Tips for Eating at Restaurants

  

Do you find it hard to healthy items on the menu at a restaurant? Below are a few tips to help you make better choices.

1.  Really read the menu. Avoid dishes that are fried, breaded, creamy, dipped in batter or sauce. These items are usually high in calories and unhealthy fats. Look for words such as "steamed"or "broiled" or "boiled". Choose tomato based sauces over cream sauces. Don't be afraid to ask how something is prepared if you aren't sure from the menu description.

2. Don't be afraid to ask the waiter/waitress to have the kitchen hold the sauce or put it on the side. Many dressings and sauces are high in fat and calories. By having the sauce or dressing on the side, you are in control of how much to add.

3. Many dishes wouldn't be so unhealthy if they were better prepared. Special order and ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for "no butter" or to have something steamed rather than deep fried. Too often a side order of broccoli or spinach with be served swimming in butter or sauces which makes your healthy veggie not so healthy.

4.  Remember to take your time eating. Chew your food and enjoy every bite. It takes about 20 minutes before your brain gets the message from your stomach that you are full.  Put down your fork between bites and talk with family/friends.


5. Order water over sodas and juices. Don't drink your calories! Most sodas and juices are loaded with sugar and calories.


6. Some restaurants have a "healthy" section on their menus. Usually these items have less fat/calories, are better prepared or are just smaller portions. Try to choose from this section but don't be afraid to still ask questions or make a special request.

Happy Eating!

Don't Skip Breakfast!

Photo: Maria Q

I almost never skip breakfast, even when I am in a hurry.

When I have skipped breakfast in the past, I am light-headed and have trouble concentrating. Eating breakfast usually means that a person will take in less calories over the course of the day. It's also been shown that people who regularly make a point to eat breakfast are about 30% less likely to be overweight. So now that it's been established that breakfast is an important meal, what should it consist of?


Try to eat breakfast at home. Eggs and veggies are a great combo and should keep you satisfied until lunch. Many mornings I opt for a large bowl of fruit. I like to include banana, pear, apple, strawberries and blueberries. I sprinkle crushed walnuts on top of this colorful bowl for an extra crunch that is filled with Omega 3's. This works great for me but I have some clients that prefer oatmeal or cereal. Choose cereals with a short, wholesome ingredient list (5 or less ingredients), low sugar and some fiber. Sprinkle blueberries and walnuts on top and you have a great meal.

photo: Maria Q

If you have must grab breakfast on the run, keep the following in mind. Fancy coffee drinks often have over 500 calories and are loaded with fat and sugar. Yogurt/granola combos often have 50-60g of sugar and 15g or more of fat! Donuts often contain over 20g of fat, 350 calories and 12g of sugar. A bagel and cream cheese breakfast can contain over 500 calories and provide enough carbs for more than half the day and over 15g of fat. What about muffins? Well, let's just say that muffins are basically cake in a cute round shape.

Eat breakfast! You will feel better and consume less throughout the day!

A Bread Worth Buying

I don’t buy bread very often but when I do, I like fresh bread made from quality ingredients. I tend to opt for fresh bread from the bakery since most breads in the supermarket today have a long list of ingredients. Making your own bread is probably best but if you don’t have the time, there is hope at the grocery store. I am happy to report that I found bread at Garden of Eden on 23^rd Street in Chelsea, NYC that is made with only a few ingredients. The brand is called Calandra’s Bakery. I bought the whole wheat bread tonight and was pleasantly surprised to find only 4 ingredients! Stone ground whole wheat flour, purified water, salt and yeast. That is it! How does it taste? Delicious! And cost? Under $4 a loaf. The only downside is that the bread only stays fresh a few days. 

If you eat bread and don’t have time to bake your own, give Calandra’s line of breads a try.

A Little Planning Goes A Long Way!

A little planning can go a long way when it comes to eating healthy.

Most of us are too busy with work and family during the weekdays to be able to come up with quick healthy meals. Here are a few hints.

When you grocery shop, make sure you shop for the week if possible and not just for that evening’s meal. I like to buy all of the veggies and fruits for the week on Sunday and about once every few weeks buy chicken. I usually buy some 15-20 chicken breasts and clean, marinade and cut them into portion size containers that I freeze. Then during the week as I use a container of chicken from the fridge, I pull out another from the freezer. This is a great way to always have some meat ready to throw into a salad, stew or stir -fry.

Another idea if you have a family or crazy schedule is to make a couple dishes on the weekend such as a stew or chili that can be eaten throughout the week. Stews and chilis are great because you can eat them over rice or quinoa or with veggies and create a little variety throughout the week. You can even freeze some of the chili/stew to use in future weeks.

