by H. Snowborne

Created on: January 04, 2010   Last Updated: February 28, 2010

The best way to eat healthy when you eat out is to forget about concepts like calories, fat, and sodium content, and focus on the quality of the food itself.  Instead of trying to figure out how to make junk food "healthy", be extremely picky about the restaurant you patronize for your meal.  Never mind the fast food joints that tout "healthy" food versions of their processed foods, and rule out all the chain restaurants that feature a "lite" section in their menus.  They're all serving pre-packaged, frozen, processed offerings, dressed with unripe vegetables from a world away, to be served with sugary margarine sauces artificially flavoured to fake the scent and texture of ingredients you won't be eating in your meal.  If you want to eat well, choose nutrient-rich foods that are prepared when you order them, with the best quality ingredients.  Fortunately, you can find restaurants that specialize in this kind of food, and they can be found without too much effort almost anywhere.  If you live in a moderately sized town or city you'll likely have far more selection in terms of restaurants than you'd guess.  With a little effort, you can find inexpensive, casual dining or even take-out restaurants where the owners specialize in foods you'll never find in corporate chains.  Think New York or Montreal Deli, crêpes and galettes, homemade soups or stews,  and hand made pizza with fresh and unusual vegetable, cheese, and meat toppings.  Think "street foods", like crisp empanadas with spicy coriander and chili dressing, or warm falafel/shawarma/souvlaki sandwiches.  How about a bowl of savoury, aromatic and hearty pho, or maybe even burgers made with the kind of fresh ground beef you'd buy for yourself?  Imagine them dressed with real cheddar or bleu cheese, homemade mayonnaise whipped up with whole eggs, olive oil, lemon juice, and some Dijon mustard and garlic, and garnished with peppery greens and vine ripe tomatoes still warm from the sun.  The variety of casual food options is huge.  If you'd like to treat yourself to an all-out dining experience instead, you can find many restaurants that will feature high quality, healthy foods in a much more involved, formal presentation and setting-but it's good to know the same kind of philosophy drives restaurants that offer simpler, quicker fare.

One way to narrow down your search is to look for eateries whose creative cooks and chefs use locally

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