5 Tips for Eating Healthy When You Dine Out

Eating out can be unhealthy, especially if you do it all the time, and especially if that restaurant you like has lots of greasy options on its menu. However, if you are on a diet or are just trying to make healthier choices when it comes to what you eat, there are a number of ways to making eating out more healthy. Best of all, many of these suggestions don’t require you to ban your favorite restaurant entirely – just to keep what you eat there in check. In fact, staying conscious about what you eat is the first prerequisite when it comes to making dining out a healthier experience. Here are five tips for eating healthy when you dine out.

1. Plan accordingly. Just like you shouldn’t go to the market when you are starving, you shouldn’t order food at a restaurant in such a state either. While this might sound counterintuitive or just plain ridiculous to most people, when you are absolutely famished you will automatically go for the biggest and fattest portions. For some people it might be hard to not order when you are hungry, because this is usually why we dine out in the first place, but it is important to make sure you study the menu carefully and plan out your meal – even before you make your reservation. Sometimes just eating a light, healthy snack – like an apple or banana – before you go out can make a huge difference.
2. Curtail your portions. Any menu with a kid’s menu is perfect for someone on a diet. If they don’t have a kid’s menu, you could ask the restaurant politely to not put so many greasy potato chips on your plate or you can go with a more healthy side to your dish, as opposed to the greasiest or fattiest option. You could even ask your server if they have a dish that is perfect for someone on a diet or that has the smallest amount of food on it.
3. Find a healthy restaurant. No matter if you are looking for restaurants in Kent or Leeds, you can usually find a restaurant that has a menu with options that have a much lower calorie count. Many of these restaurant use “farm fresh” ingredients, which means they have come straight from a farm and not through a factory to be pumped full of chemicals and hormones. It isn’t only fat you have to look out for, but also genetically modified foods as well.
4. Keep the details in mind. When you do dine out, cut down on the sodium, sugar, and other condiments that might not be entirely healthy. Sometimes it is the littlest things at restaurants that can be the unhealthiest. In addition, you might also want to choose a lighter salad dressing and forgo the blue cheese and bacon bits.
5. Never be afraid to make requests with your server. A restaurant is in the business to serve and to accommodate, so most are willing to take your diet restrictions into consideration. For instance, at breakfast, don’t be afraid to ask for an egg white omelet, or at dinner you can ask them to sauté your fish with butter and not vegetable oil. Who knows, they might be able to recommend a few options you haven’t even thought of yet.