When at a restaurant, read the descriptions on the menu carefully and learn to read between the lines. Cooking techniques and ingredients can make all the difference. Try to pinpoint healthful cooking methods, such as foods that are baked, grilled, broiled, or roasted. And look for vegetables in the recipe title or description — tomato sauce versus cream sauce, for example. With our ordering tips and practical tactics in your back pocket, you'll be making smart choices in no time. Mangia!
Just for Starters
Starting with a healthful small soup or salad can help you eat less overall. This strategy also gives you something to nibble if your meal mates are feasting on garlic bread or fried mozzarella sticks. For soup, may we suggest the vegetable-rich variety? And for salad, select the house or another small green salad, with the dressing on the side. If you choose oil and vinegar, go heavier on the vinegar and lighter on the oil.
Use Your Noodle
Pasta has suffered some hard knocks during the recent low-carb mania. But there's no need to erase pasta from your list of healthful foods. Mary M. Austin, M.A., R.D., CDE, immediate past president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), and a full-blooded Italian, suggests: "If you order pasta, be prepared to share it. Most restaurant portions are at least two cups, which may be more carbohydrate than your eating plan recommends." Pasta is made mainly from enriched flour and water, so the calories come from carbohydrate and a little protein, not from fat. However, when you choose stuffed pasta, especially one that's filled with cheese, the fat content can soar. It might help you to know that 1 cup of cooked pasta contains about 30 grams of carbohydrate or two carb choices. The bottom line? When you order pasta, select an unstuffed shape, opt for an appetizer portion, or share an order, then top it with a low-fat sauce.
Sauce Smartly
Topping pasta with a healthful sauce can have dramatic results. According to the book Restaurant Confidential, an average serving of spaghetti with red or white clam sauce can have about 900 calories and 26 grams of fat, compared to an average serving of fettuccine Alfredo at 1,500 calories and 97 grams of fat. And, even though it's lower in calories and fat, you should still split the spaghetti.
Pizza by the Slice
Pizza can be a healthful restaurant meal or takeout food, as long as you take steps to trim the fat and serving size. Control portions by ordering the right number of slices — about two per person. Just so you're not tempted, don't let slices linger in front of you. Box up the extras when the pizza first arrives. For toppers, the more vegetables the merrier — go wild with onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, or spinach. Skip such high-fat toppers as extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage, or meatballs. For the crust, thin is in. Choose thin-crust pizza (whole wheat if available) and avoid deep-dish or stuffed pizza. And to make sure you have something else to nibble besides pizza, order a side salad.
Smart Strategies
Split and Share
Kevin Dunn, a chef who has type 2 diabetes, says, "portions are challenge number one because there's often enough food served on our plates to feed a family in Italy for two days." Control portions from the time you place your order. Order one pasta entrée and share it. What do you do if no one wants to split a meal and you don't want to take some home? Dunn suggests you "skip the main course and order a soup, salad, or a low-fat appetizer."
Connect the Numbers
The most difficult part of reading a menu is not knowing the nutrition profiles of the foods you're ordering. Ask your waiter for the carbohydrate, saturated fat, and calorie count of veal parmigiana at your neighborhood Italian restaurant, and more than likely, you'll find it's not available. But the nutrition lowdown for your favorite fast-food joint is at your fingertips on their Web sites or at the restaurants themselves. This is true for many national chains. Use these counts to make estimates for similar dishes in restaurants that don't tell all.
10 Wise Ways to Order
1.Set a one-slice limit on bread for yourself. Then send the basket across the table or back to the kitchen.
2.Skip the butter. Dip bread into olive oil or enjoy it plain. Say no to buttery garlic bread and focaccia.
3.Order a side salad and request olive oil and vinegar on the side.
4.Fill up, not out, on a bowl of broth- or bean-base soup.
5.Consider a combo of soup, salad, and/or low-fat appetizer instead of an entrée. Request one of these as your main course.
