Eating out can be fun and flavorful but it can also be fattening. Restaurants are businesses so they are concerned with the bottom line . One of the ways that restaurants get people to return is to make the food irresistibly flavorful. How do they do this? By enhancing the flavor with fat and spices (mostly salt). Fat and salt are inexpensive ways of making food tasty.
When we eat out we have no idea of how much fat, salt, and other ingredients are in the food. We just know whether we like the taste or not. For example, we see that we're eating chicken but we don't know how many calories, fat, or salt we're eating. What we think is a normal meal may prove to be the reason we are frustrated with our weight gain next week.
Restaurant Portions
Another method that restaurants have used to get us to return is by serving extremely large portions. It's not unusual today to be served enough for four people. Because it's on our plate we have a tendency to think that it must be a serving for one person, but don't be fooled - it could be enough for four people.
Frequency of Eating Out and Weight
Americans do like eating out frequently. With our fast-paced lifestyles, some people eat out more than they cook at home. That's unfortunate because the more we eat out, the harder it is to manage weight.
How to Out-Smart Restaurants
How can we still have fun eating out without ruining our goals for fitness?
Here are a few tips:
- Gradually reduce the number of times that you eat out and replace with quality meals at home.
- Don't starve yourself all day to compensate for the meal out later. It will make you hungrier and will cause overeating. Eat enough to satisfy during the day but pick foods that are high in nutrition and fiber, and low in fat.
- Reduce or eliminate how much alcohol you drink when eating out as the effects of alcohol will only cause you to eat more and will add more calories.
- Ask for a "doggy bag" at the start of the meal and save part of the meal to have the next day.
- Eliminate the extras such as appetizers and desserts. These only make your "four-person meal" more like a "six person meal." If you really want the appetizer or dessert then forgo the entree. Decide which is most important to you.
How to Handle Menu Choices
If you've done your job of not being too hungry or inebriated when you're looking at the menu, it should be easy to choose a healthier meal. Here are steps to take:
- Decide which meal you would really like.
- Look for the most nutritious (more fiber, more vitamins, less fat, less salt) meal on the menu.
- Ask yourself if you'd be satisfied with #2. If yes, then order it. If no, go to #4
- Look for a meal that resembles your first choice but is more nutritious. Ask yourself if you would be satisfied with that choice. If yes, order it. If no, go to #5.
- If you feel you won't be satisfied with any of the alternate choices go back to choice #1. Now look for ways to make this meal more nutritious. For example, ask for meat to be baked or grilled instead of fried or saucy, ask for a lower fat vegetable, and don't put butter on your bread.
It's easy to gain weight from eating out. The smart ones learn to manage it well.
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