How to Eat Healthy Meals at Restaurants

Appetizers, the new entree

Breakfast isn't hard

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TONY CENICOLA AND JASON HENRY

Eat plants

Hack the menu

Most meals at American restaurants arent healthy. Theyre packed
with processed food and enough calories to cover two or three sensible
meals.
Yet its entirely possible to eat both healthy and tasty restaurant meals.
And because eating out is one of lifes great pleasures, weve put
together this guide to smart restaurant eating. It ranges from
undeniably healthy meals with a rich variety of foods, heavy on
fruits and vegetables, light on sugar to fast-food meals that are at
least better than the alternatives if you find yourself eating at
McDonald's.
Every lunch or dinner here stays under 750 calories about one-third
the number many adults should eat in a day and many meals are
well under; the breakfasts are under 500 calories. Well start with some
good news: The restaurant scene has never been better.
This article is by Josh Barro, Claire Cain Miller, Darcy Eveleigh, David Leonhardt, Matt Ruby and Rumsey
Taylor.

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Signs of progress
Healthy fast food is no longer an oxymoron.
Dont be confused by Chipotle, Five Guys and other hot chains, which
serve tastier food than McDonalds but still dont focus on health. Theres
another, albeit smaller, rising group of restaurants with menus that are
both tasty and healthy.
These chains include Chopt, Lyfe Kitchen, Maoz Vegetarian, Modmarket
and Native Foods Cafe. At these, you can often eat a meal that has a
reasonable number of calories, and a nice array of nutrients, without
thinking too hard. Sweetgreen, which makes the grain bowl you see
above, got its start in Washington, from three Georgetown students
frustrated by the existing restaurant scene.
We expect these kinds of restaurants will continue spreading, perhaps
beyond the largest metro areas, as more Americans look for ways to eat
right. Something to watch: Will Middle Eastern food, which is often packed
with flavor, fresh ingredients and whole grains, go mainstream?

SWEETGREEN (615 calories): Quinoa and farro bowl, with arugula, chickpeas, feta,

broccoli, almonds, cilantro, olive oil and lemon juice

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Leading the way

Pret A Manger comes closest to a healthy mass-market chain.
The selling point of Pret A Manger, which began in London and has 60
American stores in four cities, is the freshness of its ingredients: Sandwich
boxes dont have expiration dates because theyre sold only on the same
day theyre made (unsold food is offered to charity at the end of each
day). But in terms of health, the great thing about Pret is portion control.
Our proposed lunch includes a sandwich and two clementines, and still
stays under 600 calories. Sandwiches arent exactly health food, but this
one comes on whole-grain bread and combines lean protein with healthy
fats from olive oil and avocados; it has no cheese or mayonnaise.
The result is not just low in calories, added sugar and saturated fat, but
also relatively high in things you need, like fiber and vitamins. The meal
has 13 grams of fiber, about half of what nutritionists say people should
eat in a day, and just 3 grams of saturated fat. Over all for these meals,

we aimed to avoid added sugars where possible and to keep saturated fat
well under 8 grams (nutritionists recommend eating fewer than 16 grams
daily), with a bonus for meals that provided fiber and nutrients from a
variety of foods.
PRET A MANGER (570 calories): Balsamic chicken and avocado sandwich (490),

two clementines (80), Diet Coke (0)

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Hack the menu

The most valuable trick: Dont eat an entire portion.
If youre not careful, you can end up eating an entire days worth of
calories in a single restaurant meal, as we explained last year. So its
important not to take restaurants definition of portion size literally.
Consider pizza.
Pizza doesnt have to be bad for you, especially if you pick one with a thin
crust, top it with vegetables instead of meat and stick to two or three
slices. Lisa Young, an N.Y.U. nutritionist, says that standard pizzas were 10
inches in diameter in the 1970s, much smaller than many pies today.
Portion inflation isnt limited to pizzas, which is why splitting entrees is so
important. If youre dining alone, consider setting aside some food as soon
as it comes, as we have with the Olive Garden meal here, to avoid what
psychologists call the completion compulsion. Save the food for later
or, if there is no better option, throw it out, without guilt. Eating food you
don't need is a version of waste.
OLIVE GARDEN (745 calories): Chicken Marsala with potatoes (half portion, 455),

salad with house dressing (140), red wine (150)

