Healthy Eating In Restaurants – Tips To Consider

During these stressful, fast-paced times, more and more people are turning to fast foods and restaurants for convenient and pleasurable dining. However, dining out can be a pain on your wallet, and your waistline. While eating out need not be too costly or fattening, you certainly need to be aware of what you’re putting in your mouth. Here are a few tips for healthy eating in a restaurant.

Restaurants Often Serve Sodium and Preservative-Laden Foods

We all agree that the typical restaurant food far tastes better than the food we cook at home. Why? Because restaurants and fast food outlets often use a lot of flavor enhancers, preservatives and sodium-filled sauces, to make their food taste great. The sad thing is that these preservatives and sodium-laden sauces bloat our body, and add more bad cholesterol to our system.

How To Have A Healthy Restaurant Eating Experience

According to some nutrition experts, the biggest mistake in restaurant dining usually happens during the first and last 10 minutes of the meal, where you usually get served with calorie-rich dressings, cream-based soups and sugar-coated desserts. Here are other healthy eating restaurant ideas.

• All-you-can-eat restaurants are truly tempting places, but family-run restaurants are much healthier. Since most buffet establishments don’t allow you to bring home nay leftovers, the temptation to overeat here is definitely very high.

• Typical restaurant servings are definitely larger than home-made meals. Before you clean-up your plate, and plan to take at least half the meal home. Eating half the meal later will benefit your waist. And save you money as well.

• If you plan to order soups, choose broth-based soups instead of cream-based ones. Vegetables soups are healthy choices. However, most restaurant soups are quite salty, because they’re sprinkled with MSG, a preservative that enhances flavor.

• Green salads make for healthier restaurant food choices. However, ask for oil and vinegar to be served on the side, instead of fatty dressings. Instead of using oil, squeeze lemon juice over your veggies, and sprinkle pepper to add more spice. If you were offered a choice between soup and salad, go for fresh green salads instead.

• Order plain food, instead of fried food items. A plain broiled or baked chicken, steak or fish provide better sources of protein, to help build muscles and generate energy. - To add extra flavor to your meals, used tomato-based marinara sauces and salsas instead. For side dishes, go for steamed vegetables or plain potato and rice. Vegetable side dishes offer a lot of healthy nutrients and low calories. Always remember to choose the meals that offer the freshest and high-quality ingredients. Choose plain steaks or chicken breasts instead of entrees filled with lots of creamy or oily sauces, or ask for potato or plain rice instead of hash browns or French Fries.