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Portion Control When Dining Out

When you’re dining out it is easy to over eat because of the large portion sizes at restaurants. Here are some great tips when dining out that will help you reduce the amount of food you eat:

• Share your meal, order a half-portion, or order an appetizer as a main meal. Examples of healthier appetizers include tuna or chicken salad, minestrone soup, and tomato or corn salsas.

• Take at least half of your meal home. Ask for a portion of your meal to be boxed up prior to when it is served so you will not be tempted to eat more than you need.

• Stop eating when you begin to feel full. Focus on enjoying the setting and your friends or family for the rest of the meal.

• Avoid large beverages such as sugar-sweetened soft drinks because they have a large number of calories. Instead, try drinking water with a slice of lemon. If you want to drink soda, choose a calorie-free beverage or a small sugar-sweetened soft drink such as seltzer water or sparkling water.

Portion sizes

Restaurants will often give you more than one serving size per meal. To help you assess portion sizes, click the different areas of the image below to see recommendations from MyPlate.gov on serving sizes for each food group.

Also find out how much oil and empty calories you should be eating.

Helpful resource

Want to know the recommended amount of each food group you need daily? Click here to find out how much you should be eating daily.

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