Restaurant and takeaway food can vary enormously. Sometimes you have little choice but to go with a high fat meal, but in most cases, there are healthier options. Where the healthier options are less obvious on the menu, don’t be afraid to ask your waiter for simple changes, like vegies instead of chips, to make it a more nutritious meal.
Here are some tips when dining out or buying takeaway food.
Remove any visible excess fat from your meal, like the fat on a steak, the skin on chicken, the batter on fried fish, or the crumbs on fried schnitzel.
Choose grilled, steamed, poached, barbequed or stir fried foods over fried or deep fried foods.
Go for lean takeaway cuisine, like sushi, salad filled sandwiches and rolls, stir fried vegetables and seafood with rice, Vietnamese rice paper rolls and fresh fruit salad.
Ask the sandwich shop staff for lower fat or higher fibre sandwich options (e.g. request only a scraping of margarine and plenty of salad, or lean ham and only one slice of cheese, or wholemeal bread and no added salt).
Ask the restaurant waiter for boiled or jacket potatoes with your meal instead of chips, or perhaps steamed rice or pasta instead of potato wedges.
Alcohol contains lots of kilojoules, so go easy when dining out. Ask for a bottle of iced water and alternate your sips between the alcoholic drink and the water.
These days, many fast food restaurants provide nutrition information on the foods they sell. So next time you are there, look for (or ask for) the nutrition information to check out the fat and fibre content.