The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
Healthy Huddle: How to Build a Meal in Any Restaurant
We share a simple four-part formula to build a balanced meal at any restaurant and still enjoy what you love. From social strategies to menu swaps, these moves help you feel satisfied without the crash or guilt.
• choosing protein first to shrink the menu
• picking grilled over fried for better balance
• adding color and fiber to steady energy
• selecting a smart carb that fits the cuisine
• flavoring with salsa, vinaigrette, lemon, or dry rub
• using the plate-in-thirds method for portions
• Mexican, Italian, diner, BBQ, and sandwich shop examples
• social tactics like ordering first and sauce on the side
• splitting meals, boxing early, and eating in order
• pre-meal snacks to avoid chips and bread traps
Look forward to seeing you right here next time on Healthy Huddle
Welcome to Healthy Huddle. Thank you for taking time to join us today. If this is your first time each week, uh we join in our live call on Healthy Huddle. We have a different topic related to um nutrition that we share, we talk about to incorporate into our life because through Healthy Huddle, uh, we're not trying to be on a diet, we are just trying to simply find ways to balance food and nutrition in the best way that fits our life. So we're gonna go to the live call. And tonight's topic is how to build a meal. How how to yes, how to build a meal in any restaurant. That is the topic. So good news is that now when you go out to eat, and if you're trying to watch what you're eating, you'll have no problem whatsoever. As we talk about how to build a meal in any restaurant, doesn't matter if it's Mexican, doesn't matter if it's drive-thru, doesn't matter if it's barbecue, no matter where it is, we're gonna talk about how you build that meal. So when you go to a restaurant and you're trying to eat good, what are some of your stresses when your your own personal stresses? What what um stresses you out sometimes about a restaurant? And sometimes what is a stress that if it's a new restaurant that you haven't been to before and you can't get the exact same thing you always get?
SPEAKER_01:I stress about the chips and salsa because I know I'm gonna eat a lot of it. Yeah, because 10 tortillas.
SPEAKER_00:That's right, because isn't it what I forget, isn't it like 12 or 16 chips is a tortilla? I think it may not even be that many, it may be less. I think it's six, six chips, yes, six chips, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I just say that on how they cut. The basket is about twelve tortillas.
SPEAKER_00:So so if there's just you and another person, you clean out a basket of chips and you just knocked out about 12 tortillas, yes, but but if but and the funny thing is, if they brought a stack of 12 tortillas to your table, you're like, Oh, I can't eat that, I won't be hungry. But yet we do that with chips. So, what are some other things that might stress you out about going out to eat? And especially if it maybe it's a new restaurant.
SPEAKER_01:What are you gonna eat?
SPEAKER_00:What are you gonna eat? Yeah, um, and then then sometimes it might stress us out if who you're going with. You might be going with somebody that always gives you a hard time about trying to eat healthier, or you might be going with somebody that doesn't eat very good and their food looks really good. Um, so we're gonna talk about some of that. Um so so sometimes, you know, when we are trying to um and now now this is this is different, you know, if we're going out for a special occasion, sometimes we plan ahead for it. But let's say it's holiday week or holiday month, and you might go out more often than normal. So you have to make some different options, um, different choices. Uh, because let's say maybe you're going out to eat two or three times in the same week um for different things. So you have to make some um choices. So we're gonna talk about um how you do that and still uh keep balanced. Um again, because we're not talking about if you're on a diet, because we're talking about if you go, no matter where you go to eat, you can still eat relatively well. Um, when I say well, I mean, you know, not going overboard, not getting out of control. You can leave the restaurant and go, I did really good. Um uh so we're gonna talk about anything, whether it's Italian food, whether it's barbecue, whether it's a uh um steak, um, drive-thru, whatever it is, um, no matter where you're at, this what we're gonna talk about will give you a way to make the best options at any restaurant. So there's gonna be four different parts to this. So this is what you might call the four-part restaurant formula. So anytime you go to a restaurant, you can use this formula um and make some better options. Now, what are what what's the best options?
SPEAKER_01:Chicken, grilled chicken.
SPEAKER_00:Well, what is the best option for you ever get to the restaurant?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, before you go.
