Health & Parenting

Healthy Guide to Eating Out

3 Health Busters to Avoid

Table Talk. Since bread baskets and fistfuls of chips can ruin even the most nutritious meal, tell your server once you're seated, "No bread [or chips] for us tonight, thanks."

Sneaky Salads. Encourage your kid to dip veggies into mild salsa or vinaigrette dressing instead of the ubiquitous ranch dressing that turns up at many eateries; 2 tablespoons pack 146 calories and 16 grams of fat.

Sweet Defeat? Order fresh fruit with ice cream or whipped cream and share it for dessert. Restaurants' baked mega-sweets do mega-damage, even if split: A Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie has 1,590 calories and 76 grams of fat; a P.F. Chang's Great Wall of Chocolate has 1,440 calories and 61 grams of fat.

Originally published on September 24, 2009

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