Personal Trainer Advice: Is It Possible To Eat Healthily At Restaurants?

If you and your loved ones enjoy eating out at restaurants, you may think that this lifestyle is bad for a healthy diet. Most likely you are right.. However, you can still enjoy restaurant menus once in a while and maintain a healthy diet. How do you do that?

Personal Trainer Advice:

Its all about making good food choices. That starts with learning about the nutrition you need to stay happy, physically healthy, mentally stable, and active.

When you scroll through the menu, start by avoiding the drinks section. Although you may be tempted to enjoy a beer or mixed beverage with your dinner, these usually have many empty calories, which is not good for your body.(Read: EMPTY calories)

The exception to this rule when it comes to alcohol is wine, especially red wine, which can be beneficial if you have a single glass occasionally and can actually help prevent heart disease for some patients.

Also you might want to skip over the appetizer menu, unless of course it’s to over a side salad. The appetizers at restaurants are usually high-fat foods that are not meant to fill you up and can in fact make you crave even more high fat foods.

Examples of these are mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and wings. Instead, simply focus on your main course or, if you must indulge, share a single serving with the entire table of people. C’mon, don’t be selfish!

When choosing your main course, it is important that you look at the ingredients of the dish. Anything with cream sauces or high-fat high-sugar dressings should be avoided, and pass up the potatoes or onion rings. Instead order side dishes like green leafy vegetables or ask for just the main course if possible. (This shouldn’t be a problem)

Remember too that portion matters. Order off of the lunch menu whenever you can, and ask for a doggie bag right away. Split your meal in half from the start so that you are not tempted to eat the entire thing, which is usually enough for two or three portions.

At the end of your meal, ditch the desert , like you would with the appetizers. Again, you can share a single desert with the entire table if you feel compelled to order something, or split your portion in half. Many fancy desserts in restaurants have more calories than your entire meal, so keep this in mind before you flag down the waiter to put in an order!

Of course, on special occasions, it’s alright to cheat a little, but overall healthy eating requires lots of resisting temptation around you.

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