by Katie Haarala

As you are sitting at the stoplight on your way home from work, you notice a new Italian restaurant to your right, wafting all of it’s basil, fresh tomato, and olive oil scents into your car window. Further down the road, the American style joint to your left stimulates your drool glands as you envision yourself diving into a meal of burger, french fries, and a strawberry shake.  Up ahead, a gauntlet of fast food chains line the road, each one beckoning you to stop for 44 oz. of a slurry frozen beverage (and hey, it’s only $0.89!), or a warm apple pie for $1.

Our society is bombarded with the idea of food continuously. If were are caught unaware, and our hunger hormones are begging us, no, demanding us to eat; chances are we are going to take the Golden Arches up on its Dollar Menu delicacies. 

When we do decide to enter a restaurant for a bit to eat, it is important to remember to reduce the calorie content and increase the health content of our meals. Being proactive helps make our meals as healthy as possible. The following tips can make a big difference.

1. Beware of saucy sauces: Tips to avoid the higher calorie dishes

Whenever we scour a menu, we can pick out words that are noting the menu item is higher in calories, meaning we should try to choose a more waist and heart friendly option. Words such as fried, au gratin, crispy, pan-fried, sautéed, creamy, or stuffed are terms used to describe high fat, high calorie dishes.  Describing words such as steamed, baked, grilled, poached, or roasted are terms used for lower calories dishes. If it comes down to it, and you would like to try the “grilled chicken and pasta tossed in creamy, velvety, melt in your mouth, Alfredo sauce; ask the server (let’s call him Charles) to, “Bring the sassy-saucy-sauce on the side, please, so I do not disrupt my figure!”

2. Welcome the water (with lemon! Voila!)

Often we can find a large portion of the caloric content of an overall restaurant meal stemming from those found in our beverages.  In a 16 oz. portion of Coca-Cola ®, you find about 11.5 teaspoons of sugar and 200 calories. In a 16 oz. of Mountain Dew, you will consume over 14 teaspoons of sugar and 220 calories.  If you are a typical consumer, when Charles offers you that refill, you will  gladly accept not understanding the amount of sugar and calories consumed from this small beverage alone! Therefore, it is best to choose plain water and add a lemon for a burst of flavor. Adding lemon to your water is also believed to aid in digestive processes.

3. Become the best of friends with the “doggie bag”

The portions at many restaurants are nothing less that gargantuan, providing us with another reason to rely on our willpower to not eat the entire portion in one sitting.  If you find yourself lingering, chatting, and taking in the ambience of the restaurant, you will find the last bites that you were going to save for lunch tomorrow, even more tempting. Your best bet it to ask Charles to bring out a box right when you receive your meal to ensure you actually do have lunch tomorrow.

4. Sensible Side Salads

Most menu items boast that they come with a side of fries, sour cream and cheese topped mashed potatoes, or butter laden biscuits.  As tempting as those high carbohydrate and high fat options may be when you sit down in the restaurant and are starving, your best bet is to ask Charles if they have side salads instead. Ask for the dressing to be placed on the side so that you can dip the lettuce leaves or lightly spread it atop the greens. 

5. Enjoy yourself!

The last tip is for you to remind you to enjoy yourself! Going out to a restaurant for a meal should be fun as it allows casual conversation and great food! The trick is just to keep these tips in the back of your mind so you do not end up leaving the restaurant with the belt unbuckled and your button undone. The point it to leaving feeling nourished, satisfied, and socially satiated. 

Food is delicious, can make for entertaining times, and should always be used as a tool for nourishment.  Keep these tips in mind next time you venture out to a restaurant with your friends or family so that you can eat deliciously and intelligently!

Katie

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About Katie

Kate Paige Haarala is a registered dietitian (R.D.) from Minnesota who has an undying passion for nutrition education and helping others incorporate healthy dishes into their daily menu.  She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Food, Nutrition & Dietetics along with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Science. You can catch more of Katie on her blog by clicking here.