Knowing all the sneaky tricks professional cooks use to make their job easier and avoiding those who turn even seemingly healthful dishes into caloric minefields. It's no surprise to me that a Center for Science in the Public Interest study found that typical appetizers, entrees and desserts at a restaurant has 1,000 calories -- that's each, not a total for the entire meal.
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Still, it is possible to eat healthy or even slim down while dining out, says Kathleen Daelemeans, a West Bloomfield, Mich., chef and author of
Getting Thin and Loving Food .
"You just need to be a forensic diner," she says. "Ask a lot of questions and make a lot of requests."
Here are seven common restaurant practices that can sabotage your diet and what you can do about them.
SHOCKER 1
Even steamed veggies are high in fat.
"Fat is what sells food in restaurants," says Deborah Fabricant, a Los Angeles-based restaurant consultant, former chef and author of Stacks: The Art of Vertical Food. "That's why it ubiquitous, even in vegetable dishes."
"I was required to saute all my vegetables and to roast my potatoes in duck fat," confesses David C. Fouts, a chef and restaurant consultant based in Cardiff-by-the Sea, Calif., who has labored behind the stove at a number of chic eateries in Los Angeles, including Wolfgang Puck's Granita in Malibu. "Every order of spinach I made got about 2 ounces of butter." That's 4 tablespoons, which adds 45 grams (32 grams saturated) and 400 calories to a single side dish.
If you want to eat out and still lose weight, you need to be a forensic diner: Ask a lot of questions and make a lot of requests.
Grilled veggies don't fare any better. They either get an oil-based marinade or are brushed with oil before grilling and then rebrushed on the plate so the look prettier. Even steamed vegetables aren't safe. "I recently ordered steamed vegetable from room service at New York City hotel," Daelemans says. "Sure, they steamed them. But then they tossed them in so much butter and olive oil that I would have been better off ordering a banana split."
Savvy-diner strategy: Order your veggies steamed or grilled and make clear to your server that you don't want butter or oil added at any stage of preparation.
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