How to Navigate Dining Out as an Intuitive Eater
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Written by: Emily Krause, MS, RDN, LD
Can eating out be included in a healthy lifestyle? How do we incorporate intuitive eating practices when eating out?
There are so many rules when it comes to dining out. Avoid fried foods, only eat grilled entrees, always choose side salad over fries, etc. How are we supposed to navigate eating out if it causes us stress? And can eating out be included in an intuitive eating-inspired lifestyle?
Embracing food freedom in all aspects of life
Food freedom and intuitive eating goes beyond ditching the diets and challenging diet culture. We have to shift our mindset around food and step away from viewing food as “calories” and “macros.” One of the biggest aspects we focus on as non-diet dietitians is challenging our previous perceptions of nutrition and what purpose it held to us. Do you view food as a means to lose weight? Does food feel like a chore or burden to think about? Do you enjoy your food or are you “eating to eat”? These are all great prompts to start challenging your perception of food, and we dive further into depth about mindset around food in our course. Once we embrace food freedom, we can start to enjoy all aspects of life going beyond food, movement, and more!
Dining out is more than just eating food, it’s also about the experience!
Dining out plays a huge part in nutrition, especially if we’re going out to socialize, for a celebration, or just for fun! From a food aspect, we have the opportunity to explore new flavors, food combinations, cultures, and more. We can additionally catch up with a friend we haven’t seen in a while, go on a date to meet someone new, or celebrate someone’s accomplishments! The beauty of food is it can bring so many different people together. If dining out makes you nervous and feels overwhelming, we have a couple tips and tricks for you to try to help you practice intuitive eating while embracing food freedom.
7 tips & tricks
1. Review the Menu and Keep in Mind Blood Sugar Stability Methods
To build a well-balanced meal, try to incorporate a carb, protein, fiber, and healthy fat source whenever possible. This is not a necessity for all meals! Sometimes we’re going out for a specific type of food and we won’t hit all these components, and that’s okay! If you know you’re someone who gets stressed about making decisions in a short period of time, feel free to look at the menu beforehand. Tip: Yelp and OpenTable are great resources to read reviews and learn more about the restaurant.
2. Don’t Skip Meals to “Save Calories”
When we severely restrict leading up to an event that involves eating, oftentimes our blood sugar will drop, appetite will fluctuate, and we tend to overeat. When you know you’re going to eat out one day or going to an event with food, eat like you normally would throughout the day. “Saving calories” will more likely cause you to eat past fullness and feel uncomfortable later.
3. Eat a Snack Before
If you know you tend to overeat when going out to restaurants, eat a snack beforehand. This will help you go into a meal not feeling overly hungry and will help you gauge your hunger and fullness cues better.
4. Be in the Moment and Connect with Family/Friends
Like we discussed above, eating out is so much more than the food. It’s about the experience! Although we’re providing you with these different tips to navigate dining out, we don’t ever want it to cause you more stress that would affect your experience.
5. Eat Mindfully
We want to make sure we’re eating slowly, taking sips of water, and being mindful and appreciative of the flavors we’re experiencing. Being mindful will also help you enjoy your meal more!
6. Give Yourself 15-20 Minutes to Digest
It takes our body 15-20 minutes to register when we’re full, so that’s why it’s important we slow down our eating habits. After 15-20 minutes, allow yourself to sit for 5-10 minutes to register if you’re still hungry. Ask yourself questions like “do we want to keep eating because we’re still hungry? Or because we want to continue experiencing the flavors?”
7. Portion and Take To-Go
Don’t be afraid to take some food home! You don’t need to eat it all there. Separating your meal into two physically in a to-go container or on a separate plate/bowl is an easy start to helping gauge fullness to prevent overeating.
Eating post-dining out
So after a meal, what should we do? Are there dietary practices we should implement to make up for the meal? Do we need to increase exercise to burn off the extra calories? Should we eat only veggies for our next meal?
All of these questions are common practices people have implemented to “make up” for eating out. Luckily for you as a prospective intuitive eater, you don’t need to do this! You do not need to restrict or over exercise to “cancel out” your eating out meal. Eating out can be easily included in a healthy lifestyle! The best thing to do after eating out? Go back to your normal eating habits. You don’t need to do anything extreme or drastic to correct your prior eating. This might even cause more harm than good! It could easily lead you into the binge and restrict cycle.
Dining out can be included in an intuitive eating lifestyle! We recommend not restricting yourself from eating out because you may miss out on experiencing new cultures, bonding with loved ones, and having fun with food in general.
If you want to hear us dive more in-depth about eating out, tune into our podcast episode!
Want to learn more about Intuitive Eating and how to start your food freedom journey? Join our course to learn how!
