Dining out is a big part of many people’s lives. Maybe you’re eating out more frequently because you entertain clients. Perhaps you don’t like eating out. Either way, if you want to keep a nice trim body, restaurant meals will give you a huge obstacle to overcome. In fact, eating out is one of the biggest reasons why so many people fatten up while the road.
I’m going to give you some very simple tricks you can use to eat more healthy while dining out and stay lean.
In every restaurant you find these 3 things to avoid at all costs, and here they are:
*** refined starchy foods *** any sodas, juices and other sugary foods (except fresh fruits, which are great) *** deep fried foods (anything dropped in a scorching bath of trans fats)
Skip these major culprits and you can eliminate the major food sources that do the worst damage to your body - trans fats, refined vegetable oils, processed starchy carbohydrates, and processed sugars.
Ok, so what do you need to do? Well, this means you should try to skip the cheap white bread, cut out the french fries that come with every single sandwich on every menu known to man, and wipe out all of the huge portions of pasta and rice that are often loaded on the plates as well.
Instead, just try to order meat and a side salad, and then, asking for the vegetables as a substitute for the typical french fries, pasta, or rice, that most restaurant meals come with.
Nearly every restaurant I have been to will always allow me to substitute vegetables or a side salad for the french fries or chips that usually come with any burger or sandwich.
It always amazes me how many people scrutinize me because I substitute veggies for fries by telling me that I am ‘not living’ because I refuse to eat french fries… are you kidding me! If that’s your idea of ‘living it up’, you need to get a better hobby!
Ironically, these same people are the first to complain that they are fat, overweight and have tried ‘everything’, yet can not lose their big guts. I am not sure why so many people think eating deep fried foods equals ‘living it up’… I am for moderation with many things, but there are 2 things that should be totally removed from every diet because these foods are simply dangerous… it is sodas and fries!
Take a look at the difference a simple substitution makes between choosing smart and doing what most people do…
Most people will eat a meal out such as this:
* Burger or sandwich or burger * chips or fries * soda or other sweetened drink (and no, diet sodas are NOT healthy!)
A MUCH more smart alternative (if you care about your body and health) is this simple change you can make:
* Burger or Sandwich * Salad or veggies * unsweetened iced tea or water (no diet drinks — unless you like to drink poison!)
These 2 simple substitutions can save you around 400 - 900 calories every time you eat out (depending on drink refills and portion sizes)… AND you are cutting out the poison’s and other harmful foods to your body as well by avoiding the evil trans fats and high fructose corn syrup from the fries and soft drinks.
On a side note: a semi-secret method to eat full portions of breads, pasta, and rice, and actually get away with it without packing on the extra fat is to schedule a high intensity full body resistance training exercise before your scheduled meal time. This can be free weights or body weight training.
Sometimes it may be hard to fit the workout into your schedule right before the meal, but if you can, the meal can be your ‘post-workout meal’. After a high intensity resistance training exercise, your body can handle a higher amount of carbohydrates than usual to help replenish the muscle glycogen depleted during the intense workout you had.
Your moderate intensity cardio workout will NOT work for this… it must be high intensity resistance training to deplete enough glycogen in the muscle to handle restaurant portions of these carbohydrates.
I hope these dining tips help you choose smarter and healthier for a leaner body next time you eat out.
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