CALIFORNIA PIZZA KITCHEN (700 calories): Veggie pizza (half portion, 535), 18-

ounce Bud Light (165)

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Appetizers, the new

entree
Theyre often as large as main courses once were.
Portion inflation also means that todays appetizers are sometimes the
size of yesterdays entrees and that you can often get a filling meal with
two appetizers. The strategy is especially helpful during business meals,
when other people at the table are often ordering two courses and joining
them is the natural thing to do.
And when a menu or waiter pushes you to order several small-plate
entrees, push back. At Panda Express, a standard combination meal

comes with two different entrees. The meal you see is made up of one
entree (the beef) and two sides (brown rice and veggies.)
At certain types of restaurants, like those that serve Chinese food or pizza,
these tricks help with shaving calories but not necessarily sodium. Yet
sodium is not necessarily the villain many people make it out to be,
especially for those with healthy blood pressure.
Finally, be wary of accompanying sauces, which are common with
appetizers. That small ramekin of tartar sauce on the plate with the
lobster and crab cakes at Capital Grille has 330 additional calories. Stick
with the lemon.
PANDA EXPRESS (440 calories): Beef with broccoli (150), mixed vegetables (80),

brown rice (half portion, 210), Diet Pepsi (0)

CAPITAL GRILLE (690 calories): Lobster and crab cakes with corn relish (490),

greens (200), sparkling water with lemon (0)

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Beverages are (often) the

enemy
Sweetened drinks add calories without filling you up.
We dont realize how many calories were consuming when we drink. It's
not just soda that is caloric: A glass of orange juice can have 170 calories
and 37 grams (or about nine teaspoons) of sugar. Even though natural
sugar in some juices may not bring the same health risks that seem in
some studies to be associated with added sugars, you dont want too
much of any kind of sugar. Beverage calories are also oftenempty calories,
providing few or no nutrients and still leaving you hungry later. If you drink
water or club soda, you can eat more calories. And if you do order a juice
with breakfast, consider drinking only half of it unless it's six ounces or
less.
STARBUCKS (475 calories): Whole-grain oatmeal, with half of brown sugar packet

and toppings (385), tall cappucino with 2 percent milk (90)

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Lemon and umami are

your friends
So are mustard, vinegar and other flavor bombs.
Umami is the mysterious fifth taste, hard to pinpoint but easy to recognize
as the deep, meaty, addictive taste in food like Parmesan, soy sauce,
mushrooms, anchovies, seaweed and miso (and, less appetizingly, MSG.)
It was discovered by a Japanese chemist and named for the word
delicious.
Umami Burger, started in Los Angeles and now in four states, aims to
make burgers more flavorful. The beef burgers and fries are not
particularly healthy. (The same is true at Five Guys, where burgers have
many more calories than traditional fast-food burgers.) But you can eat a
flavor-packed and still healthy meal at Umami Burger by choosing Ahi tuna
and a side of pickled vegetables.

The lesson applies to other restaurants and other flavors: Choose mustard
instead of mayo on a sandwich, or olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice
instead of creamy salad dressing. Its easy to undercut a salad or
sandwich with dollops of ranch or Caesar dressing.
UMAMI BURGER (655 calories): Ahi tuna burger, with toppings (570), pickle plate

(half portion, 85), sparkling water (0)

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Breakfast isnt hard

Eggs, and the ubiquity of Starbucks, help.
Eggs are often the key: Theyre healthier than many people have long
feared. Theyre also a delicious source of protein when cooked right, and
theyre available all over the place. Outside of major metropolitan areas,
where restaurant choices are more limited, egg-based lunches and dinners
are a good way to eat well.
Another encouraging part of breakfast: The addition of oatmeal to the
Starbucks menu makes a truly healthful breakfast far easier to find on the
road. We prefer the plain over the blueberry-flavored, and dont
automatically add an entire packet of brown sugar. The dried fruit that
comes with the oatmeal already supplies sugar.

