Happy Valentine’s Day!
Today is a celebration of love, and one of the most popular ways to celebrate is to go to a nice restaurant.
It can be great not to cook and do the dishes, but restaurants can also be a minefield if you’re trying to eat healthily.
It’s definitely okay to celebrate with a delicious, unhealthy meal if you want. There’s no shame in enjoying a good meal with someone you love!
However, if you’re looking to mitigate some of the damage a restaurant can do, get out these five tips:
1) Look at the menu beforehand
Planning is the best way to avoid temptation at a restaurant. Instead of looking at the menu with fresh, hungry eyes, look at it when you aren’t hungry early in the day.
Try to pick an option that fits into your diet and still sounds. If a menu doesn’t seem to have a ton of healthy options, maybe check out a different place.
2) Know the keywords
Knowing what different kitchen keywords mean can help you shave a bunch of calories off of your meal. Different cooking methods add or subtract calories from the meal.
The good words: grilled, steamed, baked, roasted, broiled, seared-are the ones you want to look for. They don’t usually contain a ton of unnecessary fats, and they still taste delicious.
The bad words: creamy, breaded, deep-fried, pan-fried, scalloped, breaded-these cooking methods add a ton of calories to a dish. They may taste good, but they will hurt the waistline.
3) Skip the breadbasket and appetizers
That basket of bread and those fried appetizers definitely look good, but you should save those extra calories for the main course. These items are usually VERY calorie-dense and not filling.
In order to avoid this, don’t go to the restaurant starving. Have a decent breakfast and lunch and even a snack before you go. If you decide to go with an appetizer, avoid the wrong keywords and split it with the table.
4) Split dessert
Dessert is a fantastic way to literally put the cherry on top of a great date night. The only problem is that it can be easy to get carried away with sweets.
Split it instead!
Splitting a dessert is a nice, romantic way to end a beautiful dinner. If you want to avoid even more calories, aim for something with fruit instead of the decadent chocolate cake.
5) Drink Water
Don’t drink your calories! This is great advice for all day, every day. Water is a lifesaver at a restaurant as it can help satiate and kill the hunger as you eat.
Other drinks, like sugary alcoholic drinks, beer, liquor, and soda, contain a ton of calories that don’t fill you up at all. If you do order one, try to keep it at only one and drink water on the side to help kickstart your digestive system.
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