Choosing a restaurant that suits your healthy habits, your co-workers' appetites, and the entire family may be a bit frustrating at times.  Maybe you want healthy, your co-workers want fried chicken sandwiches with "super-sized" fries and pops, your spouse looks forward to pork barbecue, and the kids want "Chuck E. Cheese."   

   Where do you turn for the answer?   The internet, of course.  

   I recommend choosing a few restaurants and visiting their websites.  Most restaurants will have their full menu posted.  Simply plug in the restaurant's name (such as Subway) into your search engine ("Google") and you will come up with their site.  When no website is available, you will usually be given an address and phone number.    

   Visiting a restaurant's website is a quick and easy way to view food options, plan special orders, seek items that may interest others in your party, and get a "taste" of their atmosphere.    

   Be careful where you get your information.  The National Restaurant Association is working on a website that will, supposedly, make choosing a "healthy" restaurant easier.  The Healthy Dining Finder promises you a list of healthy restaurants, along with a list of their "healthy" menu options, and nutrition information on those items.

   I visited this site and found it to be somewhat informative, yet very misleading.  

   Restaurants may be listed if their selected menu items meet certain criteria.  Any so-called "healthy" entrée may consist of 2 of the following: up to 750 calories, 25g of fat, and 8g of saturated fat.  Your appetizers qualify as "healthy" by packing in 2 of the following: up to 250 calories, 8g of fat, and 3g saturated fat.  

   That is healthy?  Frankly, 750 calories is too high for anyone, at any given meal.  Start that off with an additional 250 calorie appetizer, too?  That is 1,000 calories - generally half of one's recommended daily allowance of energy.
   
   It has been well documented that smaller meals throughout the day is the healthiest way to maintain optimal health, lose weight, and maintain muscle.  Read more on this topic in my book: "Ms. Muscles Cookbook and Targeted Optimal Nutrition Guide."

   The fat content of these "healthy" items is also too high for one meal.  It is at the upper limit of the American Heart Association's daily recommendation for dietary fat.  Do they expect people to drink water and eat celery for the remainder of the day?   
 
     This Healthy Dining Finder provides the nutritional breakdown of these foods as reported by the restaurants themselves.  Nutrition information provided by this site, and restaurants in general, should only be used as references and not considered entirely accurate because food preparation varies.  For instance, it is reasonable to assume that two chicken sandwiches prepared at the same restaurant can vary greatly as the chicken, sauces, condiments, toppings, and preparation may not be definitively consistent.  
   
   This website may also be limiting your scope of restaurant choices.  I have yet to visit a restaurant that does not offer some sort of baked or grilled chicken, fish, or salad items.  Of course, you can special order just about any menu item and avoid appetizers and desserts altogether. 

  Learn more ways to stay healthy while dining out by purchasing my book: "Ms. Muscles Cookbook and Targeted Optimal Nutrition Guide."