How To Order The Healthiest Option At Any Restaurant

By Carly Jacobs

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ating well can be really bloody boring. There’s very few people who can eat out seven nights a week and not see it show up on their scales. Honestly I’ll sometimes eat a few slices of pizza and the scales will punish me for weeks. So upsetting. It’s also really annoying to be that lame person who’s trying to eat healthy who’s always refusing to go out for dinner with friends, so here’s a few tricks to get you through restaurant dinners without busting out of your slim fit pants.

Indian

Avoid 

– Deep fried appetisers like pecoras and curry puffs (around 200 calories each)

– Anything cream based (a serve of tandoori chicken can have up to 900 calories per serve)

– Naan (270 calories each) and papadums (120 calories each)

Go for

– Spinach based dishes (Palak Paneer which is spinach and cottage cheese is about 400 calories per serve)

– Dahl (about 250 calories per serve)

– Plain steamed rice but watch your portion sizes  (260 calories per cup)

– Vegetable based dishes (a spice based vegetable dish is worth about 250 calories per serve)

Chinese

Avoid 

– Anything with the word ‘sticky’ in the title or anything honey flavoured and ‘sizzling’ isn’t great either (Sweet and Sour Pork is about 600 calories per serve)

– Spring rolls (you might cry when you read this… an average Chinese restaurant spring roll has about 500 calories)

– Fried rice (350 calories for a cup)

Go for 

– Vegetable dishes in oyster or soy sauce (about 200 calories per serve)

– Chicken satays (200 calories for about 3 skewers)

– Steamed rice

– Clear soups and broths (about 150 calories for a small wanton soup)

– Chicken or beef dishes with minimal sauce and flavours like garlic or ginger (about 350 calories per serve)

Japanese

Avoid 

– Katsu curry and anything deep fried (an average Katsu curry is about 900 calories)

– Tempura or deep fried anything

Go for 

– Dumplings (a small steamed dumpling is about 40 calories so go easy on how many you eat)

– Sashimi (40 calories per piece)

– Seaweed salad (45 calories per serve)

– Sushi (watch your portions though because 1 hand roll can be about 2o0 calories)

– Miso soup (about 30 calories per serve)

Italian

Avoid 

– Cabonara or anything cream based (an average restaurant dish of carbonara will be about 700 calories)

– Risotto (it often seems like a healthier option but most restaurant risottos are around 900 calories)

– Garlic bread (lots of hidden fat and can clock in at around 200 calories per slice)

– Caeser salad (full of bacon and cream – an average Caeser salad has around 1000 calories. Yikes!)

Go for

– Meat with salad options like a steak or chicken breast (still about 500 calories but a better option than a bucket of pasta)

– Salad (no bacon or cream though)

Cafe

Avoid 

– Burgers (about 700 calories)

– Chips (350 per serve)

Go for 

– Beef or chicken salads (average Thai Beef salad has 300 calories)

– Lentil tagines (about 300 calories, skip the bread if you’re being really hard core)

– Fresh sandwiches on multigrain bread (about 400 calories but only if it’s not full of bree cheese and fatty ham)

It also helps to avoid appetisers, alcohol and desserts. It’s so easy to eat a whole days worth of calories in one meal if you aren’t aware of portion sizes and calorie content. Of course if you occasionally feel like chowing down on a giant burger with fries, absolutely go for it – just be aware that it’s not the healthiest option and own it.

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What do you order when you’re out for dinner? Any calorie saving tips to share?

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About Carly Jacobs

Carly is the founding editor of Smaggle which launched in 2007 back when blogging was weird. She has appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Cosmopolitan and Cleo magazines. Hoop earrings are totally her thing and she almost got run over by Myf Warhurst while out jogging one day.

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