Eating Out : Tips for Ordering Healthy

Going out on that weekend date (or as a family activity) is fun, but it can be hard to know which selections and options are healthier than others. Salads can be even more fattening than sandwiches, and sometimes restaurants don't even offer fruit as an option.

For navigating some of those healthy-ordering dilemmas, here are a few simple tips.

• Avoid porterhouse, prime rib, rib eye, and T-bone steaks; keep the meat you do order to six ounces or less, and (at prepared-to-order restaurants) ask to have all visible meat trimmed from the meat.
• Eat only one or two helpings of bread; if you would like to eat more, enjoy only soup and salad, and not a traditional entree, afterward.
• Remember to ask for your dressing on the side! Salads typically have dressing to spare, which is unhealthy and can (as many have experienced) ruin the salad.
• When ordering Chinese, choose dishes made with chicken, shrimp, or lean beef in favor of duck or pork; also, go with steamed dumplings instead of egg rolls.
• Sandwiches should be no longer than six inches, and should be made on whole-grain breads, if possible.
• Use salsa or guacamole (which contains healthy fat) as the salad dressing for Mexican salads.
• For Italian dinners, go red and green--red sauces--instead of creamy, white sauces--and green salads.

Sources: Losing It! Melanie Douglass, R.D.; Deseret Book and AmericanHeart.org