Weightplan.com: Free Calorie Counter, Diet & Exercise Tracker
  • Gym Training App
  • Advice
  • Diets
    • Weight Loss Diets
    • Vegetarian Diets
    • Low Calorie Diets
    • Low Carb Diets
    • Low Fat Diets
    • Low Gi Diets
    • Low Sugar Diets
    • Low Sodium Diets
    • Gluten Free Diets
    • Healthy Heart Diets
    • Organic Diets
    • High Protein Diets
    • High Calorie Diets
  • Weight Management
    • Weight Loss
    • Weight Gain - Lean Muscle
    • Good Nutrition
    • Fat Loss & Fat Burning
  • Sports & Gym
    • Benefits of cardio workouts
    • Resistance Training
    • Running for Weight Loss & Fitness
    • Swimming for Weight Loss and Fitness
    • Cycling for Weight Loss & Fitness
    • Personal Trainers and Fitness Instructors
    • Keep a Training Diary
  • Fitness
    • The shape of your life in 90 Days
    • How to Build Lean Muscle
    • The Mesomorph
    • The Ectomorph
    • The Endomorph
    • How workout plans help you achieve your goals
    • Ways to burn more calories
    • How important is stretching?
    • Achieve your best body at 40+
    • Common Exercise Myths
    • Training for Race Running
    • High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
    • How far will you go to achieve your goals?
    • Double your weight loss with a food diary
    • Walk yourself to fitness
    • Can Music Increase Your Motivation?
  • Health
    • Eating a Balanced Diet
    • Healthy Heart Tips
    • Healthy Food & Drink Substitutes – Part 1
    • Healthy Food and Drinks Substitutes – Part 2
    • Keeping a Positive Mental Attitude
    • Eat this, and not that
    • Energy Boosting Foods
    • Alcohol consumption and fitness facts
    • Are you eating enough fibre?
    • How your mood affects healthy eating habits
    • Vitamins & supplements
    • Fish oil facts
    • Staying healthy during the Festive Season
    • Should we exercise through coughs and colds?
    • What are antioxidants?
    • Managing Cholesterol
    • Tips to help you stop smoking
    • How to boost your metabolism
    • Chase your winter blues away
  • Nutrition
    • Eating for muscle gain
    • What foods provide muscle fuel?
    • Muscle Building Supplements
    • Can you transform your body without good nutrition?
    • Recovery Nutrition
    • Can sports drinks improve your performance?
    • What are super foods?
    • The worst drinks when dieting
    • Best and Worst Foods
    • Healthy Snack Foods
    • Healthy eating in your lunch hour
    • Get a Boost with Breakfast
    • Locally Produced Foods
    • Dining Out Healthily
    • The Importance of Water
    • Eating Organic
    • UK Food Labels
    • UK Seasonal Foods
    • UK Portion sizes
    • UK Men vs. Women Nutritional Needs
    • USA Food labels
    • USA Portion sizes
    • USA Men vs. Women Nutritional Needs
  • Support
    • FAQ - ALL
    • FAQ - GymTraining App
    • FAQ - Membership
    • FAQ - Food Diary
    • FAQ - Activity Diary
    • FAQ - Mealplans
    • FAQ - Weigh-ins & Body Stats
    • FAQ - Reports & Printouts
    • FAQ - Technical Help
  • Contact Us

​Dining Out Healthily

Picture
As our lifestyles are becoming busier with long working hours, many of us are eating the majority of our meals outside the home. You may find yourself regularly grabbing breakfast or lunch on the go, then eating out with friends or colleagues after work. You may find yourself entertaining work clients over dinner, or eating out with friends and family may be an important part of your leisure time. However, dining out can play havoc with our waistlines and a recent report suggests that for each meal you eat outside the home adds another 132 kcal to your day’s intake. All these extra calories can add up to significant weight gain each year. To avoid those extra inches here are some simples rules to help you go out and enjoy your meals without taking in excessive calories, fat and sugar.

General tips
  • Make sure that you always plan ahead what you will be eating that day or evening, so that you can still make sure that you are following your healthy eating pattern.
  • If you know that you are going out and having a big ‘slap up’ dinner that evening then eat sensibly during the day.
  • When choosing from the menu ask the waiter/waitress what it contains if you are unsure and how the food is prepared.
  • Try not to take any of the pre-dinner nibbles that are offered and also stay away from the bread basket.
  • You can ask for the sauces or dressing to be served separately, so you can control the portion, or ask for no mayonnaise or butter to be added.
  • Think about sharing a starter or a dessert with a companion or even a main course if the portions look large.
  • Choose extra vegetables and salads to fill up on.
  • Be careful with ‘buffet’ style meals where it is much easier to overconsume, don’t overfill your plate. Fill ½ your plate with salad or vegetable options first and don’t stand next to the buffet and be tempted to keep picking.
  • Opt for dishes that are grilled, baked, steamed, poached rather than fried – check options with the waiter/waitress. Select lean meats, or fish or vegetable based dishes as a good healthy low fat option.
  • Choose tomato based sauces and avoid creamy sauces
  • Be careful with portion sizes and don’t feel obliged to finish all the food on your plate
  • If selecting a dessert, again share with your dinner partner, or choose fruit salads/fruit sorbet, or plain ice cream.
  • Don’t add extra salt at the table.
  • Try to limit your alcohol intake by drinking water also with the meal.

