10 Tips for Eating Out While on a Diet

Dining out on a diet doesn't have to be cause for panic. With a little planning and preparation, you can make it through eating out without blowing your diet.

1. Order from the appetizer menu
   Hungry? Order a side salad as well. It's a good way to ensure you're still eating instead of watching your date finish off his entree after you've polished off that shrimp cocktail.


2. Keep tabs on that tubini
   Endless pasta may be your idea of bliss (darn near nirvana for yours truly!), but it's a scary prospect to those of us who overeat. Stick with a single entree and don't worry about being a member of the clean plate club. I won't tell your mom if you don't tell mine.


3. Meat yourself half-way
   As tempting as those people at the booth across from you are making that bucket of fried chicken look, always elect poultry to be prepared the following ways: steamed; poached; roasted; broiled; boiled; grilled; or baked. As for you beef-eaters out there, be sure you choose lean cuts like loin or flank.


4. Modify the menu
   In my neck of the woods, where anything and everything can be batter-dipped and fried, I ask for fried entrees and sides to be boiled, broiled or roasted and I'm rarely turned down.


5. Beware the buzz words
   Here are some words to stay away from: cream sauces; butter; oil; au gratin; breaded; Alfredo; battered or batter-dipped, and, Mom's favorite topper, gravy. Avoid them all unless you're putting in some extra sessions on the stair climber this week.


6. Wrap it up
   You know you're at a nice restaurant when the server wraps up your food for you at the end of the meal so you don't have to worry about fashioning that tin foil swan for yourself. Keep temptation at bay by asking the server to wrap up half your meal before you start eating.


7. Don't let take out take over your diet
   Take out half of your take out and first put it into plastic containers and then tuck it away in the fridge. After a long day at work, chances are you won't want to go to the trouble of heating up the rest. (Instant will power!)


8. Cram for tonight's dinner
   Ask your favorite eateries to fax you take out menus and then keep them on-hand. Highlight the healthiest options and choose your entree ahead of time.


9. Banish buffets
   Portion control can become a foreign concept for the best dieter at a buffet. Who can practice portion control when there are new, clean plates beckoning for more? The variety of foods available at buffets is also daunting; studies have shown when we're given more choices we tend to eat more.


10. Mini meals make your day
    Eat smaller meals during the day if dining out tonight, just be sure you don't eat too sparingly so that you're so famished by dinnertime you end up overeating. Have a small, healthful snack in the afternoon to quell hunger.