The Eating Smarter Guide to Dining Out

Reading time: approx. 5 minutes

Hey Brothers!

Welcome to the LenDentonThrive Letter!

Americans love to eat out!

Eating out is a big part of the American experience. According to a study by QSRMagazine.com, nearly 163 million Americans (64% of adults) eat out at least once weekly. Almost 50% of U.S. adults say that dining out is an essential part of their lifestyle. And, if you travel for business, you know that eating out is an essential part of every trip.

So, if you’re trying to live a healthy lifestyle or lose weight, you might be asking yourself how you can continue to enjoy restaurants without sabotaging your weight loss.

The good news is - you can do both!

With careful planning, you can eat smarter and enjoy a restaurant meal. Let’s begin by looking at the hazards you need to be aware of when you eat out.

The Hazards of Dining-Out

One of the reasons that people enjoy restaurant meals is because the professional cooks and chefs at our favorite eateries are probably better cooks than we are. Or, they may have access to better or different ingredients than we do. Whatever the reason, the food typically tastes better at the restaurant. But, the better taste often comes with a hidden cost that you need to be aware of if you want to eat smarter while eating out.

Here are four dining-out hazards to be aware of:

1. Hidden Sugars and Sodium - One of the reasons that restaurant-prepared meals taste better is that the chef adds liberal amounts of sweeteners and salt to their dishes. People like sweet and salty tastes, so most restaurant dishes contain much more sugar and sodium than you’d typically serve at home. This is especially true for sauces, dressings, and condiments. But, you’ll also find sugar in surprising places like fresh breads.

2. Desserts - Everyone likes a little sweetness at the end of a nice meal. But most people don’t realize just how calorie-intense some restaurant desserts are. Some desserts have so much sugar that they have more calories than the entire meal you’ve just eaten.

3. Beverages - One of the best parts of a restaurant meal can be the bottomless beverages. When your drink gets a little low, the server tops it off. But, depending on your chosen beverage, such as a sugary soft drink, this pleasant custom can add hundreds of calories to your meal. The same goes for alcoholic beverages. Both mixed drinks and craft brews can add 200-500 calories with every round you consume.

4. Serving Sizes - We live in the age of supersizing! This especially applies to American restaurant serving sizes, which have doubled in recent years. (Note: American serving sizes are also 2-3 times larger than servings in most other countries.) This is partly due to America’s relatively low cost of food, and marketing strategy (bigger servings tend to sell better). This also means that the calories in a restaurant meal have risen proportionately to serving sizes.

Combining these four factors (hazards) means that a single restaurant meal could contain more calories than a person would need to consume in an entire day. For example, a typical restaurant meal with appetizers, main course, side dishes, dessert, and a few drinks (cocktails or draft beers) could easily total 3,000 to 4,000 calories! Doing this two or three times a week can wreck your weight loss and fitness efforts.

The Eating Smarter Approach to Dining Out

There is a way to enjoy a delicious restaurant meal without all of those calories. I call it Eating Smarter. Eating Smarter isn’t a diet. It’s a practical nutrition strategy built on making better food choices This works equally well at home or at your favorite restaurant. 

Here are six strategies that you can use to enjoy a healthy meal at practically any restaurant…without sabotaging your weight loss efforts.

1. Plan ahead - Planning ahead is one of the best ways to ensure that you’ll have an enjoyable meal. You can check the restaurant’s menu online before arriving so you’ll know your best menu choices in advance. If you can’t find any healthy options on the menu, you might be able to suggest going to a different restaurant.

2. Avoid Red Zone Foods - Avoid Red Zone Foods in your menu selections. Red Zone foods are those items that tend to spike our blood glucose levels shortly after we eat them. These foods are made up of simple carbohydrates that our bodies quickly digest and convert to sugars. Our bodies respond to this excess glucose by converting and storing it as fat. A short list of Red Zone foods includes sugar, white flour, white rice, white potatoes, corn, highly processed foods, and high-fructose corn syrup.

3. Focus on lean meats and good carbs - Choose lean meats like beef, chicken, fish, and lamb. Choose green vegetables roasted or steamed. Fill up on these selections.

4. Share desserts - most desserts have high-calorie content. Share a dessert or “get just a taste” to limit your calories.

5. Order sauces on the side - most restaurant sauces have a high-calorie content. Ask for the sauces to be served “on the side” to control the amount you add to your dish.

6. Skip high-calorie beverages - Choose light beers or sugar-free drinks over regular soft drinks, sweet teas, or craft brews. Remember that most cocktails have a high-calorie count.

I use these six strategies whenever I visit a restaurant. The more you practice this, the better and easier it becomes. You’ll be able to curate your own list of favorite meals at the restaurants you visit regularly. Make this a part of your Eating Smarter tool kit!

In the Eating Smarter Guide to Dining Out shown below, I summarized these strategies and listed some suggested sample meals for different kinds of restaurants that you might visit. I hope you find it useful. Give it a try the next time you eat out.

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