Well if you have read my previous posts you know that I do not do this professionally and this blog is really a way for me to keep myself honest on choices that I make. With that said I didn’t make a post last week because I have had work functions that did not allow me to eat a good home cooked meal. Normally for the blog I actually write items that I ate the night before or even that same night. I am not one that just randomly selects a recipe online and writes a fake review on it so that is why there was no post. Now I must say that I was having a talk with my good friend Miguel about this and just as any friend he inquires about my progress and how its going. He was a bit concerned about me eating out at restaurants while being on Paleo and I told him I was surprised at how easy it really was.

Before I explain all the details you must understand that I was not eating fast food I was at actually eating at sit down restaurants with a pretty good menu (avg meal price on the menu was about $15).

So like I said above I was doing work functions such as meeting with clients, vendors or work meetings. I initially went in thinking great its going to most likely be a plain green salad and grilled chicken breast but as I started going through the menu I realized I actually had some pretty good choices. What I want to get across on this post is not really the things I are however it was my approach. I find that most people may settle for just having an undressed salad but I really wanted to know what they actually had that I could eat. So here are some questions that I feel were helpful

1) When looking to order any type of beef, pork, chicken etc make sure you ask the waiter what is this marinated in?
You want to verify what it is marinated in because the marinade could be gluten based (think beer, it is often used in marinades)

2) If you are afraid of asking the waiter 101 questions about the food and you think they will brush you off simply tell them that you need to avoid all foods that contain Gluten, Grains and Soy if you just give them those 3 things they will come back with a selection of XYZ and then from there you can easily figure out which one you want to order. I am not telling you to say that you are allergic to those ingredients all though if you did they wouldn’t know the difference.

3) If you really want to have no contact with the waiter because obviously they are low hourly paid employees and the more questions you ask them the more they may be irritated ask the waiter to speak to a manager on duty because of your dietary restrictions. I found this one honestly to be the best approach because the waiters get to just get drinks and do their normal routine and the managers are usually far more versed in the menu contents than the waiters.

4) You can ask them if they have a Gluten free menu

5) If you really want to ask no one for anything go to the sandwich area and look for a grilled chicken sandwich and order it without the bun and no sauce.

Now those 5 tips above won’t give you the exact answer you want or if the place you are going has exclusive items on their menu but if you go with item #3 10 times out of 10 the manager will accommodate you because they want to earn your business. For example, lets say everything they have is marinated in beer and/or high sugar items. The manager and chef will have absolutely no issue just throwing a fresh piece of meat on the grill (or broiler) for you with just a little bit of salt and pepper.

It may not be the best meal you will ever eat but it will at least put something in your stomach and keep you on track.