Dining Out -Restaurant & Fast Food Guide
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| Wed, 01-16-2008 - 12:24pm |
Eating Out Guide
Do you wonder how to eat out on The South Beach Diet, and successfully stay on the plan? What should you order, and what tips can help? The fact is, you can successfully stay on South Beach and still enjoy dining out, on all phases! There are even fast-food restaurant choices for you. This post contains many tips from Dr. Agatston and the nutritionist from the official South Beach site, as well as some of our own members.
Low-Carb Menu Items at Restaurants – Most Are NOT South Beach Friendly
From the official SBD site: As with many family-style restaurants, Ruby Tuesday is on the low-carb bandwagon and features low-carb fare. Low carb does not necessarily mean it is South Beach Dietâ„¢-friendly. The South Beach Dietâ„¢ features good carbs and good fats. Low carb can mean bad fat and high calorie. After carefully scrutinizing the Ruby Tuesday low-carb menu, the following are safe bets for The South Beach Dietâ„¢:
Specialties: Veggie Platter
Steaks: Top Sirloin, Petite Sirloin
Sides: Steamed Broccoli, Sugar Snap Peas, Sautéed Zucchini, Spring Mix Salad
From the official SBD site: Member Question: Ruby Tuesdays and TGIF restaurants are serving low carb menu items now, like the “Mock mashed potatoes.†What do you think of them? Someone said the mashed potatoes are full of saturated fat ingredients and not like the SBD recipes.
Sandy: One of our buddies recently wrote to us and told us that he ate at Ruby Tuesday’s. They feature low carb items such as mock potatoes and a spinach dish. The wait staff said that the products were SBD-friendly. After the meal he wrote to Ruby Tuesdays and asked the list of ingredients. The ingredients listed items such as full fat cream. These products would be appropriate for someone following a low carb diet, but of course, not the SBD. The SBD is a low saturated fat diet and cream is not recommended for that reason. There were also some other high saturated fat and/or trans-fat ingredients. Therefore, many of the low carb products that are featured are not appropriate for the SBD.
From our board (condensed from several posts) –
Members wrote: "Ruby Tuesday is a nationwide chain and they have pretty much every meal in a "low carb" form for people watching their starch intake. And most chain restaurants are doing that more and more." -- “Low-carb menus at Houlihan’s and Applebees – anyone know if they have been studied and determined to be SB friendly? Even if they are not entirely kosher, this might be a good way to go to avoid really falling off the wagon when you eat out.â€
Reply: It’s not hard to eat out while on South Beach and not fall off the wagon. Foods on the regular menus of popular restaurants, including many selections from the Grill section of menus, are a much better choice. It's actually quite easy to eat out on South Beach, and do it well. :)
The majority of the items on the special low-carb menus are not good choices for South Beach. Their recipes are designed for other diet plans, and South Beach isn't considered a "low carb" plan. Differences: We don't count carbs, we do eat good-quality high-fiber and complex carbs, and we avoid saturated fat and trans-fats. Many of the low-carb restaurant dishes are prepared with ingredients like full-fat butter, full-fat cheese and full-fat cream (lots of saturated fat), trans-fats, and very loaded with calories. An example of this: A very small low-carb chocolate brownie dessert at Ruby Tuesday, from their low-carb menu, has almost 1,000 calories, most of which are from very high saturated fat. That one little dessert has 46 grams of saturated fat! The Low-Carb Church St. Chicken has 47 grams of fat, and their mashed cauliflower has 11 grams of fat. South Beach mashed cauliflower would have 0 saturated fat and would be low in fat in general, and using only good fats (made with skim or 1% milk and trans-fat-free margarine).
But, there are many great things to eat at Ruby Tuesday and most other restaurants, if you stick with the SBD principles! Think of the foods on our “foods to enjoy†list as you are making your choices (even carry this list to the restaurant, if you like).
Choose lean cuts of red meat or pork, skinless grilled chicken, fish or shellfish, etc. For anything sautéed, ask what they sauté with, and if it's not a good fat, ask for a substitution (like olive oil instead of butter). Many restaurants are glad to comply. If they don't, just order meats grilled or broiled, or seafood that is grilled, boiled or steamed.
The salad bar is great - just choose the salad items on our "foods to enjoy" list. Many of the salads off the menu are great, too. Choose salad dressings with 3g sugar or less per serving. A great choice is always oil-and-vinegar. Caesar dressing is usually another good choice. Order steamed or grilled veggies, and leave the bread basket off the table. If a potato side dish is offered, ask for that to be left off your plate. You can even request extra veggies on the side, in place of the potato. The wait staff will gladly accommodate requests like that at Ruby Tuesday, as well as most other popular restaurants.
