Eating Healthy While Dining Out

If you’re a working Mom like me and are the primary cook in your family, eating out can be a treat. However, it can turn out to be disastrous when you’re trying to eat healthy. There are a few ways you can tackle the “eating out dilemma” less the guilt.

If you’re a healthy eater 95% of the week, you can allow yourself a cheat meal or day (keep in mind that the cheat day must come to an end at the end of the day and cheat meals may not work for everyone). A cheat day does not mean you should over do it, however this can happen when you don’t have nutritional information to guide you. In these types of situations you should avoid dishes with heavy sauces or at least ask for the sauce on the side. This allows you to control your caloric intake by putting the amount of sauce on the food that you want. In addition, order dishes that are broiled, grilled, baked, poached or steamed. Also, keep it plain and simple. Instead of ordering the double decker burger, choose a grilled chicken sandwich with lots of veggies. If your craving a chocolate malt shake that you haven’t had in ages but don’t want the extra calories, ask the Server if you could have your shake made with skim milk. Pizza is one of my favorites and I’m not afraid to have a slice or two but I usually avoid the meat and order a pizza with lots of veggies.

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. It’s a time when you are breaking a fast, hence the name Break-fast. Breakfast can be loaded with calories such as pastries or deluxe French toast. If your looking to reduce calories, go for cold cereal or whole grain pancakes, egg whites or whole wheat toast with preserves. If you take in too many calories, this is probably the best time of day for that to happen because you have the rest of the day to burn off the extra energy. Eating healthy is not a one time deal, it's a lifestyle and I encourage you to look at it from that perspective. Understand that when your making a lifestyle change it means just that. In other words, make changes to your eating habits for the better. This doesn’t mean that you can never have Death by Chocolate again, it just means in moderation, making a healthier version or adjust your caloric intake and increase your level of activity.