6. Want pasta? Ask for the appetizer portion.
7. Choose marinara sauce instead of olive oil to top your pasta side dish.
8. Get a leftover box when your meal is delivered. Wrap up your planned leftovers before you dig in.
9. Splurge on dessert once in a while, but split it at least in half.
10. End the meal with a demitasse of espresso with a little sweetener.
Just for Starters
Starting with a healthful small soup or salad can help you eat less overall. This strategy also gives you something to nibble if your meal mates are feasting on garlic bread or fried mozzarella sticks. For soup, may we suggest the vegetable-rich variety? And for salad, select the house or another small green salad, with the dressing on the side. If you choose oil and vinegar, go heavier on the vinegar and lighter on the oil.
Use Your Noodle
Pasta has suffered some hard knocks during the recent low-carb mania. But there's no need to erase pasta from your list of healthful foods. Mary M. Austin, M.A., R.D., CDE, immediate past president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), and a full-blooded Italian, suggests: "If you order pasta, be prepared to share it. Most restaurant portions are at least two cups, which may be more carbohydrate than your eating plan recommends." Pasta is made mainly from enriched flour and water, so the calories come from carbohydrate and a little protein, not from fat. However, when you choose stuffed pasta, especially one that's filled with cheese, the fat content can soar. It might help you to know that 1 cup of cooked pasta contains about 30 grams of carbohydrate or two carb choices. The bottom line? When you order pasta, select an unstuffed shape, opt for an appetizer portion, or share an order, then top it with a low-fat sauce.
Sauce Smartly
Topping pasta with a healthful sauce can have dramatic results. According to the book Restaurant Confidential, an average serving of spaghetti with red or white clam sauce can have about 900 calories and 26 grams of fat, compared to an average serving of fettuccine Alfredo at 1,500 calories and 97 grams of fat. And, even though it's lower in calories and fat, you should still split the spaghetti.
Pizza by the Slice
Pizza can be a healthful restaurant meal or takeout food, as long as you take steps to trim the fat and serving size. Control portions by ordering the right number of slices — about two per person. Just so you're not tempted, don't let slices linger in front of you. Box up the extras when the pizza first arrives. For toppers, the more vegetables the merrier — go wild with onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, or spinach. Skip such high-fat toppers as extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage, or meatballs. For the crust, thin is in. Choose thin-crust pizza (whole wheat if available) and avoid deep-dish or stuffed pizza. And to make sure you have something else to nibble besides pizza, order a side salad.
Smart Strategies
Split and Share
Kevin Dunn, a chef who has type 2 diabetes, says, "portions are challenge number one because there's often enough food served on our plates to feed a family in Italy for two days." Control portions from the time you place your order. Order one pasta entrée and share it. What do you do if no one wants to split a meal and you don't want to take some home? Dunn suggests you "skip the main course and order a soup, salad, or a low-fat appetizer."
Connect the Numbers
The most difficult part of reading a menu is not knowing the nutrition profiles of the foods you're ordering. Ask your waiter for the carbohydrate, saturated fat, and calorie count of veal parmigiana at your neighborhood Italian restaurant, and more than likely, you'll find it's not available. But the nutrition lowdown for your favorite fast-food joint is at your fingertips on their Web sites or at the restaurants themselves. This is true for many national chains. Use these counts to make estimates for similar dishes in restaurants that don't tell all.
10 Wise Ways to Order
1.Set a one-slice limit on bread for yourself. Then send the basket across the table or back to the kitchen.
2.Skip the butter. Dip bread into olive oil or enjoy it plain. Say no to buttery garlic bread and focaccia.
3.Order a side salad and request olive oil and vinegar on the side.
4.Fill up, not out, on a bowl of broth- or bean-base soup.
5.Consider a combo of soup, salad, and/or low-fat appetizer instead of an entrée. Request one of these as your main course.
6. Want pasta? Ask for the appetizer portion.
7. Choose marinara sauce instead of olive oil to top your pasta side dish.
8. Get a leftover box when your meal is delivered. Wrap up your planned leftovers before you dig in.
9. Splurge on dessert once in a while, but split it at least in half.
10. End the meal with a demitasse of espresso with a little sweetener.
