Healthy Cooking Columns

Eating Out

Going out to eat is so easy these days, and it’s so much a part of our lives that most of us don’t think much about it. This is, however, key to to eating healthy. Because you’re not in control of how the food is made and what goes in it, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re eating. For a lot of folks this is where so many extra calories come from.

Here are ten pretty simple rules that can help you make it easier to eat well, eat healthy and enjoy life.

No. 1 – Go out to eat, but when you go out, enjoy it.
Don’t just eat out because there’s no time to cook. Eating great food takes a bit of advance planning and being “trapped” into not cooking for yourself is the easiest way to end up eating food that’s not so great tasting and not great for you.

When you do go, pick a restaurant before you go that you know will have great food.

No 2. – Stop going out so much.
Eating out is so easy now. However, the key to being healthy is to begin making your own food and cooking from fresh ingredients.

This takes a little planning but there’s so many great resources available. While there’s plenty of recipes on the Web site there are also hundreds of thousands of great healthy meals to be found on the Internet and most of them take less than 30 minutes to cook.

That’s less time than it takes to drive to most restaurants or even order in a calorie-dense but nutritionally empty pizza that tastes like the cardboard box it was delivered in.

No. 3 – Don’t eat fast food.
Just don’t. Just stop going to McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s and any place like them. If the restaurant you go to doesn’t make food fresh, don’t go there.

In spite of what McDonald’s would have you think, they and the fast food chains like them are responsible for the obesity epidemic. There’s not much of anything on their menus that’s very good for you. Most everything that is available is pre-made in a factory somewhere and not a lot different than what you find in a frozen TV dinner.

The research is clear that it’s just as cheap now to make your own food. Not only is the meal less expensive, there’s great evidence that you’ll pay less in doctor’s bills later.

No. 4 – If you do have to eat fast food, check out the lists on the Web site first.
There’s a lot of info that will help you make better choice. These files can be downloaded as PDF documents so you can print them out and take them with you to the restaurant.

No. 5 – Don’t go out to eat without a plan.
This is not much different from how to eat better in general. One of the easiest places to get tripped up is not thinking about where or what we’re going to eat. If you have a plan, then it’s more likely that you won’t be needing to go out anyway.

No. 6 – If the menu says a dish is “fried,” don’t order it.
This a simple rule and one that you should live by for all of your healthy eating. There’s rarely any fried food that’s all that great tasting except for the occasional fried chicken. That said, you should never order fried chicken that’s not fantastic. If it’s not chicken that makes you come close to crying because it’s so good, don’t eat it.

No. 7 – Order something different.
Look at the whole menu. Choose something new. Have something that you’ve never had before (follow Rule No. 6, Rule No. 8 and Rule No. 9). The best way to experience new food is to let someone else cook for you.

No. 8 – Sauce on the side.
This is true for main dishes, but it’s especially true for salad dressings. A lot of salad dressings are really high in calories and if you have only a couple of tablespoons, instead of 1/3 cup of dressing, you’ll save as much as 150 calories on your otherwise healthy salad.

No. 9 – Order seafood.
This is an easy one because a lot of people don’t like to cook fish. People often are not confident in how to cook seafood and getting your seafood when you eat out is a great idea. By having fish you’re having what is likely the healthiest thing on the menu. At the same time you’ll find which fish you really love, and from there it’s easy to find a recipe you’ll love on the Web site or among the thousands of other sites on the internet.

Eat healthy fish in a restaurant, cook it at home, easy.

No. 10 – Eat half.
For those of you who are working on losing some weight or if you encounter a dish that’s huge, simply eat half. There’s a lot of advantage in this. Not only do you get a great dinner you’ll get a great lunch or dinner the next day.

Asking the waiter or waitress for a take home box when your meal arrives. Divvy it up and put the take home half away. Clean your plate and you’re good to go.