Healthy Eating Out

Top 10 Tips

Is there any such thing as “healthy eating out”?

Eating out can be quite enjoyable and feels good, plus it’s time out of the kitchen for you! But, healthy eating out is important unless you don’t mind eating junk food. And you should mind really.

Fast-food restaurants are not thinking about you or nutrient retention when preparing foods. They are mostly thinking about taste! And also how to get more people to come back, and keep coming back for more.

Bowl of salad for healthy eating out

I don’t recommend eating out often. The event should be saved for the occasional treat. The vast majority of your meals should be cooked from home. That way you have control of your health and what you’re eating. Also, more importantly, cooking your foods yourself from home puts you in control of how your meals are being prepared and cooked.

At the very least, you’ll know the answer to the following important factors:

• what sort of pans or cookware you are using;

• how long your foods are being cooked for;

• how much heat you’re using;

• what kinds of fats or oils, if any, that’s being added to your foods.

You’ll be in full, complete control!

However, when you decide to eat out, there are some healthier choices when eating out to pay some attention to:

10 Tips to Healthy Eating Out

1. Try to eat foods that have not been deep fried. Fried chicken from a fast food restaurant will mostly have been deep fried. Worse still, some of them use hydrogenated oils and trans fats to fry. These are worse for you than saturated fats.

Trans fats raise your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels and reduce HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. Some studies have also shown hydrogenated oils to be linked to obesity, risk of heart disease, and some types of cancer.

In July 2010, the Daily Mail UK paper published an estimate by The Consumers’ Association UK that banning trans fats could cut heart disease in the UK by an amazing 25%.

In that respect, although grilled chicken has been heated on very high heat causing loss of nutrients, it is much better than chicken fried in hydrogenated fat or oil. It shouldn’t be charred or burnt though.

2. Drink water, instead of fizzy drinks or fruit juices. Water is by far the best drink that exists. Some fast food restaurants also sell freshly squeezed fruit drinks and these are better choices than fizzy drinks and processed fruit juices.

3. Healthy eating out will also involve choosing meals that contain fresh salads in it as much as possible.

4. Choose smaller portion versions of meals when eating out, instead of the large versions. Naturally will mean you’re eating less of junk of food instead of what you would have eaten in a large portion.

5. Don’t use extra salt. You can do without it. It really is an acquired taste, and you were not been a salt taste. Less salt equals less risk of high blood pressure (hypertension). Add extra pepper if you feel you must add something to the meal you’re served to give it more flavour.

6. Try to avoid the extra sauces they ask to give you as additions. They usually have high amounts of fat and salt in them.

7. Avoid ordering foods that are clearly going to be oily or prepared with a lot of fat.

8. Ask for fruits instead of a cake dessert. Desserts that contain cream or desserts that are high in sugar.

9. When using salad dressings, ask to use the lower fat versions.

10. Be disciplined, don’t dive into every single food you’re served. You don’t have to eat everything just because you paid for it.

Healthy eating out is not so hard, it’s do-able. It’s quite easy actually. Healthy eating out only starts to get harder when you make a lifestyle out of dining out.

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