SPEAKER_00:Eat at home, don't eat at the restaurant. Um, that's really the best option. Um, so we're gonna talk about the best option at the restaurant or the better options at the restaurant. So the first thing is the first thing you're gonna pick, you have this menu and it's got a gazillion of one different items on it, especially if you haven't ever been there before. You know, it you know, typically if you've been there before, you already kind of know what you're gonna order. It's pretty simple. So if you have you're going to a restaurant, you have all these options, and you're like, I don't know where to look. The the first thing to pick is your protein. What protein do I want? Do I want chicken? Do I want steak? Do I want fish? Um, what do I want pork? What kind of protein do I want? So, so you decide on what that is that I want. What type of protein am I looking for first? Um, and we think about that, that really narrows down the menu. Because if you're really looking to have chicken, then you don't even have to worry about looking at the steaks. Or if you don't really want chicken or fish, then you can just go straight to the steaks and say, what do I want here? Um, because a lot of them, you know, most of them are grouped in in the protein. Um, what's in that plate? Um, so um, so you're gonna look to see where that protein is now. Um when you are are you looking for chicken fried steak?
SPEAKER_01:Well, you might be looking for it, but that's not what you should go for.
SPEAKER_00:That's not what you should go. So when you're pricking your protein, um anytime you want to try to pick grilled over fried. So um, if you say, Man, I had fish tonight, it ain't so good. And then you forget to mention that it was breaded um from the river. You you you you forget to mention that part. Um so you always want grilled over fried anytime, which takes out all of your fried fishes, takes out all your fried chicken fried steak, and takes all out all that. So you're looking at your protein that is it, is it grilled? Um, how is it how is it fixed? So you first we first choose what's our protein? What is it I want? And we look for that on the menu. Um, so then the next thing we look for is how can I add color or fiber to my plate? So, what does that look like? Um, you know, there's one of the following. Maybe it's veggies. What kind of vegetables can I get added? Um, is there salad? Um, Mexican food, is it salsa? Um, maybe it's fruit. Maybe if we're at barbecue, maybe it's beans. Um, maybe we look at the coleslaw, depending on how it's how it's prepared. Um so when we do this, here's what it does to our plate. Uh, or here was what it does to our body. It adds some color to our plate and also adds some fullness to our plate, but also it helps to stabilize our blood sugar. It helps reduce that post-meal crash, and it also helps fill us up a little sooner when we get salad. And we're gonna talk about, you know, we're not gonna drown it with all the ran, all the ranch dressing and that kind of thing. So it's gonna be, we're gonna have some options there. So, some of those, what do some of those look like that we add fiber or color? It's gonna be maybe a side salad, it's gonna be steamed veggies, it's gonna be pico, it's gonna be maybe grilled veggies, it's gonna be maybe a fruit cup, maybe something like roasted Brussels sprouts. So it gives you kind of an option of so at side salad, you might go to a steakhouse, veggies, steakhouse, pico, Mexican. So we have options on all of those. So we've picked our protein, now we've added some color or fiber from one of those. How we're gonna do that, and then the third thing we're gonna do is we're gonna pick our smart carb. What carb do we want? And so again, you know, you may not want a carb, you may be good with veggies and a steak, but we're gonna talk about if you do add that, how does that look? So it might be rice, it might be potatoes, it might be beans, it might be quinoa, it might be tortilla, it might be some pasta. So, you know, when we're when you go to maybe Mexican food and you have rice on the side, you know, you have a steak, you're gonna have a potato with it. Maybe you you're a barbecue, so you're gonna have some beans, but we're gonna talk about the beans also. You know, and maybe you're having fajitas, it's gonna be tortillas. And so we're we're pairing our carbs with our protein, our color or fiber, and then uh so now we have our carb. So now we have our three important parts on our plate. Now we're gonna use what flavor what enhances the flavor. Um, what are we gonna do? So we're gonna look for something that doesn't overload us on calories, sugar, or or or oils. And we're looking for those things. So if we're at Mexican food, maybe we're it's salsa instead of queso. Instead of saying, hey, that fajita burrito, go ahead and put queso all over it. Maybe it's no queso and it's just salsa instead. You know, if something is you normally get uh mayo on it, maybe it's mustard. Um think about Subway. How could you do this at Subway? You're gonna pick what protein you want, what sandwich, meat, what, or you're gonna add some veggies to it, you're gonna add some vegetables to that sandwich, and then your carb is gonna be what kind of bread, what what's the best option on my bread that I'm gonna choose? I mean, then you would be putting instead of mayonnaise, even though you might love mayonnaise, you're gonna put mustard just because you're making some better choices. Sometimes instead of butter, it's just lemon, instead of saying, hey, would you like butter on that steak? Say no, thank you. I'll take it without, or maybe put lemon on it. On as uh for salad, maybe it's vinaigrette and it's on the side, not all over the salad. So we're not talking about ranch just squeezed all over your potato or all over your salad, or just sucking the joy out of life, I know. And then sometimes it's dry rub instead of a thick sauce. So when we talk about our vinaigrette, you know, without sucking all the joy out of life, let's say you do want some ranch. What's gonna be a better option than if you do want to get the ranch? I gotta have some ranch and that's or some other creamy dressing. What's an option besides pouring it all over your salad?
