Healthy meals at fast food joints and restaurants

Indian/South Asian
This is one of your best restaurant choices because of the cuisine's focus on vegetables, legumes and long-grain rice. Servings of meat, poultry or fish tend to be modest. However, make sure that food is not fried, particularly not in "ghee" or clarified butter, which is a highly saturated fat. Also be cautious with the side dishes such as mangoes/papayas, raisins and coconut slices as they have a higher G.I. and can pack a lot of calories if you aren't careful.

Mexican/Latin American
Tex-Mex dishes can be heavy on cheese, refried beans and sour cream, which are all red-light. Your best bet is to look for grilled seafood, chicken or meat, as well as dishes made with beans (not refried). Vegetable-based soups such as gazpacho are an excellent choice.

Thai
Thai restaurants tend to be heavy on red-light sauces, often using full-fat coconut milk. Here it's best to stick with a starter such as lemongrass soup, green mango salad, or mussels in a lemongrass broth. Follow this with a Thai beef salad or stir-fry with chicken and vegetables. Skip the peanut sauce.

Japanese
This is a good green-light choice once you get beyond the sushi and tempura. Sushi is red-light because of the glutinous rice it is made with. Order the sashimi instead. Watch the quantity of soy sauce, which should be thought of as liquid salt! The beef and vegetable stir-frys and grilled fish are excellent choices. You might try Nabemono, a healthy fondue with broth rather than oil as the cooking medium.

You can make healthy choices almost anywhere, but the best way to ensure you're getting everything you need (and skipping what you don't!) is to cook at home. Check out our 30 best salad recipes for inspiration.

Excerpted from The G.I. Diet Menopause Clinic by Rick Gallop Copyright © 2009 by Rick Gallop. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.