Eating at a restaurant is a wonderful way to engage with peers and the culture around you, but if you are trimming down your diet to eat healthier, restaurant food can present difficulties. Restaurants tend to cook with more butter, oil, sugar, and salt–which immediately increases calories no matter the ingredients of the meal–and the portion sizes are larger than most people should eat in one sitting.
That being said, if you know what to look for, you can provide yourself with healthier choices from any restaurant menu. As long as you manage your portions and look for balance in your meals, restaurants can remain a wonderful and healthy experience. For the reduced calorie diet specifically, use the following tips and tricks to keep yourself on track.
- Pick the right restaurant
There are so many amazing restaurants now that offer balanced meals with healthier ingredient sourcing and purposeful preparation. Avoid even having the option of a meal choice that you know doesn’t align with your regimen by choosing a place that offers meals you will feel good about.
- Peek at the menu ahead of arriving
Plan ahead of your visit to the restaurant. Narrow your meal choice down to a few contenders before you arrive at the restaurant so that you aren’t under pressure to choose quickly once seated. Visualize the kind of meal you would cook for yourself at home, and choose a menu item or two that you think you would be able to alter to fit that visualization.
Then when you’re at the restaurant, use the server to ask questions about substitutions or alterations that are possible with your entree contenders, and make your final choice based on which meal you can alter to best fit your dietary needs.
- Don’t drink your calories
Cocktails and soft drinks add an absurd amount of empty calories to your meal. Stick with water and add lemon, lime, or cucumber for flavor. If you’re looking for an alcoholic drink, stick to straight alcohols like rum, whiskey, tequila, vodka, or gin. Try the liquor on ice if straight is too strong, or if you need a mixer opt for seltzer, plain water, or a slice of lemon/lime (avoid juices, sodas, or tonic waters).
- Be picky with appetizers, and don’t show up ravenous
Appetizers can often sneak in additional calories when they are fried, battered, or covered in sauce without warning. Starting off with the right appetizer will set the tone for your entire meal, so choose something that will keep you on the right track. If you show up to the restaurant super hungry, you may be too pressed to eat to make an informed appetizer choice; choose an appetizer like a broth-based soup or leafy greens to tide you over until the meal, and start the night off with a delicious but low-calorie choice.
Look for tasty choices that are heavily vegetables, fruit, nuts, or fish. Things like edamame, grilled shrimp, veggie salads with vinaigrette, veggies and hummus, simple salads, and lettuce wraps are great choices. Say no to bread baskets and unlimited chips.
- Look for keywords
Choose entrees that use terms like “roasted,” “steamed,” “grilled,” or “broiled” in the description. This means the items were cooked with less fat, unlike entrees that may be fried, sauteed, breaded, smothered, or described as “rich,” “creamy,” or “decadent.” Your meal can still taste divine with fresh flavors from herbs and citrus.
- Fill up on vegetables
For any entree, request double or triple vegetables as a side. Ask that they are prepared without salt and steamed, then request kosher salt, black pepper, citrus, or fresh herbs to season them yourself. Eat the lowest calorie portion of your meal first so that you fill up on the best ingredients.
- Replace high calorie sauces or toppings with alternatives
Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to give up flavor — but you do have to be conscious of where your flavors are coming from. Salt, butter, oil, and sugar add calories when used too much for flavor, but if you opt to flavor your meals with lemon, lime, vinegar, ground black pepper, kosher salt, chili powder, or fresh herbs, you’re adding flavor with essentially zero calories.
- Manage portion sizes
When you can, choose more upscale restaurants because they often offer smaller portion sizes. At restaurants with large portions, split your meal with a friend that will enjoy your meal alterations, or box half of the meal to take home with you for your next meal. You can even ask for a box when the meal arrives to immediately put half aside, or order your meal as an appetizer size.
- Don’t add extra salt
Ask your server to make sure your order is prepared without butter, sugar, or salt, and with minimal or no oil. Instead of using table salt to season your meal (it is highly processed and contains a lot of sodium, which causes water retention), request seasonings like lemon, pepper, and kosher salt on the side so that you are able to control the types of seasonings that are added to your meal.
- Put your fork down between bites
Eating too quickly is the easiest way to overeat. To maintain control over how quickly you’re eating, place your fork next to your plate between bites, and occupy your hands after each bite with a sip or two of water before returning to your plate. When you get in this habit of slower eating, you will start to notice you feel happily full after consuming less food than when you eat continuously until you feel full (which often results in feeling like you have a stretched stomach ten minutes after eating).
Eating healthy and reducing your caloric intake does not rule out the ability to eat at a restaurant. If you prepare yourself with the knowledge of what works for your diet, make savvy substitutions and prioritize your health needs in your choices, you can find meals at almost any restaurant that would rival the ones you make for yourself at home. To read more about diets, check out this diet comparison article. Or you can read about specific diets in these keto, gluten free, and organic diet articles.