5 Tips for Making Healthier Choices When Dining Out

Dining out can be a fun and enjoyable experience – an experience that brings together friends and family and it can be an experience to delight in some true culinary wonders. However, eating out all the time can be expensive and fattening. Restaurant food – especially the greasy spoon establishments- can be especially unhealthy. Yet, you don’t have to let go of your love of restaurants completely. There are a number of ways to make better choices when you dine out. The best thing about restaurants is that there are many choices to choose from and you can often get creative. Not only that, but there are also a number of different establishments that serve dishes from all across the world. Here are five tips for making healthier choices when dining out.

1. Plan your diet during the day – before you go out to a restaurant. Even if you know that you are heading to an event that might be catered by New Colony Caterers or any other catering service, it is important that you schedule all your meals the day prior. For instance, you want to eat a big healthy breakfast and a healthy lunch. This way you won’t be so famished when it comes time to finally eat dinner at a restaurant or catered event.
2. Keep the portions down. When it comes to eating out, restaurants will often give you the biggest portions they have. This can be the death of a diet. If you are trying to eat more healthily or keep the pounds off, you want to make sure to tell the waiter to make the portions much smaller. Most restaurants will gladly accommodate. If they don’t, you can always order a meal from the child’s menu, which can often be a much smaller portion and sometimes just the perfect amount of food.
3. Don’t go for fried – go for baked. Making simple choices, like ordering the slow roasted turkey versus the deep fried chicken smothered in this and that, will keep you healthy and staying true to your diet when you go out to a restaurant for a bite to eat. In fact, you want to stay away from any dish that might have ingredients that are too fattening. When it comes down to it, it is easy to spot these dishes, because they are often the most featured on the menu.
4. If you must order something that might be a little greasy, you may want to counterbalance it with something a little more healthy, like a salad or some kind of healthy soup. Chances are that there will be something on the menu – either in the sides or in the appetizer section – that will be a healthy balance to an otherwise unhealthy meal. Moreover, eating a salad can help you digest your food better.
5. Ask the waiter for the healthiest options. Chances are that if you simply ask the waiter, he or she will give you an overview of all the healthy options on the menu. There might even be a few specials that you didn’t even know about. So, be sure to speak up when the waiter comes around – there is a good chance that there will be something on the menu that is perfect for you.