I posted the other day on the daily chat but no one answered me. So we I turned down hubby's offer to go out for Thai food.

But hubby wants to go out to eat for Thai food again tonight. When off the diet I'd always get chicken satey or curry. But if I can't have peanut or coconut milk then what can I get?
I'm a pretty picky eater.
Any suggestions?

I had a colleague suggest Thai food for a lunch meeting and I chose a different restaurant, because I couldn't imagine getting anything that didn't have sauce, rice, noodles, etc.

If push came to shove, I'd get steamed veggies and fresh tofu.

I don't know all of the IP restrictions, but these probably will fit, with minimal adaptation (always ask how things are prepared).

chicken satay (grilled chicken skewers)

papaya salad (some restaurants put sugar AND tamarind paste in the dressing, but I always request light on the tamarind and no sugar).

laab (chicken or beef and sometimes pork or fish) - it's a minced, meat salad. I've never seen it made with fat or sugar, just minced meat, scallions, eggplant, cilantro, basil, seasonal veggies like long beans...

Pho (I ask that the rice noodles be replaced with beansprouts).

fried batterless chicken wings.

steamed fish dishes (ask about the ingredients in the sauce). I don't know the name of it, but one of my favorites is fish steamed in foil or paper packets with lemongrass, scallion, cilantro, bell pepper, white onion, and sometimes other seasoning herbs like slices of ginger or galangal, garlic, garlic chives or chive buds...

Kaplods suggestions would mostly work.

Of course, no fruit on IP so, the papaya salad is out.

You can do the chicken skewers if you ask them to just be grilled skewers and do not eat any sauces (even the peanut sauce)

go for salads, steamed veggies, steamed meat.

if they have a broth based soup with seafood, chicken, or meat with veggies, mint and sprouts you could do that but, the broth must not have any creams or coconut products in them.

Good luck. Thai is one of the more difficult choices to do out. Not impossible though.

I went to Thai a couple of weeks ago with friends...I found out that our Thai restaurant marinades their satay in curry, coconut milk and spices before they grill....so they are out.

Here's what I had: our place offers a grilled seafood plate with sticky rice and grilled bok choy. I said no to the sticky rice (which was hard since it is soooo good) and added in extra grilled bok choy. I also asked them to hold all the sauces since I think that many thai sauces have sugar.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

I've been to thai a few times. The restaurant I've been to has
1) crying tiger steak (sometimes this is an entree, sometimes it's a salad)
2) ginger beef
Those are both pretty IP friendly. I can order them with steamed veggies instead of rice.

Green salad to start without the peanut dressing. Take your WF dressing... they might not have oil and vinegar.

The green papaya used in papaya salad is botanically a fruit (just like zuccchini and cucumber) but it's functionally a vegetable.

Calorie- and carb-wise, it's more like a giant cucumber, so papaya salad is FAR closer to garlicky cole slaw than to fruit salad.

If you can have cucumber and zucchini, you should be able to have green papaya.

My guess is that the cherry tomatoes that are often in the salad would be higher carb than the papaya itself.

For those on IP, green papaya is considered to be like winter squash and is not permitted til phase 3.

Yes, tomatoes maybe higher in carb but, for whatever reason, they do permit it 2x a week.

We also don't get the avocado but, that is because it is higher in fat content that the diet is designed around.


Some of IP's decisions on which foods we get or don't and at what stage have to do with the way they break down in the body and the acidic impact they have. Not sure what comes into play with why not winter squash and why we can have tomatoes or red peppers.

I just know if someone is trying to do IP the way it is written, the papaya, green or not, is not an option.

At least they let us have the cucumber, zucchini, and tomatoes!




After thought... many papaya salads are premade with the sauce on them and they use carrots. We cant have carrots on IP and it might be a challenge for a restaurant to provide one without the sauce (which has sugar in it).

I was thinking Tom Yum Seafood Soup. I don't think that it made with coconut not sure about the sugar.
Is tofu okay?

What are your thoughts?

I know this is an old thread..but just in case...
I found that the House Beef Salad which is usually an appetizer (ask for no carrots) Sliced grilled beef with onions(red raw), cucumbers, cilantro and tomatoes(ask for no tomatoes is you've already had your 2 x/wk) in a spicy lime sauce (lime sauce has no sugar) works. Along with Seaweed Soup (Miso) and I'm good to go!