We live in a country where we all have something or the other to do. So, many a time it becomes really tedious for us to manage these things. India is a place where all the celebration takes place with food. If someone is having his birthday, it is mandatory to celebrate by dining out or the guest would be coming to our place. I think it should be mandatory as we are so busy in our routine lives, it gives a sense of relaxation to our mind and we can also have a word with our family, friends or relatives.
No one wants to stay at home always. We also need some recreation activities to do. Think about one time if someone says that I will never go out for dining or for some recreational activity. This thought scares me as for how boring our lives would be then? There would be no joy in our lives guys. We lived in such a beautiful country where all our joys, sorrow, festivals are celebrated with the food. But this would lead to the condition of overweight or obesity. If we eat out, our weight will definitely fluctuate and it becomes really tiring for all those who are managing their weight. Does that mean we have to stop going out for the day? The answer is NO! You can go out and still manage your weight.
Here are few tips that one can follow:
• Be picky – Most of the restaurant are willing to do small changes in their recipes, they have the ingredient to do so. For e.g., if the menu has mushrooms in the fish sauce then you can ask the helper to make mushroom in some healthy lemon mustard sauce.
• Know what to order - Ask them for the grilled chicken instead of a fried chicken if you are non-vegetarian and if you are vegetarian you can ask for grilled paneer instead of asking paneer pakoras. As fried items are more calories dense and provide less nutrition.
• Ask questions – French fries, burgers, spring rolls are not always the side options available. Ask what do they have alternatives for that, ask about how the meal is being cooked, asked them for the healthy appetizer like paneer tikka, baked fish rolls, boiled white gram chaat, baked cucumber slices in lemon- mustard sauce, multigrain bread with hummus or soups.
• Understand the menu terms- Menus are sometimes complicated as they may use the different preparation terms which we never heard about it. Like buttered, scalloped, stuffed terms indicate the presence of high calories and fats and their consumption leads to weight gain. Whereas terms like roasted, baked, boiled, grilled utilize a direct heat and had low fat in the meal.
These are the terms you should look when you are deciding on your meal.
• Drink water – Whenever you are going out for a party have water this will lead to less intake of junk food as your stomach is half filled with the water.
• Don’t be seduced by the words – The mouth-watering description was always on the menu card like tender, juicy, velvety or so on these are only written just to attract the customer. Be aware of these sensory terms.
• Be salad savvy – Salad is the thing which will help you by being the best friend and make you lose by being your enemy. It totally depends on you how you take it. If you are choosing veggies with healthy dressing then it will save your life or if you will choose with unhealthy dressing like oily, buttered or mayonnaise it will keep your life under threat.
• Practice portion control - Keep track of how much you eat, and stick to the number of servings you planned to eat. It is obvious that you won't carry a scale with you to the restaurant so that you can measure out portions, but you can trust on visual references. For example, A serving of cooked meat, chicken, or fish is in the palm of your hand. A serving of green salad is like an open-cupped hand.
• Practice three bite rules – Try to satisfy your sweet tooth with the help of fresh fruits. Say bye to the dessert cart. But always it is not possible to follow the three bite rule. So if you want to have chocolate you can have three bites of it instead of having a whole.
Dine out should be fun! When you want to order at a restaurant, keep the above tips in your mind. It is important not to deprive yourself of eating out, but be careful of what to order and always go for healthy meals or change the ingredients to make it healthy.
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A very nutritious approach to eat out. Desert options can be increased with berries mixed in yoghurt and stevia can be added or sweetness as it is considered safe. Or a stevia dark chocolate would also help with more than 70% cocoa.
ReplyDeleteIn main course vegetable stew made in coconut milk can be a very healthy option which you usually do not consume at home. Try restricting carbs in case of weight loss.
Mushroom tikka can be an appealing appetizer.
And in a beverage a yoghurt smoothie with seeds like chia, sunflower and pumpkin cam do wonders for our health as they are good for heart, diabetes, vision, memory and rich in fiber too, this good for a healthy gut.
Thank you so much for the valuable inputs. Yes these are really very healthier options that anyone can opt for.
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