Avoid menu items with mysterious sauces, cream-based soups and sauces, full-fat cheese, or breading. By simply keeping the “foods to enjoy†list in mind (or even in hand), you can make smart and healthy South Beach-friendly choices in restaurants.
Great dining out tips from our board member Seabreeze74:
We eat out a couple of nights a week and here are some things that help me:
~I get to pick the restaurant. I know I will have more choices at a place with meat, chicken, and fish than a place like Bertuccis with pizza, pasta, and breading with most meat and fish dishes. Those rolls kill me!!
~If possible, we try to sit away from the kitchen and the bar. I also try to sit facing a window or small area. Sometimes just seeing or smelling something I can't have makes me give in - like the people next to us ordering dessert!
~No bread, breadsticks, chips, etc. allowed on the table!!
~I start off by ordering a big glass of seltzer water with lots of lime and lemon wedges in it.
~I always order salad as an appetizer or if it comes with the dinner, I ask for it to come with any appetizers that are coming to the table. I like oil and vinegar on the side.
~I substitute veggies for the starch
~If others are getting dessert, I order coffee or tea. Sometimes I may have a bite of someone else's dessert but I won't order my own.
Restaurant Guide
Greek or Middle Eastern
Go to restaurants serving Mediterranean-style food. Greek and Middle Eastern cuisines employ lots of olive oil, which is always a plus. You can have hummus (paste made from chickpeas) on pita bread, which is a big improvement over white bread and butter-and it's more flavorful, too. You'll find good, whole grains such as tabbouleh and couscous, which take the place of potatoes or rice. These cuisines usually rely on spices and condiments rather than sweeteners to make the dishes taste good.
Italian
When in Rome: If you go to an Italian restaurant, try and structure the meal the way they do in Italy—in courses, with a modest serving of al dente pasta topped with a healthy tomato sauce, followed by a main course of meat or fish and fresh vegetables (including either leafy green ones like escarole or spinach, or crucifers like broccoli—plus a salad dressed in olive oil).
In Italy, you don't sit down in front of a huge dish of pasta with a bottomless bread basket and call it dinner. That's why Italians can eat pasta twice a day and not suffer the obesity rates we see in the United States.
Request half-orders: You can request a half-order of pasta as your appetizer in many restaurants. If you try this, you'll see that it satisfies. It's important to eat enough good fats (the entrée and the olive oil) and good carbs (the vegetables and the salad) to counter the starches in the pasta.
Asian
We all tend to assume that restaurants serving Asian food are healthy. The various Asian national diets tend to be heavy on fish and vegetables, light on heavy meats or sweets. But that's not always the case in Asian restaurants in America. Here are things to watch out for:
Oversized portions: One major difference is portion size-we are accustomed to a lot more food on our plates. And because everybody hates waste, we tend to finish what's there.
Bad carbs: Another significant difference is in the rice. Asians have always used the whole grain, including the fiber, and your digestive system has to work to get at the starch. In this country, and increasingly in many Asian cities, a more processed variety of white rice is used. That change substantially increases the glycemic load of a meal. I suggest staying away from rice altogether. Order a double serving of the vegetables instead, or limit portions of rice by eating servings no bigger than a tennis ball.
Hidden sugars: Something else you may not realize is that MSG, the flavoring agent, is made from beets. The beet is a healthy vegetable, but it has a very high glycemic index. Beets are loaded with sugar, in other words, though it is disguised fairly well in your average Chinese take-out dinner.
Member Question: What dish is best to eat at a Chinese restaurant?
Sandy: There are a number of menu items that work well for the SBD. The typical white rice, of course, should be avoided. When ordering Chinese food, request that MSG or no added sugar be added to the sauces. I would also recommend that you request that little oil be used. The reason is that some Chinese restaurants use a lot of oil in their woks. Some good choices are egg drop soup, shrimp chow mein, seafood with vegetables or tofu with vegetables. There are some other good choices, but these come to mind. It is also always advised to monitor for any cravings.
Dessert
For dessert, don't be too hard on yourself. If you eat out four times a week, you need to say "no" most of the time; but if it feels like a special event, make the most of it.
