Dec 21, 2018

Eating Out

Emily Edison

Between Friday night pizza with friends and stopping for dinner when traveling to away games, high school athletes go out to eat a lot. A few easy tips can help them stick to their nutritional game plans, even when their meals are handed to them through a drive-through window.

Some overall good choices include:

• wraps

• sandwiches

• baked potatoes.

It’s also important to understand terms and word usage. The following terms generally indicate high-performance food choices:

• broiled

• steamed

• poached

• garden-fresh

• in its own juice

• tomato sauce

• marinara sauce

• roasted

• wood-fired

• stir-fried

• grilled.

So where is fat hidden? Often in sauces and dressings. Stay away from food items with these terms:

• mayo

• aioli

• au gratin

• creamed

• creamy

• crispy

• deep-fried

• gravy.

At typical teen hangouts like pizza joints, fast food restaurants, and movie theaters, my advice is to limit fat intake whenever possible. Here are some good rules to go by:

When ordering a pizza, select lower fat toppings like ham, pineapple, veggies, and chicken sausage, and order the pie with half the amount of cheese.

At fast food restaurants, follow a “pick-a-fat” method — choose avocado or mayonnaise on a sandwich but not both.

At the movies, aim for “healthier” snacks like pretzel bites, trail mix, or chocolate-covered raisins as alternatives to popcorn and candy.