Eating at Restaurants and Social Events
When you’re going to a restaurant or a party, planning ahead is key to making healthy food choices. Be prepared with strategies that will help you stick to your diet goals. Whether you’re following a specific diet or building healthier habits, you can make eating out work for you.
Before you go
Most restaurants have menus you can view online. Some, like national chains, even provide nutrition information on their websites. Review the menu in advance to identify healthier options.
If you are going to a party or other gathering, try to find out what foods will be served at the event. Eat a small meal or snack before the party so you won’t be really hungry when you get there.
If you think you will be eating a heavier evening meal than you usually do, plan on a light lunch. But try not to skip meals before you eat out, because you might end up eating more later.
At a restaurant, if you’d like to splurge on a higher-calorie entree, choose a salad with low-calorie dressing or steamed vegetables as a side. Drink water or unsweetened tea to avoid adding calories from beverages to your meal.
Ordering tips
You can eat at a restaurant or event while still maintaining a healthy diet. Try these tactics when placing your order:
- Try an appetizer or a half-sized portion of an entree.
- Share a meal with a friend. Get an extra side salad, with dressing on the side, if you think one meal won’t be enough for the two of you.
- Ask for half your entree to be wrapped up to go before the food is brought to the table.
- Order each item separately (a la carte) to get exactly what you want. For example, one lightly sauced chicken enchilada and a side salad is a healthier choice than the enchilada plate with rice, refried beans, sour cream, and guacamole.
- Choose dishes made with lower-calorie cooking methods like grilling, roasting, or broiling.
- Ask what ingredients are used in the dishes you’re interested in.
- Ask how dishes are prepared. Can these preparation methods be adapted so a dish has fewer calories or less fat?
- Ask if you can make healthy substitutions. For example, can you order a baked potato instead of fries? What about a salad or fresh fruit instead of coleslaw?
- If bread, chips, or peanuts are brought to your table, have only a little. You could also request that these items not be served at all.
- Avoid or limit alcohol. Beer, wine, and cocktails are high in calories and have few nutrients.
Good menu choices
Thinking about a meal course by course can be helpful. Here are some tips:
Appetizers
- Consider vegetable-based dishes such as bruschetta on whole-grain bread or raw vegetables (crudités) with hummus or low-calorie dip.
- Try to choose clear broth-based soups like chicken noodle, Chinese wonton or hot and sour soup, consommé, or minestrone. A vegetable-based soup without cream is another good option.
- Order a small salad with dressing on the side. Use the dressing sparingly and choose lower-fat dressings, like vinaigrettes, instead of cream-based dressings, like ranch or blue cheese.
Main dishes
- Choose poultry, fish, or other seafood instead of beef or pork. If you want to have a steak, ask for a portion size between 3 and 6 ounces.
- Look for proteins that are steamed, broiled, baked, roasted, grilled, or poached instead of deep-fried, pan-fried, sauteed, battered, breaded, or crispy.
- Ask for steamed vegetables or a side salad instead of French fries or mashed potatoes. A baked potato with a small amount of butter, sour cream, low fat cottage cheese, or salsa is also a better choice than fries.
- Look for whole-grain rice instead of white or fried rice.
- Get a salad made with lettuce or spinach with vegetables and lean protein. Ask for the dressing on the side. If you’re at a salad bar, go easy on the bacon bits, croutons, cheese, and mayonnaise-based items like macaroni salad or tuna salad.
- Have a sandwich on whole-wheat, pita, or multi-grain breads. Include lean proteins like grilled chicken, roast turkey, and low-fat cheese. Top with mustard, relish, ketchup, or low-fat mayonnaise. For variety, add roasted sweet peppers, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, or a small amount of chopped olives.
- For dishes with sauce, choose tomato, lemon, or wine-based sauces. Limit cream, butter, cheese, or gravy-based sauces.
Desserts
- Fresh fruit, sorbet, sherbet, and angel food cake are better choices for dessert.
- Split a sweet treat with one person or even everyone at your table
- Order a dessert to-go. Divide into several portions when you get home. Enjoy a little of it each day for several days.
- Written by
- References
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
American Heart Association. Dining Out Doesn’t Mean Ditching Your Diet. Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating on August 8, 2025.
American Heart Association. 4 Tips to Eat Healthier When Ordering Takeout or Food Delivery. Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/ on August 8, 2025.
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Tipsheet: Eating Healthy Ethnic Food. Accessed at https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/eat/tips_eth_dine.htm on August 8, 2025.
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Tipsheet: Eating Healthy When Dining Out. Accessed at https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/eat/tips_dine_out.htm on August 8, 2025.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dine Out/Take Out. Accessed at https://www.myplate.gov/tip-sheet/dine-out-take-out on August 8, 2025.
Last Revised: August 29, 2025
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.
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