Are you eating out or ordering in? These tips can help you make healthy choices.

If you’re at all like me, after cooking and eating at home during COVID-19 night after night, ordering in takeout or dining out on occasion (eating outside and maintaining social distancing) is a welcome change. Cooking at home is better both for your wallet and your waistline. Indeed, home-cooked meals tend to be healthier and lower in calories, sodium, sugar and fat than restaurant meals. Restaurant portions are ginormous and we often feel that we need to eat the whole thing, especially since we are paying for it. With that said, you can eat restaurant food (whether you choose to order it in or go out to eat while adhering to COVID-19 regulations) and make healthy choices without gaining weight.

And, with these tips below, you can be healthy and even lose a few pounds while eating restaurant meals.

 

✅Choose wisely✅

Do eat as many nonstarchy veggies as you want.

Order a salad or veggie-based soup to start.

Choose olive oil based dressings over creamy varieties.

Order dishes steamed, grilled, broiled, or baked.

Order brown rice instead of white.

Opt for grilled fish or chicken.

Go meatless. Enjoy legumes!

At Italian restaurants, choose red sauce or marinara for pasta.

Order appetizer portions or share a main dish entrée.

Order primavera.

Choose turkey and chicken as a sandwich filling over deli meats.

Choose whole grain, sprouted grain, or rye bread instead of white.

Drink 6-8 glasses of water or seltzer daily.

Order a baked potato or sweet potato instead of fries.

Order fresh fruit such as mixed berries for dessert.

Order coffee beverages with low-fat or nonfat milk.

Remember that fiber is filling.

Enjoy your company and eat slowly.

Enjoy no more than one drink with a meal.

 

✅Know your limits✅

Don’t go a restaurant hungry.

Avoid cream sauces for pasta.

Stay away from extra cheese.

Limit the red meat.

Beware the fried dishes: fried chicken, egg rolls, tortilla chips, and so on.

Don’t count French fries as a vegetable.

Limit white bread and don’t devour the bread basket.

Go easy on the sauces.

Limit salad dressings, croutons, butter, and mayonnaise.

Skip the soda and sweetened beverages.

Don’t drink alcohol on an empty stomach.

 

Enjoy and stay safe!