Where you get stuck away from your normal food sources you should always be cognoscente of your unique metabolic requirements and plan your meals to fit roughly into the same portion sizes. If uncertain of the source of the food aim to make vegetables your main meal with meat, noodles, pasta and rice as accompaniments.
Indian

Chinese

• Always choose a plain vegetable dish first. eg Chinese broccoli or bok choy or choy sum in soy sauce.
• Steamed vegetables are better than stir fried.
• Plain rice is better than fried rice. Otherwise avoid rice unless you are making home made Chinese and can cook brown rice.
• Avoid refried noodles eg chow mein.
• Entrée: Avoid deep fried spring rolls, curry puffs, fish cakes. Better alternatives: steamed dim sims, fresh spring roll with rice paper, tofu steamed.
• Sauces: choose chilli, garlic, pepper, shallot and ginger rather than satay, oyster, coconut, curry, sweet and sour or honey soy.
• Soups are generally OK.

Thai

• Always choose a plain vegetable dish first. Steamed mixed vegetables are best.
• Avoid curry with coconut milk (unless curry is made with a yoghurt base).
• Soups – clear is better than coconut based. Eg Spicy hot and sour, lemon grass, limes chili are better choices.
• Stir fry sauces – shallots, ginger, pepper, soy sauce, fresh chilli, basil. Avoid honey, oyster, black bean, peanut/satay sauces.
• Thai steamed jasmine rice best. Otherwise avoid rice unless you are making home made Thai and can cook brown rice.
• Fresh thai salads eg beef, duck or prawn are great.

Italian (best avoid pizzas, but if you have to…)

Always choose a vegetable dish first with protein. And the following is best avoided while trying to lose fat but for future take away meals.

• Pizza – Avoid mozzarella cheese based pizzas. Ask or choose for white cheese eg goats or ricotta cheese pizza. Thin bases are better than thick based. Avoid too many marinated vegetables. Avoid deli meats eg sausage, salami, ham, etc
• Pasta – Tomato based. Avoid too many marinated vegetables (most are saturated in poor quality oil) and always include a protein source. Avoid creamy based sauces. Always have a salad with pasta.
• Bread – Avoid garlic bread or herb bread.

General Choices

• Sandwiches – avoid foccacias (very fatty) and burgers. Wholemeal sandwiches with salmon, avocado and salads are good. White cheese eg ricotta, cottage cheese may be added to increase fat content. Avoid plain jams and spreads.
• Salads – avoid those with creamy or pre-prepared dressings ie Caesar, Thousand Island. Aim to get as much fresh content as possible. In some cases you are better consuming a meal entirely made up of salad vegetables as this will also add water to your diet
• Be wary of hidden fats, oils and sugars in many commercially products. Eg. Sugar in tomato sauce, hydrolysed oils in margarine, preservatives in deli meats. Where possible ensure you have a serve of quality protein, some vegetables and some fat/oil.
• If you know you are going to be travelling carrying a snack of fruit/nuts will often be your best alternative.

Deserts

• Sorbets or fruit is best.
• If you must indulge choose a full fat desert otherwise do your best to avoid temptation!
• If you do eat dessert try to do something active after dinner, a simple walk can do wonders for your digestion.