Life Begun

Eating out and eating healthy is like saying, I want to go somewhere warm, take to me the ice-rink! However, there are some tricks you can use if you want to save yourself a few extra pounds on the scale. Here are some things to consider when eating out.

Photo by Selva

Before I get into specifics, though, there are a few basic rules you should keep in mind when trying to pick healthy fast foods. Remember that good options include:

• The smallest size of burger
• Grilled chicken sandwiches or salads
• Low-fat dressings and sauces (or none at all)
• Drink water

A few things to avoid:

• Super sizes of anything
• Fried or breaded chicken or fish
• Chicken nuggets
• High-fat sauces and dressings
• Onion rings
• Extra cheese

Lose anything that is fried, just lose it. Yes, French fries are the devils finger food, and oh my are they good, but nothing adds to your waistline like some fried starch. Instead, opt for a baked potato, or a salad if the establishment offers that.
Hold the cheese! Cheese can add as much as 150 calories and 10 grams of fat per slice! Yikes! Not, to mention that it really doesn’t hold any nutritional value to your hamburger, so let the cheese slide buddy.

Milkshakes, no way Jose. Not only are most of them not REAL ice cream, but they are loaded with sugar, sugar and more sugar.

Whatever you do, do not drink sodas! There are so many calories here that it will scare you! Even juice still has a lot of calories. Drink water if at all possible, and if you want to drink alcohol check out our guide to fat in alcohol before you make your choice.

Photo by Ainisa

Here is an example of a decent meal on the run: In-N-Out hamburger with NO cheese, light sauce. Share the fries and wash it down with a mineral water. This meal runs about 460 calories with a limited amount of fat and almost zero sugar. Definitely a better choice than anything else out there.