Tips for Dining Out

• If there are chips or bread on the table when you sit down, move them as far away from you as possible.  A single serving of high-fat tortilla chips fried in oil is over 500 calories, and those wonderful breads and rolls add up to quickly to hundreds of calories.  If your waiter or waitress tries to serve bread or chips, ask that he or she take your order and remove the chips or bread. 
• Order a salad with dark greens, not iceberg lettuce. Have as many things added to the salad as possible that provide taste without lots of extra calories, such as red peppers, green peppers, carrots, broccoli, or alfalfa sprouts.  You can have a big salad, just pass up the fat-filled dressings.  It really is possible to eat a vegetable salad with little to no salad dressing! Try it!
• Order a meat entree that is low in fat, such as chicken breast, white meat of turkey, white fish, seafood or lean meat cuts.  Portion size should be the "palm of your hand."
• Select at least two different colors of vegetables and make sure the size of the vegetable serving is at least twice the size of your protein serving (or 1/2 your plate).
• For dessert, order a bowl of mixed fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries and kiwi fruit.  If they are not available, "Well, you really don't need to have a dessert" and wait until you are home to have a snack of fresh fruit.