Dieting with Style

Eat now- Diet Later?
Statistics show that Americans eat one of every three meals away from home. Celebrations, convenience, escape, whatever the reason, Americans let restaurant cooks provide them with a large amount of their caloric allowances. In a relaxing atmosphere: soft light, dinner music, or in a frantic franchise the decision is often made: eat now, weigh later.
Is it possible to keep a dinner date and; lose weight? Of course. Let's see how.

Plan Ahead
The same rules apply whether a meal is taken at home or in a restaurant: dishes low in fat and high in lower calorie, complex carbohydrate are the keys to weight control. So that the good efforts made at home are not jeopardized when dieting away from home, decisions will have to be made. Those will concern:
1. The choice of a restaurant
2. The choice of items
3.The control of portion sizes

Choices of Restaurant
Many ethnic restaurants offer a good selection of interesting lower calorie, lower fat fare. Besides, there is a trend towards offering "light" entrees in all kinds of restaurants from steak houses to fast food chains, and that is happy news for the health conscious.
Patronize those restaurants where your special requests will be met. Let's look at those requests.

American and Continental
For appetizers select half melon or grapefruit or assorted vegetables, clear soup or prawns in cocktail sauce.
Choose broiled or baked entrees: seafood or poultry, preferably. Avoid fried items.
Ask for vegetables to be steamed and for baked potatoes to be served without butter, margarine, or sour cream, or ask for those to be served on the side so that you can control the amount.

Far Eastern
Japanese, Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese cuisines offer plenty of great tasting vegetable entrees containing small amounts of meat, poultry or seafood. Order rice, steamed vegetables or noodles, boiled , not fried. A fortune cookie is a perfect low calorie dessert. Your fortune reads: "Avoid deep fried dishes such as sweet and sour pork or tempura and you will do fine in the Far East."French
Despite their reputation for rich food, French restaurants have some wonderfully light dishes for the careful diner. Many offer entrees prepared by poaching food in juices or wine rather than with cream sauces. Bouillabaisse, a fish stew, or coq au vin (chicken in wine) are examples. Enjoy sorbet or poached fruit rather than rich pastries; and crusty unbuttered bread.

Italian
Pasta, spinach-ricotta cheese filled cannelloni, ravioli or manicotti topped with tomato sauce are nice low fat choices. Avoid pesto (usually too much olive oil - a good fat but watch amounts) scaloppini or parmigiana dishes. For a light Italian dinner, try minestrone soup, crusty Italian bread and lettuce salad with low calorie dressing.

Mexican
Bean burritos or tostadas are usually found on any Mexican menu. If served without cheese, they are generally good choices. So are fajitas, a spicy stir-fried dish, containing low fat ingredients: steamed tortillas, chicken , beans, beef, shrimp, peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Another option is to build your own dish: order steamed flour or corn tortillas, refried beans, a green salad and salsa and make your own tostada. Toppings such as sour cream, guacamole and shredded cheese are the worst offenders in Mexican restaurants, avoid these or have in small amounts.

Indian and Middle Eastern
For a change of pace, try Indian or Middle Eastern restaurants: they offer a variety of suitable entrees. Tabouli is a refreshing salad made with bulghur, parsley, mint and olive oil. Shish kebobs, especially chicken, are roasted or grilled and served with a yogurt based sauce.