Eating Out and Staying Healthy

Eating healthily is a hard thing to do. People are constantly busy working, travelling, and doing whatever they need to do in their daily lives. With their busy lifestyles, they often fail to eat healthy and they usually resort to fast food.

How can one be healthy if he or she constantly eats out? On an average, people consume 300 calories or more, 19 grams of fat, and more than 400mg of sodium per meal. This is too much as compared to when you eat at home.

Don’t think however, that eating out is unhealthy. You can still eat healthy food and prevent overeating by following some simple steps.

Before the main dish, order water right away to avoid confusing thirst with hunger.

When eating out, your choices are important.

If you want to rid yourself from dreaded fats, calories, and other notorious foods, choose your food with these restrictions in mind.

You can choose whole grains, brown or wild rice, vegetables, and fresh fruits. You can have lean meats, skinless poultry and fish, and other simply prepared foods.

It is important to know that you can have your food prepared just the way you want it You can order something that is not on the menu like steamed vegetables, baked fish, skim milk, broth or vegetable-based soups, fresh fruit, grilled steak and plain baked potato. By ordering foods according to your liking, you can benefit from eating healthy meals.

Before ordering the main dish, order a salad or soup.

Finish your soup or salad before ordering your main dish. This can prevent overeating. When eating your salad, don’t use a salad dressing, instead, use vinegar or lemon.

Use portion control to eat more healthily. To avoid overeating and consuming everything on your huge-sized plate, make it a habit to ask for a to-go box.  You can take home some of your leftover foods. Another great idea is to split a plate of food with another person.

If you have dessert, what about sharing it so that you can give the other half to someone or take it home for consumption later on.

Don’t be scared of asking restaurants to do what you want. Most restaurant owners are even glad to do this for their customers. Remember, you are a customer.

Moderate is alcohol consumption. Alcohol contains calories and can dehydrate the body. Drink water if you have to have a drink.

Make sure to check your food’s nutritional information. Often bad foods are touted as healthy. So, be sure to monitor what you are eating.

Healthy eating when eating out will stop you from consuming those notoriously bad and unhealthy foods.