Today being Valentine’s Day, many couples end up going out for dinner.  But there are strategies that can lessen the calories one eats, whether it be at a Michelin 3-Star restaurant, or at McDonald’s, which will not unduly diminish the dining experience, yet leave one feeling less guilty after the meal.

First off, when making a reservation and picking a restaurant, I go online and look at the menu — even McDonald’s has their nutritional information online. What I am looking for is food choices that contain less calories, or can be modified to have less calories. Also, if the menu looks like it has too many high caloric dishes, I sometime end up looking for a restaurant with a broader menu.  First Rule of Thumb — anything with cream or cheese, is fatty, is fried, or breaded should be avoided. Second Rule of Thumb, if something would be associated with a comfort food, it has excess calories and should be avoided. Looking at the menu also provides the benefit of being able to think about and plan one’s meal, with an eye towards how to avoid foods high in calories.

So for example, say you are at a steak house, and want to have a steak, go towards leaner cuts like London Broil, Fillet Mignon, or Sirloin, and stay away from Prime Rib. Also, ask to have the meat without any sauces, like Bearnaise Sauce, and instead top the meat with Balsamic Vinegar, or if you are craving a sauce, have it on the side in a small container. Also, get the smaller cut of meat instead of the King Cut, going for the 8 oz cut instead of the 16 oz cut. Moreover, instead of Cream Spinach, get Steamed Broccoli, or Grilled Asparagus. For your salad, have oil and vinegar, instead of Ranch or Blue Cheese, and for dessert, have Fresh Fruit instead of Carrot or Chocolate Cake. Also, wine has a lot of calories, so instead just have water (maybe with some lemon for flavor), or unsweetened ice tea. You should also stay away from the bread and butter, and if you want potatoes, only get it baked (not mashed, etc.), and do not top if with butter or sour cream — maybe take some of the juice from the steak and mix it with the potato. My go to condiment is a good Balsamic Vinegar (not Vinaigrette which is a combination of oil and vinegar), which I use on meats, salads, and vegetables. Most steak houses I have been to have no problem accommodating these requests.

Another example is from McDonald’s, where you would think getting a salad is a healthier, and less caloric choice, than having a hamburger. However, that is not always the case, and the salad dressing, in addition to how the meat is prepared, can push the calories, and salt levels, beyond that of hamburger.  Looking at, for example, the nutrition link on McDonald’s Canadian website (www.mcdonalds.ca), McDonald’s new Caesar Salad with Crispy Chicken has 520 calories, the same calories as Big Mac, with the calories for the salad residing in the fried chicken and the Caesar dressing. But if instead, you get grilled chicken, the calorie count goes down by 160 calories (e.g., McDonald’s Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken has only calories to 360 calories), and the calorie count can be reduced even further, by 208 calories (to a total for the whole salad of 132 calories), if you used a vinegar packet (2 calories) instead of the Caesar Dressing packet (which has 210 calories).  Same amount of food, but a 1/4 the calories, plus a lot less sodium and sugar.  That is how to make smart choices, which do not significantly change the amount of food, but have a huge effect on the calories.

In a Mexican restaurant, I avoid the chips, tortillas, etc., and instead use just salsa to dress a dish. So get a fajita instead of taco, enchilada, etc. (which is grilled meat), and avoid the cheese, tortillas and sour cream, and get extra grilled vegetables, all topped with salsa and/or minced tomatoes. And if you cannot go without some guacamole, get it in a small container on the side. As for the chips and salsa at the beginning of the meal, I instead ask for sliced vegetables like carrots and celery (instead of chips) and if that is not possible, then just eat the salsa out of its container with a fork. I also avoid rice, and re-fried beans.

For Italian restaurants, I stay away from anything breaded, fried, or heavy in cheese, and also avoid anything covered in Mariana sauce, which typically has a fair amount of sugar and salt in it. Pasta is another thing I avoid, but if you have to have pasta (maybe whole wheat if that is available), ask for it lightly sauteed in olive oil, and with vegetables and grilled chicken.  Likewise, in Chinese restaurants, I avoid anything fried, or having a heavy sauces, and ask for steamed vegetables instead of fried. And if you have to have rice (which I avoid), get brown rice instead of white rice.

Another strategy I use is to try and not to eat out too late, since if you eat out too close to when you go to sleep, your body’s reduced sleep metabolism, will not do as good a job in burning up the calories in your body from dinner, so it ends up as stored fat in your body. The latest I like to eat is 7 pm, and if I can eat earlier, I do.  It is also a good practice to take a walk after you eat, rather than hopping into a car. In New York City, it is easy to do, and I make a practice to walk to the restaurant I am eating at, and to walk back, rather than taking a cab, bus or subway.

Lastly, if you find this all a bit draconian, another strategy I use is that I allow myself one day a week, after my official weigh in for the week, to be a bit looser with the food I eat. This way I do not go crazy craving some food, but even on this one day, I do not overboard. To be honest, I do have one exception to my fruit for dessert rule, and that is if the restaurant has Chocolate Souffle, but that so rarely occurs, it is not a problem, plus Souffle’s tend to be on the lighter side.  All these little tricks help, and the benefits add up, by keeping the calories down.  Hopefully, you can now get a sense of what are some of the choices you can make, and strategies you can employ, which will help lower your caloric intake while dining out, but not ruin your dining experience.