How to Eat Healthy at Restaurants and While Travelling

To eat healthy at a restaurant, start with the protein: a main with 1.5 to 2 palms of meat, fish, eggs or tofu. Add a side of veg, then have the starch that fits the time of day, and enjoy it, because one meal never undoes a week.

Travel works the same way. Same plate, different location.

If you need a perfect kitchen to stay on track, you'll never be on track. So here's how my people do it.

What should I order at a restaurant?

The same plate you eat at home: 30 to 40 g of protein, 1 to 2 fists of veg, then starch to fit the time of day.

Your hand is your measuring tool. One palm of cooked protein is roughly 22 to 24 g, so 30 to 40 g is about 1.5 to 2 palms. A fist of veg is about 25 calories. These are averages, and that's plenty accurate for a restaurant. Nobody's bringing a food scale to date night. Please don't be that person.

Easy wins:

• A grilled or roasted protein as your main
• An extra side of veg
• Sauce or dressing on the side, if you want more control
• Starch to taste

Carbs go where the work is. A bigger starch serving fits lunch or a post-training meal. Dinner is protein and veg first with a little starch.

How do I eat out in perimenopause without the blood sugar crash?

Protein and veg first. Starch last. Then a 10-minute walk after your two biggest meals.

In a meta-analysis of 7 studies, light walking after meals lowered blood sugar after eating by about 17% compared with sitting. So after dinner out, walk. Around the block, along the water, back to the hotel. The full why is in [Blood Sugar Spikes in Perimenopause](/blog/blood-sugar-spikes-perimenopause).

I'm the crunchier one, I lean clean and unprocessed, and that works at a restaurant too. Grilled fish, a pile of veg, done. And try to leave about 3 hours between your last meal and bed on nights out. It's a default, not a reason to skip dinner.

How do I log a restaurant meal?

Pick the closest entry in the app and move on. A good guess beats a blank day, EVERY time.

Tracking what you eat is consistently linked to better weight-loss results, even though logging is never perfect. Logging is information. It's not a report card, and it's not a confession. It's how you and your coach see the patterns.

The "if I can't log it accurately, I won't log it" thing? That's perfectionism wearing a disguise. Get out of your own way.

How do I eat healthy on a travel day?

Keep your four protein meals as best you can. Pack protein that travels:

• Protein powder in a shaker (add water or milk later)
• Jerky or meat sticks
• Tuna or salmon pouches
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Greek yogurt or cottage cheese cups, if you have a fridge
• Roasted chickpeas or edamame
• Protein bars that reach about 30 g

A shake counts as a meal if it reaches 30 g. Collagen products don't count toward your protein ([here's why](/blog/does-collagen-count-as-protein)).

At the hotel breakfast: eggs, Greek yogurt, smoked salmon, ham or cottage cheese for protein, plus fruit or oats for carbs. Skip the pastry tower unless you genuinely want it. Then enjoy it.

Pack fibre too: apples, berries, oats, veg sticks, a bag of nuts. Travel quietly drops your fibre and water, and that shows up as constipation a few days in.

Walking is your travel tool. Airports, sightseeing, a walk after meals. Keep the 8,000-step habit where you can. And never lift heavy or do intervals fasted. A travel day with no training is a perfectly fine day to keep things simple.

How does alcohol affect sleep and recovery?

More than you think, even when you think you've timed it right.

I don't drink. That's my choice, and in perimenopause or while losing fat, alcohol-free is our default. It's always YOUR choice, never "off limits". But if you drink, use the 6-hour rule: finish at least 6 hours before bed. Think late lunch, not nightcap.

Why: in a lab study (in middle-aged men), a moderate dose finished 6 hours before bed, with zero alcohol left in the breath at bedtime, still about doubled time awake in the second half of the night. Alcohol disrupts recovery in everyone, and some studies find it hits women harder. It also switches off your fullness signals, which is exactly why the late-night "snack" happens.

If you drink:

• At most 1 glass, with food, finished 6+ hours before bed.
• Never the evening after a heavy session.
• Eat a protein meal first, and alternate with sparkling water.
• Pick the ONE drink you'll actually love. One great drink at the afternoon party beats three glasses of whatever's being poured.

Waking at 2 to 4 am, hot flashes or anxiety? Try 4 weeks alcohol-free first and see what your body tells you.

Do holidays really make you gain weight?

Less than you fear. But it sticks.

In one study of 195 adults, average holiday-season weight gain was small, about 0.8 lb. The catch: most of it was still there by spring. So the risk isn't one feast. It's a whole season of loose routines that never resets.

Keep your anchors: four protein meals, veg on the plate, a walk after big meals, lifts on the calendar, same bedtime.

And do NOT "save up" by skipping lunch before a big dinner. It makes the evening harder and it's a pattern I never recommend. Went way over at Thanksgiving? That's one day. Your next meal is a normal protein meal, then a walk, and your week carries on. No skipping, no extra workout to "make up" for it. There's nothing to earn back.

At least 80% minimally processed leaves room for real life. Better, not perfect.

This isn't medical advice. If you're skipping meals or adding workouts to make up for eating, notice bingeing or intense guilt after meals, your drinking worries you, or travel overlaps with a new health condition or medication change, talk to your doctor or a coach.

Quick answers

What should I order at a restaurant to stay on track? A main with 1.5 to 2 palms of meat, fish, eggs or tofu, an extra side of veg, then the starch that fits the time of day.

How do I log a restaurant meal I can't measure? Pick the closest entry in the app and move on. A good guess beats a blank day.

Should I skip lunch to save room for a big dinner? No. Skipping usually leads to overeating later. Keep your protein meals and enjoy dinner.

Is alcohol fine if it's out of my system by bedtime? No. Drinking 6 hours before bed still disrupted the second half of the night, even with zero breath alcohol at bedtime.

How do I eat healthy while travelling? Pack protein, walk, keep veg where you can and aim for your four meals. Better, not perfect.

Sources. Precision Nutrition. How to do hand portion math to track your macros. Precision Nutrition. 25 ways to eat well on the go. Buffey AJ, et al. Interrupting prolonged sitting with standing and light-intensity walking: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine. 2022. Burke LE, Wang J, Sevick MA. Self-monitoring in weight loss: a systematic review of the literature. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2011. Landolt HP, et al. Late-afternoon ethanol intake affects nocturnal sleep and the sleep EEG in middle-aged men. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. 1996. Pietilä J, et al. Acute effect of alcohol intake on cardiovascular autonomic regulation during the first hours of sleep. JMIR Mental Health. 2018. Arnedt JT, et al. Sleep following alcohol intoxication in healthy, young adults: effects of sex and family history of alcoholism. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2011. Yanovski JA, et al. A prospective study of holiday weight gain. New England Journal of Medicine. 2000. American Institute for Cancer Research. Holiday weight gain: exploring the nuance.