How To Stick With Your Low-Fat Diet in Restaurants
The bottom line
To reach or stay at a healthy weight, how much you eat is just as important as what you eat. When eating out, choose steamed or grilled food instead of fried, ask for salad dressing on the side, and share a meal with a friend or take half your meal home.
Key takeaways
- Ask to have the basket of bread or chips removed from the table.
- Look for calorie information next to food and drink items on menus and menu boards.
- Try a broth-based vegetable soup instead of a calorie-dense cream-based soup.
- Fat is not something to cut out completely: it helps the body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
- Stop eating and drinking when you are full.
Anytime you commit to a fat-loss diet plan; you are likely to run into a few challenges when you dine out at a restaurant. This is particularly the case in the beginning.
Think about it. When cooking at home, you have the ultimate control of your food intake, allowing you to keep your daily calories in check. Of course, when you dine out, you may feel as if you are at the mercy of the chef and if you aren’t careful, you could easily walk away full and having consumed way more calories than you should have.
If you aren’t careful, dining out can significantly impede your fat loss results. This is why It is so important to choose low-calorie, nutritious foods. If you struggle to make smart dining choices when eating out, use the following tips to guide you to the best menu options to keep your diet under control.
- For obvious reasons, stay away from fried foods. This means anything, such as fries, chicken, or okra that has been cooked in grease.
- Breaded foods should also be avoided. They are full of carbs and fat.
- Be skeptical of appetizers, which tend to be very high in calories. In fact, it’s not unusual for appetizers to continue more calories than an appetizer.
- Decline the bread basket. Not only does the actual bread add tons of calories to your meal, but so do the butter and olive oil.
- When in doubt, opt for grilled chicken. Chicken is an excellent source of lean protein, and it has minimal fat when it’s grilled.
- If you order a salad, ask that the cheese, candied nuts, croutons, and noodles be left off. Also, request that your dressing is served on the side. This allows you to control how much you use. If at all, use just ½ of what is provided.
- Stick with water as your drink of choice to make sure you don’t drink extra calories.
- Choose broth-based soups over creamy soups to keep your calorie intake down.
- If it is offered, order a half order. After all, most restaurant portions are two to three times more than the recommended serving. This is particularly the case when it comes to pasta dishes.
- Steak is a good choice, provided you choose a lean cut.
- Choose steamed vegetables as a side dish. Don’t forget to ask that the butter is left off to prevent extra calories.
- Keep in mind that 3-4 ounces of meat are more than enough for most people, so stay away from larger servings. Instead, supplement your 3-4 ounces of meat with a generous serving of vegetables.
Never take your food selection lightly when it comes to eating out. Making a wrong decision can easily result in you taking in more than 1500 calories at a single meal, which for many dieters is all they are allowed for the day.
By committing the tips above to memory, you should feel confident and comfortable when you go out to eat, even if you are on a low-fat diet. Just be sure to keep them in mind when you are flipping through the menu and deciding what to order.
