You are trying to lose weight and are about to go out for dinner. What do you choose? Salad or vegetables, vegetarian pasta or veal masala? So much depends on how it’s been cooked and what’s been added. Vegetarian pasta in a tomato-based sauce with a salad sounds low in kilojoules but if the vegetables are pre-roasted in oil, the tomato sauce has been laced with cream, the salad is swimming in dressing and cheese smothers the lot, perhaps good old meat and vegetables would have been a better choice. Here are a few healthy eating out tips to help you skip the lurking kilojoules in restaurant food.

• Order water for the table and drink at least one glass for every glass of wine. This helps to fill you up and slow down your eating – and drinking!
• Order plain bread (or toast at breakfast) with the butter or olive oil served separately. Garlic, herb or pizza bread has the fat already added.
• If the meal you are ordering comes with a sauce, ask if it is creamy. Even tomato sauces are often ‘finished’ with cream. A 50 ml dash of cream (less than ¼ cup) adds an extra five teaspoons of fat to the sauce!
• The same applies to soup. Ask if it is made with cream. Even tomato and vegetable soups sometimes have cream or butter added.
• Poached eggs are a good egg choice – unless it’s ‘eggs benedict’ wit all that creamy sauce. Scrambled eggs are often made with cream to give that creamy texture.
• Order extra vegetables or salad.
• At Asian restaurants, choose stir-fried dishes with extra vegetables.
• Check if curries are made with coconut cream which has lots of artery clogging saturated fat.
• Most sweet and sour dishes use meat or fish which has been pre-fried which adds extra fat.
• If you feel full or don’t love the flavour of something, it’s OK to leave some food on your plate. No-one will growl at you!
• If you are planning on eating dessert, order an entrée with side serve of salad or vegetables rather than a main.
• Best desserts are fresh fruit, sorbet or coffee with biscotti.
• If you need a chocolate fix, order a trim hot chocolate for dessert.
• Follow the 3 S’s rule: choose small serves, share large serves and save some for later.