Restaurants Without Regrets

Bedford Street patios are packed with diners eager to soak up all the summer weather left in 2011 and the next round of Stamford Restaurant Weeks is fast approaching. With this, many residents will find themselves in a balancing act ⎯ how to stick to a healthy diet while enjoying their meals out on the town. Life, health, and wellness coach Penny Klatell shared her tips for eating well, without deprivation or regrets.

“Find your places and make friends at your local places,” Klatell said. “So much depends on the hand of the person who prepares your food. If they know you and you’re nice to them, you can tell them you’re on a diet, or better, tell them you’re trying to be heart healthy.”

As she sat at a table outside the Starbucks in New Canaan, it became clear that Klatell lives by this rule ⎯ barely a person (or a friend’s enthusiastic pug for that matter) went by without stopping for a hello.

“As you can see, I like people,” Klatell laughed.

Another benefit of finding your places is that you'll get to know the menu, if you’re going somewhere new, Klatell recommends looking the menu up ahead of time so you can go in with a solid plan.

“Don’t deprive yourself,” Klatell said. “But you can decide ahead of time, I’m going to have the bread, but I won’t have dessert.”

Studies have shown again and again that the more people in your dinner party ⎯ the more calories you’re likely to consume.

“If just my husband and I go out, we can pass on the bread basket, but if you have a big group, chances are there will be multiple bread baskets on the table," Klatell said. "It's easy to relax and get carried away."

One trick Klatell tells her clients is to try to order last when you’re in a large party. By the time the server is ready to take your order, many questions about the menu will have already been answered and chances are others will have returned to their conversations ⎯ the spotlight is off.

Klatell grew up in a family that owned a diner, and many local diners are still among her favorite places.

“They really listen to you,” Klatell said. “You can get anything in a restaurant as long as you’re really really nice.”

At breakfast, Klatell often orders spinach instead of home fries alongside of her eggs.

“It comes out so pretty, the green with the egg, now they know when I go in there, “Spinach on the side?”” she said.

Regardless of where your dinners out take you, Klatell recommends sticking to a combination of lean meat and vegetables. This pairing can take you from a seafood restaurant to a steakhouse and yield a delicious meal without a diet disaster.

She also teaches her clients menu buzzwords that signal either a red or a green light. Red light words include not only the obvious “au gratin” and “deep-fried” , but words like “crispy,” “crunchy,” or “country-style” that often indicate choices loaded in calories and fat.

“Never starve yourself all day, that’s when the bread wont be able to get into your mouth fast enough,” Klatell laughed. “And if you mess up, that’s when you say, “Okay, that was a treat, but I’m not going to eat this way every day.””

Above all, Klatell wants her clients to learn to enjoy their meals while staying healthy. She sees her granddaughter eating black raspberries off of her fingers as a treat and her mother, born and raised on a farm, living an active and healthy life at 90 and is constantly reminded of the importance of good food.

“Food is nourishment,” Klatell said. “People should never be afraid of food.”

Klatell offers ongoing tips to a healthy eating on her blog, My Food Maps.