8 Ways To Successfully Navigate Eating Out

Not being able to eat out is one of the biggest fears people have when they consider shifting over to a healthier lifestyle.

In our opinion, eating out IS healthy.

If you love food the way we love food, eating out is exciting, its new and its a great time to be with family and friends. In other words, it can really fill your emotional bank account and when that bank account is full, nothing is going to stand in your way of being healthy.

Here is another great point to consider – lets say you eat out 2 nights a week and you eat 5-6 times a day?  That means you are cooking and preparing 40 meals a week! Cooking and preparing 40 meals a week takes a lot of planning and preparing, which tells me you are organizing your time, which then tells me you are pretty settled throughout the day and have established a good rhythm for yourself.

It also tells me, to tell you to relax, go out to eat and have the time of your life. Those 2 meals are not going to set you back at all.

Besides, there are a lot of ways to go out and enjoy yourself guilt free and not feel as though you have regressed one bit. Your body is much stronger then you give it credit for and would probable really appreciate the permission to not have to prep or cook or do a dish!

If eating out is your thing here are a handful of ways to assure you are setting yourself up for an enjoyable time with minimal consequence. 

1. Research your local eateries and choose a menu you can feel good about. Health conscious restaurants are popping up all over these days. Seek them out in your area, you’ll be supporting a movement toward more healthy and conscious living.
2. Avoid fried, breaded or creamy dishes as well as chip and bread baskets. Just FYI, bread baskets are infamous for being recycled.
   
3. Choose grilled, steamed, baked, broiled, seared or roasted. Then ask for a side of butter:)
   
4. Opt for gluten free when you can. Even if you do not have a known intolerance, wheat and corn are both genetically altered crops and should be avoided at all costs.
5. Ask your food not be cooked in oil. Most restaurants cook with corn oil, grapeseed oil and other unsaturated fats that cause damage to your thyroid health.
6. Eat a well balanced meal such as a piece of fish with potatoes and steamed vegetables. All restaurants offer a variety of proteins and most offer a potato or sweet potato as well as small sides of fresh fruit. Keep it simple.
7. Strategically plan your travel. If you are traveling, explore the area you will be traveling and book your accommodations near a health food grocery like a Whole Foods. This will allow you to pick up hot food or deli food and store them in your hotel refrigerator (always request).
8. Eat before you go. Worse case scenario, if you do not have a say in the restaurant choice and you are certain there is nothing on the menu for you to eat, have a meal before you go and something small once you get home.

If you have some eating out tricks of your own you’d like to share, we’d love to hear about them. Scroll down to share…