Ways to Eat Healthy When Dining Out

If you’re eating healthy, you know that the heartiest meals come from home. The benefits of controlling your intakes in preparing meals to taste are as evident as they are effort-consuming.

As such, you should never be limited to dining in. When dining out, either as a reward, need, break, or social practice, you should be comfortable to know that you have options. Of course there are several standout restaurants that follow healthy practices in preparing their dishes.

But for that rare but sure occasion when facing a trans-fatty, highly caloric menu at a diner or chain restaurant, Readers’ Digest suggests 20 ways you can be smart in your making your dinner selection at these locations.  Being assertive, navigating the menu, and drinking water are all plausible ways of making sure the restaurant accommodates your needs and not vice-versa [Readers' Digest via Consumerist.]

The Reader’s Digest article states:

1. Above all else, be assertive. Dining out is no time to be a meek consumer, notes Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and coauthor of the book Restaurant Confidential. “You need to be an assertive consumer by asking for changes on the menu,” he says. For instance, if an item is fried, ask for it grilled. If it comes with french fries, ask for a side of veggies instead. Ask for a smaller portion of the meat and a larger portion of the salad; for salad instead of coleslaw; baked potato instead of fried. “Just assume you can have the food prepared the way you want it,” says Dr. Jacobson. “Very often, the restaurant will cooperate.” Below, you’ll find more specific requests.

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3. Ask how the food was prepared; don’t go by the menu. For instance, cholesterol-free does not mean fat-free; the dish could still be filled with calorie-dense oil. Neither does “lite” necessarily mean light in calories or fat.

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12. Check the menu before you leave home. Most chains post their menus on their Web sites. For instance, Ruby Tuesday’s Smart Eating menu tells you the restaurant only uses canola oil and even provides nutritional information on its salad bar. You can decide before you ever hit the hostess stand what you’re going to order. Conversely, if you don’t see anything that’s healthy, pick another restaurant.

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18. Drink water throughout the meal. It will slow you down, help you enjoy the food more, and let the message get to your brain that you’re full — before your plate is empty.

Finally, remember to tip your server well…especially if you discover he/she went the extra mile and courteously flavored your water with saliva sans your request.

Click to read the full list at Reader’s Digest.

Pic by Bigfatrat.