Hey reddit, Im working on a project and am curious everyone’s thoughts about the hardest thing for people that are trying to stay healthy when it comes to eating out/or having a busy schedule all the time
The SMELLS. I can look at the menu before going out, I know what the healthiest option for me is, but man when I walk in the restaurant and I smell the burgers and pizzas and deep-fried goodies, it makes me weak haha. This is why I prefer takeout, much less temptation.
Affordability of interesting and varied healthy foods. Sure you can get cheap beans, Dione veggies and chicken breast but that gets old quick. Varied vegetables, fish, etc., can quickly become costly.
Second, depending on your work and social circles, they often aren’t healthy eating friendly. Your friends want to go to a bar, or a pizza place. Your coworkers don’t like packing lunches and want to go out to lunch all the time. It’s difficult to have the mental fortitude to stick to your diet regimen and not succumb to either actual social or perceived social pressures.
The amount of salt and types of fats, large (double or triple ) serves of high glycaemic grains, minimal vegetables. The healthy plate model shows 1/2 of the plate should be non-starchy vegetables, 1/4 complex carbohydrate grains, and 1/4 lean protein. What we get is over served on the grains and protein and under served on the vegetables.
I’d say finding some time to make your own snacks to get through a busy week or having a trustworthy source of healthy meals and snacks. It takes cooking skills and/or a lot of knowledge to know what to look for and what to avoid when on your own. IIRC there was a post about dos and donts on food composition just yesterday on this very sub.
Ease of overconsumption of calories.
We are conditioned as kids to eat everything off our plates.
Even salads at common restaurants can be 1,500 calories.
Sure if all you ate was one meal a day 1500 would be fine but that isn’t the case for 99.99% of us.
Discipline, no doubt.
It’s not hard to eat low calorie and/or healthy at a restaurant. Fettucine alfredo is delicious, but it’s nothing but noodles and cheese. Awful for you. Chicken parm is a bit better, because there’s some protein in there. Steak and potatoes with veg? That’s your best bet.
Don’t get an appetizer, don’t get a dessert, don’t get two beers.
If at all possible, check out the restaurant’s nutritional information. A lot of places have that now.
Also, super important one, you’re under no obligation to finish your plate. If I order a plate and it looks like 1400 calories on it, I’ll eat 1000 and either box up the rest or just throw it out. Poeple feed bad for throwing away food, and I get that, it’s a waste of money. But if I pay x dollars for ‘a meal’, I decide what ‘a meal’ is, not the restaurant.
Multiple economic issues that all stem from the fact that restaurants have to make more money than others to stay in business. This leads to the a market full of the following:
It’s rare to have restaurants serve plain food. Always sauces, oils etc which add a lot of empty calories.
Well cooked food with the right combinations taste great without the extras.
Restaurants however are interested in the MOST taste with no regard to calories.
Going to a “healthy” restaurant to get food is oddly more expensive for the same thing minus the extra calories.
“Healthy” is fairly vague and can mean different things to different people but in my case its just a matter of being able to hit my macro target. This can be challenging depending on the restaurant.
Italian restaurant options are pretty limited for me unless I get a fish and salad there isn’t much else to eat. But then that isn’t enough protein and I have to make it up later. I never have issues at steak houses.
I guess the simple answer is depending on the type of restaurant your options are severely limited.