Discussion Board

Can it be done? We went to a big buffet sort of place and there were lots of choices but no fat free dressing except ranch and most of the veggies were swimming in butter or oil.

I did pretty well but told DH I just couldn't go back, something about all you can eat and all those choices made me want to eat more than I should.

I think I just need to avoid restaurants for a while.

Buffets are not a good place to eat out.

Stick to restaurants where you can individualize your order. You can request your veggies with no added oil or butter. And I always carry my own salad dressing, it can go on a salad or a plain baked potato.

You'll learn as you go, it's a path of progress, not perfection. I once asked that my broccoli be cooked without oil or butter. When the order came I could see that it clearly had some kind of oil on it. When I asked, I was told it was COOKED without oil, as I had asked, but they sprayed a buttery flavored something on it AFTER it was cooked. Now I know to be more specific.

It does get easier.

Restaurants are a minefield--they are extremely hit or miss. You need to be your own champion, and be very firm about asking for NO oil in the preparation of your food. "Steamed" is a term that works in many restaurants, and you will end up with a lot of steamed (white) rice and vegetables. Learn also to eat your salad with no dressing, ask for lemon or lime wedges, or ask for the cruet of balsamic vinegar (not the vinaigrette, which is an oil-based dressing), malt vinegar (for your potatoes), and so on. Even so, you may end up with oily food--I have, several times! That is not cause for despair. You can simply carry on from there. Never give up! Never surrender! You can lose and keep it off! And maybe, someday, the restaurants will have something for us to eat at them!

(This is my first post on the forum -- hi everyone!) But I couldn't resist commenting:

The first thing you do when you get oily food at a restaurant is send it back. Like so:
- Summon all your courage and a sympathetic smile.
- Then find a server, and say, "I'm so sorry, but this isn't what I ordered." (Stick your plate in server's hands.)
- "Would you have them remake this please? What I asked for is . . . "

It can be slightly daunting to stand up for yourself (and your healthy dietary choices!) in a restaurant, but do it. You have my permission (and encouragement)!

-Ginger

PS - I work in a restaurant. People do it all the time! I promise.

Ginger - you are so right. I did send my broccoli back and got what I wanted. When I was eating meat I had no qualm sending back an over done steak, I'm paying for what I want.

I can't tell you how many times I'll ask for a salad with no cheese or croutons, shows up with cheese and croutons, send it back. You do have to put away your concerns about upsetting the server or the chef. Eating out is not inexpensive, get what you want.

There are lots of places w/ great salad bars, including chain restaurants. Ruby Tuesday's, Jasons, etc. Most of those places can provide plain balsamic vinegar (just make sure they know you mean PLAIN vinegar, not vinaigrette!) for a dressing, and most can also give you a plain baked tater w/ some salsa.

Buffets, though, would be the last place I would expect to find food I could eat!

I absolutely agree with Queen Ginger - as a former waitress and bartender, it is not a problem to send something back, although you are more likely to get it quickly and without spite if you are nice about it; in many cases the server did not make the mistake, there was either a communication gap between server and kitchen or the kitchen made an error.

I think I am going to avoid going out to eat for a while, at least until I get back on my path for a while.

That makes sense, TXveggie. Maybe you can try again after you've been eating like this for so long that the oily foods aren't even tempting (which is starting to happen to me after a year, not 100% but temptations are much fewer now).

Unlike many here I actually find buffets to be a much better choice than ordering from a server with special requests -- I have bad luck with the special requests and my tolerance for sending things back repeatedly is low. At a buffet, I'm in control -- as long as my willpower holds, which it usually does.

I find it helps to approach the buffet and salad bar with an innovative eye, and to limit my special requests to things I *know* the kitchen can easily provide. So, for instance, when I get the veggie trio (my choice of veggie sides) and garden bar at Ruby Tuesdays, I get a plain baked potato and a couple of their other veggies, and then I hit the salad bar. But here's the crucial thing -- I expect to "make" my own toppings. There's no suitable prepared dressing for salad *or* baked potato, but there's plenty of suitable food.

For starters, I always ask my server for a cup of salsa on the side. (That's not available on their salad bar.) So that starts my potato topping.

