[AbbyLu202]

Greetings!! This is my first thread I am starting, so I hope to get some great feedback. I'm a 4th day beacher here, and I am doing great, except for a few times when I sturggle.

I am a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory (That word should just be shunned around here!! haha ). But being a waitress requires long hours, and its a crazy fast paced environment. We go long hours without eating, and then (usually), mow down when you can. I have been good since I started the beach, but I get tempted when I am at work and have to see food in front of me for 6-8 hours straight. PLUS, employees get free soup and bread (and we have some yummy bread...[slap on my hand!]), and it's hard to resist that when you are SO hungry, cus it's right THERE!

So my question is...Are any of you servers, waitstaff, work in the same environment, or can relate???? How do you do it? It's hard to go in back & eat something healthy quick, because it can be really inconvienent to walk away from your tables for that amount of time.

Please help....

[cottagebythesea]

AbbyLu! Wow, you have quite a challenge ahead of you, working at the Cheesecake Factory! I absolutely adore their food (and the desserts!), so I have to steer clear of that place. It's a once-a-year treat for me. I'd stick with the soups for your meals, or maybe a salad if you can. And no bread! We do have a few waitresses here, so maybe they can help you out better than I can.

[Sunnybunny]

Lord Lord Lord! I don't know about that one. Thank goodness we don't have The Cheesecake Factory here in Beckley, WV. I ate at one in Orlando and yummo! I would think you might get sick of stuff though. I would just eat the soup and once you get into phase two eat the soup with rye or pumpernickel. That would be really hard...but you can do it.

I wish you best of luck,

Sunny

[AbbyLu202]

I would just eat the soup, but most of them have potato as a main ingredient, and lots of cooked carrots. And there is only 1 soup every day, depending on the day of the week...so it's limited.

The bread options are sourdough or honey whole wheat (from what I have read..sour dough would be a better choice than the honey whole wheat, correct??) I hardley believe though that its actually "whole wheat". Doesnt taste like it nor look like it. But once I have one piece..then I want another, and another, then butter comes into play, and oh man...

haha, see the problem?!

[Sunnybunny]

Oh, I saw the problem to begin with. That would be really really hard. Is the kitchen clean? Have you ever seen someone do something nasty in there? Like go to the bathroom and not wash up or touch their nose and then the food or something. Just think about it like that. Now I am not hungry anymore

Sunny

[beachgal]

Hi, Abby! Glad to have you with us.

I think the best thing is to bring easy to quickly eat things to work. You could try bringing plain kefir (yogurt) with SF syrup in it, make smoothies, bring cut up veggies and a little portion of hummus to dip them in, etc. Other things like the mini quiches, turkey rollups, etc. could also work. Once you're on P2, you could make small sandwiches, bring cheese and crackers, or even bring some protein (like laughing cow cheese) to put on the bread that also has a little fat...that will make the bread less likely to drive you to eat more and more. Plus, with the cravings gone, I think you'll do really well with eating bread.

I've never looked up the ingredients of the bread at Cheesecake, but I've eaten there several times since starting SBD, and I have never had problems with either bread. In my opinion, even though there is honey in the whole wheat, I think the glycemic index would be a little lower than the sourdough... not sure though.

BTW, when you get into P2, the low carb cheesecake with splenda strawberries and splenda whipped cream is FANTASTIC!!! It's a special treat for me when I go to Cheesecake and someone else gets some...I don't feel deprived!

Good luck...I know it can't be easy surrounded by all that fantastic food. But think about all the calories you're burning running around at work!