You probably eat many of your meals out — it's estimated that 46 percent of American adults eat out at least once a day. So these days, it's just as important to know your way around a restaurant menu as it is to know how to cook.
Yes, you can eat healthy foods in restaurants. Granted, restaurants serve plenty of dishes made with lots of easy-to-like fats and sugar because they're in the business of giving you a good time, not extending your life. But this doesn't mean you should never eat out.
The local steakhouse, the main dining room of the fancy hotel in town, and the country club restaurant are all places that serve standard American dishes. Many foods, such as those that follow, fit right into a healthy diet.
- Order the soup or salad. If you opt for the salad, ask for it with bleu cheese dressing, not vinaigrette, which is probably made with refined oil, or request some extra-virgin olive oil on the side and vinegar or a wedge of lemon and sprinkle these over your salad to make your own dressing.
- Order lean, broiled chicken, which is cooked at higher temperatures than you use at home, sealing in the juices. Grilled fish is also a good choice.
- Enjoy a baked potato, with toppings if you like, but in modest amounts.
- If you're vegetarian, order off the menu. The cook or chef will usually put together a special plate of all the vegetable side dishes on the menu that day. Sometimes you hit the jackpot!
- Vary your diet by ordering foods you don't cook at home. Order the duck, even if it's a little more expensive. Have oysters to start. Or let the chef cook you lobster!
 | Don't be shy. You can ask your waiter how a dish is prepared. |
The dining landscape has yet to be populated with chains of drive-through health-food restaurants serving organic ingredients. But healthy food is out there — you just have to look for it. Search out local restaurants and when you suddenly realize that you're starving, you can head for those places rather than having a donut just because you're parked in front of a store that sells them.
| Here's what to buy when you're looking for a quick bite: |
- At coffee shops: Hot oatmeal, poached eggs, Greek salads, fresh-made soups, rye bread, roast turkey with trimmings, fruit compote, and herbal teas.
- At salad bars: Bean salads, a variety of raw vegetables, a variety of salad greens, sprouts, and raw seeds and nuts.
- At delicatessens: Fresh-made chicken soup, smoked salmon and white fish, whole-grain bagels, cole slaw, tomato and cucumber salad, fruit salad, Swiss cheese, borscht, kasha with mushroom gravy, stuffed cabbage, olives, and sauerkraut.
- At gas stations: Bottled water, V-8 juice, bottled orange and apple juices, and fresh fruit (when you can find it), but not much else!
 | Stay away from the usually rancid roasted nuts and seeds sold in little cellophane packets! |
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