My husband and I love going out to eat. Like really love it. Especially without the kids!!!! In fact, when we were dating, we are out so much that our date nights were really starting to show on my waistline. Even when I tried to make better choices from the menu, it didn’t seem to make a difference.

Here’s the thing- a lot of times people think they are going out to eat and staying on track by ordering certain foods, but what they don’t realize is all the hidden calories in what they think are healthy choices at a restaurant. A lot of places use butter, oil, and lots of salt to season and cook their food. Think about, there’s a reason why your side of broccoli tasted much better than the steamed broccoli you make at home! Even the salad options are full of calories. Pick your favorite restaurant and google the nutrition facts for one of their salads. I guarantee you will be shocked.

The only way you can truly know what you are eating is to prepare it yourself. By cooking at home, their are no added ingredients and you know exactly how many calories you are consuming. And of course it’s best to cook from scratch if you want the healthiest option. Boxes foods give you the calorie count making it easy to track your calories but they often aren’t the best choices. Cooking from scratch allows you to only add as many calories as you want.

Moral of the story is, cook at home, from scratch whenever possible, and it’s ok to eat out, just not all the time.