SBD for a vegetarian restaurant-eater
 

Yesterday I recommended SBD to someone in my official capacity (I'm a doctor) and she asked if it was doable for a vegetarian, to which I said yes.
But she basically eats out - restaurants many days a weeks and restaurant left-overs on the other days.
So, I know there are vegetarians here. And I know that you can make sensible choices at restaurants. But I'm doing phase 1 again now and can't imagine this if eating out all the time. Then again, I only eat out a handful of times in a year so it's not like I know options out

What do you think? doable?

I'm sure it's do-able if you are motivated enough, and can find some really good places that cook healthy food. There are more and more of those these days, restaurants that advertise use of local fresh foods and healthy stuff.

However, I would not want to do this plan while eating out a lot, vegetarian or not. The longer I am on the plan the less I want to go out to eat. I enjoy knowing exactly what's in my food and being able to prepare and season it just the way I like it. Most of the time when I eat out now I don't even like the food that much, it's too rich, too salty/sweet, too much oil. I've really gotten so I dread hearing someone say "let's go out to eat!" I'm kind of getting that way about eating at someone else's house too.

I don't get the eating out all the time thing either. How much time does it take to broil a fish filet and throw some veggies in the microwave to steam, or open a can of beans? Expensive, time-consuming, unhealthy, so I would question whether someone that insisted they needed to eat all the time was really committed to making healthy changes. Unless they were constantly traveling.

Hey, Rebel!

This is a toughie, eh? I think it's very hard to do Phase 1 while eating out. You really have to be careful about getting any sugar in your food during that time to do a good detox, and it's everywhere! So if your patient can commit to at least one week of P1 at home, then I think she'd be fine going from there. The thing is, I know many vegetarians who eat out a lot (either by choice or because that's what their families do) and they often end up eating really bad choices...like just french fries for dinner at a fast food restaurant. Eating healthy vegetarian options while eating out isn't easy unless you live in an area with a ton of veggie restaurants (like Ithaca or parts of California).

That said, there are definitely options for veggie eaters. She might find good options, even in Phase 1, at Ruby Tuesday. Do you have them out by you? They have a great salad bar with lots of Phase 1 options, including edamame and cheeses for protein.

What about buying premade meals to eat at home? There are several Morningstar meals that would work. I know there is at least one Kashi frozen meal that's vegetarian, but I don't know if it's SBD-safe. There are lots of possibilities in the Amy's frozen line, too. I know I've gotten a bean, cheese, and brown rice burrito in WW tortilla in the organic frozen section at my grocery store. Don't remember the brand, though.

Not sure where you are in WI, but a couple of places (Milwaukee, maybe Madison?) have Trader Joe's, and she could find a lot of options there for things she could pick up to eat at home or at work (premade), like middle-eastern dips and salads, WW pita chips, etc. They also have several frozen meals that are SBD-safe.

I guess it depends on if she eats out for convenience or because of work or something. If it's just convenience, maybe she can find more things that are easy to make at home (e.g. heat and eat things).

Bless you for passing the SBD message along! :D

I'm with schmoodle. i don't really want to eat out that much anymore. I have so much more control over my food at home.

the problem with eating out is they put stuff in the food that we don't want they butter the steaks (not for vegetarians)

but for vegetarians oils are high, pasta wheat and rice are high... gonna be difficult.

I hope they like Chipotle :)

It can be done but I agree with others, it is fairly easy to make stuff on plan, why eat out all the time?

Frozen veggies can be steamed easily, cans of beans are easy and a crockpot can make beans very easily.

Edited to add - losing weight and eating out all the time is hard, no matter what plan you are on.

I don't get the eating out, but I've known her over a decade and so I don't think it's going to change, and I'm sure she wouldn't "get" many of the things I do. :lol:

Madison is similar to Ithaca in many respects.

We do have a Trader Joe's here, just in the last year

Trader Joes is GREAT.

not everything is beachy but a lot of stuff is. prices are good and any ride needed is worth it.

what's Chipotle?

I ate out a lot early on (most week day lunches and a couple of dinners a week), though not in P1. Brattleboro is a very veggie & whole foods friendly town though and it's easy to order what you want. wait staff are used to all sorts of requests from vegan to gluten free to local foods. It's a lot harder when I'm away from home.

