Avoid These Things When You Eat Out
By Sara Butler
Eating healthy to maintain a healthy weight is important to your overall health and wellness. You may do just fine when you're at home or even at work but going out to dinner is a notorious way to ruin an entire day's effort of eating healthy. It is possible to eat out and stick to your healthy eating plan. If you can avoid these things at a restaurant, then you're off to a good start.
Avoid Alcohol
A drink when you're out with friends may sound like a good idea, but it's a healthy diet's worst enemy. Alcoholic drinks are full of empty calories and can leave you feeling worse the next day. Not to mention that imbibing in alcohol can lower your inhibitions, making that full pancake breakfast at 1 a.m. sound like a really great idea.
Save yourself the trouble and stick to unsweetened tea or water when you're eating out with friends and family. If you do have a drink, limit it to one and make sure to drink plenty of water.
Give the Bread and Butter a Pass
This definitely puts your willpower to the test, but it's best to give the bread and butter at some restaurants a pass. Most of the bread is made from highly refined flour without any fiber. It won't leave you feeling satisfied when you eat it.
When it comes to butter, it's just more fat and calories added to your meal. Consider asking your server for a plate of vegetables to munch on instead or just have a quick snack such as a handful of almonds before you leave the house so you're not ravenous when you arrive. That'll make it easier to resist the bread.
Guacamole is a No-Go
Avocados are great for you, but guacamole isn't. Sure, it's full of heart-healthy avocados, but it's also full of a lot of other things that can turn it into a calorie bomb. Add tortilla chips and it can add up to an entire day's worth of calories.
Be Wary of Salads
Salads may seem like the best choice on the menu when it comes to keeping your calories in check, but when restaurants try to add a little flair to their salad entrees, they end up adding calories, sugar, and fat to it too. Plus the portions are huge!
If you want to stick to salad, then stay as basic as possible. Ask for dressings on the side so you can control how much gets put on and choose an entree salad that is simple and not full of extras, such as cheese, that add a bunch of calories.
You don't have to avoid eating out to stay healthy, you simply need to be smart about your choices!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Arvada, Colo.