5 Take Out Tips That Favor Your Heart

Sometimes cooking just isn’t in the cards – busy work week, feeling under the weather, no time for grocery shopping, or traveling out of town.  No matter the reason, knowing how to make healthier choices when eating on the go, away from home, can have such a positive impact on your weight loss and health goals.  In this article, we’re specifically focused on improving the health of your heart. Here are five tips to follow for smarter take-out choices.

1. Double the Veggies

Take-out choices have come a long way in terms of health value, but some menu items still leave off those valuable veggies.  When possible, try scanning the menu to find an entree that’s veggie-heavy.  If there isn’t one available, then work on customizing your order the best you can.  Need some ideas?  Add lettuce, tomato, and cucumber to your sandwich, try substituting a side salad instead of your typical side, ask for the steamed vegetable medley, or request that they double the vegetables that already come with the meal.  Vegetables contain no fat, no cholesterol, or very little to no salt, which makes them an excellent choice for a healthier heart.

2. Opt for Meatless

It’s important to remember that a restaurant usually cooks for your taste buds, not your health.  They’re wanting you to respond, “that was so delicious,” so they tend to use higher fat meats since these pack additional juiciness, flavor, and taste.  It’s also common for these serving sizes to be on the larger side.  For example, a standard serving size of protein is 3-4 ounces cooked.  Have you ever seen this size steak advertised at a restaurant?  Probably not; likely the smallest option offered is a 6-ounce filet.  If reducing portions isn’t your thing, then make it a focus to explore the meatless options.  By selecting beans or tofu, you’ll be eliminating most of the fat and saturated fat content within the dish, making it a better choice for your heart.

3. Sauce on the Side

We love a good sauce.  If you’re working on heart health, take a moment to assess how much you use, and get an understanding of how much sodium, aka salt, content that comes along with it.  Sauces tend to be high in salt.  For example, one packet of Zesty Buffalo Sauce from Chick-Fil-A will add 570 mg to your meal.  When you’re aiming for no more than 2300 mg of sodium per day, this one packet will use approximately 29% of your daily target.  Not saying this to scare you with this one, more so to provide information so you can know more about your food choices.  Our goal is to help you feel more comfortable and confident making changes in your diet to align better with your health goals.

4. Find The Fruit

Fruit is another food group that tends to fall off during a take-out order, but could very much be a game-changer for your heart.  Why?  Much like vegetables (in tip #1), fruit contains no salt, cholesterol, or fat.  All good things for your heart.  Try to opt for fruit as your side item or scan for a salad that already includes it in the ingredients like berries.  Another idea?  Get in the habit of bringing fruit from home (or the hotel) so you can supplement the meal yourself.  Apples, oranges, clementines, pears, and bananas are fruits that tend to travel well.  Bonus – you’ll get in an added dose of antioxidants, especially Vitamin C to help support your immune health in addition to heart health.

5. Grilled Not Fried

We had to round out our list with an oldie, but goodie.  While sometimes old tips become outdated, this is not one of those times.  It’s still recommended to opt for grilled options when you can.  Fried foods add saturated fat and trans fats, which over time can lead to plaque build-up in your arteries and may result in a greater risk of heart disease or other heart-related complications.  Fried foods include some that you might not think of like tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant.  Watch your portions or switch your usual order to better support your heart.

The Bottom Line

Take-out is totally convenient and quite frankly a life-saver some weeks.  Plus, with the pandemic, we know the importance of supporting small businesses and restaurant workers and want to make it easy to participate in those efforts.  Use these five tips to spruce up your next take-out order to favor the health of your heart.