Ok...I have a business lunch tomorrow at a very authentic Italian restaurant. I have to eat SOMETHING because I don't want to look stupid...but it is a little hole in the wall place with no nutrition facts. This is the first time I haven't been able to count calories. Is there anything I can get that wouldn't be *too* bad??? Anything I can ask for special? HELP!
If it were me, I would order either the grilled Halibut salad, or the Roasted salmon salad, and I'd ask them to leave out the mozarella.
That's a healthy meal right there
Authentic Italian restaraunts almost always have amazing salads with low fat dressing choices! AND they are usually great! Just use your best judgement and I am sure they will be willing to work with you. Maybe call ahead of time and ask whats on their menu as far as salads! Just a thought!
Just a few rules that work for me in situations like this. Stick with the red sauce, no alfredo. Their seafood dishes sound safe (and yummy). And when in doubt only eat half a meal. At least then your calorie count shouldn't be too high.
If nothing else the soup and salad sound good. Minestrone if it isn't too salty is a healthy choice, ask for dressing on the side and no croutons on the salad.
I think you can eat here and make some good choices. They only thing I'd worry about is the amount of sodium in the food. Just drink lots of water for the next few days and any temporary water/wt gain will flush right out.
And yes, you can always ask how things are prepared and ask for modifications. You can ask what do they mean by 'saute', can they use the least amount of oil possible, leave xy or z off the meal. Ask for a to go box to be brought with the meal and immediately put half of it in the box before you even start eating.
I feel for your freakout. It feels harrowing now (did to me, for too long) but I can tell you that it's liberating, eventually, to be able to make decent choices almost anywhere. I just did it for five days, where the places were not of my choosing/paying. I noticed that it was much easier at higher-end restaurants where I could get non-friend 5 oz fish, etc -- whereas places more like the one you've posted have large amounts of cheap ingredients, like pasta and bread.
Off the top of my head, non-seafood options I'd narrow in on include:
*2 rolls ("1/2 rolls") with marinara sauce soup OR salad (easier than to be expected to make decent-looking inroads into two lunches (salad AND soup option -- neither salad nor soup are side-ish looking enough for me, socially).
*chicken/veal parmigiana and the like -- for getting a 'real' entree, if that's what you'll do, marinara, etc is better than any 'stuffed' pasta-type dish. Except the chicken will likely be fried. And too large. Eating half is a good rule of restaurant-rich foods for me.
*Salad: I am actually pretty comfortable with cheese and oil compared to restaurant salad dressing (I know, seems odd -- it's a 'devil you know' thing). If I picked a salad that wasn't just a greens salad, and wasn't seafood, I'd get the Chicken Rustica Salad. Dressing on the side is always good and I know many people would opt to omit the mozzerella.
One thing to keep in mind, is what I read recently (I think it was In Defense of Food?) When your food comes, it is not your meal yet. It is a portion served to tall professional athletes and petite women alike. So don't eat more than you would've served yourself, just because it's there.
I tend to make separations on my plate, separations that I can recognize as being the distinctions between what I'm eating and what I'm leaving.
Last edited by WhitePicketFences; 12-14-2009 at 01:42 PM.
thank you everyone! I had a great time and ordered the chicken rustica salad w/o the breadcrumbs and cheese and did the dressing on the side. The dressing was probably pretty bad (no low-cal options, chose the vinagrette) but I used it relatively sparingly and it was delicious. And my NSV for the day is that I didn't eat the bread! yay! =)
HELP! Business lunch FREAK OUT!!!
