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The art of eating
out. Most diet programs insist that you eat only their food
while on the program....now how are you going to learn about
eating in real life by doing that? For most of us, eating
out is a part of our lifestyle today. And why not? After
all, the food is good tasting and often nutritious....fast
food restaurants offer good prices and it sure is easier
than fixing it yourself. Now we realize that there are also
a lot of people that simply don't like to eat out all that
often, no problem. But even for those folks, sometimes it's
inevitable, like when you’re traveling, or for business
lunches or dinners, or for a party given at a restaurant. So
for those who love to eat out and do it often, and for those
who only eat out when they have to, in other words for
everyone, this is for you.
Most restaurants offer some
rather excellent choices now, but it's very important that
you know how to ‘order’ your food, or you're likely to wind
up with a few too many ‘hidden’ calories from fats and other
ingredients. It's important for you to remember one thing
when you're in a restaurant.....you're the customer. You're
the boss! The restaurant is in business for only one
reason, to make money. In order to do that, they must sell
food. In order to sell food, they have to put it on your
plate. So....since you're the boss, and since they are
‘totally dependent on you’ for their living and
income...let's start ordering and eating the way we know is
right. Not the way the restaurant thinks we should eat.
It's your life and your body.
First of all, let's look at
some real general guidelines for eating at different kinds
of restaurants. We'll talk specifics later. Let me ask you
a quick question. Do you normally order an appetizer before
the meal? Sometimes? Always? Only when you see something
appealing? Yeah, you're normal. We want you to become
aware of something though, and that's while some of us don't
consider appetizers a part of the dinner, they're a big part
of your total food, calorie and fat intake for the day.
If you live in the southwest
for example, Mexican restaurants normally serve tortilla
chips, salsa and cheese sauce prior to ordering, just so the
customer will have something to munch on while the cook is
preparing the meal. A small basket of chips, along with
cheese contains about 700 calories and 100 grams of fat.
Now often that's more than the meal itself, and the real
food hasn't even arrived yet. You’re going to eat a full
dinner after the chips. But we don't often consider the
chips as a problem, after all...their light, tasty, and
non-filling...so what can it hurt, right? Well you just
learned that's wrong! And Mexican restaurants are just an
example of what I'm talking about. There are good choices
for appetizers at Mexican eateries, and we'll talk about
them in a little bit. But first a few general rules to
follow in nearly any restaurant.
For an appetizer, try raw
vegetable plates or relishes, fresh fruit, shrimp cocktail
or a clear, broth-based soup. We know there's fried cheese
on the menu, but what will eating that do to your body? You
know vegetables and fruit are great tasting and great for
you. So avoid the high fat appetizers such as fried cheese,
fried vegetables, escargot dripping in butter or the stuffed
mushrooms and pate.
On to the salad. If there
is a salad bar, you have complete control over your choices,
and we'll talk about salad bars in a minute. But if you
order a salad, ask for the dressing on the side. Then,
instead of pouring the dressing on the salad, try this
little trick. Dip the tines of your fork into the dressing
and spear a couple of bites of salad. This way you get the
taste of the salad dressing in each bite, but not a big glob
of the dressing, and since most salad dressings are
fat-based, they're very high in calories. In fact, most
salad dressings have between 70 and 100 calories for one
level tablespoon. Now, many eating establishments offer
reduced calorie versions of traditional salad dressings, so
be sure to ask for them. A few other excellent options
include vinegars, lemon juice or lime juice to dress a
salad. Experiment and live a little.
Salad bars are great
options, but you have to be careful what you pile on your
plate. One of the real problems is that people have fooled
themselves into thinking that, if a food is on the salad
bar, it must be low calorie. ‘Not!’ A lot of it is
fat-laden and packed with calories. In fact, salad bars can
be downright misleading. If you select various mixed salads
such as coleslaw, macaroni salad, potato salad or others
that are mixed with mayonnaise, sour cream or other
fat-based dressing you're about to receive a large dose of
calories.
Topping a salad with bacon,
olives, avocados, nuts, seeds, croutons or cheese add loads
of extra calories and fat. Other prepared salads such as
tuna, chicken or ham salad are usually loaded with
mayonnaise and therefore high in fat. Have I ruined the
trip to the salad bar for you yet? Hang in there, here
comes the good stuff.
Next time when you go to the
salad bar, select various salad greens along with tomatoes,
radishes, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, green pepper,
carrots, sprouts and onions. These foods are filling,
require lots of chewing, so you'll eat slower. Have some
fun, try different combinations, and you'll find that the
mix of natural raw food from the salad bar will make a tasty
combination, and will average only 25-30 calories per cup.
Don't forget to dip you fork in the dressing on the side
for a little extra taste. Try it, and remember, as with
anything else you change, it will take several times before
it starts to seems right to you. But when it does, you'll
feel great, and just watch that waist line start to go down.
One thing I like in a
restaurant is soup. But if soup is served, be careful.
Generally broths, consommé or vegetable soup are fairly low
in fat, but if the soup has the word ‘cream’ in it's name,
you can bet it's quite high in fat. The problem is that you
really don't know how much fat has been added in the
preparation. The best choice is to select foods in the
natural form, such as the raw vegetables so that you know no
other calorie sources have been added. Don't forget that
fresh fruits can complement a salad nicely.
Let's talk sandwiches. Have
you noticed all the sandwich shops that are popping up
around the country? People are beginning to learn the value
of a good sandwich. Sandwiches are good food and, when you
use a little reason, good healthy choices as well. Here are
a few good options that just about everybody likes. Grilled
chicken breast, grilled fish steaks, lean sliced roast beef
or turkey. Be sure to use a wide variety of breads, such as
whole wheat, rye,
pita or sour dough.
