How to Eat Out, Not Pig Out

“It’s hard to eat healthy because I go out a lot with friends and for work.”
“I start and restart over and over because I have to eat out a lot.”
“When I go out I can’t find any good food there.”
Does this sound like you? Are you nodding your head in total agreement and always looking for that perfect month where life does not get in the way? I completely understand that it’s easiest to live healthy when you are cooking at home. However, these excuses might demonstrate that you view your healthy eating regime as a temporary prison or a program that starts and will ultimately end. The key to permanent change is to throw away the diet paradigm, and finally realize that healthy is a lifestyle. There is no a perfect slice of time that ‘healthy’ fits into without disruption. Eating is part of every day and learning how to eat out while not pigging out is a skill you can master. Follow these seven tips to dining healthy even when you are eating out.
#1! Preview the menu ahead of time.
Whenever possible, okay 90% of the time, plan your meal by looking up a restaurant’s menu before you go so you can be creative. Menu browsing at home also saves a lot of time once you are there, so that when your dinner group is ready to order, so are you. Plus, when you preplan you will look forward to the dinner rather than struggling to make it work.
#2. Every menu is a mix and match game.
Mentally deconstruct entrees to see what components can be made into the perfect dinner entrée for you – healthy, vegetarian, or fully plant-based. Don’t forget to browse the appetizers to see how one combined with something else, from an entrée or another side, might create your perfect dinner. Be sure to also let your waiter know that this is your dinner so it arrives at the right time and on the right plate!
#3. Bulk up your meal.
This is not the time to eat only one thing as if you are dieting, leaving you with a feeling of deprivation and pondering the bread basket. Plan to have both a large leafy salad and a dinner plate. A lot of good food that is mostly plants leaves little room for the other less favorable food.
#4. Dress and sauce it yourself, frugally.
Ask for your salad dressing and any other sauces on the side. Restaurants tend to make salads so wet that you barely recognize the vegetables and your intentions can be lost. Dressings and sauces are about adding a layer of flavor not drowning out the original flavors of foods. Get yours separately and use sparingly.
#5.Dodge the bread bullet.
Suggest to your companions to order salads/appetizers right away - when you order drinks - and delay the break basket so everything arrives together. That way your salad will keep you busy with the good stuff and even your friends might skip the bread.
#6.Be GLAD to be there.
The more charming and happy you are, the more agreeable and helpful the waiter will be. On this item, I like to go last when ordering so that the waiter is feeling relaxed, not thinking of the other people any longer, and is wholly focused on my order.
#7.Reframe your mental state.
Re-associate going out with good clean food and great company, rather than forbidden indulgences, feeling stuffed, and post-dinner guilt. When you come away from your first success, you will soon see that every restaurant is manageable and even enjoyable – some more than others – but you will see the possibilities. Be glad that you are becoming a food warrior rather than a prisoner.