Staying on a healthy, balanced eating plan can be challenging when eating out. First, choose a restaurant that serves real food. Plan your meal in your mind on your way there. Decide what you will order before looking at the menu, even before entering the restaurant. Choose foods that will make you feel good when you have finished your meal. The power of choice is in your deciding mind-not in the advertised Super-Sized meals or the sugar-dripping desserts that photo better than they taste.

• Choose a reasonable serving of meat-4 or 5 ounces (usually about half of what many restaurants serve). Eat only the amount of protein you need and take the leftovers home for another meal.
• Add a salad and some cooked vegetables. Now, the trick is to put the butter on the veggies and not on the bread. We find it safer and less tempting to ask that the bread basket be left in the kitchen.
• A perfect dessert to order is a serving of fresh fruit.
• If you want potatoes, rice, or pasta keep it to a half cup serving and just enjoy the taste.
• When ordering a sandwich, order only half a sandwich or an open-faced sandwich so you eat only one slice of bread Have a salad with it so you feel satisfied.
• When ordering eggs, ask the chef to cook them in butter to avoid the damaged trans-fatty acids found in vegetable shortening