7 Ways to Eat Healthier at a Restaurant

Dear Fitness Coach,

Recently married, my wife and I lead pretty hectic lives. Both our jobs entail travel, and between that and our commute to and from Boston we have little time or energy left for home cooking. We eat out a lot, and it’s finally taken its toll: within six months I have gained 20 pounds and my wife 12 pounds. Short of hiring our own personal chef, I am not sure what we can do, but this weight gain has got to stop.

Humpty and Dumpty :)

Dear H and D,

You really do take a leap of faith eating in a restaurant, even if you think you are making healthy food choices. Whether it’s the drive-thru at BK or that trendy bistro in the North End, these establishments do not put your health interests first. The food is generally calorie-laden with sauces, deep-fried in fat, and the portion size is more than double of what you should be eating.

Say you walk into a popular steakhouse for dinner and while you are waiting for a table at the bar you order a peach Mojito. You are then shown to your table and order the bloomin’ onions for an appetizer; an order of baby-back ribs, which comes with fries; then you top it off with Kahlua and coffee and by sharing a carrot cake for dessert. With that meal you have consumed over 3,500 calories, or a pound of fat.

The typical American eats one in every four meals outside the home. Even if they are not as calorically dense as that meal, you are more likely to consume an extra 500 to 1,000 calories each time you eat out. That explains precisely why you and your wife have gained a lot of weight in a short period. The obvious solution is to stop eating out, or to scale it down considerably.

When you eat out, here are some ways of mitigating the damage:

1. Be an educated consumer. Go online and review the menu before walking into the restaurant. Know what you are going to eat beforehand so that you are not tempted by the smell coming from the kitchen or the daily specials.

2. Do not be afraid to ask your server to broil your meat, steam the veggies, hold the butter, and take away the bread basket.

3. Only have half of the meal portion served to you... the other half you can take home to eat the next day (instead of going to a restaurant).

4. Take the edge off your appetite with a broth-based soup or a side garden salad with no croutons or dressing, which can add hundreds of calories to an otherwise low-cal choice. (Use just a sprinkling of oil and vinegar.)

5. Drink lots of ice water: studies show consuming water before you chow down will dampen your appetite and you will eat less.

6. Order flavored herbal tea for dessert and add a packet of sweetener or Stevia.

7. Do not order a mixed cocktail of any kind - they are full of sugar and calories. Instead, opt for a glass of red wine or a spritzer and save yourself 300 calories.

Just by cutting it down to three to five restaurant meals a week, you will save thousands of calories and potentially dollars. And you can put that money toward a gym membership and personal training sessions too!

Got a question for the fitness coach? E-mail her at eross@goldsgym.net.

Estee Murray Ross is a Chelmsford resident. She is a AFAA certified Personal Trainer and AFAA/ACE certified Group Fitness Instructor and is CPR/AED certified through Red Cross. Drawing from her 20 plus years of cardiovascular and strength training experience, she is expert at evaluating and assessing nutrition and exercise routines and making the necessary changes in order to maximize efficiency and expedite weight loss. She currently works at Gold's Gym in Tewksbury.