avoid the pitfalls of eating out

I used to own a restaurant. News or not news? Here’s what’s really important about this – it means that I have the inside scoop on how eating out at restaurants is loaded with pitfall that can damage your health.

On the flip side, it also means have the 911 on how to eat out and avoid those pitfalls.

Honestly, I eat out. It’s not realistic to think you (or I) will make every single meal from scratch, three times per day, every day of the week, week after week, month after month year after year. And that doesn’t include snacks! It just isn’t going to happen. Life endures. Holidays, birthdays, gathering with friends, travel and those days that just get away from us but hunger doesn’t.

This is another way the 80/20 principle works. If you control your food most of the time (the 80%), you allow for those times when you don’t have full control (the 20%) like when you eat out.

So eating out isn’t the devil and we don’t have to avoid it completely, but there are are some areas to really watch out for and to make more informed choices.

Here’s a short list of some common, and not so common restaurant pitfalls. Which one surprises you the most?

1. Cooking oils
   • Every restaurant uses damaging, processed, inflammatory oils because of their price point. Plain and simple. Yes, even ‘healthy’ restaurants do.
   • There isn’t much you can do here while eating out, which is why it’s enormously important to stick to grass-fed ghee, extra virgin olive, coconut and avocado oils at home.
   • I’ve been known to bring my own olive oil with me to a restaurant on an occasion or two (especially when going through a healing phase) to dip my bread in or to top a salad. But you do you.
2. Sugary mixed drinks
   • Is anyone surprised by this one? Any premixed solution is loaded with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Instead, choose:
     • Tequila with lime and soda water, spoon of agave or honey.
     • Vodka with club soda, lemons and oranges.
3. Landmine words
   • Beware of anything fried – look for words like crispy, crunchy, crusted or battered.
     • Ask for grilled, baked or broiled
   • Creamy means drenched in something that will ‘stick to your ribs’.
     • Get sauces on the side and dip the tines of your fork into it, then into your food.
   • Glazed = sugar.
   • Stuffed or loaded- see ‘creamy’ above.
4. Farmed / Conventional vs Wild / Pasture Raised
   • There really is a difference. If there aren’t options for wild seafood or pasture raised meats, it might be a good time to lean more plant based.
5. Decaf Coffee (choose organic & Swiss water)
   • Coffee is one of the most highly sprayed crops on the planet. Decaf or not – choose one that is organic.
   • Chemical solvents are used to decaffeinate coffee, which translates to more chemicals in your body and this process strips the coffee flavor so they have to inject some kind of flavor back in with more chemicals. This is why most decaf coffees taste weak and terrible.
     • Choose a decaf that is water processed (bonus, when you choose organic, it will be decaf water processed!)
6. Portion SIZE
   • Portions being served today are 2-5 times larger than just a decade ago!
   • Make fist. that is the size of your stomach. Think about eating just less than your fist and save the rest for later.
7. Digestive Enzymes
   • This last one is less of a pitfall and more of a remedy. Because we typically consume more when eating out, and because you might be eating more foods that you don’t at home, bring digestive enzymes with you to help you break down and and digest your meal.
     • Need a digestive enzyme recommendation? Join my Happy Eats Healthy online dispensary and see my list plus receive a 10% discount on all supplement purchases.

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