Lessons on Eating Out

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Enjoy dining out with loved ones and friends, but spend more time choosing your food. Hasty decisions, especially those made when your stomach is growling, are often bad ones.

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Most people find it relatively easy to eat right at home, but they quickly fall into old habits when it's time to eat out. However, most restaurants now have menu items or entire menus that cater to health-conscious diners. For those restaurants that haven't caught up with the times, you shouldn't feel guilty about making special requests. Here are some tips to help you when dining out:

- Entrees covered with sauces, as well as creamy dressing, thick soups and casseroles should be avoided because they are usually rich in fat.

- Avoid fried foods. Choose baked, broiled, boiled, roasted, steamed and grilled.

- Club soda, herbal tea, and decaffeinated coffee are good choices of beverages at a meal, as is a glass of ice water with a wedge of lemon or lime.

- Sourdough, whole-wheat, rye and French breads are lower in saturated fats than biscuits, white bread, and dinner roles.

- Salads are available almost everywhere. Order salads with reduced-calorie salad dressing.

- Ask to have sauces and gravies omitted, or "on the side".

- Look for items labeled "heart-healthy" on the menu

- Don’t be afraid to ask how a dish is prepared.

- Substitute low-fat choices (steamed vegetables for creamed sauces, baked potatoes for french fries, etc.).

- Avoid items described with terms like battered, creamed, au gratin, scalloped, breaded. Good terms include au jus, poached, steamed, baked, etc.

- Pizza: choose thin-crust, avoid meat toppings and get small amounts of cheese (if you pat the top of a pizza with a napkin, this will soak up a lot of extra fat).

- Pastas: good choices if accompanied by red marinara sauce or simple vegetables. Avoid cream sauces.

- Sandwiches: choose lean and not processed meat, get extra lettuce and tomato, and hold the mayo.

- Order the fresh fruit for dessert. If you HAVE to have that chocolate decadence (or whatever your hot button is), split it with a companion, and make sure you cut down somewhere else. Okay, I’m feeling sorry for you. Sometimes you simply cannot resist temptation . . . eat the whole thing, but feel very guilty (and make sure you cut down somewhere else).
© HeartPoint

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Eating out is a major part of my social DNA. My favorite first date is a nice dinner and great conversation. When my girlfriends from college are in town, I like to take them to my favorite restaurant. After a bad day, I swing by my local fav for a quick bite. After a good day, I swing by my fav for a quick bite. You get the picture.

If you're like me, and you can't see yourself limiting your out-of-home dining experiences, you don't have to feel bad. Don't make your social life suffer just because you're living a healthy lifestyle. Just make the decision that you're going to make smart choices and bring home a lot of doggie bags!

The Truth About Dinner

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OK, let's be real. The truth about dinner is that nobody has time to cook a healthy meal from scratch every night. The truth about dinner is that our busy lifestyles require us to eat out for a variety of reasons - business travel, soccer games, night out with the hubby, etc.

Eating at our favorite restaurants is simply a fact of life, but that doesn't mean that you have to completely blow your healthy meal plan every time you go out to eat. Make MORE responsible choices from the menu, and you'll still be on your way to a svelte waistline and happy heart.

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When faced with an array of meal choices, do you have a hard time deciding what to choose? Well, if you're like most of us, you don't want to sacrifice taste for health, so Women's Health magazine has come to the rescue.

They've sent taste testers, who happened to be registered dieticians, out to some of the most popular restaurants. After sampling and testing the foods in a lab, they developed a list of healthy eating recommendations for casual dining chains such as:

Applebee's
Bennigan's
The Cheesecake Factory
Chili's Grill & Bar
Olive Garden
Outback Steakhouse
Red Lobster
Ruby Tuesday
T.G.I. Friday's
Uno Chicago Grill

Next time you head out the door to grab a bite to eat, log on and see what tasty, guilt-free things you can enjoy.

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As someone who loves to eat and has traveled often for work, I've had the pleasure of dining at each and every one of these restaurants. I was thrilled to know that some of my favorite choices were validated as being healthy by the Women's Health team, but I was also a little surprised by some of the choices that I had totally overlooked.

Lesson learned: Don't assume that you know what's in the food you're eating. Restaurants are great at sneaking in butter and oil in places where you would least expect them.

About Cafe Physique:
The mission of Café Physique is to help clients reach and exceed their personal fitness and nutrition goals. If you’re in need of an a nutritionist in Atlanta or an Atlanta personal trainer – Café Physique is the perfect solution. We offer Atlanta yoga instruction, Atlanta prenatal workouts, and Atlanta personal training. We also have private sessions of pilates that Atlanta residents are raving about. We invite you to let a member of our Atlanta registered dietitian staff or personal training team develop and implement a realistic and healthy lifestyle plan to meet your personal goals.