully munched. And we will certainly have to mention the healthy nutrients that have made in fruits and vegetables famous in the first place. Most restaurants have a steamed side dish, and try some hot sauce or lemon juice if you find them bland without the butter.
2. Get Grilled
Get clever and gogrilled instead of fried. Fried foods have globs of additional calories and fat. Grilled chicken, shrimp, steak, or fish make great choices because they fall in the category of lean proteins, which will work wonders for your weight loss.
3. Don’t Drink Extra Calories
Don’t let those calories sneak up on you! Choose unsweetened iced tea, hot tea, water with a lime, or grab a low-calorie drink flavor packet and add it to your water. Drinking soda products, juices, and sweetened tea while you’re out can add calories quite quickly. And don’t forget, alcoholic beverages can contain as many calories as the typical dessert does!
4. Choose the Colorful Sauces
Pay attention to the color of your sauce. The whiter and creamier it is, the more likely it is butter-beladen or contains cream-based calories. If you choose Italian, for example, choose an option with a tomato-based sauce, like marinara or BBQ. Pesto is a better choice than most sauces as well, because you need less for the same amount flavor. Choosing colorful sauces helps ensure you are skipping calories found in those rich cream-based sauces. The same holds true for choosing your soups; choose clear-liquid brothy soups instead of creamy ones. Try to avoid bisques or cheesy soups, as these are loaded with fat.
5. Ask For a Lighter Side Menu
Every restaurant won’t have one, but a growing number of local and chain restaurants are providing light meals without much searching. You’ll soon find that light doesn’t always mean giving up flavor, as a large number of fast food restaurants are starting to re-categorize their menus, too.
6. Half Now, Half Later.
Dinner portions are growing, despite all our education about portion sizes. Even if your meal isn’t unhealthy, your portion still may be. To avoid gorging, you can simply ask your waiter to serve you half the meal and box up the other half for you to eat for lunch. Most servers are more than willing to do this if you simply ask them nicely.
