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You want to eat healthy, but you travel, you have clients to entertain, you don’t have time to cook at home. Yet restaurant meals can be caloric catastrophes packed with fat, salt and sugar–and entertaining clients can add more to your waist than to your firm’s bottom line.

But there are ways to eat healthy while eating out. Begin by selecting the right restaurant. The higher the quality of the restaurant, the better the chances that the manager will see to it that you are served as requested. Choose independents over chains; their food tends to be fresher, better quality, and prepared with less fat and chemical additives.

Avoid temptation by not reading the menu. Decide ahead of time what you’re going to have, and if that includes a special request, let the restaurant know before you arrive. For example, ask that your meal be prepared without oil or butter. Restaurants will appreciate your telephoning in advance for special requests, which will improve your chances of getting exactly what you want. But even if you aren’t able to pre-order, don’t be shy about asking for a specific dish prepared a specific way. And if you don’t get what you asked for, send it back–after all, it’s your money and your health.

When eating breakfast out, fruit is a good choice. Whatever you do, do not eat a heavily-sugared breakfast roll, donut or danish; besides being laden with fat and calories, those foods will slow your metabolism and give you a feeling of sluggishness.

For lunch and dinner, go for green salads without meat, cheeses and oily dressings. Try bean, lentil or vegetable soups made without fat for an appetizer. Ask for vegetables steamed without butter and avoid the starchy breads. For a buttery taste, take along your own butter substitute. You can also take along an oil-free salad dressing. Don’t be embarrassed and think that you’re the only one taking along your health-oriented foods. Millions are doing it now.

Going to a banquet? You don’t have to eat the same thing everyone else is having–most banquet facilities are prepared to accommodate special dietary needs, especially if you ask in advance. Requesting a non-dairy vegetarian meal will likely get you a delicious and healthy array of steamed vegetables with rice or potatoes, and you don’t have to be a strict vegetarian to eat like one occasionally.

If you’re worried that your special demands will make your dining companions uncomfortable, relax. If you’re discrete and courteous, they probably won’t even notice–and if they do, you may well give them the confidence to take more control over their own restaurant meals.