Eating Out Smart

Incorporating Away–From–Home Food into a healthy eating plan is essential for your own well-being. It does require some effort on your part, but this little effort will keep you slim and smiling for a long time.

In light of the growing proportion of meals consumed outside of the home and the potential influence of these foods on bad energy intake, it is important to consider whether away-from-home foods contribute to overweight and obesity. A variety of different types of evidence support this hypothesis. An ecological study reported by Maddock, found that states with higher levels of obesity had more quick-service restaurants per person.

While these were aggregate correlational data, they are supported by findings from other types of studies. Two cross-sectional studies have used 1994–1996 CSFII data to explore relationships between away-from-home food and self-reported body weight.

Bowman and Vinyard found that adults who reported eating quick-service food on at least one survey day had higher mean body mass index (BMI) values than those who did not eat quick-service food on either survey day. When examining quick-service as well as other types of eating establishments, Binkley et al., also found that eating away-from-home food was related to obesity.

With approximately 1/3 of daily calorie consumption in the United States coming from away-from-home foods it is important to consider how individuals can fit these items into a healthy eating plan. Here, we present some useful tips to make this happen:

• Tailor away-from-home meals to make them as healthful as possible.
• Patronize establishments that offer a variety of food choices and are willing to make substitutions or changes.

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References:

• The keystone forum on away-from-home foods: opportunities forpreventing wight gain and obesity. Washington, DC: The Keystone Center, May 2006.
• Lin B-H, Frazao E, Guthrie J. Away-from-home foods increasingly important to quality of American diet. Economic Research Service/USDA. Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 749, 1999.
• Putnam J, Allshouse J. Food consumption, prices, and expenditures. Statistical bulletin 928: US Department of Argiculture, Economic Research Service, 1996.
• Ledikwe JH, Ello-Martin JA, Rolls BJ. Portion sizes and the obesity epidemic. J Nutr 2005;135:905–909.
• Prentice AM, Jebb SA. Fast foods, energy density and obesity: a possible mechanistic link. Obesity Reviews 2003;4:187–194.
• Bell EA, Castellanos VH, Pelkman CL, Thorwart ML, Rolls BJ. Energy density of foods affects energy intake in normal-weight women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1998;67:412–420.
• Stubbs RJ, Whybrow S. Energy density, diet composition and palatability: influences on overall food energy intake in humans. Physiol Behav 2004;81:755–764.