FCE13‐07 January, 2013 Let’sDineOut
TheHealthyWay
Leader Guide
Lesson Objectives
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Identify healthy eating strategies when choosing restaurant food.
Identify tools to help estimate restaurant food portion sizes.
List healthy special requests when ordering restaurant food.
Materials for Participants
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Participant Activity Sheet
MyPlate Mini-Poster/Handout
USDA 2010 Dietary Guideline Selected Messages Mini-Poster/Handout
MyPlate Coloring Sheet Handout
Participant Handout – Restaurant Menu Selection Inventory
Optional: Tabletop restaurant decorations (candle, place setting, tablecloth etc.) standard
size glassware (4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 ounce), silverware (teaspoon, tablespoon, soup spoon),
chinaware (fruit and soup bowls, salad and dinner plate)
Before the Lesson
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Copy handouts, mini-posters, evaluation and consent
Decide on which activities to include based on time and interest of participants
Note: Words in italics give directions to the leader.
Introduction
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that poor diet is one of the most important factors
contributing to an epidemic of overweight and obesity affecting all segments of our society. Even
in the absence of overweight, poor diet is associated with increased risk of chronic disease. The
evidence is clear, all Americans can improve their health and lower their disease risk if healthy
choices are made at every meal – including when eating out in restaurants.
The average American eats in restaurants about 4 times a week - or 192 times each year – a
frequency that can clearly impact a person’s health. The goal of this class is to teach you some
strategies that will help make your restaurant dining experiences enjoyable and more healthful. If
you follow some simple guidelines and practice them over and over you can eat more healthfully in
restaurants, and suffer fewer health risks and consequences.
Review Lesson Objectives.
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines include healthy eating recommendations for home and away from
home eating occasions. These recommendations, when followed, can help you make more healthful
choices when eating in eating out in restaurants.
Show USDA 2010 Dietary Guideline Suggested Messages Mini Poster/Handout.
Balancing Calories
 Enjoy your food, but eat less.
 Avoid oversized portions.
Foods to Increase:
 Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
 Switch to fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products.
Foods to Reduce:
 Compare sodium in foods like soup and bread – and choose the foods with lower sodium.
 Drink water instead of sugary drinks.
Discussion: Restaurant food can be high in calories. That’s in part due to the way restaurant food
is prepared (often with added fat) and the size of portions that are served. Restaurant food also can
have limited fruit and vegetable choices. Additionally, restaurant food can be high in sodium.
That’s in part due to entrée ingredients such as cold cuts, bread, cheese, hot dogs, rolls,
bacon/sausage, condiments, chicken, fish and ham – these ingredients tend to be high in sodium.
Sodium content is also influenced by how restaurant food is seasoned – often with salt. So
following the healthy eating guidelines suggested in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines can be a challenge
when you’re eating out.
Ask participants to consider their eating out habits and foods they typically enjoy in restaurants.
Ask participants to consider what health consequences (if any) they anticipate experiencing if they
aren’t careful when eating in restaurants. Hand out the “Participant Activity Sheet”. Have each
participant complete questions 1 – 4.
Learn the Language on Menus to Weigh Your Choices
Choosing healthy foods in restaurants can be difficult for a number of reasons. The culinary menu
descriptions used to entice diners require some knowledge of what those descriptors mean to weigh
your choices - better or worse. For example, “Grilled Chicken Breast”, describes a healthy
preparation method because grilling doesn’t add fat. In another example, describing a taco as
“topped with salsa and green onions”- tells you that vegetables are added that improve the nutrition.
Lastly, a hamburger described as “served with mayo, mustard, and pickle” all describe ingredients
that are contribute a lot of sodium to the entrée. Just like reading food labels can help you choose
healthier packaged foods, identifying key culinary descriptors on a restaurant menu can point you
towards more healthy options - before you order.
2 Start by Adjusting Portions to Your Needs
Making a plan to control food portions to fit within your daily needs can help you choose a more
healthful menu in a restaurant. Then, when your food is served, plan to adjust the portion you eat to
match your estimated calorie needs as well.
