Eating Out While Losing Weight
Eating out at your favourite restaurant with your friends or for special occasion can be a tricky road to navigate on the journey to weight loss. With so much of our social time being centered around food how do you avoid derailing your healthy diet without avoiding spending time with people. These are some steps I’m going to take to try to keep myself on track when I’m faced with eating at a restaurant.
Looking at the Menu Before Hand
Most restaurants these days should have a website and hopefully one that is updated somewhat regularly. It’s likely worth checking the website before going out to have a thorough look at the menu options. This will reduce the pressure to order something when you were in a group setting. Trying to juggle figuring out healthy option while conversing with your friends can lead to just picking whatever looks good on the first glance. It is also worth noting that people often mistake high quality restaurant food as being inherently a healthier option then say fast food. While the food may be of high quality often the sodium , fat and calories can be even higher. Good restaurants often work with heavy creams, high fat options, as well as liberal amounts of sodium to maximize flavours. Having a gourmet hamburger may not be necessarily a better option then one at a fast food restaurant. So spending some time examining the options with a critical eye might be helpful. By investigating the menu before hand you can do a little additional research online on what might be the best option to order.
Eat Beforehand
If going out replaces a standard meal in your day such as a healthy smoothie for lunch, try having that smoothie before leaving. This will fill you up more leaving you the option to have a more modest restaurant meal. It might seem like you are adding extra calories by doing this but by having that healthy smoothie fill you up and adding on a balance salad at the restraint, you could ultimately avoid the extra calories of large overindulgent meal. You might also decide that you are full enough to pass on appetizers and dessert.
Many Restaurants a Healthy Food Sections on their Menu
This again warrants looking though the menu carefully. Many places that specialize in breakfast and lunch often have a healthy options menu. This can include items with lots of vegetables, low sodium and items that list the nutritional contents right on the menu. Some of these meals can be very good a quite filling.
Just be Okay with Eating Out Occasionally
There is nothing wrong with going out on occasion and indulging a little bit on some of your favourite food. I think the key is to always try to consider moderation as best you can. But also not to beat yourself up if you decide to go a little overboard now and again. Having some cake at a birthday party or hamburger at a barbecue is not the end of the world. In fact sometimes having that “cheat day” within reason, can help you feel good about being back on track. Eating this kind of food for me only becomes an issue when it becomes a regular occurrence. Through many trials and errors I have found I need to treat food much like an addiction. As such looking at food as a healthy fuel for my body and not as a reward or something to look forward to on a bad day is important. But each person is different and each person has to find that balance. I think whatever balance that is, with a little care and attention it can always include a healthy dose of eating out with good friends.
