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Making healthier choices
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Top tips for choosing the healthier food option
Whether you are making your lunch, buying your lunch, eating out in a restaurant of cafe, there are always things that you can do to make your choice as healthy as possible.
Top tips
When you are buying food such as sandwiches at lunch, always look at the labels to see how many calories you are consuming - when you first start doing this, you will be shocked to see the difference in calories between the healthy choice sandwich and the normal sandwich and there is often very little compromise on taste!
The biggest hindrance to many desk job dieters is eating out. An awful lot of food that has been prepared for you will have many more calories than you realise.
It is also very easy to eat more than your body actually requires for two main reasons:
- If you have paid for the meal yourself, you are trying to get maximum value for money;
- Your brain does not realise you are full until 15-20 minutes after you reach "fullness". If you consume more calories than you expend, the result is weight gain.
Thus, to combat this, try not always to go for "value for money" when it comes to eating. The pleasure comes from choosing a dish that you enjoy and not the "portion consumed to cost ratio". Also, try having a drink of water before you start eating and try to eat slowly. This will help your brain to know when you are full before you have gone way beyond that point!
When you are eating out at restaurants, try to choose the healthiest option. You will not have the benefit of traffic light or GDA labelling in such situations, but the following tips should help you to choose the healthiest option:
Breakfast tips
This has to be one of the most important meals of the day - breakfast kickstarts your metabolism and helps you to avoid snacking in the run-up to lunch. Always try to choose the healthy option when following a weight loss and exercise regime.
| OPT FOR | KEEP TO A MINIMUM |
|---|---|
| Breakfasts such as: | Breakfasts such as: |
| Bread (wholemeal, granary, brown, seedy, bagels, currant buns) | Croissants and pastries |
| Low salt and low sugar breakfast cereals | Sugar coated breakfast cereals |
Lunch / dinner tips
Making the right choice at lunch is also important when trying to lose weight. You might be surprised by some of the following foods which make it on to the "keep to a minimum" list.
| OPT FOR | KEEP TO A MINIMUM |
|---|---|
| Appetisers | |
| Starters such as: | Starters such as: |
| Fruit | Pate |
| Fish | Garlic bread with cheese |
| Mains | |
| Dishes that are: | Dishes that are battered or deepfried such as: |
| Grilled | Sweet and sour pork |
| Boiled | Scampi |
| Poached | Shredded beef in szechuan sauce |
| Steamed | Doughnuts |
| StirFried | Samosas |
| Meats such as: | Meats such as: |
| Chicken (without the skin) | Bacon |
| Lean meats such as ham and and most cuts of beef | Sausages |
| Fish | Donner meat |
| Prawns | |
| Sauces based on: | Sauces based on: |
| tomatoes | Cream |
| vegetables | Cheese |
| pulses such as lentils and beans | |
| Curries that are dry | Curries based on coconut milk |
| Vegetables and Salads: | Vegetables & Salads: |
| Choose boiled / steamed vegetables and plain salads | Butter or buttery sauces |
| Have dressings served on the side - you' are in control of quantity | Oily dressings |
| Mayonnaise such as potato salads and coleslaw | |
| Rice that is: | Fried rice such as: |
| Steamed | Pilau |
| Boiled | Egg fried rice |
| Potatoes that are: | Potatoes that are: |
| Baked | Creamy such as dauphinois |
| Boiled | Chips |
| Pies / Pasties | |
| Most are high very high in calories | |
Dessert tips
There should be no surprises with this list. However, if you do want that chocolate fudge cake from time to time as a treat, that is not necessarily a bad thing - but remember, treats are treats and should not be daily events when trying to lose weight!
| OPT FOR | KEEP TO A MINIMUM |
|---|---|
| Fruit and water based desserts such as: | Butter and dairy product based deserts such as: |
| Fruit, fruit salad and sorbets | Cakes, puddings, biscuits, sweets, cream and ice cream |
If you still can't tell if your meal is likely to be high or low in calories, then the next best thing to do is not to eat too much.
We are not saying you should starve yourself but just remember the point about your brain not realising that you are full until well after the event! What we are really driving at is that you should try to choose the food that you really want to eat and enjoy that but avoid filling yourself up on the sundries.
For instance:
- Try not to have lots of bread, nuts, olives or other such nibbles before your first course;
- Try sharing a starter or dessert with a friend;
- If you are in a restaurant such as a tapas bar where you can easily order too many dishes, ask the waiter or waitress how many dishes that they would recommend. If it is not enough, you can always order more - that is the nature of such restaurants. This will not only help to prevent you from over-eating, but it might also help your wallet!
- If there is a dessert on the menu you really fancy, such as a chocolate fudge cake, then opt for that but to compensate, don't have a starter and just go straight to the main course.