Everyone loves to go to restaurants: variety of food, an opportunity to socialize with family or friends and most notably, no dishes to clean-up.
While this all sounds fine, restaurants offer many pitfalls to your overall healthy eating habits.
Here are a few basic menu items to steer away from and some hits to get through the meal.
Worst Restaurant Meals
Buffalo Chicken Salad
- Count: 1,040 calories, 72 grams fat, 3,470 milligrams sodium
- “Salad” is stretching it! Fried meat, oily sauce, and cheese can push the calories in this meal through the roof. The salad also packs nearly 25% more fat.
French Toast and Bacon
- Count: 1,130 calories, 20 grams saturated fat, 1,780 milligrams sodium
- Want to use up a good chunk of your day’s calories before noon? Eat this for breakfast. This dish also has more than an entire day’s worth of saturated fat and sodium.
Chicken Fajitas
- Count: 1,300 calories, 47 grams fat, 4,800 milligrams sodium
- Chicken fajitas can be a healthy option. But they’re often served with heaps of sour cream, shredded cheese, refried beans, and fried rice. Pack it all in, and you’ve got plenty of calories to pad your waistline!
Vegetarian Fried Rice
- Count: 1,090 calories, 19 grams fat, 2,210 milligrams sodium
- Getting Chinese takeout? Don’t assume the veggie options are the healthiest. Vegetarian fried rice can pack an unhealthy wallop. Instead, go for steamed dishes with lots of veggies and brown rice if it’s on the menu. Keep the rice to a half-cup and always ask for sauce on the side.
Pasta in Carbonara Sauce
- Count: 1,570 calories, 113 grams fat, 2,460 milligrams sodium
- Grilled chicken and shrimp can be good choices. But if they’re drenched in carbonara sauce, not so much. A plate of pasta with shrimp and chicken in carbonara can creep up to unhealthy levels. It also has more fat than you’d get from eating a half-dozen glazed doughnuts.
Deep Dish Pizza with Sausage
- Count: 2,300 calories, 164 grams fat, 4,910 milligrams sodium
- Deep dish pizza can be deep trouble. One, “individual” sausage pizza, serves up more calories than most people should eat in a whole day. It also packs double the daily limit of fat. Want to make it better? Skip the sausage and opt for thin crust.
Large Fries
- Count: 1,314 calories, 57 grams fat, 1,327 milligrams sodium
- In a pinch, you might think that just one order of fries — and nothing else — would be OK. Not really. Large fries can have more calories than a whole loaf of white bread, with an extra bonus of unhealthy saturated fat. If you’re craving for fries, just get a small order.
Sliders
- Count: (4 sliders) 1,560 calories, 83 grams fat, 4,520 milligrams sodium
- How bad can those cute little burgers be? If you eat the whole order, pretty bad. A plate of 4 sliders at lunch leaves you just 440 calories to spare for the rest of your day.
Eat Better: Ask How It is Cooked
Preparation makes a big difference. I never have any trouble having the kitchen or the chef prepare something for me with healthier options, rarely do I get no for an answer. Baking fish — with herbs, veggies, and lemon juice — adds very few calories or fat to the dish. Other healthy cooking methods include:
Grilled – Broiled – Toasted – Baked – Poached – Steamed, herbs are also a wonderful way to give foods more taste.
Eat Better: Hide Temptations
Restaurants like to give you a sense that there’s plenty on the table. It starts with an overflowing basket of bread or chips. Here is a perfect time to ask for your salad while others may be devouring the bread or ask for the bread basket to be taken away if you are dining with other who share your goals. Don’t mindlessly devour a few hundred calories before your main meal.
Eat Better: Dessert
Fresh fruit is available at many restaurants now, even fast-food chains, thanks to demand from health-conscious diners. If it’s not listed with the desserts, check the side dishes — or ask for a special order. If you craving the sugar fix ask for some maple syrup or honey to sprinkle over your fruit.
Source: Web MD
For more motivation and information – check out this link:
he Ultimate Guide to Cutting Calories When Eating Out – Hello Healthy Hello Healthy http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-cutting-calories-when-eating-out/