If you’re on a diet or concerned about your health, eating out in a restaurant presents many problems. Navigating restaurant menus can seem like trying to make your way through a calorie laden minefield, but with a a little knowledge and common sense, you can enjoy eating out while still maintaining your diet.
One of the biggest calorie traps in restaurants are fried items. Deep fried items, absorb oil as they are cooked. At 120 calories per tablespoon, excess oil in your food can make your calorie count go up very quickly. Instead of fried foods like french fries, opt for oven roasted or steamed alternatives like baked potato or steamed vegetables. Choosing items from the grill is also an healthy option.
A hidden source of extra calories in restaurants are salads. Salads may seem like a good idea. After all, salads are mainly composed of vegetables which are healthy for you. While the vegetable portions of salads are healthy, salad dressings may contain several hundreds of calories per serving. Mayonnaise based dressings and vinaigrette dressings have oil as their primary ingredient. To make matters worse, restaurants often overdress their salads, leaving 
the vegetables swimming in a pool of fattening dressing. Ask for your dressing on the side and choose a fat free option if possible. You can also just add a squeeze of lemon and forgo the dressing all together. Also, be careful about any toppings like nuts and proteins like meat that are calorie heavy.
By following these tips, eating out need not be an unhealthy experience. You can have your cake… make that sorbet…and eat it too.
