How To Avoid Diet-Wrecking Mistakes While Dining Out

A lot of us make some very common mistakes as soon as dining out is concerned. There are some smart ways to avoid the most common diet-wrecking mistakes when you’re dining out.

1. Don’t forget about veggies

Whether you start with a nice portion of salad before the main course, you still need to order fiber-rich veggies together with the main course. They will make you feel full and help you have better control with your main dish.

2. Don’t drink your calories

Do you know that alcohol is very high in calories because of the great content of sugar and has little nutritional value? However, just one drink won’t kill your diet; on the contrary, it is recommended to drink a glass of red, white or champagne wine. More than one drink will fill you with more calories than planned so make sure that the drinks have low content of sugar or no sugar added.

3. Don’t overdress your salad

Do you like eating salad in a restaurant? How about tossed veggies and salads with bacon or bacon drippings? This will prevent you from controlling your calorie count. What you should do is ask for plain veggies. Keep in mind that mushrooms absorb more fat than root vegetables such as potatoes. You just need a little olive oil and some apple or balsamic vinegar.

4. Don’t trust the chef

If you care about calories, you shouldn’t trust the chef. In most cases chefs use only high-cal, flavor adding ingredients such as butter and fatty creams to improve the taste of the food. But, they also add extra calories to your meal. Don’t trust the menu either but simply ask for a meal without butter and cream.

5. Read between the lines

The menu contains lots of code words for calories such as fried, crunchy, crispy, breaded and more. If you don’t want to add extra calories, you’d better choose food that is boiled, steamed, grilled, roasted, poached, broiled or pan-seared. You should be careful with cream-based soups because they are rich in fat, calories, protein and other nutritive components. Add some tomato sauce or vinegar to beat calories.

6. Don’t skip dessert

After a nicely balanced diner you deserve a few bites of some special dessert. It’s better to eat three or four bites of your favorite dessert than eat a high-cal candy later. Banana and chocolate chips with some

cinnamon won’t do any harm to your health or ruin your diet plan. You can even eat a few bites of your favorite chocolate cake.

7. Stop worrying

The idea of dinning out and the joy isn’t about the food and calories but it is about being with those who love you and who you care for, too. Just stop freaking out counting how much calories have you already taken and try enjoying the dinner without feeling guilty. Choose the restaurant you trust and the menu that has already been checked out. Life is too short to spend it on counting calories. Just relax and have a great time.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/nutrition/restaurant-health-mistakes