Theresa Albert is a nutritionist, best-selling cookbook author, and Food Network personality, and we're thrilled to have her with us for the next few weeks to provide her unique brand of cooking and nutritional knowledge. One of the toughest things about managing your health is the fact that our culture likes to eat away from home. Restaurants are a true pleasure but when you hand someone else the responsibility of deciding what goes into your meal and how much goes onto your plate, it can too often be a pitfall.  The following is a process excerpted from my book Ace Your Health, 52 Ways to Stack Your Deck (McClelland and Stewart 2010) and it represents the best advice that I have compiled over the years. When you must dine out, offer to choose the restaurant for the party and make the reservation. This will allow you to be sure there is something tasty that you can eat that won’t blow your whole week. Buffets are the very last resort: too many bad choices equals too much temptation. From best to worst, the choices are:

• Asian (only sushi made with brown rice) − stir-fried, grilled or teriyaki chicken or fish
• Greek (grilled meats and veg, go easy on the dips)
• Other Mediterranean
• Seafood or shellfish, grilled
• Contemporary fresh (vegetarian, vegan, raw etc.)

• Send away the bread basket if your tablemates agree (you can ask for it back later when you are full of good, worthwhile food).
• Ask for a large glass of ice water and drink it all before you eat anything.
• Decide how many alcoholic drinks you will have now (before you have two and your defenses go down and you tell yourself: “Oh, c’mon, one more won’t make that much difference.” It will!) Avoid mixed drinks and sugary soft drinks. Have one wine or beer or one shot of alcohol with soda water and lime.
• Order a broth or puréed vegetable soup (no cream); this is an even better appetite suppressant than a salad.
• If you have a salad, order the dressing on the side and ask for fresh lemon. A teaspoon of dressing goes much further watered down with zippy lemon. No croutons!
• Ask for a takeout container right away and put half your meal into it. If you are eco-keen, carry a reusable container with you.
• In descending order, animal protein choices should be: fish, chicken, pork tenderloin, lamb chops, beef tenderloin (all animal proteins should be broiled or grilled).
• If you can, skip the starchy side dishes. If not, choose in the following order: baked sweet or white potato, soba noodles, brown rice (only!). If fries are your only option or your first love, choose sweet potato fries and have exactly 10.
• Order double of your vegetable dishes. Go for steamed. Choose green. Ask for no butter or oil.
• If you have pasta as a main course, ask for twice the tomato sauce and veggies and half the pasta. (You may be asked to pay an extra dollar or two, but you won’t have to spend the extra 30 minutes on the treadmill.) Ask for whole-wheat noodles. No oil- or cream-based sauces.
• Choose spicy dishes and/or add black pepper. Hot seasonings increase your metabolism ever so slightly and will help you burn calories.
• For dessert, share or have three bites of anything you want, but only once a week.
• If you are used to having a hot beverage after your meal, make sure it is as low-cal as possible. Mint tea hits the spot, as does a steamed skim milk or decaf espresso. No cream and no sugar. (Having a hot drink at the end of a meal sends a satiety signal to your brain that it is time to stop eating.)