How To Eat Healthy When Dining Out

If you're anything like me, staying healthy when going out to eat at a restaurant can be a bit of a challenge!  It can be very hard to know the nutritional value of the food items you are ordering when all you can see is a description and a picture on a menu. In addition, it is very easy to overeat at at restaurants because many of the portion sizes that are served are two or three times larger than recommend serving sizes! I want to quickly share a few things I do that tend to help me out a lot when eating out.

•  Plan ahead and find the restaurant's nutritional facts online before you go out.



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http://www.ericwedum.com/interactive/ 

 Many times brochures with nutritional facts are available for you to look at inside the restaurant, but who wants to be the one to take 20 minutes to count calories before they're ready to order? If you're concerned about the nutritional value of the food you eat while dining out, my advice would be to check out the nutritional facts online and plan what you want to eat ahead of time. Most websites should have this available, it's easy to do, and it can actually be fun! I get a feeling of accomplishment when I can plan a meal that is within my target calorie range. Red Robin is one of my favorite restaurants, and they have a "Nutritional Customizer" (pictured above) on their website that allows you to customize an order in anyway you want and it will calculate all of the nutritional facts for you. Check it out! Red Robin - Nutritional Customizer. Of course, eating out can sometimes be spontaneous. You won't always have the time to plan your meals out beforehand. When that happens, I do have other suggestions!

• Check if the menu has a "Lighter Options" section.
This is becoming increasingly popular in restaurant menu's. At almost every restaurant I go to, there's a section on the menu called "On the Lighter Side," "Weight Watchers" or something similar. For example, Arby's recently launched their new "Eat This Not That" menu selection, and Applebee's has their famous "Under 550 Calories" section (pictured below). Selecting your meal from the "lighter" section of the menu will help ensure that you can accomplish your goal of staying healthy while eating out.  These can also easily be found online. Here are a few more examples from popular restaurants. 
• Chili's - "Lighter Choices"
• Taco Bell - "Drive-Thru Diet"
• McDonald's - "Favorites Under 400 Calories"
• Red Lobster - "LightHouse Menu"

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http://www.eatdrinkdeals.com

• Don't be afraid to ask for adjustments to be made to your meal!
It is perfectly okay to ask for your salad to be made with the dressing on the side, for your sandwich to have whole wheat bread instead of white, to have broccoli instead of fries, or for your chicken to be grilled instead of fried. Don't be embarrassed to ask for those things. Have it made the way you want! Take charge! 

• Know when you are full. 
Don't finish your food just because it's there on your plate. If you're full, stop eating! This is much easier said then done. I know I have a tendency to eat food when it's in front of me, but knowing when you need to stop eating is a habit that is important to develop.

Those are just a few of the tips I have for being healthier when eating out! I could add more, but this post is already pretty long. :) If you're interested in learning more I recommend checking out these articles. Some of the tips are similar to mine, but there are many additional ones as well!

• "Healthy Fast Food"
• "10 Ways to Eat Healthy When Eating Out" - This gives tips on how to eat healthy based on the type of food you will be eating like Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, etc. 
• "How To Eat Healthy When Eating Out"