These days eating out is a rarity. Last night we opted for take-out because I had a late night and I still opted for leftovers instead.

resturant
http://www.chipotle.com/#

Chipotle has a neat feature on their website which allows you to customize your burrito or burrito bowl ingredients and will give you the nutritional breakdown of your concoction. It's kind of scary to see how many calories is in one of those things though, even if you choose the beachy/lower fat options.

no kidding, which is why when I do have one - which is only twice a year...I don't even think about it ;)

There are quite a few restaurants around here (yes, even in the south) that offer meat substitutes. We went to a deli that had seitan "burgers", and they offered tofu dogs for kids.

The option is out there...it might just take some searching to find it.

I think I ate at Chipotle when I was in Chicago 5 years ago. huge portion size.

I tell ya, I don't get out much.

Last night I had the salad fajita bowl, and wasn't too bad even with guacamole and cheese, although I did have more room than usual in my calories for dinner (wouldn't want that much every night). But I didn't use the dressing at all, which is 330 calories. Didn't seem to need it at all, with the beans (kinda wet), guac and salsa.

*But* the sodium was ridiculous.

I'm a vegetarian, and I'll be the first to tell you that Ph1 is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to do if all you do is eat out. Everywhere you go, salad bar it is!

It's so much easier to nuke frozen stir fry veggies and whip up a quick peanut sauce (or just dump a tablespoon of soy sauce on them.) Open a can of black beans, drain and rinse them, dump them in a food processor with cumin, tomatoes, salt, pepper, other herbs/spices, and make your own "refried beans." Have a "taco salad" with lettuce, beans, SB-friendly salsa or tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, onions, etc.

There are so many things that are easy to make at home, rather than getting frustrated trying to find something to eat in a restaurant. Also, if you go out to eat all the time, you're more likely to go back to bad habits and eat something off plan.

My usual at Chipotle is around 300 calories. I think it is one of the healthier restaurants you can go to, as long as you know what to choose.

It's doable. My DH lost about 60 lbs. on South Beach a couple of years ago. He is a vegetarian, now a vegan. He is in a business where there are almost always lunch meetings and dinner outings a few times a week. He ate salads(watch what's on them and he brought his own dressing often) or the portabello or beanburgers or whatever tofu option is avail and ditch any buns or sauces that might be on it.... honestly I know he got sick of eating out because it always meant a salad for him but if you have to do it you have to do it..... I would suggest your client consider making more of her meals on her off days if at all possible. I know my husband (who does not cook) would microwave a Boca burger and some frozen green beans in like 5 minutes and call it a perfect meal! Can't really get easier than that lol

Unless she can eat in salad bars or buffets a lot and control what she's putting on her plate, it will be difficult. Even then you really don't know what's been added to your food. You really have to shift into a mindset from loading up with all the treats you're depriving yourself of to the buffet offering you an opportunity to assemble a healthy meal not afforded in other restaurants.

I'm always amazed how much better/healthier salads are that I make myself than salads offered in restaurants. Paying $$$ for a salad with 5 ingredients, 3 of which are off plan, one is lame lettuce and one veggie, just makes me want to make my own.

I'm going to send her to this site, so you all be nice. ;)
thanks for your input.

I have realized lately how expensive restaurant salads have gotten!! TEN dollars?! Is standard?

I've learned the ones at pizza joints stink (to put it nicely), they actually rank below mcdonald's salads. One of the best salads I had (taste wise, until), then I found a bug in it....

Yep, I'd rather just make my own!!

I love going out for dinner, but we've given it up for the most part since going organic. These days, you just don't know what goes into prepared food, and how they are really cooking it.

At least if you cook your own, you get to choose your food ingredients, and prepare it your own way. Some days I just can't be bothered to cook, so it's usually nut butters or hummus or cheese with P2-friendly sprouted grain bread and a salad, but still, it's better than a "healthy" restaurant meal of who-knows-what.

Seems like most restaurants should be able to grill her up some vegs and add a salad and voila. Just have her call ahead to see if they will accomodate her.
I've done that lots of times and most restaurants have no problem with it.

See this Madison Guide:
http://www.vegmadison.com/restaurants.html

Also see:
http://www.happycow.net/north_americ...son/index.html

Whole Foods has take out options in most of them. She'll just have to quiz them on ingredients and cooking methods.