Dining Out

Let's talk about dining out. Breakfast is an easy meal to have while dining out. Most places have a healthy breakfast menu with yogurt, fruit, egg whites, etc. Lunch is pretty easy too; turkey sandwiches or burgers on whole wheat or multi grain breads, substitute fruits or a side salad instead of fries.

Dinner is what gets me. They bring bread to the table right away at most restaurants. I try and tell them not to bring it. I'm terrible at leaving the bread alone! I order a lean protein, chicken or seafood, steamed veggies and I limit my starch. Try not to order things fried, drowned in gravy or sauce or loaded with carbs. Ideally, I have very very little carbs in my last meal of the day. If you have a sweet tooth, get something small or share with someone else.

I had dinner with girlfriends on Saturday night. It was nice to know some ladies in the area and I wanted to be sure that I got to spend some time with them before heading home. Dinner was really hard! I allowed myself my "bad meal", as Kelly puts it, and I had a glass of red wine; ate a little bread; and at the end even had a small dessert! For dinner, I had woodfire salmon with steamed asparagus. I did order red baby potatoes, but they came FRIED (!?!?!?!) so that was a no go. I didn't eat all the salmon, probably because I ate more bread than I should have. For dessert, I had a very small cup of tiramisu. I didn't feel terrible after eating a big meal, but after weeks of NOT eating like that, I didn't really feel like I had an awesome meal. Does that make sense? I just felt like my body wanted something "cleaner".

Dining out is hard, but manageable. You just need to know what to order (don't be afraid to ask them to prepare something differently or substitute). Watch your portions, choose lean proteins, don't load up on carbs and be sure and allow yourself a treat every now and then.