Eating out in moderation tips

[cheesysitwots]

Do you have any tips for eating out in moderation? Eg always share a dessert or get a coffee instead?

do you have any go tos in Italians, Chinese restaurants etc that are generally healthier?

any habits through the day before you go out?

We don’t eat desserts - but if you were a desert person look to have a very simple main -starter or salad with dressing on the side perhaps and no carbs ( salads can be mega calories if they are drowned in dressings ) - eating out should still be a treat and one day over your limit is fine ( try and aim for not going over your “stable weight” calories)

from memory the lower calorie dinners can be chicken tikka with plain boiled rice - no sauces really and no frying

avoid places with generous portions

many chains have calories listed

Italian I usually have seafood in red sauce with no cheese. I find dessert easier to skip if I have a coffee with a sugar .

You could have a starter with a salad instead of a main meal.

Avoid bread e.g. bread sticks, garlic bread, prawn crackers as these are basically snacks you can fill up on whist you chat and don't notice.

Choose a light pudding e.g mouse, sorbet, small ice cream or none at all and skip it and go for a tea. Peppermint tea is nice at the end of a meal and is meant to help with digestion.

Try not to be persuaded by the waiter's suggestions for extra dishes!

Also, from a psychology point of view it might be worthwhile checking the restaurant you intend to visit in advance as certain design features do impact your eating habits - fast loud music, tightly packed seating and red decor all contribute to faster eating so you eat more....and also they can turn the tables faster too and make more profit.....

I look at the menu before I go, when I'm not hungry, and choose what I'd like to eat so I don't arrive and get tempted into something less healthy. Sauces on the side if possible. I usually have a starter rather than a dessert and will have a peppermint tea or something instead. Or I'll just have a main.

You have to allow yourself some nice going out times or the whole thing becomes a chore! but you don't have to order the double choc brownie with extra choc sauce after a double burger with bacon and cheese and dirty fries - if you see what I mean.

I tend to go for stir fys in Chinese and not crispy meat or sweet and sour. So ginger and garlic stir fry with cashews and chicken say. And a soup if I'm having a starter.

Try and avoid eating a whole nan if you are our for an Indian meal - share with someone!

My OH is on WLI equivalent medication for type 2 diabetes so has a smaller appetite than he realises most of the time, leading to lots of wasted food. He just cant eat what he thinks he can. Nearly always orders fish and chips which are huge and he just cant eat the chips, has about 2 of them. Hes been on them for about 15 years now so you would have thought he would be used to it now.

Ive had WLS so usually if I can persuade him against the F+C then what is ideal for us is 3 starters shared between us. Thats all we can fit in and often theres waste of that too. No afters.

We also go to places usually that have 'small plates' as I see they are often called or more expensive places where the portions are small. We dont often go to places that do standard pub grub.

We were having a drink at a pub the other day and saw all this food coming out for other people, and just wondered why everything has to come with chips or bread, why cant I just order a small portion of scampi, or a small portion of stew (that would otherwise be inside the pie). Like a small tapas bowl size of it. And not have to pay for the rest of it.

Such a shame. We have to be quite picky about where we go.

Stop when full. If I order a starter and main, I'm usually full with loads of the main left so I take that away to eat the next day.

I try to order meals similar to what I eat at home, so no dessert (I maybe eat them once a year), and half of the plate filled with vegetables. If I order pizza, I always share. I try to stick to one type of simple carbs so for instance if I have rice at an Indian restaurant I don’t order naan, if I have a burger 🍔 in a bun I don’t order chips, and so on.