Going out to eat doesn't have to cause panic

There are two ways you can look at things when you make the decision to go out to a restaurant for dinner/lunch. The first is to just realize that you will be eating more calories than you should and are OK with this decision. The second is to do some researching on the restaurant before you go out to eat.

Both decisions are perfectly fine and they each have their own consequence associated with it. There's nothing wrong with treating yourself to a meal every once in a while. There's also nothing wrong with deciding before you leave to look at the nutritional content of the restaurant you are going to.

Last night I took my kids to the Keg for dinner. Before I left the house I checked out their website and found that they had all the nutritional breakdown for their meals. This helped me plan what I was going to eat (I didn't worry about the kids). What I found was that their sirloin steak was 8 oz. and had just over 500 calories and 30 grams of fat. This was their leanest choice. Their baked potato with the skin was 350 calories. These were the lowest choices on the menu so it's what I decided to get. I actually gave some of my steak to the kids as it was more than I usually eat at one time and instead of butter for my baked potato I asked for salsa on the side. I ate the "meat" part of the potato and left the skin behind.

After dinner I was happy with the choices I made and my stomach appreciated it as well. There are times when I'll go out to eat and won't do this type of homework ahead of time. What's important is that YOU have to make that choice for yourself on whether to splurge or be good. Just be happy with whatever choice you make and don't feel like you are eating something to make somebody else happy. A friend once told me that food tastes much better without a side of guilt!