Fruit with ice cream: If fresh fruit would do the trick, have that. If fruit with ice cream is what you want, that's fine, too. You can ask for them in separate dishes and make your own dessert, using 3 teaspoons of ice cream topped by the fresh fruit.
Cake to share: If only the most decadent chocolate cake will suffice, go ahead and order it—along with enough forks for everyone at the table. Have three bites only, eat them as slowly as possible, and then send the rest away with the first passing busboy.
Three bites only: Try this experiment at home: Have three bites of any dessert, then stop and put the rest aside for a few minutes. You'll see that it was just as satisfying as eating the whole thing—and you'll still respect yourself in the morning.
Mexican
If you've got a date with Mexican food, have no fear. Even this carbohydrate-rich cuisine is adaptable to the South Beach Diet. Here are some ways to lighten your load and still enjoy Mexican food:
- Try your favorite grilled meats as fajitas, tostadas, or soft tacos, with tortillas on the side. (No tortillas at all in Phase 1. In Phase 2, ask if they offer whole-wheat tortillas.)
- Whole black or pinto (red) beans are fine, but rice is a killer. Refried beans are traditionally made with lard, so unless you know how they're prepared, best to avoid them.
- Guacamole, sour cream and cheese can turn an otherwise healthy meal into a gut buster. The sour cream and cheeses probably aren't the low- or nonfat variety so skip them. Bottled salsas may contain sugar. Other sauces, such as enchilada and tomatillo sauces are OK. Again, check for sugar.
- A basket of chips is the equivalent of a basket of bread, so don't overindulge.
- Skip the beer and margaritas. Choose water or sugar-free, caffeine-free sodas instead.
Most Mexican food at chain restaurants and Mexican fast-food places is prepared American-style, which means an abundance of bad fats. Yet it is possible to go Mexican and eat healthfully.
Try grilled chicken or fish, pescado Veracruzana (fish in a tangy sauce of olive oil, grilled onions, green olives, and capers), mole pollo (boned chicken breast served in a hot and spicy sauce), mojo pollo (chicken in a tangy citrus sauce), or camarones de hacha (shrimp sauteed in a red and green tomato sauce).
Stay away from deep-fried tortilla chips; anything topped with cheese or sour cream; refried beans (commonly fried in lard); chimichangas (deep-fried flour tortillas filled with meat and cheese); the Mexican sausage called chorizo; and deep-fried taco-shell bowls.
cl-cathy on Mexican food: I would start with some black bean soup or gazpacho and then have some chicken fajitas without the tortilla. Go easy on the sour cream and cheese. Good luck and enjoy it!
maggie-kelly: At our favorite Mexican place, we ask them to leave the basket of chips off the table. We order fajitas (chicken, shrimp and/or steak) and just eat the meat and veggies, leaving the flour tortillas alone. We also avoid their refried beans, because Mexican restaurants generally prepare them with lard (saturated animal fat). The fajita platter is more than enough to fill us up. ½ cup of guacamole is a serving of fat on South Beach, and can be enjoyed on all phases.
The Olive Garden has South Beach-friendly choices! Read all about it here: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-fbsouthbeach/?msg=8856.1
Fast Food
For many American these days, dining out is done in fast-food places. It's hard to think of any strategy that might actually help that situation. Everything seems to conspire to deliver the worst meal possible, at least from our perspective.
What you can't have: Start by eliminating all the main attractions:
- No burgers. Too many saturated fats in the meat and the cooking oil; too many carbs in the bun.
- No fish. The breading and the cooking method make it even more fattening than the burger.
- No chicken nuggets or fried chicken. Like the fish, they're a lot of deep-fried bread over a little meat, all of which has been cooked in a trans-fatty substance.
- No fries. The worst part of the meal from the glycemic-index point of view (both the potatoes and the ketchup).
- No soda. It's a pure sugar rush. Look at how fast-food restaurants emphasize their worst fare-even the offer to "super size" is simply a way to sell you excessive amounts of the cheapest part of the meal, the soda and fries.
What you can have: If you can visit a fast-food restaurant and limit yourself to the following, you can do all right:
- Salad with oil and vinegar instead of any other dressing.
- Plain, grilled chicken breast (in the places that serve it).
- Water or coffee.
The emphasis in fast food is on big, sweet, fat, and fast-everything that has made obesity such a problem in America today. You can't really eat at these places and follow any sort of healthful diet. That's no surprise, is it?
