If you eat out a lot, living a low-fat lifestyle can be difficult. The current restaurant scene is not at all oriented towards people living a low-fat lifestyle. We don't eat out often, but when we do, we do not strictly follow our low-fat guidelines. We are careful, though, not to eat any very high fat foods such as BBQ Ribs or fried foods. You will find once you start living a low-fat lifestyle that your body will develop an intolerance to fat. The few times we have "splurged" on high fat meals, we have felt ill the next day. But, on the other hand, occasionally eating a higher fat meal has not affected our health or weight in any way.

The following are some hints we have learned about eating out and eating low-fat.


General Restaurant Dining

When you dine out in a restaurant, don't hesitate to ask the waitress to recommend something low-fat on the menu. If they have nothing, ask if the Chef could come up with something. Most restaurants are accommodating and will prepare something low-fat for you. Also, look for vegetarian dishes and pasta dishes. Unless a vegetarian or pasta dish is full of cheese or made with a cream sauce, it will usually be fairly low in fat.

Oriental Food Oriental food can be a real killer when it comes to fat. It's really too bad, because it is very easy to make Oriental dishes with little or no fat. Look for an Oriental restaurant that advertises low-fat meals, or, ask your favorite Chinese restaurant to prepare your dishes with as little oil as possible. Our favorite Chinese restaurant is happy to do this for us, and they do a very good job.

Mexican Food More and more Mexican restaurants are advertising "healthy" Mexican food these days. They no longer use lard in cooking, they use lean cuts of meat and they are offering more vegetarian dishes. If you avoid dishes full of cheese and don't partake in a large bowl of guacamole with chips, you should be fine in a Mexican restaurant. When we visit a Mexican restaurant, we take along a zip lock baggie full of Tostitos Baked Corn Chips. No one has ever objected and one restaurant asked if they could try them and decided to put them on their menu!

Italian Food Most Italian restaurants serve a "Marinara" sauce that would be low in fat. Ask the waitress for suggestions. We have pretty much given up on Italian restaurants.

Fast Food

Pizza In California, the pizza scene is catching up with the trends in lower fat eating. We have a local take out pizza place that makes three fat free pizzas and several low fat pizzas. If you order a pizza made with no oil, a tomato pasta sauce, lots of vegetables and a small amount of cheese, your pizza will be fairly low in fat.

Arbys Arby's meats are low fat. What they put on the sandwich makes it high fat. A French Dip Sub is about 10 grams of fat per sandwich (but ask them not to grill the bread). Their Phili Beef Sub tastes great with no cheese and no sauce. Their chicken sandwiches are ok if you ask them to hold the sauce.

Subway Subway sandwiches can be very low fat if you ask them to serve them "dry", with no mayonnaise and no oil. All the vegetables they add to the sandwich make up in taste for what is missing on the bread.

Deli Sandwiches Deli sandwiches don't have to be high in fat. There are several meats that can be very lean (turkey, ham and beef). The fat comes from the mayonnaise they pile on and from adding cheese (remember, one slice of cheese is 10 grams of fat!). When I order a deli sandwich, I order them "dry". I keep a bottle of Best Foods low-fat mayonnaise in the refrigerator at work and add my mayo there. I also keep a bottle of dijon mustard in the frig, since most delis use the "ballpark" mustard which I detest! Don't ever order a tuna or egg-salad sandwich in a deli. They weigh in at about 20-30 grams of fat per sandwich!

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