Hi, India! There are Core choices in the WW eating out guide and online ... actually there aren't too many things, mostly salads ... but the WW materials have some guidelines and suggestions. Hope you get some good replies here (better than mine) as I'd be interested in knowing, too.
I agree with Ali. Foodbars I would fill up on salad and veggies and fruit (did that on points anyway). I am looking forward to going to a steak house because I can eat a small steak (plenty enough for me), baked potato/butter (count for this) and salad with ff/dressing or count the points for regular. This is one place I avoided before because it took so many points for this kind of meal. Grilled chicken salad at SubWay. We don't eat at the burger places--no kids at home so I don't have that problem. Not many healthy choices there except most have salad and baked potato now. You might try eating something Core and light before you go so you won't be so hungry--soup or fruit.
The main thing, I think, is that we don't let eating out become an obstacle that makes the plan feel too restrictive. Use creativity just like we did when we were counting point. That's just MHO!
Fast food is hard to find Core friendly item unless you love salads, lol.. which I don't. So I usually use my WP's for that. But at real restaurants it is easier to find core things. I went to a restaurant called Machine Shed not long ago and was so excited to find that most of their dinners were core!! I got a big thick broiled pork chop, wild rice, (they had big potatoes too) fresh veggies that were steamed. I enjoyed it all thoroughly! You can always look online at the restaurant you want to go to also and read one of their menus so you can get an idea of what to order before you get there. HTH!
I will agree that most sit down places you can get a Core meal but many there are too many sauces to be counted as core and for me it is easier to us the points for my dining out.
Fancier restaurants are easier for me than chains and fast food places. We had a very nice meal at a trendy restaurant last weekend and except for 1 slice of whole grain bread - I was able to choose 4 courses that were all 100% Core straight from the menu (no special requests).
I recommend a steakhouse. You can get a sirloin steak, or even a T-bone, baked potato (no butter or sour cream), steamed veggies and a salad with FF or lite dressing. If they have FF ranch dressing, ask for extra and use it on your potato (OLD WW trick!) We did this recently, and I only ended up counting a couple Flexpoints because I thought I detected some trace of butter on the veggies.
That may be true-- good to watch out for. At the one we went to, I know that they grill their steaks over an open flame with no added fat (my daughter is a waitress there, so I had inside info!! )
I went to Panda Express today. I opted for the Veggie Mix instead of noodles or rice and got the beef with broccoli and chicken with celery. I figure that both are low in points and mostly CORE. The oil they used is problably more than my 2 tsp max on CORE. I thought I would miss the noodles, but I didn't.
Just a suggestion, if you're stuck having to eat fast food, try to go to a Wendy's. You can get a small chili and a baked potato. They're both on the 99cent menu too!! I will go there sometimes and have that. Stay away from fast food salads unless you have FF or LF dressing and especially stay away from the Mandarin Orange Salad at Wendy's, it has 47 G of FAT!!!!
I prefer sit downs - believe me, chefs are used to people asking for variations, between WW, SB, and Atkins!! Last night I went to eat with my parents and had a small cup of Beef Vegetable soup (made sure it had no rice or pasta) and wanted the portabello sadnwhich but got it w/o the bread. It had spinach and provolone on it so all I had to count for my meal was the cheese!!
Try Japanese Shabu Shabu style if there's one near you.
I went to a Japanese shabu shabu restaurant last night. Thought I would splurge and use my points, but except for the rice the entire meal was core.
The waitress has a bowl of water with a little kelp boiling in the middle of the table. She brings condiments to the table (chili powder, onions, etc) and puts them in sauces for you. One was a sesame oil sauce (not core) but the other was based on soy sauce. Next time I'll just use the soy one. It wasn't sweet like teriyaki--really just soy sauce with flavorings.
You order beef or seafood. She brings a plate of thinly sliced beef (that's what I ordered) over, and you dip the beef piece by piece into the boiling water/veggie mixture. Then you dip it in the sauce, then put it on your bowl of rice. You fish out the veggies and do the same.
When the meal is over, you get to drink the broth--now very yummy with the meat and veggie flavors.
I think that everything was core except for rice. I'm going to bring a small thermos of brown rice the next time I go and ask them to use that in my bowl. Then I won't count a thing!!
The meal was delicious, though very light. If I were really hungry, I'd go to a steakhouse--but this is a nice change of pace.
jaelsne, Ask or call ahead and see if they do have brown rice (that is if you didn't ask when you were there) most of the Asian restaurants now do steamed brown rice.
What can be eaten at restaurants or fast food on Core?
My suggestions?
