At
a popular pizza chain, the personal pan pizza with sausage packs 740
calories and 39 grams of fat. And at one major fast-food joint, a triple cheeseburger with
everything has 810 calories and 47 grams of fat -- two meals' worth of calories and more
fat than most of us should scarf down in an entire day.
The bright spots in this grease-spattered scenario? First, you. Your
power as a restaurant patron lies in your order. The waiter, cook, and manager want you to
leave happy -- just tell them what you want. Second, more and more fast-food spots, casual
dining eateries, and even upscale restaurants offer healthier alternatives on their
regular menus.
We believe that a meal away from home should be delicious and enjoyable
-- there's no need to order dry chicken breast, have only a glass of water . . . and sulk.
The trick? A little preparation so that you can outwit the menu, sidestep temptation,
withstand the siren song of enormous portions, and leave the table happy.
Have it Your Way
Eating out is, in a sense, eating blind. You don't usually have access
to nutrition labels, so you don't realize how the cheese, butter, oil, sugar, and oversize
portions are adding up. (That focaccia club sandwich? It packs 1,222 calories and 65 grams
of fat!) The veggies may arrive dripping with butter and cream. The bread's heavenly, but
it's white. That salad that seemed so healthy may have more calories and fat than a
cheeseburger, thanks to fried chicken strips and an ocean of dressing.
And then there are the portions. When a pair of New York University
nutrition experts weighed and measured the everyday foods served up in Manhattan's delis,
bakeries, and sit-down restaurants, their results were amazing: Compared with
government-recommended portion sizes, pasta servings were five times heftier, cookies were
seven times larger, and muffins weighed three times more. Why you might not notice:
Portions have slowly, slowly increased in size over the past 30 to 50 years. "What I
found was appalling," says study author Lisa Young in her book Portion Teller:
Smartsize Your Way to Permanent Weight Loss. "The foods we buy today are often
two or three times, even five times, larger than when they were first introduced into the
marketplace."
If you suspect that restaurant eating is a minefield, you're not alone.
Even chefs have food issues when faced with a yummy menu -- or the temptations cooking in
their own kitchens. (If you were constantly surrounded by chocolate lava cake, fettuccine
Alfredo, raisin nut bread, and bacon-wrapped filet mignon, what would you do?)
"Having lunch at a restaurant is where I can get into trouble," confesses chef
Sara Moulton, host of Cooking Live with Sara Moulton and Sara's Secrets on
the Food Network, cookbook author, and executive chef at Gourmet magazine. Who
wouldn't find it hard to resist the extras (like foie gras or a six-dessert sampler) that
chefs often send to her table?
Yet Moulton stays slim -- and even dropped a few pounds when she was
about to start hosting a live television show several years ago. ("The camera really
does add 10 pounds," she says.) Her strategy? Don't let yourself get too hungry,
especially before a dinner out. "When you're hungry, your resistance to snack on
tempting foods plummets," she says. She does splurge a little on weekly dinner dates
with her husband. "Knowing I can have some cheese on Friday night helps keep me
disciplined the rest of the week," she says. At lunch, Moulton sometimes can't resist
eating an entire 714-calorie mozzarella, tomato, and basil sandwich. And yet, she believes
in not letting a diet detour derail her successful efforts to maintain a svelte figure.
She gets right back on the horse: "On those days, my dinner is a 300-calorie Lean
Cuisine."
How can you achieve -- and maintain -- a lean silhouette while still
enjoying a night out at a bistro? These strategies will help.
Step 1: Prepare Your Plan of Attack
It's amazing how much trouble you can get in even before your meal
arrives. Take a proactive stance against the unhealthful food assault catapulting in from
all sides.
Spoil your appetite. Before you leave for dinner, eat something
substantial like a bowl of soup, a piece of leftover chicken, a piece of toast with
low-fat cheese and leftover vegetables, yogurt with fruit and nuts, a hard-cooked egg, or
apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon. Any healthy minimeal will be lower in calories and
fat than an over-the-top restaurant appetizer.
Know where you're going. Become familiar with the dining
guidelines for different kinds of restaurants, and try to picture what you're going to eat
before you even walk in the door. Don't let the menu sway you! If you've been to the
restaurant before and can resist the temptation, keep the menu closed. Order what you'd
like, and let the waiter sort it out. It's your meal -- have it your way.
