5 Tips So You Enjoy Dining Out Healthier
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. Either way, if you want to keep a nice trim body, restaurant meals will give you a huge obstacle to overcome. In fact, eating out is one of the biggest reasons why so many people fatten up while traveling.
If you’re interested in staying lean while dining out by using a few healthy tricks you’re in luck because I’m going to share some below.
In every restaurant you find these 3 things to avoid at all costs, and here they are:
*** deep fried foods (anything dropped in a scorching bath of trans fats) *** refined starchy foods *** any sodas, juices and other sugary foods (except fresh fruits, which are great)
Eliminate these major culprits and you can skip the food sources (for the most part) that do the worst damage to your body - trans fats, refined vegetable oils, refined starchy carbohydrates, and refined sugars.
Ok, so what do you need to do? Well, this means you should try to skip the cheap white bread, cut out the french fries that come with every single sandwich on every menu known to man, and wipe out all of the huge portions of pasta and rice that are often loaded on the plates 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.
Nearly every restaurant I have been to will always allow me to substitute vegetables or a side salad for the french fries or chips that usually come with any burger or sandwich.
It always amazes me how many people scrutinize me because I substitute veggies for fries by telling me that I am ‘not living’ because I refuse to eat french fries… are you kidding me! If that’s your idea of ‘living it up’, you need to get a better hobby!
Ironically, these same people are the first to complain that they are fat, overweight and have tried ‘everything’, yet can not lose their big guts. I am not sure why so many people think eating deep fried foods equals ‘living it up’… I am for moderation with many things, but there are 2 things that should be totally removed from every diet because these foods are simply dangerous… it is sodas and fries!
Take a look at the typical difference this simple substitution makes between choosing smart and doing what most 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 or burger * chips or french fries
Here’s a MUCH smarter alternative if you care about your body and health:
* Salad or fresh raw veggies * Burger or other delicious sandwich * unsweetened iced tea or water (no diet pop — unless you like to drink poison!)
These 2 simple substitutions every time you eat out can save you around 400 - 900 calories… AND you are cutting out the poison’s to your body as well, by avoiding the trans fats and fructose corn syrup from the fries and soft drinks.
Another side note: a little-known way to eat full portions of rice, pasta, and breads and actually get away with it without packing on the body fat is to make sure to schedule a high intensity full body resistance training exercise (can be free weights or body weight training) before your scheduled meal time.
Sometimes it can be really hard to fit the workouts into your schedule right before the meal, but if you can, the meal can be your ‘post-workout meal’. After a high intensity resistance training exercise, your body can handle a higher amount of carbs than normal to help replenish the muscle glycogen depletion you had during the intense workout.
Your typical moderate cardio exercise will NOT cut it for this… it must be high intensity resistance training workout to deplete enough muscle glycogen to handle restaurant portions of carbs.
I hope these restaurant tips help you choose smarter and healthier eating options for a leaner body next time you dine out.
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