Question:
Please help me with eating out!!!!

I have a few business lunches coming up plus a business trip to Texas with many resteraunts on the schedule. Also I MISS eating out Friday nights with my hubby! Please tell me there are resteraunts I can eat at! And what can I eat?? THanks    — emilyfink (posted on June 30, 2002)

June 30, 2002
Good question. I eat out 2 to 3 times/week for both business and pleasure. Lunches are pretty simple. Just order a grilled piece of fish, chicken or beef and a side salad or some grilled or sauteed vegtables. Let the server bring you a glass of water or he'll bug you to death (then don't drink it). Dinner can be an entree with no starch and an "extra" veggie side or salad, then take home the leftovers for another meal or two. Or you can order a nice appetizer and a salad. Think shish-kabobs, shrimp, scallops, stuffed mushrooms (no bread filler-ask about that. You can order "naked" wings (not breaded) and enjoy them with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks, or even ask for a chef salad and just dip your bites into the dressing on the side. Avoid any rice, potato, pasta, bread or deep fried foods and you'll be fine. Lunch portions tend to be smaler than dinner, so just eat what you should and leave the rest (or take it home if you prefer). I eat in all types of establishments, even Italian. I'll order meatballs and broccoli and cheese or the veal or chicken piccata and some sauteed spinach and most of the time, the people I'm eating with say they wish they had ordered the same thing. Any type of protein and salad or vegtable will work. Greek, Italian, Korean, Thai, BBQ, Mexican. Chilli's, Outback Steakhouse, Rio Bravo, Red Lobster, you name it. I wouldn't waste your $$ on buffets- you order from the menu and let hubby let the buffet. It's no big deal once your habit is to have something wonderful and enjoy it as opposed to eating till you're going to explode. You can also enjoy breakfast out. Just get a loaded omlette and sliced tomato on the side instead of the hash browns, toast or pancakes. Go ahead and get the bacon, sausage or ham and enjoy those leftovers!! Good Luck, and enjoy your food. Go for QUALITY not quantity. Diane N.
   — DianeN

June 30, 2002
We eat out at least once a day. AND we are moving to Las Vegas. Spent last winter there & ate buffet every single day. Loved it, so many choices. In a restaurant, I always order "grilled fish" unless I can get it char-broiled. Then for insurance, I tell them I am a heart patient and to watch that oil. No added or brushed on oils or butter (you would be surprised). And I order a dry baked potato and a steamed veggie, usually brocolli. I love salad bar and just take 2 tsp. of salad drsg. for dipping in. From the buffet angle, I scan the menu board and decide before I get my tray. I pick the leanest protein that appeals to me & go to the veggies (there are usually several) and that is it. I especially like the buffets that cook the oriental food that you pick out. I fill my bowl with raw veggies for them to cook & add garlic & ginger and ask them to watch that oil, heart patient ya know. No, don't add the beef, chicken or pork. Just vegetarian style. Then I go get a nice piece of salmon or halibut, sometimes steak or meatballs to eat with it. And a dab of cottage cheese, for added protein. I like to heap my plate so I "look like everyone else." But, I have already portioned off in my head what I can eat, amount wise. I actually eat very well. Every day. But, this really is different. Now, all I have to do is maintain my weight loss. I have eaten this way since my pouch healed tho. Because eating out, has always been a big part of our "recreation." My hubby did NOT have weight surgery. Our kids & spouses that we gather with, did not have wls. I did. I'm the one who has to adjust, not everyone else.
   — Barbara B.

