The Glycemic Index Diet for Dummies - Meri Raffetto [71]
Chapter 11: Guidelines for Dining Out
In This Chapter
Figuring out how to make smart, healthy food choices in any restaurant
Recognizing traits of restaurants with a wealth of low-glycemic options
Recommending the best low-glycemic meal choices in a variety of cuisine types
Dining out used to be a once-in-a-while occasion to meet up with friends and family to enjoy the ambience of a nice restaurant, some good company, and a wonderful meal. Now people are eating out more than ever before, making it more difficult to make healthy choices because you have less control over what's on your plate.
At home, you know exactly what you're putting into a recipe and can even measure how much you're putting on your plate. But in restaurants, you're really just taking your best guess because a) you can't be sure how much of a particular food item is being added and b) the dish is served on a plate the size of a trough. Although I can easily tell you that avoiding eating out as much as you can is wise, I know that doing so may not be very practical. That's why hving some good strategies in place is key.
The beauty of a low-glycemic diet is that it isn't an all-or-nothing diet. It allows some flexibility for you to eat higher-glycemic foods in moderation. In fact, research shows that using low-glycemic foods in moderation, even just one low-glycemic food choice a meal, still provides you with the benefits you're looking for, making it easier to adopt low-glycemic foods into your lifestyle. This type of moderation is also the best way to get long-term results with weight loss. (Being too strict always backfires.) In this chapter, I show you how to make smart choices while dining out and present a variety of good lower-glycemic meal options for just about any type of restaurant.
Choosing Wisely
Although it can be tricky, you can eat in restaurants, follow a low-glycemic diet, and lose weight. But you have to be willing to make educated choices instead of just going with whatever you feel like eating. (Of course, even when you make the best choices, restaurant meals are usually going to be much higher in calories than what you'd prepare at home — which can make trying to lose weight an uphill battle if you're eating out all the time.) The following sections present some strategies to help you make the best choices when you're dining out.
Becoming more aware of what you're ordering and how much food is on your plate can greatly enhance your ability to make healthier sit-down restaurant or fast-food dining choices.
Basing your choices on how often you eat out
Some people eat out several times a week; others prefer to dine out just a few times a year. These two groups of folks could make the same food choices while eating out, but I don't advise it.
If you find that you eat in restaurants or order some sort of takeout two or more times a week, then moderation takes on a new meaning. Indulging a little once a month is one thing, but indulging two or more times a week will sabotage your weight-loss efforts. No, you don't have to forgo eating in restaurants. That concept is no longer realistic in a society in which Americans spend 46 percent of their food dollars on dining out (compared to just 26 percent in 1970) thanks to fast-paced lifestyles and the convenience of restaurants. You do, however, have to change how you think about dining out.
For many people, going to a restaurant used to equal a special occasion where they could indulge and order whatever they wanted. This response can become hardwired into your brain, leading to an increased consumption of significantly higher calorie, fat, and sodium levels on a regular basis. It's sort of like the healthy choices you'd make at home get "turned off" at a restaurant and you order whatever sounds good without thinking about calories, glycemic level, fat, and so on. You're simply conditioned to get the item that sounds the best versus the item that's the healthiest choice. If you're eating