The Best choices on the Italian menu:
  • Choose the thin based pizzas with vegetarian or fish toppings; avoid the meat based toppings like pepperoni and salami that have a very high fat in content.
  • Try to avoid the Italian breads accompanying your meal.
  • Select pasta with a tomato based sauce like Napolitano or Arrabiata and avoid the creamy sauces.
  • Ask for only small amounts of cheese, or reduced fat cheese if the restaurant offers this option.
  • Choose baked/grilled fish with vegetables or salad.
  • Go for plenty of salad with dressing on the side
  • Try to avoid the rich Italian desserts and go for plain ice cream.

The best choices on the Indian menu:
  • Avoid the creamy sauce dishes such as korma or masala.
  • Avoid the pre-dinner nibbles such as poppadoms and pickles that can be very calorific.
  • Avoid the Indian breads as they can have a high fat content.
  • Choose vegetable dhal, vegetable side dishes, tandoori, tikka, madras, jalfrezi, balti dishes with prawn, or chicken, or vegetables.
  • Choose plain basmati rice to accompany the dish, you can share with your dinner guests.
  • Avoid the Indian desserts as they tend to be high in sugar and fat.

The best choices on the Chinese menu:
  • Try to avoid the pre-meal nibbles such as the prawn crackers which are calorific.
  • Soups are a good option to start with.
  • Avoid the battered and deep fried dishes, you can ask the waitress if unsure how the food is prepared.
  • Choose stir-fried chicken or vegetable dishes which will have the lowest fat content such as chicken or prawns or tofu in a black bean sauce.
  • Choose steamed rice to accompany instead of fried rice

For more diet, health, food and fitness information visit www.weightplan.com

Tags: Chinese menu, dining out, entertaining, good food choice, Indian menu, Italian menu, Nutrition​
DOWNLOAD THE APP
T's & C's
Privacy Policy
Contact Us
By using this site you consent to the use of cookies. See our privacy policy. Cookies can be managed in your browser or device settings..
Copyright © 2019
  • Gym Training App
  • Advice
  • Diets
    • Weight Loss Diets
    • Vegetarian Diets
    • Low Calorie Diets
    • Low Carb Diets
    • Low Fat Diets
    • Low Gi Diets
    • Low Sugar Diets
    • Low Sodium Diets
    • Gluten Free Diets
    • Healthy Heart Diets
    • Organic Diets
    • High Protein Diets
    • High Calorie Diets
  • Weight Management
    • Weight Loss
    • Weight Gain - Lean Muscle
    • Good Nutrition
    • Fat Loss & Fat Burning
  • Sports & Gym
    • Benefits of cardio workouts
    • Resistance Training
    • Running for Weight Loss & Fitness
    • Swimming for Weight Loss and Fitness
    • Cycling for Weight Loss & Fitness
    • Personal Trainers and Fitness Instructors
    • Keep a Training Diary
  • Fitness
    • The shape of your life in 90 Days
    • How to Build Lean Muscle
    • The Mesomorph
    • The Ectomorph
    • The Endomorph
    • How workout plans help you achieve your goals
    • Ways to burn more calories
    • How important is stretching?
    • Achieve your best body at 40+
    • Common Exercise Myths
    • Training for Race Running
    • High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
    • How far will you go to achieve your goals?
    • Double your weight loss with a food diary
    • Walk yourself to fitness
    • Can Music Increase Your Motivation?
  • Health
    • Eating a Balanced Diet
    • Healthy Heart Tips
    • Healthy Food & Drink Substitutes – Part 1
    • Healthy Food and Drinks Substitutes – Part 2
    • Keeping a Positive Mental Attitude
    • Eat this, and not that
    • Energy Boosting Foods
    • Alcohol consumption and fitness facts
    • Are you eating enough fibre?
    • How your mood affects healthy eating habits
    • Vitamins & supplements
    • Fish oil facts
    • Staying healthy during the Festive Season
    • Should we exercise through coughs and colds?
    • What are antioxidants?
    • Managing Cholesterol
    • Tips to help you stop smoking
    • How to boost your metabolism
    • Chase your winter blues away
  • Nutrition
    • Eating for muscle gain
    • What foods provide muscle fuel?
    • Muscle Building Supplements
    • Can you transform your body without good nutrition?
    • Recovery Nutrition
    • Can sports drinks improve your performance?
    • What are super foods?
    • The worst drinks when dieting
    • Best and Worst Foods
    • Healthy Snack Foods
    • Healthy eating in your lunch hour
    • Get a Boost with Breakfast
    • Locally Produced Foods
    • Dining Out Healthily
    • The Importance of Water
    • Eating Organic
    • UK Food Labels
    • UK Seasonal Foods
    • UK Portion sizes
    • UK Men vs. Women Nutritional Needs
    • USA Food labels
    • USA Portion sizes
    • USA Men vs. Women Nutritional Needs
  • Support
    • FAQ - ALL
    • FAQ - GymTraining App
    • FAQ - Membership
    • FAQ - Food Diary
    • FAQ - Activity Diary
    • FAQ - Mealplans
    • FAQ - Weigh-ins & Body Stats
    • FAQ - Reports & Printouts
    • FAQ - Technical Help
  • Contact Us