SPEAKER_01:On the side and dip your fork. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Dip and dribble. Dip and dribble. That's right. Um, it's not as, you know, it's your salad's not gonna look as creamy and yummy, but it is gonna save a bunch of calories because you think about it, you pour that whole cup or whatever they give you for your salad all over your salad, and it's all gone. And chances are if you have the same salad, leave it on the side and dip and drizzle, or just dip and bite, you're gonna maybe use half of it. Maybe. So you think about it, you've just saved half the calories already. And again, we're talking about maybe it's not a special occasion, maybe it's you know, you're going out for uh a lunch meeting, or you have a bunch of things to go out to eat for, and you go, man, that's a lot of food. And some of these are ways that you can manage um and not have that guilty feeling. Um so simply we've picked our protein, um, we added um, we added our color or fiber, we picked our smart carb. Um, what do we want? And then we decided uh what the next thing was we decided how we're gonna enhance the flavor. So then, too, we can also sometimes it helps um if we look at our plate, uh, it doesn't matter the size of the plate when we go out to eat and say uh maybe it's cut in thirds. So we have a third of it is protein, a third of it is your um color or fiber, and then the other third is your carbs or extra veggies. Maybe you get extra vegetables, maybe you got your two sides, you got two different vegetables instead. Um, so then we're gonna kind of go through um some different restaurants um that and some options. Um, if we go to a Mexican food restaurant, um, you know, around here, um we have one or two Mexican food restaurants. So I think five out of ten are Mexican food. So, you know, typically with Mexican food, you can cover a lot of things with queso. I mean, it can get kind of a lot. So some of the best choices are our fajitas. We start with the chicken, shrimp, steak, what's you know, those are really good options. And then we're still avoiding our bread and meats. Then how do we add some color to it? We can get, you also have veggie fajitas. Um, but again, you want to add that protein, but you could add some color by salsa, lettuce, you can add some color of some sort to your fajitas. And then what does our smart carb look like? Maybe it's one or two, a couple tortillas. Um, it's a spoonful of rice. Uh, and maybe if you don't want your tortilla, maybe you have the rice instead. Um, beans are great. Maybe you don't want your tortilla. So you have beans and rice mixed in with your uh fajita. Um, and then how do we flavor it? How does that what's our flavor smart? Maybe instead of the queso, we add salsa to it. Maybe instead of the cheese, uh shredded cheese, we do add some guacamole or the salsa. So we make those better options. So we still had a great meal. We still had our carbs, our protein. So, as you see, in all of these that we talk about, we're not avoiding carbs. We're just first fixing, first um selecting the protein that we want, and then that helps us go from there. Um, so what if we go to an Italian restaurant? Uh maybe we have grilled salmon, maybe we have meatballs. Um, you know, there's there's chicken, there's uh definitely different options for chicken. So that's our protein. Maybe our color is a side salad or roasted veggies. Um, and then our smart carb. So if we want pasta, maybe we just half the pasta portion. So we're still having the pasta, but it's just half the portion. Uh maybe it's, you know, you go to um Olive Garden, and instead of, you know, three of the breadsticks, you just have half or you have one. So you're still getting it, and you're just making some better options, better choices when you get it. And of course, flavor smart, we're always gonna go tomato-based sauces over our creamy sauces. If it's creamy, typically that's not gonna be our best option just because creamy is not the best for us if we want to. Again, we're talking about if we're trying to keep a balanced diet and not and be able to go out to eat and not go out of control and still enjoy the meal. So, what if we go to a diner or a bar and grill? What if we go to docks? What are you gonna eat? Maybe it's a burger, it's grilled chicken, it's a steak, and so what are our colors? Fries aren't gonna really count as a color because are they fried? Yes, yes. So maybe we're gonna opt out for some veggies or a side salad, or maybe we gotta have the