How to Keep a Flat Stomach While Eating Out

Eating home-cooked meals day-in and day-out can is good for the home life, but every once in a while most of us like to have someone serve us. Unfortunately your doctor may have told you that eating out usually leads to weight gain, so you’re stuck. Luckily, it’s possible to make smart choices while eating out such that you can remain on pace to get a flat stomach fast.

Let’s start with a rule of thumb: When food tastes “too good,” that is too rich, creamy and saturated with taste, that’s often because it’s fried and isn’t good for you. As you’ve been told since birth, fruits and vegetables are really the best for maintaining your health and for quick weight loss. Why? They’re not fried, and usually don’t contain much in the way of “bad carbs” and fat.

Tip #1: Go to vegetarian or salad restaurants. This isn’t to say that restaurants serving meat are all bad, but you’ll have to think harder to get a low fat meal at that type of venue. Places like “Souper Salad” or “Lettuce Surprise You” offer a wide variety of (usually) healthy foods. Occcasionally their desserts are dangerous, but for the most part you’ll have to work hard to eat poorly.

When you eat at a “normal” restaurant, sometimes the chicken you get is full of fat! Sometimes it’s lean chicken meat, but you may not always be able to tell. The unfortunate truth for those growing up on an American diet is that you really need to “develop a taste” for things that we typically don’t eat the most of, otherwise health will suffer. Better to do that by choice than after a heart attack and after weighing 350 pounds.

Tip #2: Drop the salad dressing. Salads are good for weight loss because they are made up of raw vegetables, and these help you burn fat by boosting your metabolism. Now many people try to improve the taste with salad dressing, but many salad dressings are loaded with fat and negate the positive impact of the salad. To be safe, try the vinagrette rather than the ranch or thousand island.

Tip #3: Stay away from buffets. Buffets are full of high calorie, easily-cooked (fried) foods and make it unlikely or impossible to have a low calorie meal. Don’t stack the deck against yourself before you walk in the door! You may have found the Typical China Buffet down the street offers a full stomach for $4.99, but the reason they can afford this is there is virtually no nutrition in the food! If you go in, be conscious of the other adjustment most Americans need to make: Make the salad the biggest part of your meal, and consider the meat to be a side item, rather than a giant portion of meat with a little bit of salad. This will help contribute to improvement in your health.

Tip #4: Control your portions! Look at the size of the plate and think about how much you’re really ready to consume. Keep drinking water during the meal and EAT SLOWLY. Eating slowly gives your body time to send the messages up to your brain when it’s full; if you eat fast, that message only reaches the brain after you’ve eaten for another 5-10 minutes! Whatever’s left over can be boxed and brought home – it’s not a crime, really! Keep in mind restaurants supersize things simply so they can charge you more; use that against them, and make it 2 meals for the higher price.

If you make smart choices, there’s no reason you can’t execute your plan on how to get a flat stomach, even while eating out!