SusanQ22 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I have found that if you are committed and have will power you CAN eat out on the Whole 30... Yes you have to pass up the endless breadsticks at Olive Garden and the cheesey, garlic biscuits at Red Lobster... but you'll find that when you don't eat that, you actually have room to enjoy your REAL FOOD!!!! Smokey Bones - Smoked, sliced turkey breast with steamed broccoli (it comes with garlic bread, I just asked them to keep that and give me some avacado, they were happy to oblige... the first time I took my own avacado... but they have it so the next time I asked for it!!) Olive Garden - I asked for my salad without crutons and with oil and vinager, got the steak tuscano which is grilled and finished with extra virgin olive oil and peppers... it comes with potatoes but I asked for broccoli instead... again, they were happy to accomadate!! Red Lobster - Salad with no crutons and oil and vinegar, wood grilled rainbow trout (fresh catch of the day)... it is normally finished with garlic butter... I just asked them to keep that!!! And had broccoli and asparagus as my sides... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
befabdaily Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Good work! I have not really faced too many social eating challenges this month, but I was compliant at Ted's Montana Grill, and they were really friendly about leaving the finishing butter off my bison steak and the butter and sugar off my sweet potato. Also, their table munchie was not bread, but a little bowl of sour pickles. How cool is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SusanQ22 Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 I LOVE TEDS!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrustdc Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 The thing is that there are so many sneaky additives and fillers and stuff and unless you really spend a long time asking the server all kinds of questions (and that assumes the server knows the answers and isn't just making it up), you can't be 100% sure. My wife has celiac disease, which is the main reason we discovered W30, and she CANNOT have any gluten or she has serious reactions. Plus she is sensitive to a long list of other foods, and even trace amounts cause her trouble. So we really can't eat out, which we discovered the hard way. All this to say, I never feel confident that food is compliant unless I've seen it cooked or ask A LOT of questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea D. Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I generally love Ted's Montana Grill but the last time I ate there and ordered off the gluten-free menu they brought my plate out with bread on it!!! You have to be so careful when eating out when you have serious food allergies! When you don't have this to deal with it's pretty easy to find W30 compliant meals in the real world...although I seriously prefer to cook my own food! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
befabdaily Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Oh yeah, I guess they brought me a roll, but I don't actually have celiac where it briefly touching my other food would be a worry, so it was fine to just push it away and not eat it. I adopted a "life is too short to eat bad bread" philosophy years ago. Compared to the large, glistening bison steak next to it, the wan little fluffy roll looked pretty lame anyway. Actually, no one at my table ate their roll, and everyone's plate looked pretty paleo, except for my boss, who got a burger with all sorts of creamy sauce. And, he was the one who woke up sick the following day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrustdc Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Andrea, don't you hate that? Last summer I went round and round with the server at one restaurant ordering takeout for my wife, making sure her order was gluten free and then it came with CROUTONS all over it. First of all, who puts croutons on a TACO SALAD??? But I couldn't believe it after all of the gluten free questioning I had done. Ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura B Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I was compliant at Yard House over the weekend. I ordered the Turkey Cobb Salad with NO bacon, NO blue cheese and NO dressing (came with lettuce, tomatoes and egg). THEN...I asked for the NY Strip (with NO marinade!) instead of the Turkey! The waitress was baffled at first, but happy to help. I told her I didn't trust how they cooked the turkey or what was in it (she said "um, it's real turkey..." Yeah...to you maybe lol), and I felt better about ordering a steak since they are usually less tampered with. She was concerned as to how to put the order in and to ring it up. I told her to charge me for the steak salad. They brought it out with a bunch of junk on it first and then fixed it. The salad was supposed to have avocado which they left out, but I was happy with my clean salad so I didn't say anything. Plus I was already a bit of a nuisance. http://www.yardhouse.com/default.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adagio Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 My husband and I are both gluten intolerant and we travel a lot and used to eat in restaurants all the time. (Now we mostly buy food at supermarkets while on the road and make our own meals.) Even though I know some of the gluten-free chain menus by heart, I always ask for a gluten-free menu because that sends a signal to the waiter. Another thing to ask is if a restaurant adds bread crumbs to their burgers. A lot of places do that, but they don't indicate it on the menu. Even some of the spice blends have added flour. You have to ask to have no spices at all sprinkled on your food unless you want flour, too. As far as asking for olive oil and vinegar dressing, don't be surprised if that olive oil is cut with soy oil to keep costs down. And, asking for real butter is tricky unless you are sure that they aren't using a butter substitute that the waiter knows nothing about. I don't use any dressing on my salad to be on the safe side, and skip the butter unless it really tastes like butter. I've learned to politely but firmly say to the wait staff, "I am highly allergic and could get very sick. Can you please find out for me if **** contains gluten?" This scares them enough to really check with the cook and not just assume I've had good experiences with Ted's and Outback. When I didn't care about eating sugar, PF Chang's was a good option but that's out now. It's amazing how accomodating SOME restaurants are, while others just get annoyed with you or have no clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbitgirl Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 yes, I was stunned to find out that a number of resteraunts add pancake batter to their omlettes to make them more fluffy. YIKES! Suppose I had an alergy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adagio Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 yes, I was stunned to find out that a number of resteraunts add pancake batter to their omlettes to make them more fluffy. YIKES! Suppose I had an alergy? Yes, they do! I hate that! It's mostly pancake houses and places that specialize in brunch. And some restaurants add flour to thicken up their homemade salad dressings. And watch the sweet potato fries after Whole30. Even if they are baked, some of them are coated in flour before they are cooked, or they are fried in the same oil as the battered onion rings. Chili's Restaurant flours some of their grilled proteins before cooking! Eating outside your home when you don't eat that stuff is like making your way through a minefield... