When dining out – plan and prepare

What if you have a scheduled lunch meeting, or you’re going out to dinner with friends? No worries! You can eat healthy in just about every restaurant you can imagine if you follow the guidelines, combine the right foods, and stop eating when comfortably full, not stuffed.

For example, at lunchtime, you’ll want a lean, complete protein, a natural starchy carb, and a fibrous carb.

If you’re eating at a Mexican restaurant, for example, you could order fajitas with lean meat and lots of veggies (ask them to go very light on the oil), with a side of black beans and brown rice.

Or if you want to do fast food, go to Subway and have a turkey sub with lots of veggies on whole wheat (hold the mayo but go for the mustard). Even burger chains now have excellent chicken salads with a variety of veggies and some apple slices as well.

Every restaurant has at least a couple of good options, if you follow the guidelines and order wisely. Pick a side salad instead of fries, or request that your chicken or fish be grilled instead of fried. Ask that your food be prepared with no oil or butter; request that sauces, condiments, and dressings come on the side. That way, you—not the chef—have complete control over how much you add.

Here are a few more tips to ensure your success when you have plans to dine away from home…

Eat regular frequent meals during the day. Don't starve yourself to compensate for your dinner plans. Do eat fewer calories during the day, if you want, to compensate for a beer or other non-program dish, but make sure that you don't go into the meal starved or you'll likely lose control and make unwise choices.

Also, if you begin feeling hungry before dinner, eat a small healthy snack to hold you over. This will allow you to arrive at the meal pleasantly hungry so you can relax, eat slowly, and enjoy the meal rather than needing to devour everything in sight.

Be sure to order what you really want when eating out. If you only order what you think you should rather than what you really want, you may be satisfied physically but not psychologically and you’ll most likely crave something more and give in to temptation later in the evening. Just remember to make healthy changes to the foods: cut down on the fattening or sugar-packed extras, such as cheese, oil, butter, sour cream, dressings, etc, that are really not needed to enjoy the meal.

The most important point to remember when dining out is that YOU are the paying customer and you can request the way the food is prepared. And unless you say something in advance, your food may be high in fat and sugar, not things you want to be eating for maximum fat loss.

Key points to remember: