Restaurant tips....

Many of my friends now practically live on the road for work and they have been asking me what items you can order to stay on the healthier (and hopefully leaner) side when work travel gets in the way of a home cooked meal.

Salads seem like a good bet but usually they are loaded with dressing and cheese - two items which, in the portions served, are to much fat. Look for a salad that has vegetables and beans on it. You can have some cheese like a feta or goat but you really don't want to much (1 tablespoon is plenty) and definitely very little dressing or dressing on the side. As far as low fat/low calorie etc type dressings, I usually just opt for oil & vinegar or I get a full fat vinegrette. A low fat product has more sugar added to it and a low sugar product has more fat added to it. I would rather just have a really good, fresh, homemade house vinegrette and not worry about the fat/calorie content if I am going that route instead of the added sugar from its low fat cousin.

If the explanation or title of the item contains anyone of the following descriptive words forget you even noticed it on the menu: loaded, fried, pan-fried, double stuffed, twice baked, oozing, crispy, cream, butter poached, sugar glazed, rich. All of these are mean fat, fat and more fat. Better options would be poached, steamed, grilled, broiled, dusted, earthy.

Saute is a tricky one. It consists of cooking something over a good amount of heat using fat to keep the item from burning. Usually, this is a also a code word for "will be greasy" unless you saute something yourself and have control over the volume of oil/butter.

Chicken too, has a tendency to dry out during cooking and so some places may put butter or oil on it while cooking to help preserve juiciness, so you think you are getting a healthy baked chicken item or rotisserie (think = high salt) which in fact may have been doused in butter prior to cooking.

Your best bets really are a piece of grilled fish or poached fish or even a steak. While beef gets a bad rap for being fatty, usually a good cut (think sirloin, NY Strip, or fillet Mignon) has great flavor on its own and is not adulterated by anything more then salt and pepper. The fattier the fish is (salmon, mackerel, tuna, sea bass, swordfish) the less worried the restaurant is about the fish drying out during cooking and thus the less fat they add during the cooking process. This is not only healthier but actually lets the true flavor of the fish shine though and the fatty fish have great health attributes.

Broth soups are always a great idea especially if you aren't really that hungry. They can be supplemented with some cocktail shrimp, grilled calamari, pickled vegetables, tuna tartar, beef carpaccio, or antipasto plate.

For sides get baked potato plain or sweet potato plain. If they have steamed vegetables get that. Rice is fine as well or a rice and beans mix. Side salad (greens not Caesar) is harmless unless you cover it with dressing. Roasted Fingerling potatoes or vegetables are also a fine choice but the have to be roasted tossed in olive oil (which is a good fat and OK) so don't be alarmed with they come and are shiny with oil (however, there should be no discernible puddles of oil on your plate).

GOOD LUCK!