Go Out, Stay on Track
Staying on track with your nutrition can be hard as it is, much less trying to eat right when you are eating out. Nutrition is a key part of living a healthy lifestyle. Believe it or not, nutrition plays a bigger role is weight loss than exercise. Think about it, you workout for maybe an hour 3-5 days a week, but you are constantly eating throughout the day.
Eating should not be seen as something that is bad or makes us feel guilty. Despite what society portrays, food is essential to almost all of our body functions and the nutrients we get through eating whole, real foods are necessary for everyday life. Eating healthy is not necessarily hard to do, it is just an adjustment.
Some tips for staying on top of your nutrition when eating out are:
- Get items cooked without butter
- Ask for wheat alternatives
- Ask for dressing or sauce on the side
- Get items grilled instead of fried
- Order a water instead of soft drinks (refill calories add up!!)
- Ask for a to-go box before your food comes out, to help with portion control
- Skip the appetizers and desserts
- Split an entrée (cuts the cost and calories in half!)
So many restaurants are formulated to make us eat more just by the type of music and décor they have. I gained a bunch of knowledge on this topic from reading the book, “Mindless Eating” written by Brian Wansink. The book talks about numerous studies that have proven why we eat more than we think. The results are mind blowing and have completely opened my eyes to the food industry. If you are looking for a good read, I HIGHLY recommend grabbing a copy of “Mindless Eating.” You can snag a copy from Amazon for under twenty bucks!