1. Have an eat out strategy
Eating out is one of the main reasons many career women say they’re carrying extra kilos, but if you make healthier choices, frequent business lunches need not derail your weight loss efforts. In her diet book The Wall Street Diet (Hyperion), nutritionist Heather Bauer says you need to determine a dining out strategy before you hit the restaurant.
- Decide in advance: Will you have a cocktail, a piece of bread from the bread basket, or a light dessert such as sorbets?
- Check out the restaurant’s menu ahead of time (most are available online) and pick a simple dish, such as a lean steak, grilled salmon, or a chicken salad.
- Ask for any sauces and dressings to be served on the side, and always opt for vegetables or a baked potato instead of chips.
- Business lunches can be distracting because you’re focusing on the conversation, not on how much you’re eating, so remember that restaurant portions are generally much larger than what you actually need. Don’t feel pressure to finish your meal; eating more than you need is just as wasteful as leaving some left over.
- Another useful tip is to order fiddly food, such as prawns or mussels. Having to pick them out of their shells will slow down your eating, and research shows the slower you eat, the less you’ll consume.
- Eating with chopsticks may do the trick too, so sushi or Asian dishes are a good bet (but opt for veggie stir fries rather than creamy coconut milk curries).
