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by Kathryn Schleich
For anyone who has high blood pressure or has experienced a heart attack, eating out can be like navigating a food-laden mine field. While there may be no bad foods only bad choices, there area number of trends you can avoid when dining out. For starters, when you plan to eat out, avoid skipping meals in order to save up for a big restaurant dinner. The following entrees generally have less fat: dishes that are baked, broiled, grilled, roasted, steamed, and stir-fried. Entrees with marinara, sweet and sour, and vinaigrette also contain fewer calories.
On the other hand, these dishes generally have more fat – entrees that are au gratin, batter fried, those with béarnaise and hollandaise sauce, dishes that are breaded, creamed, scalloped, primed, rich, crispy, with gravy or butter, and those with Alfredo sauce.
Also consider the portion sizes which have been growing over the last 20 years. Today, portion sizes range anywhere from two to three sizes larger than what they should be. Choose a 4-6 ounce portion of meat over a 12 ounce portion to save on needless calories, fat, and money. Additionally, order what you want to. For example, if you’re dining with a group and everyone orders an appetizer and you don’t care for one, you don’t have to participate and wind up consuming empty calories.
Another area of your diet to watch is drinking alcoholic beverages. Calories in alcohol add up quickly with limited nutrients, increasing your appetite at the same time. Limit alcoholic beverages or cut them out all together when eating out. Substitute iced tea, club soda, or other low calorie drinks instead.
Consider too just how many calories salads have. An average salad from a salad bar contains as much as 1,000 calories depending on your choices. Watch out as well for dressings, cheese, croutons, bacon bits, chow mien noodles, pasta salads, and creamy soups. Instead, enjoy plenty of fruits and vegetables with low-calories dressings on the side.
At fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, Wendy’s, Taco John’s, Culver's, or Burger King avoid the trend toward “big”, “deluxe”, and anything “super size”. The large super-sizes lead to over-eating – the idea that our eyes are “bigger than our stomach”. You can also cut calories by skipping high fat condiments like mayonnaise and tartar sauce. Instead, try mustard and ketchup. For example, one tablespoon of tartar sauce possesses a whooping 80 calories. A tablespoon of ketchup has 15 calories and no fat while yellow mustard has no calories at all and a tablespoon of Dijon also about 15 calories. However, both ketchup and mustard have lots of sodium. A tablespoon of ketchup possesses 190 mg of sodium while yellow and Dijon mustard range from 165 to 360 milligrams of sodium.
If you do have a meal high in fat, don’t feel guilty. Simply eat lightly the following day and get back on track. Be sure and ask that gravy, butter, sour cream, rich sauces, and salad dressings be served on the side. That way you alone control how you eat.
Do not be afraid to make special requests. It’s your right as a customer. Remember Sally in the film When Harry Met Sally? She had special requests down to a science, making requests for specially prepared food an art form. You can do the same and keep your diet on track.
An avid believer in exercise and healthy eating, Kathryn Schleich experienced a serious heart attack in 2009 at the age of 51. Through that experience she has made it her mission to educate heart attack survivors, stroke survivors, and those wishing to maintain or lose weight. Schleich is also a nationally published author and can be contacted at kathrynschlei777@yahoo.com. You may also visit her web site at: www.women-write.com.
Kathryn Schleich © 2010
10220 Country Club Curve
Woodbury, MN 55129
kathrynschlei777@yahoo.com
