Today’s entry is a guest post by Heather Johnson, who regularly writes on Radiographer Salary. She invites your questions and writing job opportunities at her personal email address: heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

If you had a choice between cooking a meal at home or going out to dinner with the whole family, I’m sure most women would choose the latter. It’s more convenient, you don’t have to break into a sweat cooking and then cleaning up afterwards, and it’s nice to have a night out instead of being cooped up at home. But there are reasons why you should opt for the former, especially if your family tends to carry excess weight, if you make a habit of eating out, and if your expenses are soaring beyond control.

Home cooked meals have a lot going for them – they’re much cheaper than their restaurant counterparts, they are healthy, and they don’t tend to make you put on weight. It’s sensible to limit dining out to just one day every two weeks or even less frequently because:

• Restaurant food portions are larger than what you serve at home. Since we’re told to finish what’s on our plate before excusing ourselves, we tend to eat everything even though we’re full.
• Food that’s not cooked at home tends to have larger amounts of fat and sodium to ensure that taste is not compromised.
• You lose count of number of calories in the food and its richness (and thereby unhealthiness) when you don’t cook your meals.
• There’s a higher risk of food poisoning when you eat out.
• If you’re prone to food allergies, you risk aggravating them when you’re not sure of the ingredients that went into making your meal.
• Most food items in restaurants have extra pats of butter and oil to make them tastier to the palate.

There are ways to eat healthy even when you’re not in the comfort of your own kitchen and home, and that’s by making the right choices when you do go out for that occasional dinner.

• Avoid the butter when you eat the bread that comes to the table.
• Ask for low-fat salad dressing.
• Get your waiter to bag half your meal even before you start eating.
• If possible, ask if it’s possible for your meal to be cooked in olive oil and with a lower amount of salt.
• Insist that no additives like monosodium glutamate are used to add flavor to your food.
• Choose foods that are not fried.
• Opt for lean meat like chicken if you’re a non vegetarian.
• Trim the visible fat from the meat on your plate.
• Eat your vegetables first so you’re not tempted to gorge on the main dish and the dessert.
• Say no when the dessert trolley is wheeled to your table, or go with a healthy fruit salad.
• Choose to eat in restaurants where the calorific value of the food is included in the menu.
• Limit the condiments that you add to your soup and salad.

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