Italian food is my favorite cuisine but it can be a calorie disaster. Authentic cuisine is focused on vegetables, seafood, chicken and healthy oilsnot pasta, butter, sausage and alfredo sauce.
When you walk into an Italian restaurant, here is what you need to know.
The first thing you need to watch out for is the tremendous portions they tend to give so be AWARE of this.
Also, sauces and side dishes can ruin a completely healthy entree selection so its really important that before you shoot the sh*t with your friends and family that you focus on what you are going to order. Once thats over, then you can relax, get distracted, enjoy good conversation, good food and let your hair down.
By the way, as Im writing this fox 5 (I have it on in the backround) just said that portion sizes in restaurants are typically 2-3 times what they should be.
Thats God awful not to mention that we are usually eating are biggest meal in the evening another obstacle to overcome. Ok done with that mini-rantmoving on
Plan of Attack
Bread: Avoid at all costsAsk you waiter to not bring it to the table or ask for some grilled veggies to start instead.
Appetizer: Salad with balsamic dressing on the side (dip your fork in it saves calories) or split an anti-pasto salad with a friend its loaded with protein or even a vegetable antipasto! A cup of Minestrone soup is another good starter (if ya need a starter)
Entree: Always eat half share it with a friend and save calories and $$$.You can also ask your waiter from the get-go to bring out half and wrap up the other half so you are not tempted this is key!
Dessert/Coffee: Dont need it its habitgo for seasonal fruit or decaf tea with lemon (lemon is great for the skin by the way)
Drink/Alcohol: Nurse ONE drink if you must. Wine is preferred here. If you really do like your drink and are bored with wine or just wanna save calories but want something different, go to amazon.com and buy the book Skinny Bitch – they have some really cool recipes for low-cal alcohol choices.
Order This
Chicken Cacciatore Chicken breast sauteed in a white wine sauce with onions, tomatoes and marinara sauce (red sauce is much better then white)
Chicken Marsala chicken breast in a brown sauce with mushrooms. (love it)
Shrimp Paradiso Shrimp and asparagus in a white white sauce with lemon, tomatoes and saffron.
Chicken Toscana Chicken in a white wine sauce with roasted red peppers, fontina cheese and asparagus.
Forget This
Pasta Try hard to avoid pasta in the evening cuz we really dont need all the carbs and its super easy to overeat or slurp down 500 calories of a side dish of pasta (trust me Ive done this plenty of times)
Pizza hands up if you think processed carbs, loads of sodium and saturated fat is gonna get you an awesome figure and picture perfect healthanyone? anyone? Bueller? Bueller? If you must, split the pizza with a friend and ask for little or no cheese and light on the oil. Veggie pizza with grilled chicken is a much better choice.
Family Style order your own individual menu its better to stick with that than having a melting pot of different kinds of food on your plate. Youre more likely to control portions and eventually lose your desire to eat if ya stick with one thing as opposed to a million different flavors.
Lasagna, Fettuccine Alfredo, Linguine with Italian Sausage The 3 WORST choices
I really want your feedback on this one. What are some of your favorite healthy Italian dishes? Also, what are some of your biggest obstacles when you eat Italian. Leave a comment below cuz I want to know.
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