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Tips

Eating Out – Italian

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It’s a bit difficult to eat at an Italian restaurant and stick to your UnDiet. The reason that most of us go to an Italian restaurant is for the pasta and very few Italian restaurants offer whole grain pasta. Don’t despair though, it is possible to enjoy Italian delicacies on the UnDiet.

Basic Tips for Eating Out

Set aside half your meal to eat the next day or if it won’t keep for the next day, save it for a snack later.

Starch

Skip the bread, pizza and pasta (all made with white flour), or bring your own whole grain pasta and ask the chef to cook it for you. I’ve never run into a restaurant that won’t accommodate a request like this.

If you must have pizza, don’t eat the crust. Either use a fork to eat just the cheese and toppings or order a plain green salad and scrape the pizza toppings, cheese and all, onto your salad.

Bruschetta on whole wheat bread.

Caesar Salad – set the croutons aside.

Ask for spaghetti squash or another vegetable in place of the pasta. Top with your favorite sauce from the menu.

Protein

Antipasto is a good Protein Meal.

If you’re ordering a Caprese Salad skip the olive oil. Good mozzarella and tomato only needs a drizzle of balsamic olive oil and basil leaves.

There are generally good seafood dishes on the menu although you should skip breaded seafood dishes.

If you must have a cream sauce look for cream sauces with non-dairy additions. For instance a Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce is going to be about 250 calories less than an Alfredo Sauce.

Stuffed mushrooms are wonderful if they are not deep fried.

Chicken or Eggplant Parmigiana.

Meatballs – order grilled vegetables on the side, then give the pasta to someone else at your table and eat your meatballs with the vegetables.

Spinach dip with vegetables instead of bread.

Caesar Salad with chicken.

Broth based soups are good choices. A cream soup would be your next best choice and if you can get a cup of plain broth on the side to add to your cream soup, even better. Adding the broth doesn’t cut any fat or calories from your cream soup but it will be more filling.  If you want to cut the calories ask for an empty cup along with your cup of broth. Scoop out some of the cream soup and add the broth to your soup bowl.

Order your favorite pasta sauce served over grilled or steamed vegetables instead of pasta.

If you’ve had a Protein Meal, the gelato isn’t a bad choice for dessert, or have a glass of wine while everyone else eats dessert.

Tips

Eating Out – Indian

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Basic Tips for Eating Out

Set aside half your meal to eat the next day or if it won’t keep for the next day, save it for a snack later.

Basics at an Indian Restaurant

Many curries are great Protein, Veggie or Starch Meals. Just avoid the white rice and any sweet and sour dishes. Ask to substitute veggies, tofu or beans for the rice in a Veggie or Starch Meal.

Soups are good choices, just check the ingredients to make sure there is no white rice.

If you love chutneys (again avoid sweet and sour ones) you can have them with anything.

Starch

Skip the bread and naan as it’s all made with white flour unless the menu indicates “whole wheat” and I’ve yet to find whole wheat naan in a restaurant.

Some chapatis are made with whole wheat flour. If in doubt, ask your wait-person.

Pakora is something dipped in a chick-pea batter and deep-fried. I’m not a fan of deep-frying but if it’s your best choice just make sure that it’s a vegetable pakora rather than meat.

Curries are good choices if they can be made with brown rice and there is no meat in the dish.

Lentil Soup or Dahl are good choices.

Papadum is a crisp lentil wafer and is a good choice to sub for naan or chipati.

Protein

There are lots of wonderful protein dishes in a typical Indian restaurant. Go at it!

Raita – spiced yogurt with vegetables.

Many of the vegetarian dishes are made with cheese and are good choices.

Vegetarian or Neutral

Many of the vegetarian dishes are good choices. Ask for brown rice or tofu in place of white rice.

Tips

Eating Out – Asian

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Asian menus offer many exciting choices for all of the UnDiet plans. Many restaurants now offer steamed brown rice in place of white rice.

Basic Tips for Eating Out

Set aside half your meal to eat the next day or if it won’t keep for the next day, save it for a snack later.

Starch

If you want a Starch Meal, soba noodles are made with buckwheat flour, just 86 any Protein additions to the dish, or ask to substitute tofu for the meat.
Most soups are good choices, and with the new UnDiet research it’s now okay to have a beef or chicken broth soup with a Starch meal.

Vegetarian

There are always lots of good vegetarian choices on any Asian menu. Ask for soba noodles in place of white rice, udon noodles or rice noodles.

Protein

Any Asian menu will have many choices for a Protein Meals, just ask for vegetables or tofu as a substitute for any rice or noodles.

Most soups are good choices, just ask for tofu, extra meat or vegetables in place of any noodles or rice.

Order Egg Drop Soup instead of Wonton Soup and save from 50 to 100 calories.

Tips

Eating Out – making good choices

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1st Roadblock – Bread on the Table

Ask the wait-person to not bring a bread or chip basket and instead to bring:

  • a small salad with dressing on the side
  • raw, steamed or grilled veggies to eat by themselves or to dip in any of the following:
  1. salsa
  2. cheese sauce
  3. olive oil and balsamic vinegar
  4. browned butter
  • cheese and fruit plate sans the bread
  • stuffed mushrooms (as long as their not breaded)
  • grilled artichoke
  • plate of clams or mussels

2nd Roadblock – Ordering

If you’re often walking away from a restaurant feeling guilty about the choices you’ve made then try ordering without even opening the menu. You can avoid temptation by ordering items that any restaurant will have such as steamed, grilled, or roasted veggies, a large green salad, a grilled chicken salad, grilled chicken breast, order a burger without the bun topped with mushrooms and cheese …

If there’s a sauce on the menu that you like but it comes with pasta, ask for it to be served on the side with an order of steamed or grilled veggies and/or chicken or fish.

While a big baked potato isn’t ideal, it can sometimes be the best option on the menu. Order it with a side of salsa or tomato pasta sauce.

Ask to have half your meal brought to you in a to-go container. Now you have a nice meal to eat the next day or if it won’t keep for the next day, save it for a snack later in the day.

If you’re feeling like a cup of creamy thick soup order the Broccoli Cheese Soup rather than the Baked Potato Soup. You’ll save around 200 calories and avoid the high glycemic count of the potatoes.

3rd Roadblock – Dessert

Many restaurants now have sugar-free dessert options.

Order a glass of wine – one glass only to sip while everybody else has dessert.

A cappucino or latte with a sprinkling of cocoa powder gives you something to indulge in while others have dessert.

Order a small fruit plate.


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