So, my first salad bar pass I'll get some peas and/or edamame beans, some raw onions, and some tomatoes, and I'll pour some balsamic vinegar on the plate. (No little cups available there.) When I get back to my table, I dice the tomato and the onion ringlets with my knife and fork. Then I top the potato with the salsa, and the stuff from the salad bar -- it's pretty tasty.

Likewise when I go to a Chinese buffet, the staple is the steamed rice with soy sauce and sriracha hot sauce. Steamed vegetables can't be relied upon, though I'll order them if it's a place where you can do that. But if there's a salad bar or a you-assemble-it Mongolian Barbecue window, I'll grab raw veggies and bean sprouts from there and mix them up with some rice into an Asian salad with my patented "I just mixed it" spicy soy dressing. Top with a few canned mandarin oranges or some loose fresh grapes from the dessert bar, and it's a gourmet meal different from anything I'd have at home.

Of course if you've got a restaurant where you're a regular and you're known and they're cheerful about special requests, that's more likely to work than if you're at a random chain place. I've been getting the steamed rice and vegetables when eating with others at my local small town Chinese restaurant, and recently the young Chinese mother who is the main server and (I think) an owner commented that "You're eating healthy now, that's what I eat too" as she patted her pregnant belly proudly. So I told her what I am up too, which she highly approved of.

Well, their steamed veggie mix is a bit bland, heavy on the mushrooms and water chestnuts and canned baby corn, and the serving of veggies and rice doesn't quite make a satisfying meal for me. So the next time I went in, I got "my usual" but I asked her for "a second serving of just onions and green peppers, steamed." She understood what I was trying to do, she knows me, I'm a decent tipper, so she was very helpful, went back into the kitchen, screamed cheerfully in Chinese at the older man who does all the cooking, screamed at him cheerfully some more when he made noises that sounded like confused and grumpy cussing, and eventually brought me exactly what I wanted. Now it's my "the usual" order and it's just enough more of the veggies I like to make the whole meal satisfying.

I'm with Mixed Grains. I love salad bars. Then I am in control and can pick and choose We do have a Mexican resturant in our small town that will make vegetable3 fijiatas sauted in water. I do find eating out is hard and once I find a place that is accommodating I will return again and again

We all love salad bars--salad bars are NOT buffets though, LOL. Buffets have hot pre-cooked food, none of which will be prepared w/out added fat!

I'll argue a bit here. A buffet typically incorporates elements of a salad bar, plus it has other stuff, most of which (but not all) tends to have added oils. Things commonly found on buffets in my area that usually aren't found on the local salad bars:

1) baked potatoes (sometimes has oiled skin, you have to check)
2) baked sweet potatoes (likewise)
3) boiled carrots (sometimes sweetened, only rarely oiled)
4) steamed or boiled brocolli or cauliflower
5) fresh pico de gayo (chopped tomatoes, jalepenos, onions, and cilantro)
6) cooked peas and corn or other mixed vegetables (sometimes oiled, but not always, you have to peer suspiciously or dredge some across a clean plate and inspect the streak for rainbow sheen)
7) steamed white rice still in the cooker
barbecue sauce (needs to be inspected suspiciously for oils)
9) more cut fruit than you'd find on a salad bar
...

and so forth. The buffet experience typically adds one or two starches, one or two vegetables, and one or two condiments that wouldn't be available in a salad bar environment.

A lot of careful scrutiny and discretion is required and it's not for everybody. But I'm not willing to accept the blanket suggestion that there's never any useful foods on a buffet. And of course my actual statement was that they work *better* for me than trying to make special off-menu orders -- which is a far cry from saying they are a perfect eating choice.

I'm feeling quite lucky - we have an abundance of really good vegan restaurants in our area (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and its not much of a stretch to get them to do something oil free. I'm not at all shy though, about asking for things not on the menu. Seems like a lot of chefs like the chance to be creative if they are asked.

Great ideas! I will have to check out Ruby Tuesday's later on.

Wow, that's got to be a big change! Back in the 90's when I lived in the area, I had the hardest time getting something as simple as an "LT" sandwich--a BLT without the bacon! The people didn't know what to do with me, and usually burned the bread beyond recognition (don't know why not having bacon would burn toast)!