fries. I've just dying for fries, so maybe we split them, or maybe there's three people, so we third thirds them, and we have a few fries, and we can still maybe have our veggies and our side salad. So, our smart card, what are we gonna do there? Maybe it's you we either have the bun with our burger, or we have the fries and we have an open face sandwich. We have one of those options. So, again, we can still eat and do all those things, we just change a little bit what we do. We go to barbecue. Well, if we have barbecue, maybe we have some smoked chicken, brisket, turkey. Barbecue, you know, a little bit easier, but then again, we're looking at what is what sauces are on it. Then color, we have green beans, coleslaw, depending on how it's made, vinegar based is gonna be better, and we have our grilled veggies. So, again, we can make better options. And typically, unfortunately, the best thing to sometimes go with be barbecue is beans, baked beans, and sometimes it's those really sugary baked beans that we have to skip out on. So maybe we'll go for potato instead, and then we use our sauces very sparingly. And if it's if it's dry rub, then that's a better for us than our sauces because sauces can add a lot of calories. I mean, we don't really notice them. You know, if you're mindful of them and using them, then okay, but they can add up really, really quickly, and we not know it. So we kind of talked about subway how how you would do that. Um again, you don't have to get a 12-inch, maybe it is just a six-inch. Maybe you get the six-inch and you're really, really hungry and you really like a 12-inch, but you get a six-inch sub and you double meat. So still you're getting more protein, and it's still gonna be more filling. Or maybe you just get the six-inch, you get normal um normal protein, the the normal sandwich, and you add more veggies. So now it's more filling. And again, we're not looking for those creamy dressings, we're looking for more like the mustard instead of the mayo. So, so we can really eat at any of those and still make the best options when we go, what's our what's our protein? What how are we gonna add color or fiber to our plate? Um, what's our smart carb, and then when we look at how we're gonna enhance the flavor. And then so, so when we and you know, when we go out with people, because typically, do you go out to eat by yourself? No, no, typically we go out to eat with others because whether it's for an event, for a celebration, whatever it is, we typically go out to eat with others. So, and sometimes that can get a little harder because it's easy when we go out by ourselves, if we go out, if you go out by yourselves, to make the decision say I want to be good. There's no real Temptation. But one of the things we can do when we go out with others is we can order first. Because what happens sometimes? Typically, if you're sitting at a table with people, what do you ask? What do you what do you have in? What do you have in? Yeah, what do you have? Why do we ask that?
SPEAKER_01:Well, we'd like to know what what everybody's giving us so we give us some ideas. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, give you some ideas. And sometimes that changes your oh, well, that sounds really good. I didn't see that on the menu. Where'd you find that? Point that out to me. Oh, well, that looks really good. So the other people at your table can alter what you're looking for, what you're wanting, because it is that power of suggestion. Well, I didn't know that was an option. Wow, I haven't ever gotten it like that. Let me try that. So a secret something you can do is don't ask anybody what they're eating, what they're gonna order, and you order first. And so that way you've already placed your order when they order, and then you don't really want to change your order. Say, oh, well, I'll take what they're having. So you don't you don't do a survey around the table, you just order first. And sometimes that'll set the tone for the for the table about uh what you get. Um again, the next thing is we any sauces that there are, get those on the side, whether it's a salad dressing, whether it's barbecue sauce, any kind of sauce, you can get on the side. Maybe it's even if you're at Subway and you want mayonnaise, say I'll take that on the side. Or I want very, very little. Or so it reduces what you get. Also, another one, another tip is you get the meal, and what can we typically what can we usually do with the meal that we get at a restaurant?
SPEAKER_01:Split.