DENNYS (390 calories): Fit Slam: egg whites with spinach, turkey bacon, an English

muffin and fruit (390), black coffee (0)

DUNKIN' DONUTS (340 calories): Egg and cheese on English muffin (240), iced

coffee with cream (100)

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Eat plants
As Michael Pollan says: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
The next time youre in a chain restaurant, look around the room and
notice the dominant colors of the food. Theyre probably a combination of
browns and yellows. By comparison, scroll up this page and notice all the
green, red and orange. Besides calories, nothing matters as much as
eating a lot of fruits and vegetables.
Dr. Deborah A. Cohen, an epidemiologist at the RAND Corporation, notes
that it recently convened a group of experts to createperformance
standards for restaurant meals. The focus was on two measures above all:
a limit of 700 calories and a minimum of a cup and a half of fruits and
vegetables.
Fruits and vegetables are a reminder of the importance of fiber, which is
filling in a way that simple carbohydrates are not. In addition to plants,
look for whole grains oatmeal, brown rice, truly whole-grain bread and

the like and dont think something is whole grain simply because it has
wheat in the name.
LYFE KITCHEN (615 calories): Fish tacos with chayote slaw, avocado and toppings

(480), greens (75), Cucumber Mint Lyfe Water, (60)

MAOZ (690 calories): Falafel sandwich on wheat pita with toppings (610), vegetable

soup (80), water (0)

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Beware bread
An easy way to pile on calories.

Good bread is delicious, and for all the faddishness of gluten-free, Paleo
and Atkins diets, it's entirely possible for bread to be part of a healthy diet.
But in a restaurant, bread is also one of the easiest ways to consume
hundreds of calories almost unthinkingly.
When you're served a bread basket, make a conscious choice about how
much of it you'll eat and consider asking the server to take the rest away.
And before you order, ask yourself how much you really want the bread
product that comes with the meal. It's no accident that bothPresident
Obama and Hillary Clinton ordered burrito bowls during their recent visits
to Chipotle: Skipping the tortilla is one of the few ways to keep a meal
within a healthy calorie range.
Oh, and be especially careful with bagels, which are extravaganzas of
dough. With 75 to 80 calories an ounce and a gradual increase in sizeover
the years, some exceed 500 calories before you add any cream cheese or
lox.
CHIPOTLE (655 calories): Burrito bowl with steak, black beans, brown rice, sour

cream, lettuce and mild salsa (655), soda water (0)

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Vegetarian can be
decadent
Texture, richness and flavor, with no need to add meat.
A meal doesnt need any meat (or even pasta) to be indulgent. Only 5
percent of Americans are vegetarians, according to a 2012 Gallupsurvey.
But being a meat eater doesn't mean you need meat at every meal, as
many people are coming to realize. Replacing meat with vegetarian
entrees allows you to eat bigger portions with fewer calories and add
nutrients and variety.
Way back in 1979, Greens Restaurant, in San Francisco, signaled the
entry of vegetarianism into the mainstream, as Marian Burros has
written, and its still going strong. Its chef, Annie Somerville, uses whole
grains like farro and meaty vegetables and mushrooms to provide texture
and richness, and uses olive oil and citrus juice for flavor bursts. I dont
think so much nutritionally, she told us. I just think about what's in

season and what works really well together, and oftentimes that ends up
being something that's really nutritious.
Most people who visit the restaurant are not vegetarians, she said, and
that is also probably true at other places with hearty vegetarian choices,
like Maoz Vegetarian and Sweetgreen.
GREENS RESTAURANT (735 calories): Farro risotto with morel mushrooms and

asparagus (350), butter lettuce salad (170), chickpea soup (95), white wine (120)

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 and meat is O.K.

