By Gavin Louis Uridel

Going out to eat a dinner while you are trying to watch your diet doesn’t have to be a nuisance or mind-boggling experience. It doesn’t have to throw a monkey wrench into your nutrition plan. You just have to follow a few guidelines and steps which will help you keep on track!

Chance favors a prepared mind!

Why leave your meal for the night up to chance? If you know you are going to be hitting a restaurant where the average calories are higher than your typical dinner, cut back a little bit on the calories throughout the day. This will give you some extra wiggle room at night.

Choose wisely Grasshopper.

Think about which restaurant you want to go to ahead of time. Think about what they have to offer on their menus and even take the opportunity to look up their menus on the restaurant website!

Make the perfect puzzle.

You want to make sure you have a good balance on your plate and not too much of one item over another. High carb and starch dishes like a pasta dinner with not much protein could yield a disproportionate amount of carbs.

Think about the restaurant lingo. Items that are steamed, baked, grilled etc. are typically better than fried, battered, crispy and so on.

Throw a side-salad into the mix and keep the dressing low-fat (a balsamic or red wine vinaigrette). You can try to replace higher starch sides (french fries) for sides like a salad.

Ask for your food to be cooked with no oil (or less oil) and/or no butter. Many restaurants soak their foods in this stuff. Make sure you try to keep your food “dry” when it comes to too much of these ingredients.

Pay attention to the calories of each meal. This falls under portion control. Often restaurants put way too much food on the plate. You can either separate the meal into two meals (save for tomorrow?) or order smaller meals.

Slow your Roll… or… chew.

The way your body works – it takes your brain longer to get the message that you are full. If you eat slower, you will give your brain a fighting chance to get the message that you are full… eating fast will cause you to eat quite possibly more food than is necessary.

To Bring the Kids… or not bring the kids… but why ask this question?

Bringing kids is usually a tough concern for parents – especially if the kids are picky eaters. Plus, you want to make sure your kids have healthy options.

This way your kids will have the benefit of having a nice menu for them to eat off.

As an added bonus, you will get the opportunity to order off a smaller portion size with foods from a healthy selection… most restaurants will have children substitutes – i.e., apples instead of french fries or carrots in place of cheese sticks

Your diet shouldn’t be daunting… and your fitness goals shouldn’t be a mission impossible. You should be able to go out, socialize and have fun with your friends, family and wife/husband. if you take a little time to plan ahead… you can accomplish this and live a more healthy and balanced lifestyle.