20 Clever Tips to Eat Healthy When Eating Out

BySean McKlveen
Tips to Eat Healthy

Going out to restaurants may be an enjoyable and social experience.

However, research has shown a correlation between eating out and overeating as well as making bad dietary choices.

This article provides a list of twenty useful suggestions that can assist you in maintaining a healthy diet while dining out.

You won’t have to sacrifice your social life to achieve your health objectives if you use these strategies.

  1. Before You Order, Look Over the Menu

You should read the menu before you go to the restaurant, especially if you aren’t very familiar with the food there.

When you’re hungry or distracted, you’re more prone to make decisions that aren’t good for you.

If you are already hungry, the sight and scent of food can make it more difficult to stick to a plan that you have created for yourself.

It is far simpler to avoid making rash selections that you might come to regret later if you choose your food before you arrive.

  1. Before you come, eat a nutritious snack to keep you going.

If you walk into a restaurant already starving, you can wind up consuming more food than you should have. Consuming nutritious food before going there is one strategy to decrease the risk of this happening.

A snack like a yogurt, which is low in calories but high in protein, could make you feel more full and help keep you from overeating.

  1. Consume Water Prior to and During the Course of Your Meal

If you choose to drink water rather than beverages with added sugar or other sweeteners, you’ll have a much better experience both before and during your meal.

Switching from sugary beverages to water can help you cut back on the calories and added sugar you consume throughout the day.

According to the findings of one study, dieters who consumed 500 milliliters (17 ounces) of water half an hour before each meal lost 44% more weight and consumed fewer calories than dieters who did not consume this amount of water.

  1. Investigate the Cooking Methods and Preparation Procedures

The number of calories that are included in food can be significantly altered by the preparation method that is used.

Look for foods that have been roasted, grilled, poached, or steamed for the best results. These cooking methods, in general, result in less fat, and hence, fewer calories, in the final product.

Those that are labeled as being pan-fried, fried, crispy, crunchy, or sautéed on the menu will typically have more fat and more calories than foods that are not described in such terms.

  1. Make an effort to eat each bite of your food mindfully.

Eating mindfully involves paying undivided attention to the act of eating itself as well as making deliberate decisions regarding the food you put in your mouth.

Spend some time appreciating not only the tastes and smells of your food, but also the ideas and emotions that come to mind when you’re eating them.

There is a correlation between practicing mindful eating and selecting healthier options when dining out.

Additionally, it can assist in the development of better self-control and keep you from overindulging in food.

  1. Order Your Meal Before Everyone Else

Without our conscious awareness, the choices we make might be swayed by the actions of other people.

When in social settings, people have a tendency to unconsciously imitate one another, and eating out is no exception to this rule.

It is possible for other diners at a table to have a significant impact on the food selections and eating habits of those seated at that table.

Be sure to place your order first if you are eating with a group that is likely to order food that does not adhere to the healthy eating plan that you have developed for yourself.

  1. Rather than ordering a main dish, go with two appetizers.

According to a number of studies, people have a greater propensity to consume excessive amounts of food when they are given a larger portion size.

If you are going to a restaurant where you know the quantities are going to be extremely large, you might want to consider ordering two appetizers rather than a main dish.

This can assist you in feeling full without causing you to consume an excessive amount of calories.

  1. Take your time and chew your food completely.

If you take your time chewing your meal and eat more slowly, you might find that you consume fewer calories overall. Additionally, it may cause you to experience satiety more rapidly.

If you find that you are eating too quickly, one strategy to slow down your consumption is to count the number of times you chew each mouthful.

Putting down your utensils between bites is another effective strategy to slow down while you eat so that your body has more time to send you signs that it is full.

  1. Rather of dessert, have a cup of coffee instead.

Pass on the dessert and get a cup of coffee instead.

You will receive some of the wonderful health advantages that are associated with coffee, in addition to significantly reducing the amount of calories and added sugar you consume.

  1. Stay away from buffets that provide unlimited food.

It is well known that people are terrible at estimating how much food they will consume.

Eating the appropriate amount of food at a buffet might be difficult because there is an endless supply of food there for you to choose from.

If you have no other option than to dine at a buffet, utilizing a smaller dish can help you control how much food you consume.

Utilizing a plate of a standard size and filling half of it with salad or vegetables is yet another successful strategy.

  1. Request to Substitute Something Healthier

The majority of individuals do not consume enough fruits and vegetables.

Vegetables are wonderful since they have a relatively low calorie count but a high concentration of beneficial fiber and minerals.

For instance, broccoli and spinach both have very few calories but a significant amount of fiber, vitamin C, and a variety of other plant chemicals that are good to the body.

