Can you still eat healthy when dining out? Let's face it, we are all gonna eat out several times a year, some of us several times a week. (I have limited my eating out to once a week and on special occasions - most of the time) - but we want to still make healthy choices, to stay on track don't we? Should we? Can we? Why should we? How can I?
These questions can easily be answered by looking at your own health plan. Ask yourself these questions:
Have I met my caloric intake for the day?
Have I planned for this meal out?
Will this be my cheat day?
Where will I be going?
If you plan for this meal out ahead of time, you can easily eat out when you want. If it is for a special occasion, and you know what day you will be going out, you can rearrange your food plan for that day, save up extra calories and macro nutrient limits for that special meal.
If it is a spur of the moment decision, check out what you have logged in for the day already for your caloric and macro nutrients and see how much you have left for the day and plan accordingly.
The Good News is that most restaurants now, list their calories on their menus, next to their items. So it is easy to pick what items you want to order by the calorie content. This makes it mush easier to stay on track with your meal plan for the day. Lot's of restaurants have their menus posted online as well, so you can even pick what you are going to eat before you even arrive there.
If this dining out experience will be your "cheat day", and YES you can have these, then awesome! Just don't go too crazy and eat "double or triple" your calories for the day. Cheating means not going overboard on your intake, but having what you want within your range, or a little bit over. If you really want to splurge, then make sure you exercise enough that day to burn off those extra calories you are going to consume. No one wants to go out and enjoy a meal, and then wonder and worry about how much exercise they will need to do later to burn it off.
Hence: planning ahead! Nor do you want to eat nothing at all that morning or the next day, because you splurged too much! (past experience for me, (the old me) meant living the next day in the bathroom) - (NOT PLEASANT!) Moderation and portion control are key.
We are changing our lifestyle to become healthier, conscience eating bodies; that doesn't mean we aren't human. That doesn't mean "your" plan or "my" plan will work for everyone. If we want to change our habits, then we have to change the way we feed ourselves as well. Remember, we want to "eat to live", not "live to eat". We still need to be realistic with our goals for our lifestyle changes. We can't tell ourselves that we will never eat out again, that we will never have another piece of cake, that we won't have that occasional Dunkin Donuts macchiato, that we love so much, or that we won't have that occasional Mrs. Murphy's donuts. We will have one of those, or all of those and we should! We can't deny ourselves food pleasure after all, we just have to manage how we eat these pleasures better.
Once you get used to planning out your day for eating, it's really not so bad, and it really is not that hard at all. It will soon become a habit, and will become so much easier to control what you eat!
We are not on diets, we are on health happiness journeys towards changing our life-long healthy eating habits, for a better you, a healthier you, a happier you, a more energetic you. You will feel so much better on the inside of you, that when you plan ahead for these food excursions, it will show on the outside of you!
Make the right changes, plan your life, reach your goals, be a healthier you. You have to plan your work day, your family day, your appointments, your vacations, why not plan your meals?
Remember, life should not deny you anything, but denying yourself from life is not living.
Plan ahead and your life can be anything you want it to be...
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