How to Order Healthy at a Greek Restaurant
IntoFit | May 1st, 2009 | Tips for Eating Out, Weight Loss Tips | 2 Comments »
absolutely love Greek food. When I go out for Greek, I know I can keep it
healthy without compromising on taste! It’s my little friend Tzatziki that makes it all o.k. Tzatziki is made with yogurt instead of heavy cream! It’s filled with dill, garlic and sometimes cucumber!
- Everyone makes it a bit different, but here is a general breakdown for 2 tablespoons:
| Calories | Carbohydrates | Protein | Fat | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
A few minor adjustments to many greek dishes will leave your once calorie ridden plate much healthier – and it will still be just as delicious. To any meal- take away the potatoes and the rice and add a side salad. Order the dressing on the side so you can monitor how much is going on the green stuff.
Here are some suggestions:
Do It
- Grilled or skewered meat with a big Greek Salad. Try Chicken or for a treat have the lamb or beef!
- Grilled Calamari as an appetizer instead of fried.
- White Fish (light on the oil or butter) with steamed vegetables or a salad.
Side bar : Restaurants tend to really add butter to fish to add flavor. Sometimes it can even be healthier to order red meat! Red meat is flavorful enough on it’s own and restaurants tend to use less butter or oil then they would on fish.
- Mussels.
- General rule of thumb would be to stay away from any pie shaped dinner like a spinach pie or moussaka.
- Eat the skewered or grilled meat as opposed to the Gyro. The Gyro is higher in fat and salt then the other stuff!
- Stay away from the Saganaki. Although delicious, it’s very high in salt. In fact, one serving (about 1 ounce of cheese) has over 1/4 of your daily recommended sodium intake! Not to mention it’s high in saturated fat.
- Garlic Bread. If you can honestly have one small piece- enjoy! But for me, garlic bread is slippery slope DOWNHILL! I have one piece and I get the butter taste in my mouth and then watch out. Before dinner comes, I’m full! I stay away from the garlic bread for this reason.
If your eating Greek, you’re probably going to be eating some Feta Cheese. 1 ounce of Feta cheese compared to a hard cheese like cheddar looks pretty good! It’s lower in calories and fat! The one thing to be careful of is the salt content. Especially because most Feta is kept in a salt water solution. Your best bet: Moderation. Try to stay within an ounce to an ounce of a half of cheese over the course of the evening. One once is about the size of two dice.
Feta – 1 ounce
| Calories | Carbohydrates | Protein | Fat | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
- 10655 Steps.
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I just foung this post on your blog and have not been able to stop thinking about it! I love red meat, but I also love fish so I try so hard to just order fish at restaurants or more often than red meat … but you're telling me it's not worth it??? I have noticed the fish is often so rich that it must be butter, but is this worse than red meat??? PLEASE DO A POST ON THIS!!!!!!!!!
Will do! I am actually preparing a post on 'eating in italian restaurants' and I will tackle this subject in a bit more detail.