10 Point Plan To Eat Healthy In Italian Restaurant

Eating right and healthy living is a course of life. Conscious decisions need to be made everyday. Knowing your food is important. Unfortunately, this does take away the luxury of eating anything you want. We all have our own indulge days but that should not stop anyone from enjoying the other days. I understood it very early that depriving myself from things I love would soon throw me off from the healthy lifestyle road. So I immediately switched on to sustainable decisions. 

Smoky and gooey cheese, creamy warm sauces, fresh grated Parmesan, loaded pizza, mouthwatering Zeppolis, creamy Gelato, luscious Tiramisu...... You know what am talking about :) The Italian cuisine....my favorite. Back in the days, i can easily blame those extra pounds on all the Italian meals I indulged in, on eat out nights. I love eating out and the family friendly ambiance of good Italian restaurants has always been my weakness. 
To still be able to enjoy that but make healthy eating choices, I adopted few tricks which I wanted to share.

10 Point Plan To Eat Healthy In Italian Restaurant

1. Snack healthy - before going to a restaurant. My favs are almonds, walnuts, cheese sticks. The idea is to put in protein and good fats in the body
2. Water For Beverage - Save calories from added sugar. Water is your best friend. Get some fresh cut lemon for flavor.
3. Clear soup - Let your antipasti be a soup. 
4. No Bread - Ask your server not to table bread. Even though its free. You straight away save on carbs.
5. Dressing On The Side - Order salad dressing on the side. Dip your salad each time into the dressing instead of pouring in everything in the salad bowl. Try this to see the difference it makes.
6. Thin Crust Low Cheese - Did you know just by ordering a thin crust and low cheese you cut down half the calories of a pizza slice? 
7. Choose your pasta sauce - Avoid white sauce on pizza. Try to go for tomato based instead of cheese based. Or no sauce at all. The flavorful ingredients can easily pass on sauce. 
8. Extra Plate - Order an extra plate with your entree'. Split the portion and discard extra sauce. Then and there you cut down heavy sodium and portion size.
9. Fish and Chicken - If you eat meat, go for grilled chicken or fish. Try to save yourself from the pasta carbs.
10. Wine - What is Italian food without wine? Order a bottle, have jus one serving of 5 oz and save the bottle for later. As its hard not to finish wine served in a glass by restaurant and that brings in unnecessary calories.

Apart from these, I always spend sometime studying the menu before going. It prepares me what to choose and cut down those instant unplanned cravings.