DINING OUT: These days, you don’t need a special occasion to have someone serve you, wait on you, prepare food for you and clean up after you. Close to 50 percent of all food spending in the U.S. is at at restaurants, fast food joints, or food away from home. With food available at every corner, cooking has declined in both value and necessity. Clean-up, dirty dishes and burdensome meal planning are among the most common reasons as to why many people don't make the time to eat home- cooked meals. Throw busy lifestyles and squeezing in time for the gym, and you have a list of excuses as to why you can’t find time to properly fuel your active lifestyle. Despite its convenience, eating out comes with many dangers. Bigger portion sizes, increased calories, sodium and fat can make frequent eating out a problem area for athletes seeking to maximize their daily nutrition,and stay lean. If an occasional habit has turned into daily occurrence, try the following tips to help keep you on track. But, before spending all your energy on how to eat better outside the home, here's my top tip: Consider committing to eating a home-cooked, balanced meal for five to six of your meals per week. This will help you feel better equipped to dine more healthfully outside the home, without feeling guilty, or packing on body fat. Practical tips for healthy eating outside the home: → Plan, plan, plan. Organize your day so that your out-of-the-home meal compliments previous at-home (or office) eating. For example, if you're planning on dining at a pasta joint with friends after work, and know it will be hard to resist dessert, consider a protein-rich breakfast with fruit, a salad with a serving of whole grains and plant-based protein for lunch, and a small veggie snack with yogurt around an hour before dinner. Look at online menus before you get to the restaurant so you're prepared and decide on your meal while you're in a healthy mindset and less susceptible to temptation or social eating. →Don't save up. Banking all of your daily calories for a special meal out will put you at risk for overeating and indulging. Modify a snack or two to save 200 to 400 calories, but avoid going into the meal starving. →Rare indulgences. If eating out is an occasional treat, enjoy it! It’s not about what you eat occasionally that affects your health, but rather what you eat on a daily basis. Be inspired, try something new, or indulge in a feel-good way. Consider a day and time for eating out when you can truly be in the moment and enjoy the full experience. →Eat mindfully. Pay attention to what you are choosing and try to savor each bite to prevent overeating. Eat in a way that allows you to feel better after you eat than before. Order something that you can eat occasionally because you love it and pass on foods you feel neutrally about. →Burn as you go. Rather than eating dinner out and then having dessert immediately after, consider driving elsewhere for a special treat. If roads are safe and weather is nice, park a mile away and enjoy a 15 minute walk to and from a local bakery or ice cream shop and enjoy a treat while walking. →Beware of "healthy." Each restaurant has their own definition of healthy and some may contain things like hidden sodium. Vegetarian meals can be loaded with cheese and butter and well over 1,500 calories. Keep in mind that as athletes, we need meals, not plates full of lettuce. Spending $15 on greens for a "meal" will not leave you fueled, nourished and satisfied. Use your skills from your daily at-home eating routine to better understand how to choose or create a meal outside the home that. →Be bold. Order first so that others around you will feel inspired by your choices. Special requests such as asking for dressing on the side, doubling the veggies, asking how the protein is cooked, or requesting no salt can make a huge difference to how you feel during and after eating. →Be creative. If possible, order from the lunch menu at dinner for a smaller portion, or combine appetizers or sides for a meal, splitting an entrée or ordering one dessert for a group.
The goal with eating out should be enjoyment, and perhaps getting inspired to try new recipes at home. As you apply these tips to dining out, always remember to leave the restaurant feeling better than when you arrived and motivated to get back to your normal healthy living routine. Shake off your Winter kilos & Feel Fabulous Today!
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