Nutrition basics (18)
- Sodium: Are you getting too much?
- Nutrition Facts: Reading the food label
- Dietary fiber: An essential part of a healthy diet
- see all in Nutrition basics
Healthy diets (7)
- DASH diet: Top 5 tips for dining out
- DASH diet: Top 5 tips for shopping and cooking
- Sample menus for the DASH eating plan
- see all in Healthy diets
Healthy cooking (15)
- Healthy eating: 10 ways to add pizazz
- Recipe makeovers: 5 ways to create healthy recipes
- Ingredient substitutions: Make the switch for healthier recipes
- see all in Healthy cooking
Healthy menus and shopping strategies (9)
- Holiday recipes: Healthy-eating ideas for your holiday parties
- Healthy savings: The art of frugal food shopping
- Thanksgiving recipes: Delicious options for healthy eating
- see all in Healthy menus and shopping strategies
Nutritional supplements (2)
- Dietary supplements: Nutrition in a pill?
- Herbal supplements: What to know before you buy
Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
DASH diet: Top 5 tips for dining out
Excess fat and salt and oversized portions when dining out can sabotage your DASH diet. Here are five tips from appetizers to desserts to get around those obstacles.
By Mayo Clinic staffYou're following the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet to control your blood pressure. You've mastered healthier cooking techniques at home, maybe even discovered some new favorite recipes. But if you'd love a night off from kitchen duty, you can dine out and still follow the DASH diet.
Moderation and sensibility are keys to success with the DASH diet. Here's how to dine out while remaining true to your goals. With these tips in mind, you can even eat at fast-food restaurants without derailing your diet.
1. Cut back on saturated fat and cholesterol
The DASH diet promotes foods that are low in saturated fat and cholesterol. You can cut back on the bad fats while maintaining taste, variety and even enjoyment.
Here are a few simple ways to cut down on saturated fats when you're dining out while sticking to the DASH diet:
- Ask that your food be prepared with olive oil, rather than butter or fat.
- Request low-fat salad dressing, on the side.
- Skip the bread and rolls — or at least skip the butter.
- Trim visible fat off meat and poultry. Eat only a portion that's about the size of a deck of cards, since even very lean meat and poultry still contain fat.
- Select foods prepared with healthier cooking techniques, such as steaming, grilling, broiling, baking, roasting, poaching or stir-frying.
2. Be on the lookout for hidden salt
Another key feature to the success of the DASH diet in controlling your blood pressure is cutting back on salt. Because salt often enhances flavor, it's often used a lot in restaurants.
Still, you can take steps to control salt when you're dining out and following the DASH diet. Just remember to:
- Ask that your food be prepared without added salt, MSG or salt-containing ingredients.
- Be alert for ingredients, cooking styles and labels that indicate a dish may be high in salt, such as pickled, cured, smoked, soy sauce and broth.
- Remove the saltshaker from your table, or at least, put it out of easy reach.
- Limit condiments such as mustard, ketchup, pickles and sauces that are high in salt.
- Opt for fruits and vegetables instead of salty appetizers or snack foods.
(1 of 2)
- Your guide to lowering blood pressure with DASH. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf. Accessed June 3, 2009.
- Healthier eating with DASH. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/h_eating/h_e_dash.htm. Accessed June 3, 2009.
- Tips on how to make healthier meals. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/h_eating/tips.htm. Accessed June 3, 2009.
- A word about fats. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/h_eating/fats.htm. Accessed June 3, 2009.
- Sheps SG, ed. Mayo Clinic 5 Steps to Controlling High Blood Pressure. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2008.
- Tip sheet: Eating healthy when dining out. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/dine_out.htm. Accessed June 3, 2009.
- Healthy eating on the run: A month of tips. American Dietetic Association. http://www.eatright.org/ada/files/Healthy_Eating_on_the_Run.pdf. Accessed June 3, 2009.