Sometimes I ask for my bread and mustard on the side, so I
can add it myself. Order lettuce, tomato, onion and sprouts
to go on the sandwich, even if those things are not listed
on the menu for that sandwich, you're going to be surprised,
most of the time, the restaurant will gladly put them on the
plate for you.
Not so good choices for
sandwiches are: mayonnaise, margarine or fat-laden sauces
such as tartar sauce or salad dressing. Instead of chips or
fries ask for fresh fruit or vegetable garnishes.
Ok! Time for the main
course. When ordering main dishes, in a restaurant, start
by considering smaller sizes or lite meals to control
portion size. If these aren't available, try eating slower,
and stop after about three ounces. A good way to remember,
it's about the size of a deck of playing cards and leave the
rest, or take it home for a later meal. Order fish or
poultry baked or broiled. Too many times fish and poultry
are basted with oil or clarified butter during the cooking
process, unless you specify that you want it to be cooked
without any fat. ‘Lean’ cuts of red meat are also
acceptable.
Kabobs of scallops, shrimp or
chicken are excellent choices, but, again should be broiled
or grilled without added fat.
Bread and your meal! Do you
love bread, and are you one of the millions of people that
grew up thinking that bread and grains are fattening? Are
you one of the millions of people that still believe that?
I have a real treat for you. As our segment on nutrition
said, there is almost no fat in most breads and grains.
So, choose whole grain bread
or rolls, bread sticks or soda crackers. Now, I didn't say
smear butter on it, just try the bread plain. There’s
another reason I want you to order whole grain breads or
rolls, they have more fiber and a richer fuller taste than
plain white bread, and often you won't feel the need to junk
it up with butter or margarine. Restaurants are famous for
attempting to liven up the breads however, so make an effort
to avoid the high-fat options such as croissants, buttered
rolls, garlic bread, cheese toast or Texas toast.
How about dessert?
Sometimes I'm full but just not finished at the end of
dessert. Some good options are fresh fruit or sherbet, and
one of my favorite gourmet coffees. Sometimes a cup of full
flavored coffee is more satisfying on a full tummy, than the
heavy stuff. And is nearly calorie free, as long as you
don't add sugar, cream or milk, of course.
Ethnic:
Ok, let's talk about going
to ethnic restaurants. You still want to keep the same
guidelines in mind about avoiding hidden fat sources. But
here's some more info for you.
In Chinese
restaurants, ask for combination dishes of steamed chicken,
fish, tofu, shrimp or lean beef mixed with a variety of
oriental vegetables. I know stir fry is quite popular these
days, and as always the choice is yours, but you know that
steamed is preferable to stir fried. Other great options
are fish steamed with ginger or chicken steamed with wine.
Specify steamed rice instead of fried rice and clear
chicken broth or egg drop soup are great options. High fat
duck and pork, sweet and sour dishes and all fried dishes
such as garlic frittered chicken and those with rich sauces
are your basic ‘no no's’ in Chinese restaurants. And here's
a little surprise for you. The Chinese don't eat the fried
foods in their daily diet. Their normal diet is steamed
rice, meats and vegetables. They have some fried dishes for
special occasions, but a number of those dishes you see in
restaurants were invented for American and European taste
buds, not because the Chinese like them so much. So the
next time you hear that Chinese food must be good, because
the Chinese people are so slim, that's right, but remember
what they are eating. And it didn't come out of a deep
fryer.
Let's take a walk down the
street to a French restaurant. Here, the best
choices include veal, fish, chicken, and frog legs. Again,
these should be ordered without rich sauces or fat bastings.
Tomato sauce and wine are good bases for sauces.
Trout prepared in white wine
is an excellent choice, as are veal meatballs with a tomato
based sauce. Shell fish or lean lamb are other options.
Avoid brains, liver, duck, sweet breads or goose. Also
avoid cream sauces, hollandaise and bacon seasoned dishes.
Now for an all time
favorite, Italian restaurants. Veal, fish or chicken
in a wine,
tomato, marinara, or
primavera sauce are a smart move. Baked chicken with
prosciutto, wine or tomato based sauces with garlic are good
options. Linguini with red clam sauce and other pastas with
marinara or vegetarian spaghetti sauce are excellent
choices. Avoid sautéed or buttered dishes and linguini with
white clam sauce, as this is generally prepared with cream.
Avoid breaded dishes, as these generally also contain lots
of fat. High fat cuts of beef, pork or sausage are real
heart stoppers, as are parmigian, meat sauces, cream
sauces, alfredo and fried dishes, so let's not do those.
Ok! All you southwest
lovers.....I promised you we'd talk Mexican food, so
here goes. Chicken fajitas are good choices, but let's do a
tiny bit of modifying to the order. Soft corn tortillas
instead of the white flour ones have less fat, and you can
ask for the chicken, onions and green pepper to be cooked in
as little oil as possible. Get used to doing this. They
don't mind really, and they'll also think you know your
stuff when it comes to cooking. Order extra lettuce, tomato
and salsa, and tell the waiter to leave the guacamole in the
kitchen. Chicken tacos with chili, onion, diced tomato and
shredded lettuce, or chicken tostados are good choices.
Pollo en salsa verde, which is chicken with green tomatoes,
garlic, chilies and sherry, is wonderful. Remember the
tortillas chips from before? Same goes for the nachos, sour
cream, unless they have fat free sour cream, cheeses, deep
fried foods, super tacos, tostados and burritos. All these
generally have extra high fat ingredients, such as
additional cheese and sour cream. Soft corn tortillas with
salsa are much better than the corn chips, which have been
fried.
Some Mexican restaurants now
have beans prepared without added fat. Be sure to ask!
Exercise:
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What are typically your favorite restaurants that you like to eat?
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What do you usually order?
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How can you change your order to reflect a healthier, lower calorie
fare?
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