Dining out is an enjoyable way to spend time with loved ones, experience different cuisines, and take a break from the kitchen (and the dishes). However, the habit of eating out still has the potential to destroy just about anyone’s diet. There’s a reason that restaurant food is routinely better than what you prepare at home (hint: it’s not because it was made for you, and not by you). It’s because the chefs behind the restaurants’ kitchen doors are typically liberal with their butter and salt use, and they’re also not scared to go heavy on other fattening ingredients. What do they have to lose? Most of the time they’re not eating the food they’re preparing, and they only want your taste buds’ approval.
But it’s not only the chefs’ faults, as diners typically make other mistakes at restaurants that wreak havoc on their diets — a lot of the time, they’re not even conscious they’re doing it. To make sure you’re not sabotaging your healthy eating resolution every time you go out to eat, brush up on these five traps that many diners fall into. Dining out should be an enjoyable experience, and sometimes even an indulgent one, but just in case you’re watching your food intake this season, make sure you’re not making these diet-jinxing mistakes.
1. Don’t go to a restaurant starving
Everyone knows that you shouldn’t go grocery shopping while hungry, as you’ll inevitably put half the market’s snacks into your cart if you do, but what many don’t realize is that the same rule applies for restaurant dining. It seems like common sense that you’d want to keep your belly empty before getting to your restaurant of choice, but if you’re too hungry upon arrival, you’re more likely to overeat.
Instead of getting to the restaurant starving, if you’re trying to stick to a healthy eating regimen, eat a small, healthy snack before you leave the house. That will coat your stomach, keep your hunger at bay, and minimize the chances of you going crazy on the bread basket immediately upon sitting down at the dinner table. In addition, be sure to keep your water glass full as you’re dining — many people think they are starving when they are really just thirsty.
2. Practice self control with the bread basket
Speaking of the pre-dinner carbs, stay conscious of the fact that they can easily ruin your diet, too. Bread bowls are one of the main things people get in trouble with while dining out, and that’s because consumers’ first instinct when the bread basket is put down is to dip their hands into it. If you plan on having more of an indulgent meal at a restaurant, challenge yourself to skip the carb-heavy appetizer.
If you’re on a diet while dining out, it’s all about choosing your battles, but don’t forget that while at the restaurant, you have the potential to sabotage your diet even before your meal arrives. Pre-dinner bread does not count as free calories just because it doesn’t technically count as your meal. If you routinely eat at home without whetting your appetite with a carby hors d’oeuvre, we trust you can do the same at restaurants.
3. Watch your drink refills
Just as consumers unknowingly wreak havoc on their diets by way of the bread basket, they also undermine their healthy eating efforts by forgetting to say no to drink refills. Beverages have calories, and oftentimes a lot of them.
It is the job of servers to make the rounds and refill diners’ drinks, but it’s not consumers’ responsibility to keep drinking them. Beverage calories add up, and if you continue to drink what restaurant employees put down, you will only be doing a disservice to your diet and your bladder.
4. Request your dressing on the side
Once you’ve decided what you’re ordering for your main meal, consider having your dish’s sauce or dressing put on the side. Even the healthiest of dinners can be ruined by a heavy-handed pouring of fat-laden dressing, and that’s something you can put a stop to — if you request it.
Take salads, for example. It’s hard for greens to destroy your diet, but when they are swimming in dressings loaded with fat and calories (as they typically are at restaurants), they’re packed with many more calories than you realize and account for. The same goes for meat and fish dishes that are typically doused in sauces or other toppings
5. Watch your potion sizes
Lastly, one of the biggest traps diners fall into when eating out involves the portion sizes they are served. Because many Americans were taught at a young age that they aren’t to leave the dinner table without clearing their plates, consumers often have a problem leaving food behind while dining out. That’s a problem in and of itself when restaurants are serving portion sizes that could feed a small family of four.
The cardinal rule for dieting is that everything is OK in moderation, so when you are at a restaurant, remember to exercise self control and put the fork down when you’ve reached satiety, or when you think you’ve consumed a serving size that is standard for a meal. Some restaurants make it easy on you and offer normal serving sizes, but more often than not, they hand you oversized, overflowing dinner plates. The latter case is when doggie bags come in handy.
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