7 Tips for Healthier Takeout – Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic

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If your community is experiencing a coronavirus staycation, you might find that you’re suddenly feeding your people many more times a day than you bargained for. And your mealtime challenges are compounded by bare grocery store shelves and a lack of time. (Who has time to make dinner while working from home, supervising distance learning and breaking up fights?)  

Your local restaurant may save the day. Even though many
restaurants are closed to eat-in diners, they may still offer takeout meals. Now
is the perfect time to invest in takeout to save your sanity AND keep small
businesses afloat.

Better takeout choices to make mealtime easier

Takeout doesn’t have to mean unhealthy, says dietitian Anna Kippen, MS, RDN, LD. Even foods you’d typically consider “off-limits” can be tweaked to up their nutritional value. Consider these ideas when you’re ordering food to go.

1. Go for whole grains

For Asian or Mexican cuisine:

• Ask if you can get brown rice instead of white.
• See if noodle-heavy dishes (looking at you, lo
  mein) can be made with brown rice instead. Brown rice is a high-fiber whole
  grain, whereas noodles are made with processed white flour. Some restaurants
  are now even starting to offer shirataki noodles instead of white rice noodles,
  Kippen says. These are very low in calories, so it’s OK if you overindulge a bit.

If you’re craving Italian:

• Ask if they can substitute whole wheat pasta or
  zoodles (zucchini noodles) for the usual pasta.
• Opt for whole-wheat pizza crust. If that’s not
  an option, choose thin-crust pizza — even though it’s made from refined flour, a
  thinner crust will lighten the calorie load.

2. Pick your protein wisely

Regardless of the restaurant, try to lower the calorie
intake by choosing:

• Chicken or seafood instead of beef, lamb or pork.
• Legumes (beans) instead of chicken. They’re high
  in fiber, filling and healthy.
• A veggie option, like a veggie burger, which can
  also help you achieve your goal of 25 grams of daily fiber.

3. Prioritize veggies

Takeout doesn’t mean you have to skimp on veggies. Try:

• Double veggies in your dish, instead of unhealthy starchy options.
• Some baby carrots as an appetizer, to keep you from overeating.
• A side of broccoli instead of fries.
• Cauliflower pizza crust instead of regular crust (it’s an option in many places since it’s gluten-free).
• Double lettuce and tomato on your burger.
• A side salad and a broth-based vegetable soup.
• A side of salsa to use in place of ketchup or another sodium-heavy condiment.
• A bag of plain steamed veggies added to a starchy dish to bulk up the nutrition and increase your fullness. “Most dishes come with so much sauce that you can easily mix it in,” Kippen says.

4. Dodge the dairy

Dairy has nutritional value, but a takeout meal loaded with
dairy can do more harm than good. To get the deliciousness with fewer calories,
ask the restaurant to prepare the dish:

• With half the cheese or a lower-fat cheese, such
  as American or provolone. (Or — even better — ask for the cheese on the side.)
• Using avocado instead of dairy — the avocado has
  a great creamy texture.
• Without condiments like sour cream (or ask for
  them on the side).
• With a vinaigrette instead of ranch dressing. But
  make sure it’s a balsamic. “Some vinaigrettes can be worse than a ranch if they
  are very high in sugar as well as fat,” Kippen says.

5. Forget anything fried

Baked, steamed, roasted or grilled are healthier ways to
prepare foods. Try these:

• Steamed summer roll instead of a deep-fried
  spring roll.
• Grilled, not fried, chicken parmesan.
• Steamed vegetable dumplings instead of fried
  wontons.
• Soft-shell taco rather than a fried hard-shell
  taco (or even better — a taco salad with lettuce).
• Baked potato instead of fries.

6. Skimp on the sauces

Many dishes are slathered in sauce, so ask for:

• Less sauce.
• Sauce on the side.
• A veggie-based sauce (like marinara) instead of a
  cream-based sauce (saving you hundreds of calories and several grams of
  saturated fat).

7. Binge on beans

Beans are high in fiber — they help you feel full and even have heart benefits like lowering cholesterol. Some easy ways to get more beans? Try to:

• Opt for a bean burrito instead of an enchilada.
• Choose vegetarian refried beans to save on fat
  (though whole beans are better than refried beans).
• Order legume-loaded soups like minestrone,
  lentil soup or vegetarian chili. But don’t forget to account for these healthy
  soups when thinking through the rest of your meal. “A bowl of chili can be a
  wonderful entrée, but it’s not always the best option as an appetizer before an
  entire meal if it’s loaded with cheese and sour cream,” Kippen says.

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