One misconception that some people have is that healthy meals have to be complicated or time consuming to prepare. Not so. Sometimes for dinner I throw together three veggies such as cauliflower, broccoli and squash into a steamer and then sautee the prepared chicken with some nice olive oil and garlic. I like to brown the chicken a tiny bit and then add the veggies and mix it all together. I then squeeze a lemon over the dish and perfection! This dish is easy, healthy and fast to throw together. If I am out of meat or don’t feel like eating meat, an omelette stuffed with veggies is always a healthy, quick option as well!

Make a list, plan and see how less stressful preparing meals during the week can be!

Bon Appetit! 

All Calories Are Not Created Equal

Do you count your calories?

It’s a good idea to learn approximately how many calories are in the foods we eat but I believe that counting calories is not such a great idea. First, most people underestimate the amount of calories in

their food and tend to not be able to accurately determine what a serving size is. In the end, although they are counting calories with all the best intentions, the numbers could be way off. 

Another issue that I have with people wanting to count calories is that I don’t think it is sustainable over a long period of time. I have met very few people that could do this for more than a few days. People tend to either quit after a couple days or get obsessed with calories when in reality they should be caring more about what kinds of food they are eating and NOT the number calories in the food. All calories are NOT created equal.

Which foods you choose to get your calories from will determine how full you get and also whether the calories will be used quickly by the body or stored as fat. When you eat empty calories (calories with little or no nutrients), your body usually begins to crave the missing nutrients. This often leads to overeating. Protein and foods high in fiber will keep you satiated longer. Foods that are mostly sugar lead to an increase in insulin and fat to be deposited into your body. 400 calories from donuts are not the same as 400 calories from a turkey and veggie omelette. As I said before, all calories are not created equal.

Sugar covered deep fried donuts.

2 egg omelette with turkey and veggies.

 Text and Photos by Maria

Cooking at Home

We all know that preparing meals at home is the way to go. It’s the only way to know what ingredients are being used. When dining in a restaurant, there is no way to really know how much oil is being used to cook the meal or what kind of oil they are using. What kind of ingredients do they use? How much salt are they adding? Basically, what you eat is in the hands of someone in the kitchen. Kind of a scary thought if you want to eat healthy.

So, yes… meals at home is the way to go, but if you aren’t cooking from scratch or using wholesome whole ingredients, you may be defeating the whole purpose of a “home cooked meal”. We all know that microwaved TV dinners aren’t healthy, but many people don’t realize that things like Hamburger Helper or other meal preparation aids are probably worse than eating out. They assume it’s just a few spices and don’t bother to read the label. Did you know that Hamburger Helper contains trans fats, food colorings, MSG and some other preservatives that I can’t pronounce? The list is really long and pretty surprising.

If you are cooking a meat dish and want to add some flavor, use spices like dried oregano, garlic powder, parsley flakes and dried basil. Adding a homemade tomato sauce is also a great way to give meat more flavor as well.  Don’t rely on the quick meal helpers like Hamburger Helper. Be creative and experiment. Search online for recipes and always take time at the grocery store to read the food label. 

Happy Cooking!

Sodium. How Much Is Too Much?

Salt. I used to add it to almost everything. Then I started to cook at home more and use less salt and sure enough, my taste buds changed. Now when I go to restaurants, I usually can’t order the soup or anything with sauce. It’s almost always way too salty.

The RDA of sodium for adults is 2400mg. This number should be reduced to 1500mg a day for individuals with high blood pressure, African Americans or anyone over the age of 40.  This sounds reasonable, but how much IS 2400mg of sodium?

One teaspoon of table salt has about 2300mg of Sodium! One teaspoon of soy sauce has about 300mg. How much sodium does Denny’s Lumberjack Slam Breakfast contain? Almost 4500mg of sodium! And that is before most customers add even more salt to the eggs or potatoes. Scary. 1 cup of chicken soup usually has between 850-1200mg of sodium, sometimes more. I guess it should come as no surprise that Americans consume on average over 3400mg a day.

What can you do?

Read labels and compare products. It seems logical that if you are buying something, let’s say Ricotta cheese, that most of the brands will have about the same amount of sodium, right? Nope. Safeway’s Ricotta cheese has more than double the amount of sodium as Sargento’s Ricotta cheese! I was surprised, so I started to pay more attention to the sodium content for the same food made by different brands. What I found was that the amount of sodium varied dramatically.

I encourage my clients to stay away from frozen meals because of the long ingredient lists, preservatives and high sodium content. Here is an example of taking in over 2 days of sodium in one meal. Swanson’s Hungry Man Turkey Dinner has over 5400mg of sodium!

The best bet if you want to reduce your sodium intake is to cook meals at home and stay away from packaged foods and restaurant made meals. When grocery shopping, check labels and always compare products.

Sodium in moderate amounts is fine, but what most Americans consider “normal” or “moderate” is usually around 3400mg of sodium a day. Wow! Not only is that well above the RDA, it is almost 3 times what the American Heart Association recommends on their website.