Tips For Eating Out As A Family
How often do you eat out? Do your children always eat at home? We know that maintaining a healthy diet is easier when we prepare food at home. But sometime you will have to eat out as a family.
Here are some suggestions for choosing the best options from those available. You will see that choosing the healthiest alternatives is easy. By following our advice, you will be able to improve your health without giving up a varied and rich meal.
Choose a place with varied options
If you are going to eat out as a family, try to choose a place with a wide menu. Obviously children will prefer to eat in a fast food restaurant but they can, but go to a normal restaurant.
The best option may be those places with a buffet-style menu. Of course, make sure it is not thematic. For example, pasta buffet because it is not healthy that 60% of what they eat is pasta. Make sure there are options with vegetables, fruits, meats and cereals.
Order or serve a variety of preparations
If you chose a classic restaurant to eat out, just order foods similar to those they prepare at home. If you opted for a buffet-style restaurant, you must be careful not to overindulge with poorly nutritious foods or fall short with healthy ones.
Something that works perfectly is to divide the plate as follows:
- ½ of a plate for vegetables. If it is possible that they are cooked or steamed, the better. If this cannot be controlled, at least it is necessary to avoid that they are fried or in preparations with a lot of fat.
- ¼ plate for carbohydrates. It is essential to note that there are options and choose what you like best: a serving of pasta, mashed potatoes, French fries, etc.
- ¼ plate for protein. You will usually find protein cooked with some vegetables or carbohydrates. You can choose the options with vegetables if possible.
- Do not forget to drink plain water or fresh flavored water made with natural fruit instead of soft drinks.
This composition of the dish falls within the method called the Harvard dish, which can be included in what is known as the Mediterranean diet. This type of diet has been shown to be beneficial for health in the medium and long term.
Be careful with the desserts!
Your kids will probably be wanting to eat out for dessert. It is a good idea to let them eat something as long as it is not their main meal or in excess. To make sure everyone has eaten healthy, you can make it a rule to finish the previous dish first.
If you eat in a restaurant, choose desserts made with fruit, natural yogurt and other natural elements. Jellies, chopped fruit, or fruit with yogurt are good options.
Remember that the consumption of fruits is beneficial for health. Research published in the International Journal of Epidemiology ensures that the intake of these vegetables is associated with lower mortality from all causes.
In the case of being in a buffet restaurant, your children will surely see some desserts that are too high in calories. A good trick is to balance fruit or vegetables like grated carrot with lemon with a small slice of the cake they saw.
Eating healthy at the movies?
In addition to eating out with the family, they can find outings to the movies. Some tips to make your family relaxing time healthier are:
- Choose natural or butter popcorn and avoid chocolate or caramel popcorn. The first two options are healthier because they do not use sugar or preservatives. Although butter ones should be the last option, they are still an alternative.
- Water or low calorie soda before regular soda. Ideally, choose only water but if you want some flavor it can be low calorie soda. The normal we better put aside.
- Natural snacks instead of sweets. Most cinemas have an area where you can buy seeds and natural sweets such as peanuts, pistachios, walnuts or dried fruits. It is preferable to choose something from there than chocolates, ice creams and other sweets that are too high in sugar.
Eat healthy at fast food restaurants
When eating out with the family, sometimes you crave to go to a fast food restaurant. In this case, try to follow the rules of a healthy dish.
In most restaurants there are already salad options, but avoid dressings because they contain a lot of sugar and salt. Complement with the hamburger or pizza of your choice and water or low calorie soda.
Fast food restaurants are the more complicated alternative. To begin with, your children will want to order exactly what is the least healthy on the menu. Also, finding good healthy options is not easy.
With these tips for eating out as a family, we are sure that you will be able to maintain everyone’s health even when you cannot cook yourself.
