Dining Out on Portions

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

14 Apr 2006 02:30 PM

Do you enjoy eating out? Do you hate the idea of going out to eat while you are on a diet? One of the fastest ways to sabotage a diet is to eat out at a favored restaurant. However, many restaurant menus including TGI Friday's, Chili's and Ruby Tuesdays are now offering diet alternatives on their menus.

Atkins is increasingly popular at all of these locations. The menus are also more weight loss oriented as they list ingredients and nutrition information like fat grams, calories and carbohydrates. If you're thinking that's great - but you're not doing Atkins and you've grown rather fond of the portioning - how can you employ your portion diet at a restaurant?

Try ordering from the child or senior menu.

Seriously.

Many restaurants feature child and senior dishes that are comparable to their main menu items. When you order off either the child or senior menu, you will be getting significantly smaller portions than that of the typically oversized regular plate meals. If ordering from the alternative menus isn't an option, don't despair.

Ask your server for an empty plate and portion off your meal just as you would at home. Then put the rest of the meal in a to go box. It'll make a great lunch for the next day and you won't be skimping on your diet.

Many times when we're using portioning, my husband and I will simply split a meal. Especially if we know that the dinner we are ordering is especially large. This makes dining out a more affordable option for us and we still get to enjoy the diet benefits.

What tricks have you tried to stay on your diet and while still enjoying the dining out option?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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