SPEAKER_00:Split. And and let's say you don't want the same thing, you can get that meal and you can half it. What's the what would be the best way to do that if you're gonna half your meal? And your willpower is not real strong. Get an extra plate, get an extra plate, but but what if you want to take it home?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, go ahead and get your to-go box and put it in there.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, get go ahead and and I mean as soon as they bring it out, get your to-go box and start putting it in there. So that way, and chances are when you get done eating, you go, oh, that was plenty. Typically, it's good, so we just keep eating more. And then when so typically, when we eat all those baskets of chips, what happens when we go? What happens before we ever went? How did we go when we showed up at that table?
SPEAKER_01:Hungry. Hungry.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes, hungry. So typically, you know, we eat more if maybe it's we don't have the chips, but oh, let's get an appetizer because that'll come out much quicker. And I am starving. And then you eat the appetizer, and then you still eat your meal because now you feel bad that you spent the money on the meal and you're not really hungry for it, but you go ahead and eat it anyhow. So if you are going out and you do don't want to eat as much or not eat as many chips, if you don't have that willpower to say no, don't bring those, take those back, then it's to have a snack before you leave. And you think, well, that's extra calories. Well, if you have an ounce of nuts before you leave the house, a couple hundred calories, how many calories do you think that basket of chips is? It's gonna be way more than that. And so, and maybe, maybe it's a you know, you think, I'll have a couple eggs before I go to leave. And you think, well, that's like a meal, but that's still only 140 calories. It's still gonna be way less than that chips, and probably the queso that you got. Maybe it's a string cheese, maybe it's two string cheeses, maybe it's three string cheeses. That's still only 150 calories. Um, so you're still having less than those potato skins you're getting because you're starving. Or the bread that the whole loaf of bread that they left at the table, and you've eaten it all because you really don't want to pay for an appetizer, but you're hungry. So now you had 300 calories plus you added the butter, so now you add another 300 calories, so you're 600 calories in before you even had supper, but you're fretting over a couple hundred calories at home before you leave, and you're not gonna be eating for another 45 minutes, probably. So, so but those things help keep you from overeating, and then you know, when you start eating, always start with your protein, veggies, and then your carb. Work your way around. It's kind of like you know, a little this, little that, kind of work your way around on your plate that's in thirds. So when we think about that, we don't have to we don't have to eat differently everywhere we go, doesn't matter the restaurant. Um, we can eat the exact same way at every single restaurant. Um, so the exact same way is our protein, our colorful plate or or a fiber, it's then what is our smart carb and how we're gonna enhance that? It's the same, doesn't matter if it's Subway, it doesn't matter if it's any Mexican food restaurant in town, it doesn't matter if it's Longhorn. Wherever you're at, you can eat the exact same way. Chances are on the buffet, you're not gonna have fried fish, you're not gonna have chicken finger, fried steak fingers, you're not gonna have those things. Now, I don't even know they have anything that's not fried at the river, so you you just that might just have to be a special occasion. So the challenge is just think about that when you go to a restaurant. You look at the at the even if you go and you're not really planning on eating good, you're just gonna want to enjoy the meal and kind of eat more than normal. Still, I challenge you to look at the menu and say, if I was gonna have a protein, where would I go? What kind of protein do I want? And then follow those steps and it will narrow your big menu down because we've all been to those places like Cheesecake Factory, that it's a novel. It's like a Stephen King novel, too, because it's about that thick. And you get and you get lost after page two of where all the food is. So this helps narrow it down if it's a thick old menu or if it's one of those that is just two-sided, the best kind. You look here, one's breakfast, the other one's lunch or dinner. Super simple. But so this works for the super simple flip it menu or the novel menu. Any of them it works for because you get to narrow it down. So, any any thoughts, comments, or questions about designing the perfect meal in any restaurant?
SPEAKER_01:Don't judge me Saturday now.
SPEAKER_00:If I see you at a restaurant, I never judge you because I never want to be judged. So chances are if I don't look at you, it's because I'm not I don't want you to think that I'm giving you judgy eyes. Um so I look, I look even if you're sitting right across from me. Even if you yeah, I mean, just like if I see you in the grocery store. Um, I don't go there very often, but I won't judge what's in your cart. We won't we won't look over it and see what all's in there, especially if you have kids, because it's like well, it's for the kids, it's not for me. So any other thoughts or comments? And thank you to each of you for joining us for our healthy huddle. Look forward to seeing you right here next time on Healthy Huddle.