Experts have identified a link between eating out at restaurants and obesity. According to the USDA, 1/3 of American calories come from restaurants.
"For the average consumer, eating one meal away from home each week translates to roughly two extra pounds a year," said Lisa Mancino, a food economist for the USDA.
More than half of adults eat out three or more times a week, and 12 percent eat out more than seven times a week. I certainly fall into that category. Typically my week looks like this: really good during the week, three meals at home and then Friday comes and BAM eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes we make breakfast at home, but usually we are all about the brunch.
How many more calories a diner consumes out depends on the meal. Eating lunch out has the largest effect, adding 158 calories to daily caloric intake, compared to lunch prepared at home. Dinner out increases intake by 144 calories, and breakfast out adds 74 calories, according to the USDA.
J made a comment the other day that when we eat out, we go all out. See exhibit A below from a recent Friday night dinner at Boulevard Woodgrill in Clarendon.
I may not have finished the whole salad (took it home and had it for lunch the next day), but that didn't keep us from stopping by our new favorite Friday night sweet spot.
So yeah, eating out most likely does have some link to obesity and consuming more calories. I am really gonna have to watch that indulgence. It is just hard after a long week of work to want to cook on the weekends.
What do you do on the weekends for food?