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.
