Dining Out Tips

This coming week in the Beck Diet Solution we talk about dining out. I wanted to share a few helpful tips to assist you in planning what and how to order.

The first is the site Healthy Dining Finder. Enter your zipcode to find restaurants near you, or enter the name of a restaurant where you know you'll be going. Most chain restaurants are included. Let's take Chili's for an example; they have 8 entrees listed for less than 750 calories. The website will show you how to order your food (for example, hold the tortilla strips in this soup), what to substitute (ask for plain broccoli instead of rice) and how to account for things like added salad dressings. It's difficult to know what's in a restaurant menu item; for all you know, the chef can be melting butter over your steak and you wouldn't know unless someone gave you those details. So this site is priceless when it comes to deciphering which items are the lowest in calories.

Second, I want to remind you that people are not watching you as often as you think they are. Some of my clients have confided to me they are embarrassed to ask for alterations in the standard service, like having salad dressing put on the side, or holding the sour cream that comes with the baked potato. Trust me: Wait staff are very used to special requests! Serving your dressing on the side is not complicated. (Sending the server back to the chef with multiple questions about ingredients is).
And other diners are actually so involved in what they are anticipating to eat, they won't be paying attention to how you are ordering your meal. Think about the last time you ate out--do you remember what others in your party ordered? If they requested anything special? If they ate all their food?

I remember an occasion dining out with a large party when one of the ladies asked the waiter to bring her a take-out container along with her meal. Upon receiving her entree she immediately put half of it into the container and set it off to the side. I covertly asked her about it: "I'm a dietitian and some of my clients tell me they feel awkward asking the waiter for something outside the norm like you did. Did you ever feel self-conscious about it?" She confidently answered, "If someone else has a problem with it, then it's their problem--I am not about to let something like that interfere with my weight-loss success. I've lost 45 pounds this way and I won't let thoughts like that stand in my way!" Good for her! What about you??

Third, I want to share a helpful tip from a client I'll call Lisa. She has many helpful strategies to keep her eating in check. Hers for dining out is to choose ONE additional 'dispensable item' with the meal: Wine OR bread OR dessert. Planning for an extra 200 calories is fine once in a while; getting out of control because eating out is considered a "special occasion" is not. Having the extras that come with a restaurant meal can ruin all the effort you've made for the entire week.
So plan carefully, and follow through with your plan. Then, remember to give yourself credit for a job well done!