How to eat healthier when eating out

The Christmas season is fast approaching and people are likely to be eating out more. Whether it's a work Christmas 'do, or having a catch up with family and friends, the chances are you'll be eating in a restaurant at some point this festive season. 

I know that when people go out to eat, they may not be expecting their meal to be the healthiest but that doesn’t have to be the case. This blog post will give you some ways to make healthier choices when eating out.

Remember, calories don’t count: 

The first thing I want to say is that the calories don’t count. In the UK, calorie information was made to be compulsory on food menus in the hopes of managing the growing obesity rates. But let me tell you, the number of calories doesn’t tell you how healthy the food is. It’s just a number.

The calorie number doesn’t tell how the food was cooked, the ingredients used, or the nutrient breakdown. All of these things would be more useful than the calorie amount.

Looking at the calories alone is not enough to make a choice on what’s healthy. Here’s an example:

If you’re having a cheeky Nando’s, you may think opting for the spicy rice bowl with 2 chicken thighs would be a better choice than a grilled chicken burger and peri peri chips but think again. 

The salad bowl option is 950 calories while the burger and chips are 900 calories.  While it’s only a 50 calorie difference, if you’re looking purely at the numbers then the burger and chips wins and would be the ‘healthier' choice. There's nothing wrong with a burger and chips but it shouldn’t be the calorie count that helps you make that decision.

It may be more helpful to ignore the calorie counts and think about the contents of the food you're eating. 

The rice bowl (although higher in calories) will have lots of fibre, vitamins and minerals. While the burger and chips will be packed with protein, and contain some vitamins too. Food is neutral and we don't have to focus on it being low calorie to mean it's healthy.

I’ve got numerous blog posts covering why calorie counting isn’t the be all and end all. I’ll link them here:

Do calorie counts tell you how healthy a food is?

Why you shouldn't count calories Part 1

Why you shouldn't count calories Part 2

Protein based meals: 

A good way to have a more balanced meal is to think about the main nutrients in the dish. The three main nutrients are carbohydrates, protein, and fat. 

Aiming for a protein based meal means you’ll feel fuller for longer as protein takes a longer time to digest, and it will help stabilise your blood sugar levels after eating. 

A protein based meal could be something like steak, grilled chicken, or a chilli.

These meals are typically served with a carbohydrate side like chips, mash, or rice and in my next point, I’ll explain how to pick more nutritious side options.

Switch up your sides: 

Side dish options in restaurants tend to be things like fries or rice, which are fine to eat, but vegetables and side salads don’t get much love. I’m sure I don’t need to explain that vegetables are nutrient packed and a great option to add to your meal. If your meal comes with two sides, it’s worth considering a vegetable based option for one (or both) of them. 

This can add more nourishment to your meal. And a lot of vegetable options are just as tasty. Don't be afraid to use dressing or a sauce with your salad as the fat in the dressing will help your body absorb some of the vitamins!

You could also try alternating the sides you get. One meal out you may choose fries, and another time you might choose the salad. Having a variety is a good way to get more balance and mean you get different nutrients.

Think about how your meal is cooked: 

Another simple swap to make is the method of cooking for the meal you choose. You can look at the description of the food and based on the words used, you’ll likely be able to tell how it’s cooked. 

Going for something that’s been roasted, grilled, steamed or poached will likely be healthier than something fried. While fried foods are tasty, they tend to be higher in energy and can be easy to overeat.

Obviously, this doesn’t work for all restaurants but making small changes when you’re able to can still make a difference.

Share a course: 

Another way to eat healthier is to share a starter or dessert with whoever you’re eating with. And if you’re eating alone, you can save half for leftovers for another day. When we eat at home, we don’t tend to have a 3 course meal but when we eat out it’s easy to go for multiple courses due to it being available. But this can lead to eating a larger volume of food than we would normally and depending on the starter and/or dessert we pick it could mean consuming a large volume of salt and sugar.

Splitting the course with someone else or saving some for later means you can reduce the amount you’re eating and pay more attention to when you've had enough. It's easy to feel like you have to finish your plate, but this isn't the case. This leads onto my next point of eating mindfully.

Eat mindfully and stop when full: 

While this tip doesn’t directly link to making a healthier choice when eating out, it does serve towards a healthier relationship with food, which I'm all for.

It can be easy to want to finish the plate when eating out, after all you’ve paid for it and don’t want anything to waste. But being overly full does us no favours and can lead to discomfort.

Especially as portion sizes in restaurants and takeaways have gotten larger than they used to be, and when we’re served a larger portion, we’re likely to eat more of it. It can end up being a lot more food than we’d normally eat. 

I’d say to eat slowly and pay attention to when you're getting full. Whatever you're not able to finish can be taken as leftovers for another time.

This also goes the other way with not being really really hungry before going out to eat. I can understand wanting to save your stomach for your meal out and get your monies worth. But being very hungry can mean that you overeat, and you may make less nutritious choices. It’s okay to remind yourself that having a small snack beforehand won’t spoil the meal out, and you can always bring anything you don’t finish home.

These are just some ideas to make healthier choices when eating out. You can take what you think would be helpful to you and apply it the next time you get out for a meal. 

It's also good to remember that not every meal will be perfectly healthy, and that's okay too. It's what you do the majority of the time that has the most impact. 

Key points: 

• When eating out, you can make small changes that can lead to a more nutritious meal.
• Tips to eat healthier include: not focusing just on calorie count, swapping to a vegetable based side, sharing a starter or dessert, being mindful and not overeating, and picking a meal that’s not fried.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and it gave you some useful tips!

Bye for now 👋

References:

https://www.nandos.co.uk/food/menu/

Larger portion sizes lead to increased intake: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15044675/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26368271/