Healthy eating when dining out

Its summertime and many are going on vacation, we know how to eat healthy at home, but we need help when it comes to transferring our knowledge into vacation mode.  Eating healthy can be difficult to maneuver, but if you think about your “diet” as a lifestyle it makes eating out that much easier. 

When I work with clients, I talk a lot about planning.  Planning for the day or the week until it becomes a habit.  This task is a lot easier if you are just going out to dinner because you are just planning for one meal, vacations take a little more work but can be done.  My last vacation, I took the kids to Disney.  While Disney is magical and a great experience for the kids, it is extremely hard to eat healthy, especially inside the parks. 

I thought I would offer some tips to keep up the healthy eating even while dining out. 

1. Planning is key – before we left I made sure that I brought snacks for the airplane.  Some fruit, cut up veggies, a bag of raw nuts and some snack bars.  Having these ensured that we weren’t going to just grab anything because we were hungry.  I also made sure I had these same items for the trip home.   
2. Scout out the area ahead of time – check out the restaurants ahead of time, call them to see how they can accommodate you. See how far the local health food store is from where you are staying.   I rented a car in Disney so that I could make a run to Whole foods and buy some healthy snacks when my supply ran out.  Keeping this supply minimizes the junk when you are out and about. 
3. Ask your servers questions and let them know exactly what you want.  Being vegan I do this ALL the time and it got worse when I was following a food sensitivity diet.  I have never had an issue at any restaurant we’ve been to with my “special diet” requests.  
4. Portion out your food  - When I go out to dinner, as soon as the food arrives I portion out more than half and put it in a to go container.  I usually bring my own container because I don’t like the possibility of the restaurant putting my food into a plastic or Styrofoam container.  When we are on vacation, I order a smaller portion or share with my kids.  
5.  Salads are great options – Salad for lunch or dinner is light and filling, just make sure to go easy on the dressing and stick with a vinaigrette dressing.  

Just because you are on vacation doesn’t mean that you can’t eat healthy and have fun so keep these tips in mind next time you go out to eat or on vacation!