Tips to ensure you get the healthiest restaurant options

Ever go to a party determined to have a good time? Well, when you sit down at a restaurant table, be equally determined to eat well — and have fun. Enjoy your food in moderation, and focus on soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the time with your spouse and friends.

• Eat only as much as you would in your own dining room. It's not at all unusual for a restaurant meal to contain more than half a day's worth of calories and fat.
• Eating a mega-size portion can not only wreak havoc with your blood sugar, it could cause you to overeat for the next two days.

• Before you place your order, excuse yourself to wash your hands and take the long route to the restroom.
• On your way there, get a good look at other diners' dishes. You'll see how big the portions are, if tonight's specials look good and whether the vegetable sides are bathed in butter.

• You should keep a secret weapon in your purse or pocket for times you're feeling tempted to get that chicken-fried steak.
• Perhaps it's a photo of you a few years ago, looking very happy and 20 pounds lighter. Maybe it's a photograph of a lost relative who had diabetes and didn't take care of it well enough.
• Your visual aid might even be a list of health goals you want to accomplish — anything that will nudge you to make a healthier choice.

• It's a common trend for restaurants to make their food sound fancier and healthier than it is. One of the biggest tricks they'll pull on customers is to disguise dishes that are deep-fried.
• Anything that's called "golden," "crispy" or "hand-battered" is deep-fried and should be avoided.
• Other words to look out for include "au gratin," "cheesy," "creamy," "buttered" and "béarnaise," all of which mean tons of cheese, cream and/or butter.

• "Smothered" usually means that a meat is bathed in a cream or cheese-based sauce. This can double the number of calories in the dish, not to mention adding artery-clogging saturated fat.
• Bearing in mind that restaurant portions can be double or triple a normal "serving," you could be consuming four to six times your daily allowance of saturated fat in one sitting.

• Technically speaking, sautéed foods should be cooked on high heat with a small amount of fat, but restaurants are heavy-handed with butter and oil because they make food taste better, says Robyn Golberg, a nutritionist in Beverly Hills, California.
• Tossing in an extra spoonful of oil can add as many as 11 grams of fat to your meal. Instead, ask for dishes in which your meat is cooked in broth or wine, with minimal added fats.

• If the restaurant boasts all-you-can-eat shrimp platters and bottomless buffets, steer clear, no matter how great the price.
• All-you-can-eat platters are terrible because the plate portion may look reasonable, but you quickly lose count of how many full plates you've been served.

• Don't be shy to ask for small changes to your dish; most restaurants are happy to oblige, within reason. Just make your requests simple.
• If the item you have your eye on is fried, ask if it can be grilled instead. If it's coated in a buttery sauce, ask if the sauce can be left off.