Eating Clean Outside The Home Is Possible!

When we eat at home it is very easy. In the fridge we have our vegetable drawer, the avocados ready and creamy to spread in the gluten-free cracker, and the glass tupperware filled with quinoa or cooked legumes to quickly prepare a vegetable salad. But, when we are not in our kitchen, or we go out to dinner with family or friends, and we do not want to feel the “weird” at the table, what? Don’t panic, my friend!

In the first place, you are not weird, as there are many of us and more and more we are opting for a healthier and more conscious life, so you will see more and more often many more like you wherever you go … 😉

In addition, following an Eat Clean philosophy, one does not try to follow what everyone does, but what makes you feel good about yourself, letting yourself be guided by intuition and your own experimentation with food and your body. Be authentic and don’t try to fit in!

So when you go out to eat, please don’t sit around sipping your glass of water while everyone else is enjoying their plate. I am not telling you to eat as those who do not pay attention to their diet can, and end up with a bloated stomach, feeling heavy or even dizzy because you have eaten something too dense that your stomach is no longer used to.

Nor do I want you to say that you are on a diet, because Eat Clean is not about “dieting”, Eat Clean is a lifestyle.

When the waiter approaches the table …

Ask him not to bring the bread to spread with the oil, nor the potato chip cap to nibble on while you read the letter or menu.

Directly, ask him to bring you a green salad to start, from which all of you are going to chop some leaves, a starter full of fiber, water, vitamins, minerals and enzymes that will make a good cushion to receive the concentrated foods that follow.

The dressing, if it is special, ask for it separately and, before mixing it with the salad, if it has cheese or derivatives or is too artificial, easy, ask for vinegar or some lemon slices to squeeze and a little extra virgin olive oil.

Reading the letter …

Sure the dishes are not going to be as you would prepare them at home, but try to do the best you can with the combination of foods and keeping the dishes as simple as possible (easier to digest).

For me it is always a game and a challenge, I even like to go to places that are not “vegan-friendly” because that way I have to “break the coconut a little more” to create the dish that meets my needs. I have learned something in America, and that is that you are the one who pays for the food, so you have the right to ask for what you want on the plate and how you want it (always with good manners and not being irritating with the poor waiter who is doing its job).

The Americans have this very clear and… shame? This word is unknown.

Here you have some ideas

• Order 2 first courses, they are usually lighter

• Mix vegetables with carbohydrates, it is a good couple. In Asian restaurants you will have it easy, a rice with vegetables, some fresh rolls with rice wrap, some Pad Thai style noodles with vegetables. .. All restaurants have some option of salad and, not even as a garnish, they have rice, quinoa or some cooked legume. If you have no better option, and now roadside restaurants along the long highways of the Nevada desert come to mind, with these two ingredients you can create your own dish.

• If the option is an Italian restaurant, you know, a good salad to start with. Gluten-free pasta and pizza dough are increasingly being found. Order your vegan pizza, without mozzarella cheese and double the tomato sauce. If there are no gluten-free options, ask for mushrooms and a mixture of vegetables grilled or sautéed with a little seafood or tomato sauce.

• When we go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, start again with a good salad, huge, with black beans or with rice and red sauce (not white or cheese) or eat a salad with guacamole and a few fried corn chips (I confess that these are my weakness and it is difficult for me to control, the crunchy is crazy …).

• If you are in transition and still consume animal products, you can opt for a salad (ask for the cheese to be removed) accompanied by baked fish or chicken garnished with vegetables. As long as they are baked or grilled, but never battered or fried.

• In Mediterranean restaurants, hummus, babaganush, dolmas along with a green salad and some vegetable sticks such as crakers for dips, make a very good meal.

• Do you fancy sushi ? I never say no to a Japanese. I always start dinners with a miso soup, followed by a seaweed and edamame salad to nibble on. My main dish: some vegetable maki with avocado that I season with tamari sauce and a little wasabi. Some restaurants even start serving sushi with brown rice.

Do you see how there are options for everyone ? These dishes that I suggest are easily found in these restaurants, it is just a matter of asking for a few small modifications politely without seeming too complicated or “tiquis-miquis”, and everyone is happy.

Desserts…

If you know the correct combination of foods, you will know that the fruit is eaten alone or before meals. It is preferable that if you want to finish your meal with something sweet, or you know that the rest of the guests are going to enjoy themselves with desserts, you take with you, in your bag, a piece of dark chocolate.

If you decide to put a cana in the air, it is preferable that you avoid those with fruit, which would remain trapped on top of the previous meal and would end up fermenting, causing gas and discomfort. It is clear that a dessert with refined flours, fat and white sugars will not be the best option either …

The best option will be not to order anything for dessert and go directly to tea or infusion, although I know that this is not a realistic situation on many occasions. But that’s okay, do what you feel like doing in the moment. You can always break some desserts with someone, for example.

I can drink?

Asks always water for compañar your meals as a drink to relieve thirst and even, try to stay hydrated before sitting down to eat and give sips while eating alone. If you drink a lot of water while you eat, it will dilute the gastric juices in your stomach and slow down digestion.

This yes that NO-NO …

• Fake meats: usually made from textured soy (possibly GMO) or seitan (which is 100% gluten)

• Mix abundant dishes of animal protein with carbohydrates (rice with chicken), which will make digestion difficult.

• Cheese and cream sauces

• Fried foods

It is true that sometimes you must awaken your most creative vein, but it is your health and it is an apprenticeship. In addition, the more we are asking for healthier options than the menu offers, we will give ideas and create a need for restaurants to start serving healthier options.