How to Eat Out without Eating Too Much

Eating at a restaurant can be a great way to enjoy some good food and even spend quality time with friends or family. Unfortunately, eating out can also pose a significant threat to your regular healthy eating habits. This is the first in a series of articles discussing the pitfalls of eating out. You don’t have to stop eating out or avoid certain restaurants to stick to your healthy eating habits!

Many restaurants in the US serve exceedingly large portion sizes. This, in combination with a number of other psychosocial factors, leads most of us to overeat when we eat out. Last Thanksgiving, I published a guide to help you enjoy the holiday meal without over-doing it. While you may not be able to follow all of the tips provided in that guide, there is still some advice in that article that applies to eating out: you can’t always control the size of your dishes, portions served, or eating utensils, but you can control how much you consume by adapting several of the tips given here last November.

Timing

Start by having all of your food brought to the table at the same time (i.e. have your salad brought out with your entree). This keeps you from getting tunnel vision when assessing how much food you’re eating. When your meal comes course-by-course, you tend to focus only on the food in front of you, forgetting about the food that’s yet to come – or even forgetting about the food you just ate. This leads to mindless eating and overeating.

Take it Home

An excellent way to control how much food you eat at a restaurant is to split your food in half (or into thirds, if the portions are enormous). Eat one half and take the other half home (or eat 1/3 of the meal and take the rest home). If you don’t trust yourself to stop eating when you finish off one half of your meal (it’s easy to get distracted when you go out, after all), ask for a to-go box to come with your entree and put your food in the to-go container as soon as the meal arrives at your table. With the food stashed out of sight, you’ll be less tempted to eat from the food marked for leftovers – just remember to take the food with you when you leave!

When we eat out, it’s often easy to eat without realizing what we’re doing. Eating the last appetizer “to get the plate off the table.” Having some bread because “there’s only one more piece!” Finishing a family member’s meal (usually a child or significant other). Do not EVER eat food simply to get rid of it. Take it home instead.

The One-Plate Rule

If your food comes on more than one plate (or some of it is in a bowl), either consolidate your meal onto 1 plate or mentally keep track of how much plate-space would be taken up by the food you eat. [If you put your food into a to-go container before you start eating, you’ll have plenty of room on your plate to accommodate your meal.] Your goal is to eat one standard-size plate’s worth of food (comparable to the size of plate you typically use at home). Finish your one plate’s worth of food and then wait a few minutes before “getting seconds.” Remember, the “one plate” rule is not a challenge to pile your food as high as you can on a single plate.

Mindful Eating

Eating speed is one thing that can remain constant whether you’re eating at home or out at a restaurant. However, it’s not always easy to keep from shoveling your food in your mouth: the food looks and smells delicious, you’re in a social setting (possibly out with friends and family), and you may be in a hurry (or just incredibly hungry!). Paying attention to your food and your eating habits may be difficult when you eat out, but it is incredibly important to help you avoid getting an upset stomach or eating too much food too quickly (which can lead to improper digestion/absorption/metabolism of the food and to weight gain).

Special Consideration: Appetizers and Complimentary Bread or Snacks

Since most people don’t have a plate of appetizers or a small loaf of bread shortly before eating dinner at home, this food is often forgotten or ignored when restaurant food choices are being determined. Remember, these Calories count, too! You need to account for all of the food you eat when you’re deciding how much food equals one plate’s worth. When you’re considering how much food to eat and how much to take with you, remember that you can take the appetizer home with you (along with the leftovers you set aside at the beginning of your meal). If you follow the suggestions above about having all of your food delivered at the same time and eating your entire meal from one plate, you can avoid many of the overeating problems caused by appetizers and complimentary snacks.

If you decide that you would like to order an appetizer, be realistic about how much of the appetizer you will end up eating. Factor this into your decision of what else you’re going to order for your meal. If someone else at the table orders an appetizer “for the table” or you are given complimentary bread or snacks, only eat this food if you actually want the food and are choosing to eat it. Don’t eat the bread/snacks or appetizer simply because everyone else is eating or because it’s something to do.

Of course, the best way to avoid overeating due to appetizers and complimentary bread/snacks is simply not to order or eat them. Most restaurant entrees are served in superfluous portions as it is – you don’t need any additional food, especially when you consider the nutritional quality (or lack thereof) of most pre-meal snacks. You are more likely to find healthier, better-balanced options outside of the menu’s appetizer section. Many complimentary bread products and snacks offered by restaurants are very starchy and some may be highly processed or made with bleached flour (meaning they provide some carbohydrates, but little to no nutrients – some people refer to these as “empty Calories”). Additionally, many appetizers are very high in Calories and fat because they are fried or heavily based in cheese products. More tips for avoiding eating foods that sneak excessively high Calorie-, fat-, and/or sugar-content past you will be presented in an upcoming article.