Wine Country CrossFit

There’s a reason why fitness coaches, health buffs and gym freaks are so ubiquitous on different social media platforms nowadays. That’s because we’re living in a generation where the food industry is at an all-time high.

While a newly-erected restaurant might give some foodies absolute elation, other foodie health nuts might struggle with eating out.

Although it’s nice to splurge on dining out sometimes, that doesn’t mean you’ll have to splurge on the calories too. Here are the top 6 healthy dining-out tips to keep your tummy and your body mass index happy.

1.  Check Restaurant Reviews First

Since we’re drowning with information in this digital age, use that to your advantage. Check restaurant reviews first. Then you can visit their website and scrutinize where they source their ingredients. An organically-grown ingredient is always a better choice because it means it’s free of chemicals, additives, antibiotics, and pesticides. You can also check the restaurant’s menu online and breeze through the ingredients on each dish.

Also, when picking out your dish, try to ask how the food is cooked. Opting for “grilled” food rather than “fried” food is always a healthier choice because it means it has less fat.

2.  Curb Your Appetite Before Dining Out

Don’t enter a restaurant when you’re starving. This will lead to poor food choices and unmindful eating. If you’re famished, you could care less if the food is healthy or not. To fend off hunger pangs, eat a light snack before arriving at the restaurant. A handful of peanuts, a piece of banana or a low-calorie yogurt will usually leave you feeling full for a couple of minutes. Better yet, you can order soup or a simple salad instead of going straight for the main course.

3.  Ask to Separate Dressings and Sauces

Speaking of salads, try to ask the servers to put the dressings on the side. The same goes for your main courses. Salad dressings will make up most of the calories on an entire salad dish, especially if you’re not smart about the choices. The simpler the dressing, the better. Here are some examples of healthy salad dressings and their corresponding calories per tablespoon:

•    Greek yogurt ranch – 12 calories

•    Chile lime vinaigrette – 40 calories

•    Lemon dressing – 63 calories

•    Balsamic vinaigrette – 14 calories

•    Sesame ginger dressing – 18 calories

4.  Swap Unhealthy for Healthy Side Dishes

While munching on those french fries might be a delight, try asking the server to swap them for a healthier side dish like green beans, mushrooms, and garlic, broccoli, peas, corn, or bok choy. Anything green is undoubtedly better than a handful of high-calorie fries. A 100-gram serving of fries contains 321 calories. Can you imagine already consuming over 300 calories for the side dish alone?

The same also goes for your beverage choices. Instead of opting for those orange and lemon juices, why not keep it simple and go for water? That way, you know you’re saving the extra calories for the main course.

5.  Practice Mindful Eating

The brain approximately takes around 20 minutes to recognize if it’s full. Mindful eating is taking your time while you eat and enjoying each flavor. That means to chew your food properly and slowly. This habit also allows you to determine if it’s real physical hunger or not.

6.  Skip All-You-Can-Eat Buffets

By all means, don’t be reeled into tempting all-you-can-eat buffets. You can consume sky-high calories in one sitting, and you won’t even realize it until the guilt slowly kicks in after you’ve devoured everything.

Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean you only need to eat homemade meals and prep boring dishes at the start of the week. You can still stay on track as long as you follow these useful tips for healthy dining out.

Author Bio:

Kerry Brooks is a passionate blogger and frequent traveler who enjoys sharing little-known facts and fun stuff about culture, cuisine and flavors of different countries that she encounters during her travel. She frequently blogs at Daynauan.info.vn, one of the leading cooking websites which offers delicious recipes, cooking courses and more.