I just love nutrition research. This month, a study uncovered that when you’re eating out at a restaurant, you’re more likely to over-order and consume about 185 calories more than you would if you were cooking dinner at home. Today, a study being presented at the 2015 Society of Nutrition Education and Behavior annual conference uncovers how to solve this dilemma.
Researchers from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab are presenting a 10-point Restaurant Scorecard for Healthy Dining, which they have shown to be an effective tool for measuring how well a restaurant is watching your back (or in this case, your waist) by helping you make healthier choices when dining out. Lead researcher Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of ” Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life,” along with his fellow Cornell researchers, created this scorecard based on previous research and principles of behavioral science. In this recent study, they validated that this nifty tool effectively enables diners to easily rate if the restaurant has menu options that allow them to enjoy a delicious meal without caloric regret at the end of the meal.
Here are three of the 10 questions on the scorecard that rate the healthfulness of the restaurant. The more “yes” answers, the higher the rating, and the kinder the restaurant is to your waist:
| 10-point Restaurant Scorecard for Healthy Dining | Yes | No |
| 1. The healthiest three appetizers or entrees are listed first on the menu. |
According to Wansink, “The first item the diner sees on a menu is three times more likely to be ordered than the fifth item.” So if the lean grilled chicken, poached salmon and vegetarian entrées are listed before the deep-fried fish and chips and fatty 12-ounce prime rib, you are more likely to order one of the top three lower calorie meals.
| 10-point Restaurant Scorecard for Healthy Dining | Yes | No |
| 2. The restaurant only provides bread or tortilla chips if you ask. |
Who among us hasn’t dipped into the bread basket or gobbled those warm tortilla chips just because “they were there.” Let’s face it: If they were never brought to the table, these extra calories would be out-of-sight and out-of-mind, and more importantly, out-of-your-mouth.
| 10-point Restaurant Scorecard for Healthy Dining | Yes | No |
| 3. The restaurant promotes a “we’ll pack half” policy, and the server tells you that there are “to-go” boxes BEFORE serving your meal. |
According to Wansink, if you are reminded that you can take leftovers home before you start chowing down your meal, you will be more likely to eat only 75 percent, or even less, of what is on your plate. Without the reminder, you may clean your plate because you want to get your money’s worth. This attitude may be good for your wallet, but it’s not necessarily good for your waist.
Here’s the link to the online scorecard. The researchers are currently in talks with a major restaurant app to bring the scorecard to your smartphone. Knowing a restaurant’s Healthy Dining Scorecard rating in advance could help you decide where to make your next dinner reservation so that you can dine out and better manage your weight.
I will be downloading the app as soon as it is available.
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Is Your Favorite Restaurant Making You Fat? originally appeared on usnews.com
