Its easy to make healthy choices even when you are eating out
I’ve received many questions from my users on how to get slim when they are eating out. Eating out doesn’t mean you are at the complete mercy of what the restaurant serves you. You are still able to make healthy choices. Choices that don’t sabotage your fat loss goals. If you are someone who eats out all the time and are struggling to lose weight. This post is for you.
Ever since women moved out of the kitchens and men moved off the farms, many people have developed the abomination of poor eating habits. Corporate workers like you and me are more concerned with a different place to eat each day than they are the quality or nutritional content of the food. It is nothing to be ashamed of; it’s a common way of thinking in the hectic workday hustle and bustle.
No one learns how to reduce tummy fat until they change priorities enough to find the quickest way to lose weight. If your primary reason for living is to eat, then you will probably place a higher priority for eating over exercising to reduce tummy. This may be hard to accept, but it is true.
Even for the person who loves to eat, putting some effort to eat healthy and consume lower calorie foods will help in weight loss. We all must eat. Tests have shown that starvation is not the quickest way to lose weight because our bodies are able to adapt to the reduced calorie intake and this eventually leads to periods of binge eating when the fast is over.
- Begin every meal with garden salad (olive oil dressing) or a bowl of clear soup. This really helps to curb binge eating at the earlier part of the meal.
- Ensure that your main course is protein and not carbohydrate dominant. (i.e: no pastas, fried rice or au gratin dishes). I once saw a couple finish off a sharing a big plate of fried rice and each already has their own bowl of white rice to accompany some meat dishes. They washed down that high carbohydrate meal with beer – another high carbohydrate beverage. Do not do this, ever!
- Avoid dishes that are labelled “fried, crispy, au gratin, pan-fried, sautéed, buttered, creamed or stuffed. These are foods high in fat and calories. Instead, choose dishes that are steamed, boiled, baked, grilled, poached or roasted.
- For beverage, choose water with a slice of lemon. If you have to drink, opt for a glass of red wine instead of beer.
- Avoid the temptation to gorge yourself with the free flow of bread or chips. If it is ok with your dining partner(s), return the bread
- If your meal comes with either whipped potato, baked potatoes, fries or white rice, request for it to be replaced with boiled vegetables or salad instead. Restaurants will usually accomodate.
- Unless it is your cheat day* – where you can eat anything you wish at reasonable amounts – you should choose healthy desserts. Yes there are such things as healthy desserts but they are hard to come by so make sure you take extra caution on this. Otherwise, all that restraint you’ve exercised during the earlier part of the meal will be wasted if you end off the meal with a creme brulee. Opt for a mixed fruit platter or low fat yogurt. If everything on the dessert menu is either apple pie, cakes or ice cream, then just ask for a coffee/tea. Its better that way, trust me. If you succumb to temtation, you will regret it more after eating those sinful dessert.
Personally, I try to opt for Japanese cuisine when eating out. Its not hard to figure out why Japanese food is the healthier choice among all others considering Japan has the lowest obesity rate in the world.
Daniel Ho is a Certified Sports Nutritionist (USSA), Certified Personal Trainer (ACE) and fitness enthusiast with over 10 years of training experience. At the time of writing, Daniel is working as a Product Manager for a large Multi-National Corporation. Having worked in the
corporate environment for over seven years with a
typical nine to five (sometimes longer) schedule, he
understands the struggle that most people have in
order to stay fit and healthy...
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