58. Always Split a Restaurant Meal

When Gibbs and I were first married, we thought nothing of going out for a restaurant meal once or twice a week. We’d each order an appetizer with our before-dinner drink, then we’d scarf down the fresh baked bread (slathered with butter, of course) while waiting for our salads and the first bottle of wine. We’d each order an entrée, such as steak, veggies, and baked potato (with butter and sour cream). Then we’d finish off the dinner with a 1,000-calorie dessert and an after-dinner liqueur. Boy, are those days gone forever.

Gradually, the numbers on the scales began to get higher and higher, and we realized we’d have to make some changes. It took some experimentation, but we’ve finally over the years developed a system that works for us:

Both of us have stopped drinking alcohol; we got tired of the fuzzy head the morning after, and we’d rather save the calories for dessert. We’ve learned (reluctantly) to ask the waiter to remove the basket of fresh baked bread and the butter. Now, we split the entrée or, if we can’t both agree on the same one, we each order an hors d’oeuvre. This, with a salad, is usually more than enough for one person, especially when we have a dessert—split, of course.

It is the rare restaurant that has learned how to serve reasonably sized portions for people who are concerned about their health and weight. Even rarer is the restaurant that takes into account the fact that, generally speaking, women need smaller portions than men. I know few clean-plate clubbers who, when faced with a heaping plate of what might be their favorite dish, can resist eating every single bite. And besides, there are all those starving children in China.

These days, most restaurants will allow you to split an entrée. Even if they charge a “split fee,” it’s well worth paying when you consider that if you order a whole entrée, and eat only half of it, the other half goes to waste; if you eat the whole entrée, it goes to your waist. If you find yourself in a restaurant that either doesn’t serve human-sized portions or that won’t split, don’t patronize it and let the management know why.

We love eating out from time to time. Splitting a meal makes it possible for us to do so without the guilt and the distress of overeating.