Healthy Italian Dining

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• Pasta with tomato-based sauces like marinara, Bolognese, red clam, arrabbiata or puttanesca
• Antipasto with extra chickpeas, olives, kidney beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and vegetables like eggplant and peppers
• Bruschetta or plain bread to dip in a dish of olive oil and vinegar
• House salad with the dressing on the side
• Entrées with grilled chicken
• Menu items that include fagioli (beans)
• Whole wheat pizza and pasta
• Gelato for dessert

Choose less often

• Pasta with cream-based sauces like Alfredo, or stuffed pastas like manicotti, cannelloni and ravioli
• Antipasto with cheeses and meats
• Garlic cheese bread or breadsticks (often slathered in butter)
• Caesar salad
• Entrées such as veal parmesan and lasagna
• Menu items described as ‘frito’ (fried)
• White flour pizza and pasta
• Ice cream

Other tips

The key to curbing excess calories involves watching the amount of pasta you eat. Try ordering an appetizer or lunch-size portion of pasta. If dining with someone else, split and share one order of pasta. With soup or salad, this is often enough. You might also share one entrée and two sides of pasta. Order fewer calories by choosing vegetables instead of a side of pasta with your entrée.

Healthy Indian Dining

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• Appetizers like pappadams made from lentils (usually baked, but ask your server)
• Plain flat-breads like chapattis, rotis and naan made from whole-wheat flour
• Menu items made with lentils and legumes like dal and channa masala
• Entrées made of vegetables like aloo gobi (cauliflower and pota­toes), bhindi (okra), or baingan ka bhartha (pureed eggplant)
• Tandoori chicken
• Plain or whole-grain (brown) rice
• Kheer (rice pudding) or mango puree for dessert

Choose less often

• Deep-fried foods like samosa or pakora appetizers, puri or patura bread
• Rich flat-breads like stuffed naan and parathas
• Menu items including the word ‘malai’ (cream), like malai kofta
• Entrées made with paneer (Indian home-made cheese)
• Butter chicken
• Biryani or jeera (cumin)-fried rice
• Gulab jamun, barfi or raas malai for dessert (rich desserts containing dough and cream)

Other tips

Ask to have breads prepared ‘dry’ (without butter or margarine). As well, ask your server for details on how dishes are prepared. Ghee (clarified butter) and coconut oil are often used in cooking. These ingredients are almost entirely saturated fat. If they are listed, ask to have your food prepared with canola oil instead.

Order a vegetable dish as your main course, and eat less of the breads that are traditionally come with it. Include a yogurt-based salad like raita or dahi bhalla (lentil balls in yogurt) as part of your meal.

Healthy Chinese and Thai Dining

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• Fresh salad rolls and steamed dumplings
• Steamed rice – ask if the restaurant serves brown or wild rice
• Steamed noodles
• Broth-based soups like wonton soup
• Entrées with stir-fried, grilled, bar­be­qued or steamed meat
• Vegetable dishes, or those containing more vegetables than meat, such as beef with broccoli

Choose less often

• Spring rolls and fried dumplings
• Fried rice
• Fried noodles
• Coconut milk-based soups
• Entrées with batter-fried meats like ginger beef, sweet-and-sour chicken balls, lemon or sesame chicken
• Dishes like moo shu pork, Kung Pao chicken and General Tso’s chicken

Other tips

Eating with chopsticks helps you take in less of the high-calorie and high-sodium sauces on food. Try replacing meat with tofu or soy-based meat alternatives. Ask for food to be prepared the way you want it - steamed, with more vegetables and less rice, or with less salt. This helps cut out unnecessary calories. Many Chinese restaurants can accommodate these requests.

Healthy Mexican Dining

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• Nachos served with salsa
• Soft tortillas or baked nachos for scooping
• Bean-filled burritos
• Entrées made with black or pinto beans
• Soft tacos, which are baked
• Fajitas and baked quesadillas, as you can load up on vegetables and limit the cheese
  
• Chicken and fish

Choose less often

• Nachos served with sour cream and guacamole
• Fried tortillas or nachos for scooping
• Beef or cheese-filled burritos
• Entrées made with refried beans
• Hard tacos, as they are fried
• Chimichangas (fried burritos), chalupas (deep-fried tortillas), or relleno (deep-fried peppers)

Other tips

Have salad served on a plate rather than in a fried bowl. This will help you reduce the fat and calories you get by eating your dishware!

If the menu offers nachos to be shared by two, double the people! Often, four can comfortably share the same amount. Ask that nachos be topped with more salsa, olives, and black and pinto beans, and less cheese and meat. As well, have sour cream and guacamole served on the side so you can control how much you eat.