Increasing one’s consumption of vegetables has been associated with a decreased risk of several diseases, including a decreased likelihood of developing cancer, obesity, and depression.

Request that the waitress replace a portion of your dish, such as the fries or potatoes, with additional vegetables or a salad when you place your order for the meal. You’ll eat more vegetables while also reducing the number of calories you consume.

  1. Inquire about having your sauces or dressings served on the side.

Ask for your sauce to be served on the side, as sauces and dressings can add a significant amount of extra fat and calories to a dish.

For instance, including two tablespoons of ranch salad dressing in your meal will result in an additional increase of 140 calories and 16 grams of fat.

Keeping the two things apart will make it much simpler to limit the amount of food that you consume.

  1. Forego the Bread Basket Served Before Dinner

If you enter a restaurant already feeling hungry, it will be quite simple for you to consume excessive amounts of the appetizers that are served before your main course.

If you give in to temptation quickly, you should return them.

  1. To begin, place an order for a soup or a salad.

Before your main dish, filling up on soup or salad can help you control how much food you consume overall.

The consumption of soup before to a meal has been demonstrated in a number of studies to be associated with a 20% reduction in the overall number of calories consumed.

Since it did not make a difference which type of soup was had, any soup throughout the day can be a really healthy alternative.

  1. Contribute to the Well-Being of Others (or Order a Half Portion)

When eating out, persons who successfully dropped weight and kept it off were found to frequently split meals with one another or order portions that were one-half the normal size.

It’s a straightforward method for cutting back on calories and stopping oneself from overeating.

If you are the only person at the table, you can ask the waiter to package up half of your meal so that you can take it with you when you leave.

  1. Avoid Sugar-Sweetened Drinks

Many of us consume far too much sugar on a daily basis, which is detrimental to our health for a number of reasons.

Sugar-sweetened beverages are one type of sugar that we truly do not require in our diets.

There is a substantial correlation between drinking sugar-sweetened beverages and an increased risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes.

If you want to choose a beverage that is good for you while dining out, stick to water or tea that is unsweetened and unflavored.

  1. Select Alcoholic Beverages in Miniature Measures and Low-Calorie Mixers

Consuming a substantial number of additional calories throughout your meal is possible when you drink alcohol.

The amount of alcohol included in a drink as well as the quantity of the drink both have an effect on the total number of calories that are contained in the beverage.

For instance, a big glass of red wine, which is around 1 cup (250 ml) and contains 13% alcohol by volume, can add somewhere in the neighborhood of 280 calories to your dinner. That’s equivalent to the price of a Snickers bar of chocolate.

If you want to enjoy a drink without adding extra calories to your diet, you may do so by ordering smaller measures, such as a smaller glass of wine. This will help you cut back on the calories.

Try mixing the spirit with a diet drink rather than a sugar-sweetened drink or fruit juice when you are making mixed drinks with spirits such as gin, vodka, or whiskey. Diet drinks don’t have as much sugar as sugar-sweetened drinks or fruit juice.

  1. Tomato-based sauces are preferable to creamy sauces wherever possible.

To reduce the amount of calories and fat in your meal, opt for sauces that are made from tomato or vegetables rather than ones that are made from cream or cheese.

They will also increase the amount of nutritious vegetables in your diet.

  1. Be Wary of Products That Make Health Claims

Dietary designations are sometimes included on the menus of restaurants. It’s possible that one of the meals on the menu will be labeled as “paleo,” “gluten-free,” or “sugar-free.”

The presence of these markers does not always indicate that a selection is a healthy one. In order to improve the flavor of certain items, hidden carbohydrates and fats may have been added to them.

Even baked goods that are labeled as “sugar-free” may nevertheless have “natural” sugars that have been added to them. These are still considered added sugars; however, they are not the same as regular table sugar or high fructose corn syrup, which are the two types of sugar that are commonly used in baked goods and candies.

Agave nectar, for instance, is a common ingredient in foods that are marketed as “healthy,” despite the fact that it is at least as unhealthy as normal sugar.

To avoid any confusion, make sure to read the menu description in its entirety. There are numerous hiding places for added sugars. If you are unsure of something, your server can help.

  1. Give Some Thought to the Whole of Your Diet

There will be moments when you simply want to indulge in the pleasure of eating your favorite meal without giving any thought to whether or not it is good for you.

There is a correlation between having a flexible approach to one’s diet and the ability to better manage one’s weight and overall health. It is beneficial to consider how a meal fits into your diet as a whole before eating it.

You have earned the right to indulge now and then if you have been maintaining a healthy diet for the majority of the time. Indulging one’s senses on occasion can be therapeutic for the spirit.