Good Restaurant Nutrition Choices

When you are working on a plan for good nutrition, restaurant nutrition is probably not at the top of your list.  It is true restaurant food can undermine your nutritional goals unless you choose wisely when eating out. You need to know what good nutrition means so you can make an informed choice from a menu.

Restaurants make their food choices tempting for obvious reasons. The more tempting the menu, the more you are likely to throw caution to the wind and order up a plateful of delectable foods. Restaurant nutrition needs to be scrutinized using basic nutrition principles to make sensible choices.

Photos of cheeseburgers dripping with cheese, a platter of nachos loaded with high fat toppings and rich desserts can all steer you away from your diet. You can stay true to your goal of good nutrition if you stick to your resolve to succeed. Good nutrition can be found on that tempting menu, you just have to be discriminating when ordering your meal.

Restaurant Nutrition Information

While you won’t find a nutritional breakdown printed on most menus, many restaurants will provide you with printed restaurant nutrition information upon request. This is what you need to select good nutrition from your menu choices.

Fast food and sit-down restaurants are aware of the trend toward good nutrition, so they have made this information available to nutrition conscious customers. Fast food franchises have made their restaurant nutrition facts readily available online as well as at  restaurant locations.

If the restaurant nutrition is not available, you can still make good nutrition choices by learning what constitutes good nutrition and putting your knowledge to good use. When you know what basic foods offer in the way of good nutrition, you have the tools to order a healthy meal wherever you eat.

Making Good Choices

Whether your goal is weight loss or just improving your overall health, there are general principles for good nutrition to guide your choices. Steer away from fried or fatty foods such as cheese, butter or deep-fried chicken or other fried foods. Sauces and condiments can add empty calories to a basically wholesome and healthy dish. A fresh garden salad can undermine your good nutrition plan when loaded with heavy dressing or toppings, so use your nutrition knowledge to make good choices.

Wise restaurant nutrition choices include fresh salads (dressing on the side), or grilled chicken sandwiches with condiments that enhance the flavor rather than fat content of your selection. Mayonnaise and other creamy dressings can turn a good choice into a bad one. They are poor choices because they add calories without contributing anything to good nutrition. 

Restaurants have increasingly included a category on their menus geared toward good nutrition. They are frequently called  “Heart Healthy” or similar term which identifies them as good restaurant nutrition choices. These include many choices including whole, natural foods to appeal to health conscious diners.

Restaurant nutrition can be less than healthy, but a solid foundation of nutrition knowledge can help you stick to your good nutrition plan, even when you must eat your meals at a fast food or sit down restaurant.