Have Your Cake and Eat it Too

My major task of the week has been to write blog posts on nutrition topics. Most recently, I have completed a post on healthy eating while in restaurants. This was one blog post that I found particularly difficult to write, not because of the information but because of my personal practices. Until a few years ago, I didn’t really think about what I was eating or how much. No place was this more prevalent than in restaurants. I had no problem finishing a platter that could have served as three meals. Recently, however, I have paid much closer attention to what and how much I am eating when I go out.

Eating healthier and choosing smaller portions came right around the time I changed my major, or at least that’s when people seemed to notice it. I still get comments like, “do you eat anything other than salad”, “are you not hungry”, or “heaven forbid you’d eat anything fried”. Comments like these are difficult, but when I feel great a few hours after I’ve eaten and my friends are lethargic, I don’t feel so bad!

No, I don’t eat salads every time I eat out. And yes, I do, on occasion, eat something fried. My tactic is to either find a small portion of something (lunch or child’s sizes when available) or look for something that will make tasty leftovers. For leftover choices I look for salads (with dressing on the side) or meat free from bread (bread gets soggy in the fridge)!

For example, this week I went out to lunch with my mom. I chose a place that I knew had reasonable portion sizes and great prices! I ordered a panini with cottage cheese! We chose to split a single desert as we both have a sweet tooth. Our desert choice was a cookie bake with one chocolate chip cookie, small scoop of ice cream, and a small amount of whipped cream! The desert was so rich I was thankful we chose to split it. In the end, we satisfied our sweet tooth and had a great lunch!