Hello. I am having DS on November 9th. I have already changed my diet to make an easier transition after surgery. We went to a Chinese buffet tonight and I panicked. I need to do some research on options at different restaurants so I will be better prepared. Any advice?

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When I started trying to make better choices, a lot of times I'd type the name of the restaurant + either "keto" or "eat this not that" into Google and use that as my starting point

Thank you

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23 hours ago, Bstoff said:

Hello. I am having DS on November 9th. I have already changed my diet to make an easier transition after surgery. We went to a Chinese buffet tonight and I panicked. I need to do some research on options at different restaurants so I will be better prepared. Any advice?

Let's Go Stl Blues

Honestly, I told my husband Chinese and Italian are out till post op able… but I have contingency that I have researched in case that’s where we go.

for chinese most things have cornstarch (high carb) or other breading and sugar… (even beef with pea pods is high carb due to cornstarch in dish)…ordering from a menu I can get egg fu young patties, no rice and no gravy. It’s one of the very few low carb options. (Unless they will do stir fry with no thickeners and a non sweet sauce)

italian, my contingency dish is simply an antipasto appetizer as my meal and just avoid any non keto parts…

I looked up each restaurant I could go to and get dishes and substitutions that fit my eating plan. Having an app on your phone helps to look up things on the fly… I use carbmaster and it works well… may take longer to order, but worth it

While losing post surgery, you can do things like eat the filling out of steamed wontons & the chicken & a couple of the vegetables from braised chicken & cashews or the prawns from braised prawns & vegetables. There’s always the soups too. Just avoid as much of the sauces as you can, no deep fried dishes & no rice or noodles.

With Italian it may be more difficult to find suitable appetiser options. You may have to share a non pasta, pizza or rice main course or take home leftovers. If there are limited choices, you can always order a pasta dish with say meatballs or a ragu where you can pick out the meat. There may be a soup option for you to try.

There’s always going to be that situation you can’t avoid where you have limited food choices while you are losing. You just have to do the best you can & make the best choice from what is available. As long as it’s a rare occurrence, you’ll be okay. Once into maintenance you’ll have more options but how careful you are will be more of a personal choice.

My Chinese go to is Spicy chicken and veggies: grilled chicken breast with peppers onions mushrooms and zucchini in a thin spicy sauce. You can skip the noodles and/or rice is you prefer. (I am allowed carbs, I might take 1 or 2 bites of rice but mainly eat the chicken and veggies.) The sauce is thin (no starch)and it is about 200 cals and 6 carbs for a 4oz serving without rice. Although I will say, not all Chinese places have this but I found it by chance and now I go to the same place.

Italian: Some places will allow you to substitute broccoli for the noodles in a pasta dish. I don't do a lot of Italian but I have and got a salad, also had Lasagna and just pulled the noodles out.

If I can't find something that fits my diet, I will do a burger patty without bread or a side salad and a chicken breast. Pretty much everywhere has burgers, chicken and salad.

It gets so much easier as you progress through the stages. It does take SOME planning though if it’s a new restaurant. Most places have the menu online so you can study it before hand. I am in maintenance and I will usually order alacarte and get a grilled protein and veggies. If that’s not an option I will get an entree and have just a couple of bites and I get a salad or veggies as the side. Depending on how the protein is prepared sometimes I really have literally just a taste and I just have a protein shake as a snack to compensate. If I can get grilled protein I will have that and a few bites of the salad. If it’s not a healthy choice I will cut off what I eat and box up the rest right away to send home with whomever I am dining with and if not I will waste it (something that is still a little difficult for me but I know if I take it home I will eat it). The biggest thing I find helpful is to review the menu the night before because EVERYTHING looks good in the moment, of course, and it takes me a while to talk myself out of ordering that junk. Usually If I study the menu the night before I can talk myself into a relatively healthy option by the time I get there but if I just wait till I get there I am very tempted to order those less healthy options. Also, I never go to a restaurant when I am starving. Everyone who I dine out with knows I eat on a schedule. If I am out with family or my best friend we stop to eat on my schedule if at all possible. If it’s not possible I will have a protein snack so that I am not feeling super hungry when I get there because that’s when I make bad choices.