Best Bets for Lunch and Dinner

Three types of restaurants are usually quite reliable for eating out appropriately—that is, for getting enough protein, fruits, and vegetables.

Steak Houses

Steak houses abound in most cities and towns. Typically, the selection is focused on—you guessed it—steak. Sometimes seafood, too. You can easily make smart meal choices. Many offer salad bars or fabulous salads. If you make sure to eat 0-5, you can have a great meal that keeps you moving toward reaching your ideal size.

Best menu choices include the following:

• Steak or prime rib with visible fat cut off
• Seafood or fish
• Vegetable of the day
• Sautéed mushrooms
• Salad bar or salad
• Baked sweet potato with butter (these are low-glycemic)
• Béarnaise sauce on veggies or meat
• Dessert of cheesecake or crème brûlée

Poorer choices include the following:

• White baked potato, especially if you plan to eat it all rather than a bite or two
• Anything starchy on the menu such as pasta
• Lots of bread

Since the size of the meals at steak houses can be large, they're a great place for sharing a meal. Or plan to bring leftovers home. That leftover steak makes a great and quick breakfast the next day.

Hamburgers, Ribs, and Such

These are usually low- to mid-priced, sit-down restaurants. Examples include Bennigan's, Tony Roma's, and Chili's. They offer you wonderful choices for eating to attain your ideal size.

Best menu choices include the following:

• Burgers (hold the bun) and maybe a few fries
• Meat entrées such as chicken, ribs, and steaks
• Dinner salads and side salads
• Fish and seafood
• Sandwiches—preferably hold the bread

Poorer choices include the following:

• Pasta dishes
• Sandwiches if you eat the bread

As you are beginning to notice, you can eat at any restaurant. Your food selections and eating 0-5 are what make you successful at getting to your ideal size.

Fresh Fish Houses

Any time you can eat fresh fish and seafood, go for it.

Good choices include the following:

• Fish and seafood entrées and appetizers
• Salads and veggies
• Butter, cocktail sauce, garlic sauce, or other condiments
• Sourdough bread (limit your consumption to a small piece)

Poorer choices include the following:

• Pasta dishes, which are seldom served al dente
• Too many French fries or too much baked potato
• Heavily breaded fish

Fast-Food Restaurants

Obviously, you don't go to a fast-food restaurant for gourmet dining (at least, we hope not!). But we assume you eat at them every now and then. We do, too. They're convenient, inexpensive, and fast. You don't have to give up going to fast-food restaurants to reach your ideal size, but you do need to eat smart. For starters, ignore the “fast-food” label. Eat just as slowly as you do at other meals so that you taste the food, digest it well, and feel your hunger numbers—before, during, and afterward.

The Usual Drive-Thru's or Eat-In's

Good choices at burger and chicken places include the following:

• Hamburger or cheeseburger (preferably toss the bun and eat the rest with a plastic fork)
• Salad
• Fried chicken (preferably remove the skin)
• Fried fish, hold the bun
• Orange juice
• Fresh fruit
• Coleslaw

Poorer choices include the following:

• French fries
• Milk shakes
• Diet sodas, colas, and pop
• Anything supersized

Delis and Sandwich Shops

These offer fast food with some interesting and healthy choices. Good choices include the following:

• Whole-wheat or low-carb wraps filled with meat, cheese, and lots of fresh veggies such as tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, green peppers, and onions, as well as condiments such as black olives, pickles, and jalapeño chiles. You can open the wrap and eat the insides with a plastic fork. Yummy.
• A meatball sandwich with all the veggies and condiments. Eat with a fork, hold the bread.
• Any sandwich, hold the bread, with a couple of potato chips and a pickle.
• A piece of fresh fruit.

Poorer choices include the following:

• Eating all the bread on a sub (way too many carbs and way too high-glycemic!)

Popular Specialty Eateries

Now let's talk about salad-bar restaurants and pizza parlors. Both are tricky to eat at healthfully and attain your ideal size.

Salad-Bar Restaurants

At these restaurants, you can choose from a wide offering of fresh fruits and vegetables that your body wants and needs. Plus, you get to select just exactly what you want to eat and how much. So what's not to like? The answer: the lack of enough high-quality complete protein.

Often you'll find sliced hard-boiled eggs and cheese, but salad bars seldom offer meat or fish. You'll find it hard to consume at least 15 grams of protein. You may be able to find shreds of meat or seafood in a pasta salad. Skip the white-flour pasta and baked white potatoes.

Good choices include the following:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Protein offerings such as hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and meat toppings
• Olive oil and vinegar dressing
• Moderate amounts of salad dressings, meaning 2 to 3 tablespoons

Poorer choices include the following:

• Mayonnaise-based salads with pasta or potatoes
• Baked potatoes
• Starchy dessert offerings
• Loading up on salad dressing
• Low-fat salad dressings

Pizza

Pizza can be a big challenge when losing weight. It's the second most popular eating-out food behind burgers and for good reason—it smells great, it's a super treat, and it's easily served at everything from office luncheons to family parties. You even get to eat it with your fingers! Plus, it's only a quick phone call away. (P.S. Make sure that the local delivery number isn't on your speed dialer!)

You'll never get away from pizza, and we don't want you to think of it as an evil food, but how you eat pizza can make a big difference in releasing fat from your body. Here are four pizza-eating tips:

First, when you get to choose the toppings, pick the meats or fish—ham, hamburger, anchovies, and Canadian bacon—and add veggies or fruits. Avoid ordering double cheese.

