Do you have any regular restaurants that are always good for you with the band? Upscale and casual both. We go out to dinner a lot and a couple times I've found next to nothing to eat. When I order soup as my entree people give me a funny look (people meaning friends that don't know about the band). Any suggestions? We live Upper East but are happy to travel. Brooklyn too.

I live in Queens but I border Long Island and I've had a lot of the same problems. I tend to stick to Olive Gardens for soup and salads, in the city I've had Carmine's and Sofritos. Another piece of advice, I don't go anyway where I can't look up the menu online before I go. Good Luck

These are great suggestions but I too need some more suggestions on eating out in NYC. I have to entertain clients quite a bit for lunch and dinner and am dreading on how to deal with business meals. I agree that in NYC ordering soup or an appetizer as my entree would raise eyebrows and I reakly don't want to draw any attention away from the purpose of the meeting. I am sure that there are others in our situation so can't wait to hear suggestions. By the way - I am still new to being banded - just had it done on March 30th and ending my liquid stage next week.

Does anybody have any suggestions also on what to order that is non-carbonated when at a bar or cocktail party????

I'm from Manhattan but live in Astoria. I try to stick to seafood or chicken when I go out for the most part. It's high in Protein and satisfying. I like Carmines, Oceana, or Atlantic Grill. For chicken, basically any restaurant will have a decent grilled or baked chicken option. For lunch, I recently started going to Pump Energy food in midtown. They specialize in high protein, whole grain energy foods and Protein shakes. Regarding alcohol, I usually go with wine or vodka and cranberry.

Best,

Lauren

Thanks so much Lauren. This is really helpful. I work in Midtown as well and am right around the corner from Oceana and quite close to Pump Energy food. I had never been to Pump so its great to hear that they also have Protein shakes. Do you recommend anything else from PUMP as I will checkl they out as soon as I finish the liquid phase.

Also I love wine so its good to get ideas on beverages. Great advise, I will share whatever I discover with you all as well. Good Luck!!!!:biggrin:

No prob at all. That's what we're all here for, to share and share a like. I recently had Pump's DaySpa salad, which is

Mixed greens, 12-hour turkey slices, sweet potatoes, steamed baby spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers and basil vinaigrette. So yummy and flavorful, even though I was only able to eat all of the Protein and just a few of the veggies. They also have salmon fridays.. haven't tried that yet, but maybe this next week. Check out this link https://www.thepumpenergyfood.com.

Best,

Lauren

Lauren - your a star! Thanks for the info. Best of luck to you!

Screwdriver..... or cranberry juice and vodka. :biggrin:

I agree that in NYC ordering soup or an appetizer as my entree would raise eyebrows

As a former NYer, I really don't think NYC is unique in terms of human responses; you're no more likely to get raised eyebrows there than anywhere else. And what that means is that there will be very few raised eyebrows.

Really, people will pay far, far less attention to what you order than you think. (If the server raises an eyebrow? S/he's just mentally calculating tip; you can make this a non-issue by tipping well. I guarantee, when you return, there will be no more eyebrow-raising.)

Really, people are all about themselves. However, In a business setting, there may be a dynamic in which others place their orders based on what you order. In that case, you want to make clients (or others) feel comfortable, and that might mean modifying your order so that they feel more comfortable with theirs.

But otherwise, it's pretty reasonable to assume that the only ones paying strict attention to what goes into our mouths is us. It's just not nearly as interesting to others as we fear.

I have found that seafood restaurants are the best bet for me. Seafood can be prepared very simply, and you can usually get a nice side of steamed veggies. Also, fish is usually less dense than beef or chicken, so you can eat more of it. :biggrin: I usually stick with white wine as a beverage, but last weekend, I ordered a Jack Daniels and diet coke. Surprisingly, it lacked the carbonation I thought it would have, and it was delicious!

