Top Tips For Eating Out

Following are some general tips to help you make better food choices and create more well-rounded meals when you eat out:

• Make the vegetables fill about half of your plate. Think of them as the stars of the meal, and use equal portions of meat or beans and starch or grains as the supporting players.
• Round out your meal with a beverage. Some more healthful alternatives to sugary soda and fruit drinks include plain water, seltzer with our without a slice of lemon or lime, a spritzer (made with half fruit juice and half sparkling water), unsweetened iced tea, low-sodium tomato or vegetable juice, unsweetened tea, 1 percent or skim milk, or any other beverages with no added sugar.
• For a two-course meal, start with a vegetable soup or a garden salad with a side of oil and vinegar; ask for the dressing on the side and use your fork to dip into it.
• When you order beef, poultry, fish, or other meats, ask for them broiled, steamed, or grilled; limit dishes in which the meats are fried or heavily sautéed.
• If the main course you receive is much larger than you anticipated, eat half and ask the waiter to wrap up the other half for you to take home.
• Finally, when you're at a restaurant, ask a lot of questions and ask for what you want.

Source: So What Can I Eat?! How to Make Sense of the New Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Make Them Your Own (Wiley 2006), Elisa Zied, MS, RD, with Ruth Winter, MS.