Dining out is a big part of our lives. Maybe you are eating
out frequently because you entertain clients. Perhaps you
don't like eating out. Regardless, if you want to keep a
nice fit body, restaurant meals will give you a huge
obstacle to overcome. In fact, eating out at restaurants is
one of the biggest reasons why so many people fatten up
while traveling.
I'm going to give you some very simple tricks you can use to
eat more healthy while dining out and stay lean.
The 3 vital things to avoid in restaurants are:
1. Any sodas, juices and other sugary foods (except fresh
fruits, which are great).
2. Deep fried foods (anything dropped in a scorching bath of trans fats).
3. Refined starchy foods.
Skip these 3 culprits and you'll eliminate most of the major
food sources that do the worst damage to our food supply -
trans fats, refined vegetable oils, refined starchy
carbohydrates, and refined sugars.
What you should try to do is, to skip the bread, skip the
french fries that come with every single sandwich on every
menu known to man, and reduce all of the heaping portions of
pasta and rice that are often loaded on your plate as well.
Substitute a salad for the typical french fries, pasta, or
rice, that most restaurant meals come with. And of course
eat your meat and other vegetables as usual.
Almost all restaurants that I have been to will always let
me substitute vegetables or a side salad for the french
fries or chips that come with all burgers or sandwiches.
Just a quick side note, it amazes me how many people
scrutinize my substitutions of veggies for fries by telling
me that I am 'not living' because I refuse to eat deep fried
french fries... are you kidding me! If french fries are your
idea of 'living it up', you need to get a better hobby!
Ironically, the same scrutinizers are the very first to
complain that they're fat, overweight and have tried
'everything' to lose their big guts. I'm not sure why people
think eating deep fried foods equals 'living it up'... I'm
for moderation with many things, but 2 things that should be
totally removed from every diet because they are simply
dangerous... is sodas and fries!
Take a look at the typical difference a simple substitution
makes between choosing smart and doing what other people
do...
Most people will eat a meal out such as this:
* soda or other sweetened drink (and no, diet sodas are
NOT healthy!) * Burger or sandwich * chips
or french fries.
A MUCH smarter alternative if you care about your body and
health is this simple change:
* Salad or fresh raw veggies * Burger or other
delicious sandwich * unsweetened iced tea or water (no
diet pop - unless you like to drink poison!)
Make these 2 simple substitutions and save at least 400 -
900 calories every time you dine out... AND you are cutting
out the most harmful foods to your body as well by avoiding
the evil trans fats of deep frying foods and high fructose
corn syrup from the fries and soda.
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 workout before your
scheduled meal time. This can be free weights or body weight
training.
It may be hard to fit the exercise into your schedule right
before a meal, if you can, the meal can be your
'post-workout meal'. After this high intensity resistance
training workout, your body will handle a higher amount of
carbs than it normally can to help replenish the muscle
glycogen depletion it had during the intense exercise.
Your typical moderate cardio exercise will NOT cut it for
this... it must be a high intensity resistance training
workout to deplete enough muscle glycogen to handle
restaurant portions of carbs.
I hope these dining tips help you choose smarter and
healthier for a leaner body next time you eat out.
