Carbohydrate-Guide

You don’t have to stop frequenting your favorite restaurants just because you’re watching your carbs.

This way of eating is flexible so that you can find several healthy choices that allow you to enjoy the dining-out experience and still lose or maintain weight.

This cheat sheet will help you select the healthiest choices virtually anywhere-even at ethnic restaurants. Regardless of which diet you’re on, be guided by the ground rules for safe eating. Chain Restaurants

Upscale chains offer so much variety that there’s plenty to choose from other than deep-fried appetizers, huge entreeportions, and frozen margaritas.

At all chain restaurants, avoid appetizers smothered in cheese and sour cream (such as nachos or potato skins), sandwiches called melts (tuna melt, for instance, which are loaded with cheese and grilled with butter), croissant sandwiches, coleslaw, macaroni and potato salads, and fried tortilla shell or bread “bowls.”

Try these instead:

At Boston Market: A quarter of a chicken, white meat, no skin or wing; a chicken, turkey, or ham sandwich without cheese or dressing; any fresh vegetable, such as green beans or broccoli.

At Chili’s: The Guiltless Grill items, which are usually served with black beans or steamed veggies. Shrimp, chicken, or beef fajitas, topped with salsa and minus the flour tortillas and full-fat cheese and sour cream.

At Ruby Tuesday: The salad bar, which contains all the makings for a healthy salad (greens, chickpeas, fresh vegetables, diced turkey or ham, olive oil and balsamic dressing); a turkey burger without the bun; grilled chicken or grilled­chicken salads without the cheese or deep-fried tortilla bowl.

Chinese Food

To give Americanized Chinese food a safe makeover, minimize the huge amounts of saturated fat used to prepare it. Ask that your dish be prepared without MSG, the flavoring agent often used in Chinese cuisine.

While it’s made from beets, a healthy vegetable, MSG has a very high glycemic index (GI). Try egg drop soup or any combination of steamed fresh vegetables prepared with small amounts of meat, poultry, or seafood. Stay away from: Steamed rice (it has a high GI); the deep-fried, crispy noodles; egg rolls; fried dumplings; spareribs; 10 mein; moo goo gai pan; Peking duck; and entrees described on the menu as “crispy” or “sweet and sour.” Also, many sauces may be thickened with cornstarch.

Ask the waiter for sauces prepared without added cornstarch.

Indian Food

Indian food is based on good carbs, particularly legumes like chickpeas and lentils, and veggies such as spinach and eggplant. The downside is its abundance of starchy carbs (like potatoes) and bad fats.

Many appetizers are deep-fried, and vegetables and meats are typically fried or sauteed in the In­dian butter called ghee. Still, most Indian restaurants provide several tasty choices for the carb conscious. Try Mulli­gatawny soup; dals (legume dishes-choose those without cream); chana (chickpea curry); kachumbars (vegetable salads); raitas (salads with a tart yogurt dressing); dishes de­scribed on the menu as masala (a combination of spices with sauteed tomatoes and onions) or tandoori (seasoned meat, poultry, or fish roasted in a clay oven).

Stay away from Samosas (deep-fried pastry filled with vegetables or meat); puri (a puffy, deep-fried bread); and entrees described as biryani, malai, or korma, which are heavy on the oil and cream.

Italian Food

Not order pasta? At an Italian restaurant?

Actually, it’s easier than you think-there are usually several choices right for the South Beach dieter. Try these s salads dressed with oil and balsamic vinegar; clams steamed in white wine; clear soups; grilled meat, poultry, or fish; scallops sauteed with mushrooms and marsala wine sauce; escarole or broccoli rabe (two types of greens) sauteed in garlic and olive oil.

If you order pizza, request a thin-crust pie rather than Sicilian or deep-dish, and pile it with veggies rather than sausage or pepperoni. If you must have pasta, ask for whole wheat pasta and order a side serving sauteed in olive oil and garlic or topped with plain tomato sauce and good proteins (clams or shrimp) or vegetables.

Stay away from bread or garlic bread; antipastos with cheeses and salami, which are high in saturated fat; and anything described on the menu as “carbonara” (pre­pared with full-fat cream and cheese) or parmigiana (meat that is breaded, fried, and smothered in full-fat mozzarella).

Mexican Food

Most Mexican food at chain restaurants and Mexican fast­food places is prepared American-style, which means an abundance of bad fats. Yet it is possible to go Mexican and eat healthfully.

Try grilled chicken or fish; pescado Veracruzana (fish in a tangy sauce of olive oil, grilled onions, green olives, and capers); mole pallo (boned chicken breast served in a hot and spicy sauce); mojo pallo (chicken in a tangy citrus sauce); camarones de hacha (shrimp sauteed in a red and green tomato sauce).

Stay away from deep-fried tortilla chips; anything topped with cheese, sour cream, or guacamole; refried beans (commonly fried in lard); chimichangas (deep-fried flour tortillas filled with meat and cheese); the Mexican sausage called chorizo; and deep-fried taco-shell bowls.

Steak Houses

You should be able to have a good “safe” meal in a restaurant specializing in steaks and vegetables. Order a lean cut of meat and enjoy it with a cup of broth-based soup and a side dish of steamed or grilled vegetables.

Try lean cuts of beef such as top sirloin or tenderloin or a well-trimmed lamb or pork loin chop (ask that the extra fat be trimmed away before cooking). At the salad bar, opt for peel-and-eat shrimp, shrimp cocktail, and salad greens with broccoli and other nonstarchy vegetables dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Stay away from deep-fried appetizers, creamy soups such as New England clam chowder, baby back ribs, coleslaw, macaroni and potato salads, baked potatoes, steak fries, and onion rings.