Eat Out, Eat Right   

Dining out without blimping out: It can feel like a mission impossible, especially in light of today's portion sizes. A recent study in the American Journal of Public Health showed average portions in takeout joints, fast-food outlets, and family restaurants to be 2 to 5 times greater than 30 years ago.

It is possible to stay slim in the face of super-sized servings and mouth-watering menus, however. To find out how, we talked to restaurant critics, pastry chefs and other culinary professionals, many of whom eat out 5 to 10 times a week and taste fattening treats all day long. Here are their tips for keeping trim and resisting temptation.

Go halfsies. "Never finish anything. Try to aim for no more than half. One trick is to divide the portion on the plate in half, and ask the server to wrap the rest in a doggie bag -- or get rid of it completely. Also, share desserts. Better yet, use the half rule and share half a dessert."

--Cynthia Hacinli, food critic for Washingtonian magazine

Banish the bread basket. "Probably the biggest killer is bread or chips or whatever is served before the meal. I ask them to take the bread basket away."

--Sara Deseran, editor of "Eat & Drink" section for San Francisco's 7x7 magazine

Request less. "Like everyone, there are times when our willpower is weak. For example, PJ Clarke's has some of the best onion rings in New York City, but the only portion size is a plate that could feed four linebackers. It may sound crazy, but to us it's worth an extra few bucks to ask our waitperson to charge us full price and bring only half an order."

--Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, co-authors of The New American Chef

Slow down. "Eat more slowly. We Americans eat so fast, we never let the feeling of fullness reach us. Stop yourself at a certain point, push away from the table and wait. Twenty minutes after you eat, you feel more full. If at the end of 20 minutes, I'm still hungry, I let myself eat more."

--Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine and former restaurant critic for The New York Times

Bring your own breakfast. "When on vacation and eating out a lot, I ask for a mini fridge in my room. That way I can control my own breakfast and not be tempted to have a Danish or other fattening things. I store milk in the fridge and have it for breakfast with cereal and banana slices."

--Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Cake Bible , The Bread Bible , and The Pie & Pastry Bible

Big night? Eat light. "Especially after an extensive dinner, I feel the next day that my stomach is asking for more food than usual -- it gets used to it. So I watch the portion size I eat the following day. Similarly, when I go on business trips I often eat out every night. When I come back from a trip, I eat very light for a week or so."

--Florian Bellanger, executive pastry chef at Fauchon New York

Remember your priorities. "When I'm especially tempted to overeat, I remind myself that my health is extremely important. I own my own company and am responsible for 20 employees. Reminding myself of those faces usually sobers my temptation."

--Jacques Torres, owner of Jacques Torres Chocolate and former pastry chef at New York's Le Cirque

•  Alicia Abell

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