3 Tips For Eating Healthy At A Restaurant
If you are like most people, it’s not uncommon for you to eat out at a restaurant at least once a week. Eating healthy at a restaurant can be challenging for some however. The prospect of eating out offers people the chance to try great tasting food, associate with friends, and even build business relationships. With a few simple tips, you can help ensure you are consuming less calories while giving your body more of what it needs to be healthy.
Tip 1: Consume a salad before your meal, or as your meal
Many restaurants have the option to get a small salad before your main course. If you can have a salad as your main course that is even better. There are a few reasons it can be beneficial to eat a salad before your main meal or as your meal. First, salads tend to have higher amounts of fiber in them. Fiber generally makes people feel more full and also moves food matter through the body more efficiently. When eaten slowly before you get to your main course, a salad can be used as an easy tool to help you want to eat less due to the additional fiber. Secondly, leafy greens that are found in salads don’t have a great deal of calories left in them after the body expends energy to digest them. The net calorie balance left over after digestion has taken place is simply not that high. Finally, the leafy greens and other vegetables found in salads contain phytonutrients, which offer a host of additional health benefits to the body.
Tip 2: Share your dinner
It is no exaggeration to say that many meals at restaurants exceed the entire daily caloric need for the average individual. It is not uncommon for a meal to have well over 2000 calories in it. When you add in appetizers, you can quickly take that number up to 2500 or even 3000. That means for the average person, everything else they eat for the day will go automatically into fat storage. If you are with a spouse, friend, or someone you feel comfortable with, consider splitting your meal, and therefore taking the caloric intake to half. Your wallet will thank you too!
Tip 3: Pass on dessert
I know I know, but hear me out. Most desserts at restaurants easily exceed 500 calories. At a very high intensity of cardio activity you are looking at a half hour or more just to burn that little innocent piece of cake or ice cream off. This doesn’t even begin to speak of all the negative effects the excess sugar has on your body. Pass on dessert. If all you do is skip on desert every time you go out to eat, it is very likely that you will have taken in tens of thousands of calories less over the course of a year.
It is absolutely possible to eat healthy at a restaurant when you go out. By implementing the tips mentioned here, you can consume less calories, and ensure that the calories you consume are coming from a more healthy source.
Paul Owens is a personal trainer in the Cleveland area. He is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the National Council on Strength and Fitness. He is also a Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He can be reached at http://www.clevelandpersonaltraining.com.
