There are plenty of ways to make healthy choices every day. All it takes is a little extra planning, and thought before making a decision! Read on for some of my favorite tips, tricks and even some interesting examples of healthy and not so healthy choices at local restaurants!
Healthy Swaps
Choose sparkling water instead of soda! To make the flavor a little more interesting, just add some lemon or lime juice to a lemon or lime sparkling water. Adding frozen fruit to sparkling or flat water is another way to make it a little more interesting!
Pick foods that have more bang for their buck! Choose foods that are less calorically dense such as popcorn instead of chips. 12 chips will run you about 150 calories, but nearly 3 cups of popcorn is the same amount of calories! I can’t remember that last time I ate only 12 chips!
Use avocados, greek yogurt or hummus in place of mayonnaise and sour cream!
Use riced vegetables, brown rice or quinoa in place of white rice or noodles! Spaghetti squash and zucchini noodles work great for noodle replacements too!
While Eating Out:
- Look for Words like broiled, baked, roasted, grilled, boiled, poached, or steamed.
- Menu scanning – substitutions, side dishes, beverage options.
- Request dressings or condiments to be on the side.
- Buffets – swap out plates. Take the large plate to the salad bar and the small plate to the buffet line.
- Look up the menu online before you go. MyFitnessPal it!
- Healthy snack before you go.
Items to Avoid:
- Fried foods
- Extra large portions
- Biscuits, croissants, breadsticks
- Sugary beverages
- Cheese
- Bacon
- Desserts
Words like crispy, fried, buttered, creamed, smothered, sautéed, breaded, au gratin, scalloped, hollandaise, béarnaise, alfredo, or batter dipped.
Examples for Eating Out:
Eating at noodles and Company
You could order Or You Could order
Wisconsin Mac and Cheese-Regular-980 calories. Regular Med Salad W/ Chicken-370 cal
Small chicken Noodle Soup-180 Calories Chicken Noodle Soup-110 cal
Medium Coke-150 calories water-0 cal
Total=1310 calories Total-480 cal
Eating at Chipotle
You could order Or You could Order
Flour tortilla – 320 calories Romaine lettuce – 10 calories
4 oz. chicken – 180 calories 4 oz. chicken – 180 calories
4 oz. white rice – 210 calories 4 oz. black beans – 130 calories
4 oz. black beans – 130 calories 4 oz. pinto beans – 130 calories
2.5 oz. fajita vegetables and salsa – 45 calories 2.5 oz. fajita veggies and salsa – 45 cal
1 oz. cheese and 2 oz. sour cream – 220 calories 12 oz. Diet Coke – 0 calories
16 oz. Coca-Cola – 190 calories Total = 495 calories
Total = 1,295 calories