HEALTHY RESTAURANT EATING

Everyone enjoys a night out. Days are filled with commitments, obligations,
meetings, errands, chores, and a myriad of other responsibilities that color
our daily lives, even our very existence. To step back from this cycle of
activity and go to a restaurant, have someone else serve you, cook the
meal, wash the dishes, and clean up is a mini-vacation we all can appreciate.

When you dine out, you can’t leave your good sense or your healthy
eating habits on the wayside, to be picked up when you return home.
It doesn’t make sense to work so hard to attune yourself to health-wise
eating habits, and possibly undue all the good work with one calorie-laden,
overly fat, sugary, and empty calorie meal. Your heartburn will gladly
remind you of your sins.

When you go to a restaurant, eat smart. There are a few tips so that you can
thoroughly enjoy your evening, and go home refreshed, relaxed, and in great
health. You will have nothing to be sorry for from a nutrition standpoint and
you won’t have to run the high school track field to get back to the point you
were at before you had dinner “out.”

Salads are great accompaniments to any meal. Ask for your choice of dressing
on the side. This way you are sure you are in control of the amount that is
poured onto the delicious salad ingredients that should be appreciated for their
particular taste. Two to three teaspoons of dressing on a side-plate salad is
an ample addition to your salad. You can also ask for oil and vinegar cruets
and mix your own dressing.

Avoid foods that are fried, even though fried foods are a tasty morsel. Choices
of roast turkey, broiled chicken, lean ham, flank steak, broiled shrimp, broiled
cod, steamed crab, spaghetti, are a few very smart choices from a restaurant
menu. You can also sabotage your great decision with a lot of sauces, or
gravies. So just use these as flavor enhancers and not flavor cover-ups.

Fresh fruit is a great choice for dessert. How about adding some angel food
cake, sherbet, or jello. You can have your dessert and eat it too.

Eat modest portions and try to appreciate the food’s flavor without a lot of
additional items that take away from its natural goodness. Fruits and vegetables
are taste sensations when eaten alone, but you can add a few touches to satisfy
your sweet tooth. Also remember that an occasional splurge is nothing to feel
guilty about. Your mind will never tell your stomach, so it will never know to
add those calories to your weight scale.

Enjoy your meal out and have fun with family or friends. You deserve it!

©Arleen M.Kaptur