Eat out at a restaurant lately? Sure you have. We all have. It’s a national trend and the perfect example was a KFC commercial I recently saw. The mom in the commercial yells up the stairs, “Kids, dinner time!” and the kids all come running down and go jump in the car ready to go to their favorite restaurant. What made it funny is that the mom had actually prepared dinner and had it waiting on the table. The kids had become conditioned to equate “dinner” with “eating out.”

The US Food and Drug Administration estimates that about 32% of the American diet comes from restaurant or takeout foods. That’s 1 out of every 3 meals. The restaurant chains are booming as a result. Stop by any restaurant in the evening and you’ll find the parking lot packed and people waiting in line to be seated. Doesn’t matter what day. They’re packed.

Although restaurants used to be a place where you went for special occasions, nowadays they’re where most Americans stop by on their way home from work to pick up dinner. Many establishments — even the fancy upscale ones — have catered to this trend by offering drive-through windows, special takeout menus, and reserved to-go parking spaces.

Research has shown that there is a direct correlation between how often a person eats out and how much fat he or she carries. Thick sauces, super-sized portions, and rich deserts all vie for our attention when we look at the menu — and it shows on our waistlines.

So how do you fight this? Face it, our schedules are not going to change so it’s not realistic to think that we’re going to spend an hour or two preparing a healthy meal. Although there are several strategies that you can use to help you make better choices at a restaurant, I’m going to focus on trying to reduce the total number of calories through portion control in this post.

Reducing total calories through portion control.

I was at one of those “country style” Southern restaurants recently and I ordered the Chicken Fried Steak (I know, I know, not the healthiest choice, but work with me <grin>). This place is known for never having a customer leave hungry so when the plate arrived, it was overloaded. The steak was so large, part of it sagged over the side of the plate. There was a huge pile of mashed potatoes (I know, another bad choice) and everything was smothered with a thick cream gravy.

Now this is a traditional Southern dish and it was delicious (I paid for it later, believe me!). However, the portion size was huge – literally enough to feed 2 people. In order to give you the impression that you’re getting a good value for your money, most restaurants have gone to increasing portion sizes. This is not a good thing if you’re trying to stay fit. Here’s how to deal with it.

First, get over the mindset that you have to “clean your plate.”

When we were growing up, many of us were told that we couldn’t leave the dinner table until we had finished everything on our plates. You had to “clean” your plate. That mentality has stayed with many people, even as the portion sizes have steadily increased. Now’s the time to get over this mindset.

Forget about cleaning your plate. Forget about the starving kids in China (or whatever guilt trip your mother tried to lay on you). In fact, adopt the mindset of “giving a little back,” kind of like the idea of a tithe in church. No matter how much food they put on your plate, you’re going to give around 10% back. Consider it an “offering” to your better health. Now in order for this to work, you have to really believe that it’s OK to leave food on your plate (get out of my head, Mom!).

Second, have the waiter bring a to-go box with your meal.

It’s important that you get a to-go box with your meal. As soon as they set your plate down, the first thing you need to do is to put at least half of the food in the to-go box. Now you can enjoy your meal and not be tempted to take a few more bites, even though you’re already full. Plus, you’ll be able to enjoy the food in the to-go box for lunch a day or two later.

Third, don’t forget other commonsense tips when eating out.

There are a number of commonsense tips that you should utilize when eating out. I’m not going to go into them here but they include ordering a salad and green vegetables, reducing the amount of bread and butter, eating slowly, avoiding fried foods and rich sauces, and so on. However, these won’t do much good until you first reduce the total number of calories you’re taking in.

So go ahead and enjoy the convenience of eating at your favorite restaurant. Just be sure to immediately put half your food into a to-go box — and practice giving back by leaving a little food on your plate.

Hiram

The Balanced Health Guy

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