We all love eating out. Whether we are with friends or family, exploring new and yummy dishes are our favorite thing to do.
But we all know how dining out and eating junk could have a negative effect on our health.
Dining out with friends or family often means cheating on your diet. Doing it rarely is fine, but if you are habitual of regularly munching on street food and all, you are possibly inviting a bundle of trouble.
From premature aging to getting pigmentation, most of the skin problems reflect poor eating habits.
So, it is important to order healthy food to keep yourself fit and fine.
Here are seven tips to eat healthy next time you find yourself in entrées:
Order from the “Healthy, Light, Low Fat” Entrées
Locate some healthy entrées nearby you on the map and voila! You have surpassed your first step to eating healthy. Restaurants often list the nutritional and fat content below their dishes on the menu. Read them carefully, and maybe they have some extra healthy food for the diet conscious people. Plus, even before you order your healthy food, as the manager about it, ask them how exactly do they make it. Doing so will give you insights into what you are ordering.
Ask for Sauces or Dressings on the Side
More than often, the food preparers put the extra dressing on the food which automatically makes it unhealthy. Even if you’ve ordered a salad, convey the manager beforehand that you’d like your dressings and sauces on the side, not on your or inside your food.
Beware of the Low-Carb Options
As people have begun to become aware of healthy eating, restaurants have also started serving low carb options. Before you order anything, ask the manager about their low carb options, as they might come up with something for you. If they do not serve low carb food, then you can maybe even ask them to customize it for you.
Try Double Appetizers
Appetizers are always healthy, and the best when it comes to eating less and healthy. Eat your food slowly, and steadily while taking big sips of your appetizers. You’ll feel full even before you finish your meal; a small trick that will go a long way!
Say no to the Pre-Dinner Bread Basket
Unfortunately, the fattest, and junk comes in the pre-dinner bread basket. Make it a point to skip it. Bread is a well-known food that brings in a lot of fat which you do not need. Just order your one healthy meal with appetizers, and you are good to go.
Watch the Add-Ons to Vegetable Salads
As healthy as vegetable salads sound, the food preparers often infuse huge amounts of oil and dressings and other fatty things while preparing the salad turning it into something unhealthy to eat. Always convey beforehand that you don’t want dressings or excessive oil in your salad. Ask them to infuse more and more green superfoods to make it healthier.
Green superfoods are essential for the functioning of our body, and you don’t want to skip that. So yes, always watch the add-on, and convey as much as you can.
Choose coffee over desserts.
You don’t want to eat that double sundae garnished with extra caramel sauce, strawberry sauce, and a brownie next to it dipped in chocolate sauce. Doing that will ruin all your next five healthy meals. Rather find an easy or healthy option for the dessert part. For example, you could grab a mild coffee or a little square of dark chocolate. For God’s sake, don’t indulge in something extreme that you might regret later.
Some extra tips:
- Ask to double or triple your veggies whenever you order something because more than often, veggies are there just as a garnish.
- You can also split the meal between you, and your eating partner so that either of you eats less.
- Always read the menu carefully, and then decide upon your healthy meal.
- Say NO to fancy drinks. Instead, order fresh fruit, or vegetable juices.
- Go for something baked. Baked vegetables garnished with spices are not only healthy but tasty.
- Another amazing tip is to go out to eat fully dressed, not in your pajamas, somehow that has a psychological impact on us, and we automatically eat less.
Ordering something healthy could be a hassle sometimes, but with the opening up of various healthy chains, it has become easier. It is not obvious that going to the restaurant means eating unhealthy food.
One can always order something healthy and feel satisfied with that. Neglecting one’s health, and the wellness could deteriorate the health which can lead to other ailments. Cut down on your junk, always. For example, you can order raw veggies to munch on rather than the pre-dinner bread basket.
Little things make a lot of difference while dining out. As you know, health is wealth, so start having a green and healthy lifestyle.