Pay attention to the cut.
When youre at a steakhouse, youre going to want to eat a steak. Your
healthiest option will usually be the filet mignon: Its one of the leanest
cuts of beef, and it tends to come in smaller portions because its so
expensive. This filet-based meal is under 750 calories, even with a glass of
wine. But you have to prioritize: If youre going to eat the filet with shrimp,
stay away from the bread and dont order calorie-dense sides like mashed
potatoes or creamed spinach.
If you prefer a fattier cut, try splitting a steak with a friend. Or eat light in
the morning so you can splurge on a high-calorie steak dinner. I would
take more of the tack, if Im going to Ruths Chris, its going to be a
thousand calories, says Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, an Upshot contributor. And
Id try to budget for that.

At cheaper restaurants, don't assume the beef is always the least healthy
option. A serving of roast beef on a Subway sandwich has fewer calories
and less saturated fat than a serving of tuna salad, the cold-cut combo or
the "seafood sensation."

SUBWAY (460 calories): Six-inch roast beef sandwich with vegetables and mustard

on multigrain flatbread (330), Baked Lays (130), Diet Fuze Tea (0)
RUTHS CHRIS STEAK HOUSE (705 calories): Petite filet and shrimp (490), broiled

tomato (half portion, 40) asparagus (half portion, 25), red wine (150)

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Cheesecake Factory?
Yes, indeed
Even restaurants that serve vast quantities have light options.
Cheesecake Factory provided a lot of fodder for our What 2,000 Calories
Looks Like article, because some individual items on its menu blow right
past a full days caloric intake. At the same time, Cheesecakes
SkinnyLicious menu includes more than 50 options under 590 calories,
which means its longer than the entire menu at many restaurants.
The Tuscan chicken, like most entrees there, is huge. But its not packed
with calories. By putting mostly lean protein and fresh vegetables on the
plate, Cheesecake is able to provide a vast quantity of food that adds up
to only 590 calories.
And volume can be your ally. One of the things you want to think about
when you to go a restaurant is calories, but you also want to make sure
you get enough volume of food so you feel satisfied when you leave, says
Marlene Schwartz, the director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and
Obesity at the University of Connecticut. Eating a large volume of food will
make you less likely to binge later.
CHEESECAKE FACTORY (740 calories): Tuscan chicken (590), red wine (150)

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Classic fast food

Make choices: Dont do fries, a soda and a dessert.
We should tell you that avoiding McDonalds and Burger King altogether
will probably be good for your health. They serve highly processed food,
and many meals there soar above 1,000 calories. But if you eat classic
fast food occasionally, keep in mind that there is a wide variety in the
healthfulness, or lack thereof, of different fast-food meals.
First, remember portion inflation: The original McDonalds burger patty
weighed 1.6 ounces, Dr. Young, the N.Y.U. nutritionist, says, less than half
as large as a current Quarter Pounder. Stick with a basic burger or chicken
sandwich, and you can remain under 750 calories. Second, make choices:
Dont do fries, a soda and a dessert. Finally, search for the few vegetables
and fruits on the menu. Wendys, responding to the salad boom, has
started emphasizing its salads in an ad campaign. If you order one, you

can have a dessert and still eat many fewer calories than is in a typical
fast-food meal.

MCDONALD'S (530 calories): McWrap Chicken & Ranch (460), apple slices (two

orders, 30), clementine (40)

WENDYS (580 calories): Asian cashew chicken salad (380), Club soda (0), Junior

Chocolate Frosty (200)

BURGER KING (610 calories): Double hamburger (320), side Caesar salad (290),

unsweetened tea (0)