Most portions that are served in restaurants are triple the recommended amount and the calories that are add to foods to make them taste a specific way has become a norm for most chefs.  This makes it very difficult for consumers to make appropriate choices when dinning out.

In 1955, Americans spent 19 percent of their food budget on meals prepared outside the home.  Today that number has more than doubled to 41 percent.  The number of people now overweight has more than doubled with it.  Obesity has tripled.  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, $222 billion is spent every year at restaurants and $118 billion of that at fast-food restaurants.

The big problem: high-calorie meals, in part thanks to increasing portion sizes.  Many typical restaurants meals contain 1,000 calories or more in the main course alone.  If you include an appetizer and dessert, that could add 1,000 or more.

One slice of cheesecake for dessert can set you back 700 calories.  Cheese nachos or fried mozzarella sticks have about 800 calories.  The “normal” servings, that is.  According to a report in Men’s Health magazine, the worst nachos could easily fall in the 1,200- to 1,500-calorie range.  Imagine if you had appetizers, fries, dessert, and drinks with that.

The National Restaurant association report that the average person eats out 4.2 times per week.  With that frequency, if you chose any of these “calorie bombs” each time you ate out, it would completely undermine every nutritious homemade meal you ate and everything you did in the gym all week long.  Of course I realize that telling people they can’t eat in restaurants won’t make me very popular, so my more moderate suggestion is simply to keep restaurant eating to a minimum.

One of the characteristics I’ve discovered in the majority of lean people is that they prefer to keep tighter control over their nutritional intake by making most of their own meals.  If the national average is four restaurant meals per week and you don’t want an average person’s body, then don’t do what average people do.  Do what lean people do.  Keep restaurant dining to once or twice per week and make the right choices when you’re there.

Regardless of how often you dine out, you have to educate yourself about the nutritional value or restaurant food and have a plan beforehand.  For the sake of simplicity, I’ve condensed a list that can help you with eating out.

1. Start with low-calorie salads instead of high-calorie appetizers.
   
2. Avoid deep-fried foods such as French fries, onion rings, and calamari.
   
3. Ask the wait staff not to leave the bread basket.
   
4. Ask your server if you’re not sure how something is prepared, especially about extra sauces, oil, butter, or other hidden calories.
   
5. Look up menus and calorie information online and make a healthy choice in advance.
   
6. If you don’t know how many calories are in a dish, don’t eat it.
   
7. Choose grilled chicken or fish for lean protein.
   
8. Choose lean sirloins or filets and get nine- to twelve-ounce cuts or smaller.
   
9. Order steamed vegetables as side dishes.
   
10. Order dry baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, or brown rice as sides or part of the main course.
    
11. Order fresh fruit for dessert.
    
12. Split a traditional dessert with a companion.
    
13. Don’t clean off your plate – take a doggie bag home with you.
    
14. Eat only until you are 80 percent full.  Never stuff yourself.
    
15. Don’t eat at buffets.

Be healthy my friends!