Second, when you eat pizza, eat with a fork. Eat the topping and leave behind the crust, no matter whether the crust is deep dish or thin and crisp. Leave it for the trashcan. This could be a challenge but give it a try.

Third, when you can, order a side salad with the pizza. You'll then have a balanced meal.

Fourth, eat slowly and make sure that you eat 0-5. Don't even think about a third piece of pizza until you've stopped and checked with your body to see what your hunger number is.

Good choices include the following:

• Meat toppings (unfortunately pepperoni and sausage are the least desirable)
• Other vegetable and fruit toppings
• A side salad

Poorer choices include the following:

• Double cheese
• Highly-processed meat toppings such as pepperoni and sausage
• The crust

If anyone has the insensitivity to ask you why you aren't eating the crust, just shrug your shoulders lightly and say, “The toppings are so good, I just don't want the crust.” This should end the conversation, unless the person asks for your leftover crust.

Ethnic Food

Yes, you can eat comfortably at ethnic restaurants and enjoy the interesting, varied, and delightful cuisines. Remember to (1) consume the types of foods that best nourish your body, and (2) eat 0-5.

Mexican Food

Olé! Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisines are delicious, and if you enjoy spicy foods and hot chilies, these restaurants are hard to resist. Often high-quality complete protein comes wrapped in a starch—either corn or wheat tortillas or corn meal, as with tamales. Consequently, it's best to eat less of the wrapping and more of the filling. This is the same as our sandwich recommendations.

Good choices include the following:

• Guacamole dip (avocados are especially healthy and good for weight loss)
• Salsa with some corn chips
• Tortilla soup
• Carne adobada, or marinated long-cooked pork
• Carnitas
• Tamales, tacos, enchiladas, burritos, chimichangas, and other “wrapped” meat mixtures
• Salads
• Taco salad
• Fajitas
• Beans
• For dessert, flan (if you have room)

Poorer choices include the following:

• Overeating the chips before the entrée arrives
• Eating all the rice or even most of it
• Ordering cheese rather than meat or chicken fillings
• Sopapillas for dessert (they're just fried bread)

You may find Mexican food so delightful that it's hard to stop eating at 5. Be sure to eat slowly so that you enjoy all the flavors; otherwise, it can seem as if 5 comes too soon.

Italian Restaurants

Even Italian food can help you get to your ideal size. Italian food isn't just pasta and breads; it includes fabulous meat and seafood dishes. Think veal piccata or scaloppini. Think fried calamari or mussels in a wine garlic sauce. Think fresh, sliced tomatoes with mozzarella and basil. Yes, you certainly can get a balanced meal and eat healthy at your favorite Italian eatery.

Good choices include the following:

• Beef, poultry, veal, fish, pork, and seafood entrées and appetizers
• Fresh salads such as Caesar and garden salads
• Small side dishes of pasta
• Fresh fruit, canolis, or cheesecake for dessert
• Extra meatballs with spaghetti

Poorer choices include the following:

• Pasta
• Fettuccine alfredo
• Filling up on bread and pasta

Bring home what you can't eat. Meatballs make a great breakfast, as do other entrée choices.

Asian Restaurants

Asian cuisine is quite varied and, in this section, includes Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, and others. The same fundamentals apply here as to eating out in general. Make sure that you get enough protein and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sometimes when you eat a dish that's stir-fried, it can be hard to judge whether you've had enough protein. It's one reason why so many people feel hungry soon after eating oriental food. They seemed to eat plenty, but the food didn't contain enough high-quality protein to keep their engine stoked and their metabolism high.

Many Asian restaurants use MSG—monosodium glutamate—as a flavor enhancer for their food. We recommend that you always ask the waitperson to keep it out of your food.

Good choices include the following:

• Meat-, fish-, and seafood-based dishes. (Make sure that they contain more than just shreds of meat; they should have enough to make up an amount the size of a deck of cards.)
• Stir-fried vegetables or vegetable side dishes. (Some oriental vegetable dishes are terrific.)
• A taste of rice or noodles, but not a plateful.
• The soups, provided they don't contain MSG.

Poorer choices include the following:

• Filling up on rice or noodles
• Stir-fried rice—too much starch, too little protein
• Anything with MSG in it
• Your fortune cookie (Read the fortune and pass on the starchy cookie.)

French Restaurants

French cuisine in general offers excellently balanced meals and delicious food. Most often, the meals are made with fresh ingredients and don't contain preservatives and artificial ingredients.

Good choices include the following:

• Meat, seafood, fish, and poultry entrées
• Vegetables and salads
• Desserts—crème brûlée, mousse, and cheesecake

Poorer choices include the following:

• Eating too much of that great French bread
• Eating quickly without savoring
• Too much French wine

Other Ethnic Cuisines

No matter what the cuisine, whether it's Middle Eastern, German, Russian, South American, Indian, or any other, you can eat in ways that encourage your body to release weight if you follow these guidelines:

• Eat only when you are hungry, at 0.
• Stop eating at or below being satisfied, meaning at or below 5.
• Make sure that you eat enough high-quality complete protein, at least 15 grams.
• Make sure that you get at least one serving of fruit or vegetables and preferably two.
• Avoid eating high-glycemic starches.

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Healthy Weight Loss © 2005 by Lucy Beale and Sandy G. Couvillon. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.