Restaurants

To continue the thoughts on eating healthy I should mention restaurants.  How do you stay on track while still being able to go out for dinner?  Look up the nutritional information of the place you are going, it’s that easy.  This task is made even easier if you have a smart or super phone.

Any time we go out to dinner with the exception of local restaurants, I look up the place we are going before hand.  I now have a whole list of restaurants nutritional guides saved on my phone and I decide what I am going to eat before I get there.  It’s easy to get caught up when you are at a restaurant and see the menu and see so many things that look so great to eat and want to go crazy and get it all, but if I have decided ahead of time it’s easier for me to stick to my guns on what I am are ordering.  Even if I think something might be lower calorie it’s best to check because the portions at restaurants are usually so ridiculously big that it’ll throw judgement off.

If it’s a local place that I can’t look up the guide I just simply use my head about what I get.  Is it fried? what is my protein going to be (chicken, pork, beef, lamb) if I’m are having a lower calorie protein like chicken, I might be able to share an appetizer, if there is one that’s not fried.  I avoid a Cesar salad if I can and get a garden salad no matter what place you are at.

What’s even better is to know I’m are going out on a night and plan accordingly during the day, have a slightly smaller breakfast and avoid some snacks to save up a few extra calories that I can have at dinner out.

Generally I avoid or at least share my dessert.  They are yummy I know, but even now I’ll never tackle a restaurant dessert on my own, it’s just too much.  Most desserts are as many calories as the whole meal I’ve just eaten!  And they are all ‘empty calories’.  We’ll walk to a different place for a treat or have a dessert ready at home and have that.  It will gives my stomach a chance to recover from the dinner I’ve just had, and a walk will help with the digestion.

Eating healthy doesn’t all have to be home cooking, or flavourless or bland, it can be exciting, it can include meals out, it can include your most wanted and favourite things.  I made it happen by doing my homework ahead of time, making good restaurant and food choices and being sure to put in the work to make the food reasonable.