Sticking to healthy eating habits is hard if you eat out often. You have no control over ingredients and portion size when you eat at a restaurant, plus you probably find that you just generally eat more, especially when you dine out with friends. Studies show that a typical meal out packs over 1,100 calories.
So what can you do to make your restaurant meals healthier, so you don’t pack on the pounds? Here are 4 things that you can do:
- Eat near the window. A study conducted by a doctor at Cornell University found that you’ll be 80% more likely to order a salad if you eat near the window. They don’t know why this is, but do you really care?
- Sit away from the tv. Watching tv while you eat leads to mindless, distracted eating, so you won’t know how much you actually consume.
- You know to skip buffets or all-you-can-eats, but if it’s unavoidable, start your meal with a lot of fruit or salad. That will keep you on the healthy track for the rest of the meal, and fill you up with healthier food. If you start with meat, carb or other calorie-packed option, your tastebuds will adjust to that and it will only want more of the same thing.
- Consider what exercise you have to do and for how long for every item you order. For example, if you’re ordering a slice of pizza that’s 800 calories, think about what you’ll have to do to burn each of those 800 calories — jogging for 8 miles! You might want to reconsider your order when you know what you’ll have to do.