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blissteach Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 My favorite go-to place when I am out and about is Jason's Deli. I just order the salad bar and get a side of grilled chicken breast or natural turkey. I am not sure if the meat is Whole30 compliant, though. I just load up my salad bowl with good veggies and boiled egg, then use the olive oil and balsamic vinegar for my dressing. I put slivered almonds on top for crunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lora Friedenthal Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Look for a Cuban restaurant. A lot of Cuban recipes are pretty simply prepared meats, and tostones or yuca work as sides instead of rice. Just have to be careful to ask what oil they cook in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candice@allthingsyogi Posted January 4, 2013 Share Posted January 4, 2013 Yes, it is all possible. I dont feel bad for being picky at restaurants because we should be picky about what we feed our bodies (our engines) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Paco Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Last night i found myself in a bind and i drove by Whole Foods and their salad bar saved me. They have a list of their ingredients also on the prepared food section and There were quite a bit of W30 acceptable options. The grilled veggies look to die for but i backed off when I read they were cooked in canola oil. The nice lady that was putting the food away told me she cooks it and doesnt use the oil at all on some of them and she told me which ones, that was so nice of her. Also, WF has natural almond butter you actually grind on a machine and decide how much u wanna take home. Ive been eating it as a snack with apples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelajl Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Olive Garden - I asked for my salad without crutons and with oil and vinager, got the steak tuscano which is grilled and finished with extra virgin olive oil and peppers... it comes with potatoes but I asked for broccoli instead... again, they were happy to accomadate!! ~~~~~~~ Quick question: I figured Olive Garden was off-limits, as all of their meat contains soy and wheat according to their online allergen guide. Did you find options without those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJB Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 They have a gluten-free menu. It's on that list. You can get salmon, chicken, or steak with vegetables on the side. It's very good but I feel they are a bit overpriced! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelajl Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Hm. Well, I looked at the allergen guide again, and even the gluten free menu dishes all have soy. Too bad! It'd be nice to be able to eat there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators ultrarunnergirl Posted July 17, 2013 Moderators Share Posted July 17, 2013 Eating out is so tricky. Even if you give the server the whole spiel, emphasizing no sugar, soy, grains, legumes, dairy ... it really just depends on how well they communicate that to the chef and how much both of those players care. A friend went to a sushi place and had an involved conversation about NO SOY, but her dish came out swimming in brown sauce (no sauce was mentioned on the menu description) and she again reiterated she needed to know what was in it. SOY SAUCE and SUGAR. The server was not happy to take it back. Some of them do not care about what you want, unfortunately. Bottom line, you really never know what you're going to get when you go out. Chipotle Carnitas, lettuce, guac and tomato salsa -- basically anything else and you are rolling the dice. Sometimes you have to do that when you're travelling, etc, just don't kid yourself about the likelihood that it's not 100% compliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily T Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Bottom line, you really never know what you're going to get when you go out. Chipotle Carnitas, lettuce, guac and tomato salsa -- basically anything else and you are rolling the dice. Sometimes you have to do that when you're travelling, etc, just don't kid yourself about the likelihood that it's not 100% compliant. Sorry if this is an old question but - whats wrong with the other meats at Chipotle? ie the chicken and steak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Physibeth Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Sorry if this is an old question but - whats wrong with the other meats at Chipotle? ie the chicken and steak? They are all cooked in soybean oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caralex Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 I ate at the Nordstrom Cafe in Chicago on Michigan Avenue and they were great about preparing a special meal. I had grilled shrimp, grilled asparagus, small mesclun salad with olive oil/lemon and a small cup of berries. With a sparkling water. Delicious. I have always been a picky orderer and have always asked questions so the Whole 30 program fits right in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 They are all cooked in soybean oil. And, at many locations, the carnitas is now contaminated with soy, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maycat Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I was just watching a documentary on Chipotle and they are working toward eliminating the soybean oil because of the GMO issues. I am horrifically allergic to pork so until then Chipotle is off limits for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 I was just watching a documentary on Chipotle and they are working toward eliminating the soybean oil because of the GMO issues. I am horrifically allergic to pork so until then Chipotle is off limits for me. One of the non-GMO options is rice bran oil, which is probably not W30 compliant. The other is sunflower which sounds like something to limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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