There are many reasons why you might skip out on meal planning and go for eating out instead.
To socialize.
Because you believe it is cheaper (which has shown to be false)
To save time.
Unfortunately, eating out on the regular can cause more negatives than positives.
Studies have shown that eating out can lead to:
Over consuming calories.
Under consumption of fruits and veggies.
But what if you track your food?
Unfortunately, there are still some problems that you will run into.
The obvious one is not really knowing exactly what ingredients are being put into making your food and the amounts being served. This alone can cause your numbers to be significantly off.
For example:
You can go to a restaurant. Order a salmon. Bring your scale. Weigh out 4 oz. Plug in 4 oz of salmon, but you do not know how much oil or butter was used to make that salmon. If there is a saucy added in, that would cause a whole other problem.
From a health stand point…
Most restaurants are using oils like corn, cottonseed, canola, and soy bean oil bean oil. Why? Because these are the most affordable oil for restaurants.
Here is a small list of chain restaurants that use these oils:
Red Lobster
Five Guys
Denny’s
IHop
It is harder to know whether or not smaller restaurants are using these types of oils.
The bad news for us is that these oils are high in omega-6, which mean they are highly inflammatory. This can lead to problems like heart disease, hormone issues, immune system issues, liver damage, the list goes on.
Here are some healthier options:
Butter from grass-fed cows
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Lard/ duck fat/ Ghee
The best thing that you can do…
Cook at home. This takes the guessing game (macros and ingredients) out of the picture. You know exactly how much and what you are putting into your body.
Ask for your food to be in butter
Dressings usually contain unhealthy oils. Ask for olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
