Request Food Nutrition Facts at Restaurants

When dieting, most of us typically avoid eating out at restaurants. Let’s face it; restaurants work at making their food tempting so it could be easier to avoid them altogether. Restaurant nutrition, as a rule, is not diet-friendly because food nutrition facts aren’t posted on the menu when food choices are made.

You can, however, make good food choices when eating out. Ask your waiter or restaurant manager for food nutrition facts for their menu items. Most will do their best to accommodate your needs.

Once you have the food nutrition facts, you have what you need to make good nutrition choices so you don’t have to abandon your diet just because you’re eating out. You can continue to enjoy the luxury of restaurant dining guilt-free if you are armed with restaurant nutrition facts.

Reading Restaurant Nutrition Facts

Many restaurants will provide you with printed food nutrition facts for their menu items.
These will list include calories, fat, sodium and even carbohydrates for various menu listings. While you won’t have lots of time to study the information in depth, you can hone in on your particular area of concern to stay within your personal diet limitations.

If you are most concerned with cutting fat, you can see at a glance which foods will work for you. The same goes for overall calories; ranking menu choices by calories should be easy with the restaurant nutrition facts before you.

Remember, the addition of sauces and condiments can drive the calories, fat, sodium and carbs of any dish. If the food nutrition facts for that green salad seem over-the-top, the dressing is probably the reason. Either choose a dressing substitute you know will lower the calorie or fat count, or ask for the dressing on the side so you can have control over the adding calories.

Nutrition Facts Not Available

If the restaurant you’ve chosen doesn’t have the food nutrition facts you need, you can still make good menu choices with your knowledge of basic nutrition. You don’t have to be a registered dietitian to know the bacon double cheeseburger is a poor choice for weight loss.

Pass on the fried foods and focus instead on grilled lean meats such as chicken, a baked potato rather than fries, and a basic salad with dressing on the side. You can make some quick calculations based on the food nutrition facts you used to develop your nutrition plan.

Restaurant nutrition facts are not usually displayed for a reason. Restaurant owners realize printing food nutrition facts beside menu items would dissuade customers from ordering high calorie or high fat foods. Most restaurants will, however, provide you with the requested information if you just ask.

If you make it your business to know what you are eating, you can enjoy restaurant dining without straying from your nutrition plan. You armed yourself with food nutrition facts when you set your fitness goals. Apply that basic knowledge to restaurant nutrition to expand your dining options.