Find healthy dining choices in your area

I am frequently asked what to choose to eat at restaurants and how you know if the meal is healthy or within the dietary guidelines.

I found an AWESOME website called Healthy Dining Finder that lists healthier meals at restaurants in your area. Just type in your zip code, and it will give you a list of restaurants (including fast food) in your area and what foods to order from the menu.

Their criteria for “healthy” are foods/entrees that have:

1. under 750 calories (or <40% of your calorie needs for the day)
2. less than 25 grams of fat (or < 35% of calories from fat)
3. and less than 8 grams of saturated fat in the entree.

Healthy Dining Finder also lists healthier appetizers to choose. These dishes may still be high in cholesterol and sodium (salt), so for people with renal disease, high cholesterol, and/or high blood pressure, these foods still might not be appropriate for you. However, the web site DOES list the sodium and cholesterol amounts for your knowledge.

As well, MAKE SURE YOU READ THE DESCRIPTION OF THE FOOD ITEM, as you may need to order the entree as a “special request”, meaning that you need to ask for it without mayonnaise, a certain sauce, etc. Or, the description tells you the information for part of the entree only.

I noticed that for smaller areas, you may be limited in restaurant choices. This does not mean that your favorite local restaurant has no healthy options, just that the restaurant didn’t sign up to be analyzed by the website (so, yes, for restaurants must pay a fee to be on the website, but this does not mean that they paid to have their foods listed as healthy!).

Not only can you sign up for free e-newsletters (in which you get a recipe from a participating restaurant’s chef), but you also have the tools available to take to your favorite restaurant and ask them to be listed on the site (the restaurant is charged a fee to be posted on their site).

Of note, some restaurants (especially fast food) list healthy food items, but not the whole meal. For example, Arby’s roast beef sandwich is within the guidelines, but when you add fries to this item (or you get two sandwiches), you are over your fat limit for the meal. So, beware of single items versus whole entrees. Another drawback is that some healthy food items that I know of are not listed as healthy–and I’m not sure why.

Feel free to browse through the Healthy Dining Finder website and see what you think. Post a comment here or email us directly with your thoughts.

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