How to Eat Clean at Restaurants

If you are trying to eat a clean diet, don't think that you can't go out with your friends and family and enjoy a great restaurant meal. All it takes is some planning ahead, an understanding of menu terminology and some willpower and you are good to go!

The good thing is that most restaurants' menus are now available online, and so are the calories for each dish. Sometimes you will be shocked at the calorie content for things that sound healthy! Some salads are more than 1,000 calories, and a "healthy" grilled chicken sandwich can easily top that at some places. So before you go to any restaurant, look up the menu online, and preselect what you are going to order. Things to take into consideration include the total calories, calories from fat, and grams of sugar.  Find a few things that might fit into your plan, and then see if you can modify it to make it even better.

For example, you can order a salad with oil and vinegar on the side, and most likely reduce the calories and fat by up to 70%. Or you can order your sandwich with no cheese, no mayonnaise and on whole wheat instead of grilled sourdough. Don't be afraid to special order! Let your server know up front that you will be requesting substitutions, but that you are a good tipper! If you give them a good tip for their efforts, they are most happy to accommodate your wishes.

If you aren't able to see the menu beforehand, there are some simple guidelines to look for.

Avoid:

Fried, au gratin, braised, buttered, creamed, escalloped

Hollandaise, cheese, or cream sauce

In gravy, pan-fried or -roasted, rich, in butter sauce.

Look for:

Baked, broiled, grilled

Poached, roasted, steamed

In its own juice, garden fresh

If you aren't sure about the sauce, ask for it on the side. Stick to veggies and salad as your sides, and don't be afraid to request no butter.  That alone can save you up to 200 calories on your plate! Pass on the bread basket-- all you will do is fill up your stomach with simple carbohydrates, causing a blood sugar spike and limiting your appetite for healthy, nutritious food.  Instead, start your meal off with a dinner salad topped with olive oil and vinegar or a broth based soup.

Portions in most restaurants are more than three times the size that they were 30 years ago. Ask for them to serve you half of your entrée, and to bring the other half in a to-go container so you can take it home. Bam! You are less likely to overeat, AND you have dinner for tomorrow! Double score!

What about fast food? You know there are times when you are rushing home from your kids' soccer practice, it's already 7:00, there is still homework to be done and showers to be taken, and the only thing there is time for is the drive through. Does that mean you need to shrug it off as impossible to eat clean? No! Most fast food restaurants have semi-decent options if you find yourself with no other option.

El Pollo Loco is one of my personal favorites. Their two piece chicken meal with all white meat chicken is delicious. You can order it with boneless, skinless chicken, or I prefer to order it the regular way and take the skin off myself (it is much juicier and tastier that way). You can get it with two sides, so I get a side salad and steamed veggies. Add in a corn tortilla and some salsa, and you have a well balanced, yummy meal!







Chick-Fil-A also has some good options. Their grilled chicken salad is yummy, and their grilled chicken sandwich on whole wheat with no added sauces is delicious. They even offer a side salad or fresh fruit cup as a side, instead of French fries. Now that's what I'm talking about!


 

 

Wendy's has a great side salad as well, and their cup of chili is actually very low fat and low calorie, and tastes delicious. Together you have your protein and your complex carbohydrates-- a great option (just don't get a soda!)

Panera Bread is another great option for quick on-the-go meals. I love Panera's Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad, offered in the summer months, with a cup of their low-fat vegetable soup with pesto. Panera also allows you to choose an apple for a side, and for kids they even offer an organic yogurt side dish! Another great thing about Panera's menu is that the calories are prominently displayed in the restaurants, leaving very little to ponder. Just avoid the very tempting question, "would you like to add a pastry to your order for only 99 cents?"



What about when you are out and about for breakfast? As you have probably heard a million times, it is extremely important to eat breakfast. If you had to leave the house in a rush and forgot to grab something, don't skip breakfast all together. But don't use it as an excuse to get an 800 calorie coffee drink or a donut, either.  One of my favorite fast food breakfasts the Spinach Feta Eggwhite Wrap from Starbucks. It is a whole wheat tortilla wrapped around egg whites, spinach, roasted red peppers, and feta cheese. It is delicious, and with only 290 calories, including 6 grams of fiber and 19 grams of protein, it will keep you fueled up for hours. If you do decide to grab a drink with that, opt for a non-fat latte or iced green tea, unsweetened.


As you can see, if you choose wisely, you are never too busy or in too much of a rush to eat healthy! So stop making those excuses and keep on choosing to live a healthy life, regardless of the circumstances you face!