Here's a link to a list of top seafood restaurants in NYC. Top 10 Ten Best Seafood Restaurants New York City NYC New York Area Gayot

I went to graduate school in NYC and so miss the yummy little restaurants with their open front windows ... and eclectic interiors. ... I could get something from a different ethnicity every single day. (but that was long ago, and now I'm far away...) Good times!

Betsy - I agree that New York isn't special in most regards, but I would say that we eat our more often than is the norm and that it's less likely to be in chain restaurants or the same ones repetitively, where you might find a dish that works for you.

This is my first day of real food after my second fill (where I do feel some restriction) so I suddenly felt panicked. I looove Ethiopian food but there's really no way to eat it without the bread. Maybe I'm just trying to figure out what one eats in general when in public. Fish and stews? I'm having to eat painfully slowly and/or order Soup as an enreee which doesn't exactly jibe with weighing a hearty 240 lbs, so there might indeed be an eyebrow raised. I'd agree that people are mostly focused on themselves, but by the time I'm done I picture them looking at their watches and deciding to skip coffee and dessert!

Maybe French would be good? Cassoulet? Fish at Italian. What at Mexican and various Asian? Are there dishes you can think of that reliably don't get stuck, even with a tight-for-now band?

Thanks!

Anything soupy or stew-like works for me. For mexican, cheese enchiladas on corn tortillas or vegie&cheese enchiladas work. Melted cheese is very slidey and corn tortillas do not give me problems the way wheat products do. My husband works for Pei Wei/P.F. Chang's and I love the chopped Asian salad at Pei Wei and the seabass at P.F. Chang's. Any kind of braised meats will be more tender and moist.

I would just take it really slow and careful w/any meat, though, if you are really tight right now. One piece not chewed well enough or one piece too many and you will raise a lot of eyebrows when you have to disappear to the bathroom for half an hour.

Salad has always gone down well for me so I feel safe w/any salad. You could order soup and salad. That way it will look like more food, but both pretty safe foods. I have also ordered two appetizers and then shared them w/the table saying oh this is so good, but so rich I can't eat it all.

The last time I got really stuck it was on Pasta so I'm really wary of pasta now. I think if I was out to italian I would get eggplant parmesan or a caprese salad.

Oh, and if you like sushi, but are afraid of the rice (or just don't want the carbs or to be overfull), order sashimi instead. It is the raw fish without the rice. Super yummy, always comes in small portions, and very expensive so nobody is gonna think you are being cheap. LOL

Edited April 11, 201016 yr by adagray

I'm not up to food yet but i would scour menu pages dot com to look at menus

but i figure middle eastern, South American, South Asian has a lot of dips and stews. the sashimi idea is excellent there is also naruto, sushi rolled with sliced cucumber and naki tori (sp?) beef wrapped around scallions. asian cuisines also have beancurd and tofu

a lot of the classic steak houses are putting together fancy burgers and so many people are carb phobic now it would be easy to say skip the bun without raising an eyebrow

First tip - have a drink alcohol loosens the band

Second - you can't go wrong w/ fish

I never ever eat bread out. ever.

I went to CITRUS on UWS and had crabcakes (really that is a mushy); and shrimp quesadilla. I did have two martinis though because I had just gotten a fill a couple of days before that. If you are worried having a drink relaxes the esophagus, so in the beginning and now even I do usually have a drink if I eat out. Not exactly low calorie so I don't make a habit of this

Also always know where the bathroom is. Sushi I won't even attempt because of the seaweed (oh the other thing I do is I often order the food in to try it)... and I got really really stuck on sushi (of course it was a spyder roll - soft shell crab what WAS i thinking!??!?).

NYC is actually the easiest I think - you can order appetizers only etc. I just went to aruba and was struggling on occassion. At times I didn't order anything and picked on other's dishes (they ordered extra). Family style worked well too!

You can also eat steak (I know people say they can't) if you can deal w/ medium rare and chew extremely well - skirt steak and filet mignon usually work ok for me. tender meat.