15 Aug How To Eat Healthy When You Go Out To Eat
Going out to eat is more popular than ever. It’s a great opportunity to hang with friend and family, enjoy a delicious meal and have a blast. Sometimes the goal is to purposely have some unique dish that’s super awesome. Once or twice a week that’s totally cool. But for the other times, we have to have a plan to know how to eat healthy when you go out to eat.
Let’s start with the key points to remember:
1) Eat lean meats or fish. You have to start with sufficient lean meat or fish. This could be steak, chicken, turkey, salmon, cod, or some other meat or fish. If you’re at a sports bar and none of these are options, you can always get a burger with no bun. The protein will help your body rebuild itself and trigger the hormones that end cravings.
2) Veggies for a side. Swap fries, potatoes, and other sides for veggies. When getting salads, get the dressing on the side and run your fork through it before going in for a bite. Veggies will make you feel full, give you variety and essential nutrients.
3) Minimize or avoid the sauces. The sugar and fat content creep up fast here. This is usually what makes dishes amazing, but it comes with a price. By minimizing or avoiding sauces we prevent a ton of extra calories that can turn a healthy dish upside down.
4) Add healthy carbs if its part of your plan. At Faster Fitness we customize a meal plan for you that adds different amounts of carbs (and other macros) based on your goals. So for example, if someone is trying to lose body fat, we recommend that they eat less carbs and calories than someone who’s trying to maintain their weight or improve their performance. Examples of healthy carbs would be beans, oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, corn, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, etc. With everything, the portion sizes and the “hidden” ingredients are important to be aware of.
Below is over 10 examples of how to eat healthy when you go out to eat
Note: Men would add about 50% more of the following food.
Chipotle
Get lean: Bowl with lettuce, meat, pico, fajitas and salsa
Stay lean: Bowl with lettuce, meat, pico, fajitas, salsa and then add either corn, beans or a small portion of brown rice or get corn tortillas on the side
McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A, Panera Bread, Subway
Get lean: Chicken or Turkey Salad
Stay lean: Chicken or Turkey Salad
Nice Restaurant
Get lean: Steak or chicken with a vegetable or salad as a side dish
Stay lean: Steak or chicken with a vegetable or salad as a side dish. Add a sweet potato or other carb source
Sports Bar
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”]
My favorite sports bar: Ballpark Village in downtown St. Louis
Get lean: Burger with no bun, veggies as a side ideally.
Stay lean: Burger with no bun, veggies as a side. There is rarely a healthy carb option at sports bars.
Italian
Tip: Tell the waiter you’re not interested in the bread at the table.
Get Lean: Chicken dish with little sauces (ask the waiter), swap any pasta for a salad.
Stay lean: Chicken dish with little sauces (ask the waiter), swap any pasta for a salad. Could add a small serving of pasta and red sauce on the side.
Mexican
Tip: Tell the waiter your not interested in the chips at the table.
Get lean: Fajitas with chicken or meat/fish.
Stay lean: Fajitas with chicken or meat/fish, add corn tortillas.
Chinese
Get lean: Grilled chicken (watch breading and sauces) and steamed veggies
Stay lean: Grilled chicken (watch breading and sauces), steamed veggies and some brown rice on the side
Bar-B-Que
Get lean: Lean met such as chicken, turkey, etc and veggies. Green beans on the side.
Stay lean: Lean met such as chicken ,turkey, etc and veggies. Green beans on the side. If you add sauce, that’s probably enough carbs right there. Corn or other dishes could be health carbs that could be added.
Recap
For most people, I would start with these simple recommendations.
As you visit different restaurants this should serve as a blueprint of how to eat healthy when you go out to eat. When you’re at this stage, start getting a rough estimate of how much carbs, protein and fat are at different meals and it will be easy to see if it fits you plan or not.
For more tips like this, check out the nutrition section of our blog by clicking here.
To learn more about how Faster Fitness can help you with your nutrition and fitness, click “request more information” below.
Thanks for reading![/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
