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Home › Articles › Nutrition and Your Health › Grab a Bite?

Grab a Bite?

Eating Heart-healthy When Dining Out

By Kelly Burgess

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When dining out, Laboranti offers the following heart-healthy advice:

  • Salads: Many of the biggest names in fast food now have terrific salads. One caveat: the dressings are VERY high in fat. However, most also offer a fat-free French or vinaigrette. Ask for those.
  • Burgers: Order a grilled chicken sandwich instead. Ask them to hold the condiments, since it's usually mayonnaise-based and use mustard instead. Get a baked potato or side salad instead of fries. Wendys offers baked potatoes and chili – both great low-fat alternatives to a sandwich and fries. Order the potato plain and top it with pepper and catsup. Or, dump a little chili on the potato and mix it up – it's quite good. If you must use one of the offered dressings, try just a dab of sour cream and extra chives.
  • Tacos: There isn't much good here simply because almost everything features tons of cheese which is high in saturated fat. If there is a rice bowl-type offering with chicken, that's a good choice, or any dish made with black beans. Avoid refried beans – they are high in fat. Also, chips with salsa, no cheese, are a better choice.
  • Pizza: Again, try to avoid cheese. Ask for a veggie pizza, light on the cheese or with no cheese at all and extra sauce. Sprinkle a bit of Parmesan over it at the table. Even better, order pasta with marinara sauce and skip the pizza altogether.

Sugar Portion Control

When asked for her advice on heart-healthy eating while eating out, Lynn Laboranti's first reaction had to do with how much we eat when we eat out. "It's almost inevitable to eat more when you go out, and, while we think of the quality of our food rather than the quantity when we think of heart health, the fact is that overeating very definitely affects the health of our hearts," says Laboranti. "Eating out is an enjoyable experience but portion sizes over the years have ballooned. It's simply not possible that people can even eat that much in one sitting and stay healthy."

To avoid overeating, Laboranti offers the following tips:

  • Split the meal. Often a restaurant will charge a nominal fee to split an entr裮 It's worth it.
  • Ask the waiter for a half portion, even if you have to pay for a full portion.
  • If the option of ordering from the lunch menu is still available at dinner, do so.
  • As soon as the entr裠is served ask the waiter for a "doggy bag." Immediately box up half the meal.


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