Pub food is usually good value for money, so it’s great for the pounds in your purse but not necessarily for those around your waistline! Some pubs offer home-cooked dishes, while others rely on catering suppliers but whatever type of food is on offer, follow the following guidelines and you won’t go wrong:
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Sit down for your meal straight away rather than having a drink at the bar first, that way you won’t be tempted to snack on crisps and peanuts at the bar first.
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Say no to the customary portion of coleslaw served with almost every pub meal, it can contain about 70 plus calories, depending on the portion size.
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Ensure you give sachets of mayonnaise and salad creams a miss, they contain 65 and 40 calories, respectively.
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Offer to drive - you’ll have the perfect excuse to stick with non-alcoholic drinks.
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Do skip the starters and desserts and have just the main course.
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Do ask for your main course to be served with jacket potatoes instead of chips.
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Do you have a baguette or sandwich? Most places make them to order so you can choose a low-calorie filling and ask for a roll or bread with no butter.
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Don’t get carried away with the pub atmosphere. It can really damage your diet if ‘just one drink’ leads to others.
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Don’t assume all the salads will be low in calories. Many of the ingredients may be loaded with mayonnaise. Good types to go for include lean chicken, ham or turkey.
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Don’t choose the ploughman’s lunch it might be the all-time pub classic but with the huge chunk of cheese, pickle, roll and butter as well as the portion of coleslaw, it can contain more than 1,000 calories!
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Don’t go for fried meals such as scampi and chips, chicken and chips or fish and chips they all contain around 600-700 plus calories each.
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Don’t have meals containing pastry such as steak and kidney pie or chicken pie. If you really fancy a pie, choose a potato-topped one instead, for example shepherd’s pie or fish pie.
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Don’t order snacks such as quiche, pork pies and scotch eggs, they’re loaded with calories.
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