Eating Clean Rules to Live By

“Eating Clean” means eating foods that are as close to their natural state as possible, while avoiding processed or genetically modified foods. For example, Pepsi, Doritos, and Oreos do not occur in nature - they are processed and made in a plant. Broccoli, apples, chicken and brown rice - these things grow in nature. By eating clean, you are ridding your body of chemicals and preservatives that were never meant to be there in the first place. Toxins hide in our body fat and make it harder for us to lose the weight. Eating clean rids our body of these toxins, literally detoxing our body naturally, fueling our body with the nutrients we need, which in turn revs our metabolism, and allows our bodies to let go of the weight.  In short - if you're buying something that is in a box, or a bag, flip it over and read the ingredients. My rule of thumb is - if you can't pronounce the ingredients and have no idea what it is - put it back where you found it, and step away.  Also, try to find packaged foods that have 5 or fewer ingredients. Usually, the longer the list of ingredients, the more likely there are lots of preservatives and artificial crap that is best to avoid.  Fresh food is best, frozen next, canned is last.

So let's get down to business. I'll touch on each principal more in the future during our challenge, but these are the basics.

Here's what to do:

1. EAT MORE OFTEN! (yes it's true) Eat 5 - 6 times a day, spaced about 2.5 - 3 hours apart. I know, this may freak you out at first. I was also scared to do this, thinking that eating more often would make it harder to lose weight. But the opposite happened! I ended up never feeling hungry, because I never let myself go too long without eating. My metabolism definitely sped up, and I also found myself with fewer drops in energy due to low blood sugar.  A good rule of thumb is to eat breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner, and then another snack if needed before bed.

2. Eat Breakfast EVERY DAY - within one hour of rising, if possible.  Shakeology counts as breakfast, if you choose to have it in the morning.

3. Eat a combination of lean protein and complex carbohydrates at each meal. Complex carbohydrates include fruits, veggies, and whole grains. So an example of this would be eggs with peppers and mushrooms, or salad topped with grilled chicken, or a snack of almonds and an apple.

4. Eat sufficient (two to three servings) healthy fats every day. Examples of healthy (unsaturated) fats include olive oil, nuts, avocado, coconut.

5. Drink enough water each day. Ideally, you should consume half of your body weight in ounces each day. At a minimum, drink 2 liters. It is especially important to rehydrate after exercise.

6. Carry a cooler packed with clean foods. Doing so ensures you aren't stuck somewhere - at work, in traffic, etc - without a healthy option and have to sit there starving and miserable, or worse - getting something out of the vending machine.  At the very least, keep a snack in your purse/glove compartment, such as nuts and dried fruit or a Lara Bar (my favorite kind of bar—only 5 all natural ingredients and nothing else!)

7. Depend on fresh fruits and vegetables for fiber, vitamins, nutrients, and enzymes.

8. Adhere to proper portion sizes.



 

 

Here's what to AVOID:

1. Avoid all over-processed foods, particularly white flour and sugar. Do you know why it's white? Because they've stripped it of all its vitamins and nutrients! There's literally NO good reason to have it. Also, anything that says “enriched wheat flour” means it is not really wheat! They had to “enrich” it because it was first stripped of anything good, then they had to artificially put it back in.

2. Avoid chemically charged foods. If you can't pronounce it/never heard of it - put it down!

3. Avoid foods containing preservatives. Who needs something with a shelf life of a year?! That does not seem like "real" food to me.

4. Avoid artificial sugars. Put down the Sweet & Low, Equal, Splenda and everything else that is cooked up by chemists. Choose Stevia, 100% real maple syrup, honey, or Agave Nectar to sweeten your coffee or tea. These things occur in nature and that's what you want!

5. Avoid artificial foods like processed cheese slices.

6. Avoid saturated and trans fats.

7. Avoid sugar loaded drinks like sodas and juices and fancy coffee drinks.

8. Avoid - or do your best to limit - alcoholic beverages. Drinking wine before bed every night does nothing but halt your body from burning fat. Alcohol contains a ton of sugar, so it acts like a piece of cake in your body. Save it for once in a while - you will see a difference if you cut out regular alcohol intake.

9.Avoid all calorie dense food containing little to no nutritional value. These are anti-foods!  Think of food as fuel, and remember that whatever you are eating should be giving your body something that it needs.

10. Avoid "super -sizing" anything. Eat smaller meals more often throughout the day and avoid eating all of your calories at once - your body can't burn a ton of calories all at once, especially if you've hardly eaten all day - making your metabolism sluggish, and you'll store most of that huge meal as fat!

I know that at first, this list can seem very overwhelming, especially if you are new to eating this way. I want you to know that you do not have to immediately change everything in your diet to follow this 100% (although you certainly can, if you feel up to it!). If that is too daunting of a task, no problem. Take it one baby step at a time. Pick one thing that you think you can change right now. Maybe it’s cutting out soda, or switching to Stevia in your coffee.  Perhaps you can try to eat 5 times per day instead of 2. Whatever you choose, make a commitment to stick to that new change for a week, and then add on another change the following week. Before long, you will be eating clean!

As always please ask me if you have any questions or need ideas for healthy meals!!! I am here for you!