Discussion: Show the MyPlate mini-poster. Explain that MyPlate is a visual reminder of what a
healthy meal consists of and in what proportions. This can be used in restaurants as well as at
home. Handout the MyPlate Coloring Sheet Handout. Have participants write the foods from
their typical menu in question #3 on the Activity Sheet Handout to the appropriate food group
sections on the MyPlate Coloring Sheet Handout. Have participants discuss what foods (if any)
have oversized portions and/or are missing food group portions. These would be areas they could
make restaurant menu choice improvements to make more healthy choices.
The MyPlate mini-poster/handout is also a useful guide to use for estimating your calorie needs.
The chart on the back side shows estimated calorie needs for individuals. For a 2,000-calorie daily
food plan, you need the amounts below from each food group. To find amounts personalized for
you, go to ChooseMyPlate.gov. If there’s time and interest, have participants find their calorie
needs by passing around the MyPlate mini-poster or provide a copy to each person as a handout.
Use Tools at the Table
Did you know the dishes your restaurant food is served on can be used to estimate portion size? The
glasses, bowls and silverware used in restaurants are standard sizes similar to what you may use at
home. Dishware and utensils hold specific measured amounts of food in cups, ounces, teaspoons and
tablespoons, all of which correspond to the estimated portions recommended in the MyPlate guide.
Discussion: Refer back to the MyPlate Handout. If the optional bowls, cups, spoons and serving
utensils are available, have participants guess what measured quantity of their favorite foods fit
into the standard dish and utensil items. Keep discussion short and provide the following examples
if the participants need other suggestions:
Soup bowls = 1 - 2 cups – Used to serve soup, salads, side dishes, hot or cold cereal
Fruit bowls = ½ cup – used to serve desserts, side dishes, salad dressings
Juice glass = 4-6 oz. – used to serve fruit juices
Tumbler glass = 6-8 oz. – used to serve beverages
Large tumbler glass =10-12 oz. – used to serve beverages
Soup Spoon = 1 Tablespoon – used to serve salad dressing, cream cheese, coffee creamer, gravy
Teaspoon – 1 teaspoon – used to serve butter, margarine, mayonnaise
If you learn the portion sizes that each of these dish and silverware items serve, you can use them as
a guide to help you estimate the portion size to eat for your calorie needs.
Make Special Requests for Your Health
Restaurants are in the business to serve people, and more and more people are making healthy menu
choices when eating out. So, if you make special requests to help you make healthy choices, you
might find that restaurants are willing to accommodate your request to keep your business.
3 Discussion: Ask participants how many of them make special requests to control portions, increase
fruits or vegetables or control the sodium content of their restaurant food. Ask participants to
check their skills making special requests and using them to their advantage to help them stay on
track.
Activity: Handout: Participant Menu Selection Skills Inventory. Ask participants to assess their
restaurant menu selection skills using the inventory in the participant handout. Encourage them to
add their own ideas on menu selection skills. When everyone is done, ask a few people to volunteer
examples of something they already do, will try to do or don’t plan to do. Discuss new ideas that
were added by participants.
Activity: Have participants look again at their responses to question # 3 and # 4 on the Participant
Activity Sheet. Have participants pair up and role play, ordering their typical menu and trying
new special requests to make their meal more healthful. Have each person in each pair take a turn
with the role of server and the role of customer. Encourage participants to have fun with the
activity.
Conclusion
Eating out in restaurants is a part of nearly every American’s lifestyle. The 2010 Dietary
Guidelines recommendations for healthy eating as well as the MyPlate guide can be used in
restaurants as well as at home. Learning to decipher culinary menu descriptions is a great place to
start, before you order. Making special requests then adjusting the portions to meet the MyPlate
guidelines for your nutritional needs can keep you on track to a more healthful dining out
experience. Practicing using the strategies you’ve learned in this class, will increase your skills and
confidence to choose healthy restaurant food so you can enjoy eating out to avoid health risks or
consequences.
Evaluation: Please take time to evaluate the program by reading the consent form and filling out
the evaluation survey. Give participants 5 minutes or so to complete the evaluation. Collect the
evaluations and return them to your local county Extension Office.
Sources:
Dietary Guidelines and Restaurants in the USA, Roger Clemens, DrPH, USC School of Pharmacy. 2012.
National Restaurant Association, 2000; Restaurant Industry Pocket Factbook.
USDA 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/dietaryguidelines.htm
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