Sep
26
Appetizers, good or bad?
Filed Under Eating Healthy, Healthy Habits
We’ve all heard this question at a restaurant, “would you like to start out with any appetizers?” Alternatively, we’ve been to restaurants that just bring out something for you to eat while you stare at the menu. It might be bread or it might be chips, but it’s always something easy to munch on mindlessly. For the restaurants, this is part of their appeal. We love free food and we love feeling full. So they give us cheap stuff to fill up on. Appetizers are another crowd pleaser. You order them before your main meal, while you’re still hungry, because you don’t want to wait for the main course. So the restaurant makes more money on you when you really only needed the food that was in your main dish.
So should you eat appetizers? Should you indulge in the bread and chips served for free? The answer is, maybe. Didn’t see that one coming, did you? After all, why should you eat something in addition to the food you’re about to eat in your main course? That doesn’t sound healthy, especially when we’re talking about junk calories like chips. Well, the answer lies in how you’ll behave after eating the appetizer.
The Healthy Side of Appetizers
Appetizers can be a very healthy eating habit. Remember, your body takes a while to realize you’re full. For most people, it can take 20 to 30 minutes before you start feeling satiated. So an appetizer can give you an early start to that full feeling. It’s a message to your body that says “here you go, here’s some food. Now please let me know when I’ve eaten enough so I don’t overeat.” Rather than increasing your appetite, an appetizer can do a good job of making you feel full and stopping you from overeating just as the main course arrives. That’s a good thing. Since most restaurant servings are way too big, an early start on satiation can stop you before you binge.
The Unhealthy Side of Appetizers
The problem with that idea is that most people will eat their entire main course even if they feel full. In this situation, the appetizer provided no benefit. In fact, it was an unhealthy choice since it added calories you didn’t need.
So What’s The Answer?
The answer is based on you. Are you the kind of person who will stop eating when you feel full or do you feel compelled to clean your plate? If you can control your eating then by all means, order an appetizer. Eat it slowly and wait a few minutes between finishing your appetizer and starting your main course. Most restaurants will be happy to do this by the way, just ask. Then, eat your main course slowly and stop when you feel a little full. Take the rest of the food home with you.
Choosing A Healthy Appetizer
An appetizer is not an excuse to be unhealthy. You know that fried onion is bad for you, so why are you ordering it? Do you honestly think ordering a salad for your main course is going to make up for those deep fried cheese sticks you had for an appetizer? Choose something healthy and stay away from the bread and greasy chips.
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Comments
4 Responses to “Appetizers, good or bad?”
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I always used to go for the fried mozzarella or the fried calamari or the fried onion. Notice a trend here?
Now it’s either a salad with oil & vinegar or a lite dressing on the side, or some broth based soup instead of a creamy soup.
Yep, this was my problem too. The cheese sticks were my weakness, unless I went to Outback Steakhouse in which case it was the blooming onion. For those unfamiliar with it, this appetizer consisted of an onion, breaded, deep fried and served with a creamy ranch sauce. I think this “appetizer” contained about 2000 calories…
Gal
Another thought on appetizers:
Sometimes I order a couple of appetizers *instead* of a main course. I just ask the server to bring them out when everyone else at the table is eating their main courses. This gives me more variety and (usually) smaller serving sizes.
R
That’s a great idea Robin, thank you.