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Now-a-days with all the talk
about losing weight, eating too much fat or not enough protein,
many restaurants have began gearing their menus toward a healthier
way of eating. More people are becoming conscious about what
they eat; therefore, finding items on the menus of their favorite
restaurants is no longer difficult. Most restaurants will prepare
foods the way you request without giving you an unwanted response
like, "What, no butter on your potato, it won't taste very
good." Many chefs nowadays have made substitutions in their
cooking to keep the taste in the dishes.
Here is a list of some of your
favorite types of restaurants and what to order, what to avoid
and how to order to stay in your eating plans:
Mexican
Two very popular dishes when
going out for Mexican food are chili rellenos and cheese enchiladas.
These dishes should no longer be on your list if you want to
eat healthy and not blow your eating plan. You would wind up
getting more fat grams in that one meal than you are allowed
all day. The main items to avoid at a Mexican Restaurant are:
cheese, sour cream, avocado, flour tortillas, refried beans and
the fried tortilla chips. If you know where you are going in
advance, you can bring some baked chips along with you or ask
the waitress for some steamed corn tortillas to dip into the
salsa. Most salsa is fine to eat, but avoid the chili con queso
dip as an appetizer (its loaded with fat). Remember, it's not
just the fat by itself you want to avoid, it is the fat with
the carbohydrates. Here is a comparison of good choices vs. bad
choices:
Typical Meal
Chili con queso/chips
Chili Rellenos
Refried Beans
Mexican rice (with lard)
Gold Margarita
Better Choice
Salsa with corn tortillas (steamed)
Chicken Fajitas--use corn tortillas or 1 flour tortilla (if you
can't resist)
Lettuce and tomato
Black beans
Mexican Rice (if no lard is used)
Lite Margarita
Chinese
Beyond the contrary belief, Chinese
food can be very healthy eating if you know how to order. Of
course, just like many other types of food preparations, Chinese
food is prepared with many types of oils. Some favorite Chinese
dishes are battered and fried. Fried rice, egg rolls and Szechwan
dishes with peanuts and almonds are extremely high in fat. The
Chinese use steamed white rice and many vegetables in their dishes,
so take advantage of these items. Here is an example of a popular
meal versus what you should try next time:
Typical Meal
Egg drop soup
Egg roll
Fried rice
Kung Pao chicken
Better Choice
Skip the soup--too high in sodium
Steamed vegetable dumplings
Steamed rice
Steamed Shrimp or chicken with ginger sauce on the side
Steamed vegetables
Italian
Now, this one may be your hardest
meal to avoid the fat and high carbohydrates to keep your intake
in balance. Your foods to avoid at Italian restaurants are cheese,
sausage, high fat ground beef and cream sauces. The famous fettuccine
alfredo is loaded with fat. Remember, just ordering pasta with
marinara sauce (no protein) is a very high carbohydrate meal--usually
80-100 grams in the meal. If you want to keep your carbohydrate
intake low and still get satisfied, order like this:
Typical Meal
Fettuccine Alfredo
Garlic Bread
Salad with heavy oil dressing
Red Wine
Better Choice
Shrimp or scallops with angel
hair pasta--marinara sauce
1 piece of bread (no garlic butter)
Salad - green and tomatoes w/ red wine & vinegar dressing
White wine spritzer
As you can see, out of the three
types of meals you might choose to eat when dining out, you can
still maintain your healthy eating habits and not have to "go
off the plan" every time you go out to dinner. Do no let
dining out be your excuse to over eat!!! Stay in control of you
eating - You only have one body - Take care of it!
Material
© Institute for
Physical & Sports Therapy
Used by Permission.
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