June 30, 2002
we live in las vegas, the land of the buffet & i have been eating out since 2 weeks post op with no problem. i dont see it as being any different than eating at home. i eat whatever i feel like eating going for the highest protein foods of course. sometimes i order my own food & sometimes my honey & i share depending on the mood im in. sharing is not a problem because the amount that i take off hubby's plate isnt enuf to affect the size of the whole meal.
   — sheryl titone

June 30, 2002
Last night I was having dinner at Goodwood's barbeque; I had the pulled pork &, as sometimes happens, I wasn't able to eat more than a few bites. I had told the waiter everything was fine (which it was). But when I went to the bathroom, the waiter asked the friend I was with if my food was OK, since I hadn't eaten much. He just said "sometimes she doesn't EAT much." The waiter said "so don't take it personally?" And my friends said "right!" End of story. What you do or don't eat is YOUR business...only. Others really aren't usually that interested. I realized after awhile that if I wanted a burger, I would just ask for one without the bun. They don't even raise an eyebrow most of the time. I am now used to answering the "soup or salad" question with "neither, thanks." I find that I order off the appetizer menu more, sometimes off the senior menu. I frequently have just soup &/or a salad. I can't think of a single restaurant that doesn't have something you should be able to eat (as long as you're at least one month out). Go out, order what you want, eat however much you want & ENJOY yourself! Hmmm, maybe I'll go have another bite or two of that pulled pork....you bet I DID bring it all home with me! :)
   — Kathy W.

June 30, 2002
Emily, all of the previous posters have good ideas that work for them. I myself try to eat the protein first, cut into tiny bites and chew each one well. My brother tells me I am a cheap date! I wind up taking home about half to 2/3 of what arrived on the plate. If there are carbs on the side, I usually don't eat them or take them home. Pasta and bread and rice are still (after 9 months) on the can't-tolerate list for me. I avoid desserts because I (still) dump on sugar. I gave up pizza pre-op because it didn't agree with me, so that is not a problem. I order a meatball sub and skip the bread. You can be creative about this, and usually no one remarks about what's on (or not on) my plate. Margie B
   — Marjorie B.

July 1, 2002
You are so new post op. I would recommend sticking with a soup and salad meal if you can tolerate it. Or order off the childrens menu. You could have 1/2 a grilled cheese sandwich and soup. The baked potato is always good as well as mashed. Tuna sandwiches are good, you could remove the bread. It will get much easier as you go on and can see what it is that you tolerate at home. Now when I go out I order whatever it is I feel like eating. So I eat 1/4 of the meat and 1/4 of the baked potato or whatever side and just a few bites of salad when I am almost full I ask for a take home container pack it up and then order dessert if I feel like it. It too gets one taste and then packed up for home or shared with the rest of the table. It doesn't bother me. Just if you order a good expensive steak make sure you order it a little less done than you normally would. That way when you take it home and reheat it it is REALLY yummy and not too well done! You can enjoy eating out after having the surgery. I agree with the previous posters going with quality, not quantity.
   — Virginia N.

July 1, 2002
Texas? You have lots of choices (assuming you will be on solids)! Texas WLS goodies include tacos al carbon (like fajitas but without all the extras) and refried beans with cheese, chili (as long as it is not too spicy/greasy), steamed dumplings and soup for Chinese, grilled meat and soups for Vietnamese. Thai places have satay (avoid the sugary sauce) and wonderful chicken-coconut milk soup. You can get smoked chicken at a barbecue place (without the sauce) or a baked potato with meat and cheese. Delis have thinly sliced meats and cheeses on salads or wrap bread. Indian buffets seem to be pretty easy on the post op stomach--I ate a little of everything except the dessert (which looked really good but was FULL of sugar and ghee). Middle Eastern places have hummus and shish-k-bobs. Most other places have grilled chicken or grilled shrimp or a Cobb/chef salad (they are good with just crumbled bleu cheese--no need for dressing!). If you are coming to Houston, you can email me the names of the restaurants and I can probably tell you what's good there. Lord knows I have eaten at most of them! LOL I eat out at LEAST four times a week.
   — ctyst

July 1, 2002
People really do not watch what you eat unless you make a fuss. If you are not yet comfy in ordering what you "want" vs "what you shoud to look normlal", just order something you normally don't like, but be sure the side dish is something you do like. I cut up the pices, talk, put my fork down, mess with my napkin, do other things with my hands. Pick up my fork, move food around. It's kinda fun to do this sleight of hand. People notice that my plate is not empty sometimes, but assume that I am "small" because I eat light, rather than the other way around. Although, don't get me wrong, if anyone gives me less than half a chance, I WILL tell them how/why.
   — vitalady