Healthy Choices When Dining Out

The Holiday Season is the time of year to enjoy spending time with friends and family, Christmas shopping, watching football games by a warm fire, and dining out in fabulous restaurants. If you are trying to watch your weight, it can be difficult making the right healthy choices while eating out in your favorite restaurants!

Chinese Restaurants offer a wide variety of broth-based soups, stir-fried specialties ( with seafood, tofu, vegetables and lean meat ), steamed fish and vegetable dishes, steamed rice, hot mustard sauce, chow mein, and other menu items that you are free to enjoy for low-fat, low-calorie, choices.

There are quite a number of foods that you should avoid as well. Fried egg rolls, fried wontons, dishes made with duck, egg foo yung, and fried chicken should not be ordered if you’re trying to eat healthy. Fried rice should be replaced by steamed rice. The all-you-can-eat buffet should be avoided at all costs.

If you are fortunate enough to have the option of dining out in a restaurant with Indian Cuisine, you have a number of delicious items to choose from for healthy, low-fat options. Chicken, fish, veggies, steamed rice; legumes are included in healthful dishes throughout the menu. Bean soups are delicious and healthy. You can opt for Chapati, Chicken or Shrimp Vindaloo, or Lamb kabobs. The main dishes to exclude when dining out in the Indian Restaurants are the fried breads, dishes served with large amounts of nuts and dishes made with coconut milk. Overall, Indian cuisine is a wonderful dining option when you are watching what you eat.

Some of the most fattening dishes you could possibly dream of are found in Italian Restaurants. Fried Mozzarella sticks, Lasagna, thick creamy Alfredo pasta dishes and many others cloud your judgment when skimming over the menu. However, you will also find many healthy dishes to make your mouth water as well. Thin crust pizza with vegetable toppings, pasta with tomato-based sauces, chicken cacciatore, chicken Marsala, and biscotti are a few items that will keep you at the Italian table without having to give up your commitment to cut calories and watch fat intake. Salads and soup choices are also something to consider. Avoid most deserts in the Italian Restaurants, most are just like the cheese dishes you find here, very rich.

Mexican Cuisine is not totally out for you just because you are choosing to slim your waistline and watch what you eat. Black bean soup, grilled chicken or shrimp dishes, chicken soft tacos, chicken or shrimp fajitas, salsa, and chicken quesadillas are all good healthy choices. You are most likely aware of the foods to avoid here: nachos, refried beans, enchiladas, and fried choices such as chimichangas.

The Holiday Season offers you many opportunities to dine out with family and friends. It’s important to remember that while you are watching you’re weight, you don’t have to exclude yourself from all of the holiday cheer; you just want to be careful not to cheer as loudly as everyone else!