We all have our favorite restaurants that we will frequent on multiple occasions. Eating outside the home is lots of fun for several reasons including:
- The food tends to taste better than the stuff we make on our own at home
- The “dining experience” creates a departure from the daily norm of eating at our kitchen tables
- We do not have to prepare the food; it is brought to us
- There are many choices on the menus
- We do NOT need to clean up after we eat
The types of restaurants we go to include the following cuisines:
- “American food” i.e. diner type foods of meatloaf, salmon, sandwiches, burgers, salads, all day breakfast foods
- Italian restaurants featuring pastas, lasagna, chicken/veal parmigiana, shrimp/scallops over pasta etc
- Steak/seafood houses offering an array of (very expensive) filet. NY strip, ribeye, lobster etc.
- Mexican themed restaurants offering tacos, burritos, chimichangas, etc
- Japanese steak houses
- Pizza places
- Sub shops
- Fast food burger places
Clearly, when a person is in a weight-losing mode, the choice of restaurants will impact the scale. With protein and vegetables being your major “friends” i.e. being compatible with weight control and conversely, carbs being derailing, the restaurants that focus on protein and vegetables are the ones you should select. Going to a Mexican restaurants, and having the chips and salsa, the Marguerita that is on special, a chimichanga with cheese, rice and beans and then fried ice cream for dessert can basically ruin your entire week of diligent weight control efforts.
The steak and seafood restaurants offer an abundance of salads, steaks, fish and seafood. Bypassing the bread basket and dessert will further enhance your weight control efforts. Fast food places and sub sandwich franchises? Avoid them at all costs.
Dining out is fun and rewards us for our hard work during the week. However, be prudent about your restaurant choices if you would like to be at a healthy and happy weight.
And the last Italian restaurant we went to had background music featuring Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Here is one of the Dino songs we heard.