From the official SBD site:
The South Beach Diet
Family Restaurant and Fast Food Guide –
Just because you're on the South Beach Dietâ„¢ doesn't mean that you can't hit the drive-thru and feast on fast food every now and again. You just need to be careful about which foods you choose. In general, steer clear of white sandwich bread and buns, sugar-filled condiments like ketchup, and items cooked in bad fats, like French fries. Here's a look at some of the healthier food choices when eating on the go.
Listed below in alphabetical order:
Arby’s
Back Yard Burgers
Baja Fresh
Blimpie
Boston Market
Burger King
Chick-Fil-A
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Hardee’s
In-N-Out Burger
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
McDonald’s
Ruby Tuesday
Sonic
Starbucks
Subway
Taco Bell
Wendy’s
ARBY'S®
Breakfast Items:
- Ham and Egg on Sourdough bread—Toss half the bread (Phase 2 only).
Salads:
- Garden Salad
- Grilled Chicken Salad
- Market Fresh® Turkey Club Salad—Toss the bacon.
- Market Fresh® Caesar Salad
- Market Fresh® Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
- Market Fresh® Caesar Side Salad
- Roast Chicken Salad
- Martha's Vineyard™—Leave off the diced apples (Phase 2 can enjoy) and dried cranberries. No Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing!
- Side Salad
Salad Dressings:
- Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Caesar Sandwich Sauce
- Santa Fe Ranch Dressing
- No Light Salad Dressings—Sugar content does not meet South Beach Diet™ guidelines.
Sandwiches:
- Market Fresh® Low Carbys™ Ultimate BLT Wrap—Leave off the pepper bacon and mayonnaise. Add your own mayonnaise.
- Market Fresh® Low Carbys™ Roast Turkey Ranch & Bacon Wrap—Leave off the cheese, pepper bacon, and ranch spread. Add your own condiments, such as Buttermilk Ranch Dressing or mayonnaise.
- Market Fresh® Low Carbys™ Southwest Chicken Wrap—Leave off the cheese (cheddar and Jack) and Santa Fe Ranch Sauce. Add your own condiments, such as Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, mayonnaise, or Santa Fe Ranch Sauce.
- Market Fresh® Low Carbys™ Chicken Caesar Wrap—Leave off the Caesar Sauce and add your own.
BACK YARD BURGERS
- Savory Chicken Sandwich—toss the bun
- Blackened Chicken Sandwich—toss the bun
- Garden Veggie Sandwich (made with a Gardenburger®)—toss the bun
- Garden Fresh Salad
- Charbroiled Chicken Salad
- Blackened Chicken Salad
- SBD-friendly salad dressings: Ranch and fat-free Italian (only 3 grams of sugar per package)
BOSTON MARKETâ„¢
Meat Items:
- 1/4 white meat chicken, no skin or wing
- Skinless Rotisserie Turkey Breast
- Marinated Grilled Chicken
Veggies:
- Green Beans
- Steamed Vegetable Medley
Salads:
- Caesar Side Salad—toss the croutons.
- Caesar Salad Entrée—toss the croutons and eat as main dish.
- Chunky Chicken Salad—eat as main dish.
Desserts:
Seasonal fresh fruit—refer to fruit listed for Phase 2.
BAJA FRESH
Best Salad Choices:
- Baja Ensalada - Chicken or shrimp. Request no tortilla chips or cheese. Enjoy the salsa verde.
- Fresh Mahi Mahi Ensalada - Request no cheese.
- Side Salad - Request no cheese.
Salad Dressings (order on the side):
- Olive Oil Vinaigrette
- Ranch
Sides:
- Guacamole - 3-ounce size. Enjoy as oil serving for the meal.
- Black or Pinto Beans - Only comes in 8-ounce serving. Enjoy half of the serving.
BLIMPIE®
Best Salad Choices:
- Chef Salad - no cheese
- You can create your own salad using South Beach-friendly ingredients
Meats & Cheeses:
- Ham
- Roast Beef
- Turkey Breast
- Tuna Salad
- Mexi Max - phase 2
- Vegi Max
- Cheese - All cheese is higher fat and should be enjoyed sparingly.
Toppings, Sauces & Dressings:
- Oil & Vinegar Topping
- Guacamole - use half serving
- Caesar
- Cracked Peppercorn
- Pesto Dressing
- GourMayo Wasabi Horseradish
- GourMayo Sun Dried Tomato
- GourMayo Chipotle Chili
- Red Hot Buffalo Sauce
Soup:
- Chili
(continued in next post)



Amy