How to Create Your Own Dining Out Nutrition Guide

You have to admit that whether you are dining out at a fast food restaurant with your kids, happy hour with co-workers, a sit-down fancy place for a special occasion or a deli during your lunch break; eating out can be a stressful experience if you are trying to loose weight. All eyes are on you (or at least that is the way that you feel) to see what you will order. What will you order? How do you make a healthy selection? How do you know what the better choices are?

Preparation is the key to success!

I have learned that being prepared before I go to a restaurant means success. If I am familiar with what is on the menu, how many calories, fat grams, and fiber, I can make a wise choice. You will begin to realize that some of the items you think are healthy actually are loaded with tons of fat and calories.

A Dining out Nutrition Guide is a great tool for making good food choices.

I have lost forty pounds and feel great! I feel like I have control and can still enjoy a meal out with my family because I take the time to research and prepare before I go. The weight loss program that I joined (Weight Watchers) does a fantastic job of giving you dining out information, but I realized that I needed to expand my knowledge in order to be a total success. Before I go out to eat, I look through the dining out nutrition guide that I have compiled. I am starting to get quite a collection. If I don't have the information already, I go online and print a nutrition guide from the restaurant. Most chains have guides posted, but if not, there are other ways to get the information as I mention in this article.

Steps to making your own Nutrition Guide.

Making your own Nutrition Guide requires a computer, printer, and some sort of folder or binder for organizing everything. This is an ongoing process and customized to meet you and your family's needs.

1. Make a list of the restaurants that you visit the most often.

2. Go online and find the nutritional information on each restaurant's website and print them out. I have found many PDF versions available. If the nutrition information is listed, but not printable, look through and write or type a few items that you might like to order and list the calories, fat, and other information you want.

3. Staple the pages together and write the name of the restaurant at the top if it is not listed. If you will be using a 3-ring binder to organize, then don't staple, but hole punch instead. A highlighter works great for marking items you will most likely order.

4. Place in a labeled folder or binder. You can alphabetize them for easy use or categorize into groups (my preferred method). I have these categories: Fast Food A-L, Fast Food M-Z, Sit Down A-L, Sit Down M-Z, and an extra space for places like coffee shops and ice cream shops.

5. Place in your car so that you always have it with you.

How to locate nutritional information.

Here are my favorite online resources: Calorie Lab, www.calorielab.com has a very large listing of restaurants and their nutritional information. Dotti's Weight Loss Zone, www.dwlz.com is also another great resource. Both of these sites offer the point values for Weight Watchers.

Published Nutrition Guides are available at your local library or bookstore.

Pamphlets at the restaurant may also be available. I find this to be true especially for fast food restaurants. Get a copy and file it in your created guide.

The waiter or waitress may also have the information that you need. They may not be able to give you anything on paper, but they will help you as much as they can.

As a last resort, email or call the contact information for the restaurant or owner. I have had to do this for several restaurants in our area. One emailed me back with the information and the other basically told me via the phone that they had no nutritional information available - get with it!

There are so many ways that you can obtain nutritional information. In this day, many people have allergies and special health needs that most restaurants have realized it almost a necessity to have this available.

You can keep this in your car and even take it with you when you travel. It pays to be prepared - your waistline will thank you.