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episode #184

Tips When Dining Out!

October 19, 2022 in Podcast

Intro

This week I discuss some tips and tricks when dining out socially with friends or family members. Cooking for yourself is ideal to optimize your health but dining out doesn't have to be an unhealthy event as long as you follow the following tips:

  • Have a healthy snack (handful of almonds or raw veggies)  before you go out to dinner
  • Drink water with apple cider vinegar (helps prevent insulin spike at dinner)
  • Ask the server to refrain from bringing bread to the table (don't get tempted :)
  • Start your meal with a side salad or healthy soup so you will be less likely to overeat when your meal comes
  • Drink water before and during meals (avoid sugars and empty calories of soda or alcohol)
  • Be the 1st person to order so you are not tempted by other less healthy dishes that may be ordered
  • Avoid fried foods, creamy sauces, and breaded items
  • Order items that are grilled, braised, steamed or pan seared
  • Ask the server if they can cook your food in a healthier oil like olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, or tallow instead of seed oils, margarine, etc
  • Don't be afraid to ask for healthy substitutions  (i.e. baked potato instead of fries)
Hopefully these tips can help you stay on track when you are dining out! Have a great week!


(1s):

Hello, and welcome to the get lean and eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author. And this podcast is for middle-aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. All right, welcome to the get lean eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin. I would be at a great weekend labor day weekend. Enjoy it with family and friends, and hopefully you're enjoying some good weather where you're at.

(45s):

I know they're getting a lot of rain in the south and I'm in Chicago. We've been blessed with beautiful weather seventies and the days are shortening. So you got to really enjoy these, these, this fall weather and these and these fall conditions because winter is upon us. Before I get into the micro podcast, hopefully you listened to my interview with Brad Kearns. We did sort of a dual podcast, Brad, someone who's helped me since I started my podcast and he has what's called the bee rat podcast. So definitely check that out. You know, the guy's been in the health game for a long time. He's written over 20 books on dyed health, peak performance, ancestral living.

(1m 26s):

And we sorta just had a, you know, back and forth regarding, you know, the advantages and the disadvantages of fasting and low carb and co cold thermogenesis exercise and so on and so forth. So I really enjoyed talking with Brad and hopefully you got something out of that sort of dual podcasts that we did together. So that's episode 180 3. So definitely check that out. And what I want to touch on today was a topic that I've probably talked about, gosh, over a year ago. And that was, you know, some simple, some simple tips when you're going out to dinner. So it, you know, going, you know, a lot of, some people love to go out to dinner.

(2m 8s):

My wife and I, we tend to cook a lot at home and we find that, gosh, we prepare food just as good as most places when they go out. We'd like to keep it simple and usually have a solid fish or meat. And, you know, maybe just a side of sometimes the side of a potato, but sometimes just vegetables as a side. And that's it. We try to keep it simple. We know what's going in our food. And I think that's sort of like one of the top principles to maintaining health and optimizing health is eat, is cooking for yourself. But I understand that a lot of people socially like to go and eat out, which is completely fine.

(2m 52s):

We don't go out to dinner a ton. But when we do, I think it's important to maybe follow certain, certain guidelines that can help you. So you don't get off the rail when it comes to your health, not to say that going out, having splurging every once in a while. There's nothing wrong with that. As long as you can get back on track, but I figured it'd be worth an episode of just touching on, you know, what are some of the, some of like these simple tips and tricks when you go out. So you can, you know, sort of stay on your health journey and make sure that you, you know, you can eat and splurge and try some cool foods and different things. I think that's what makes eating out fun, but you can also do it in a manner that's, you know, that's advantageous to your health.

(3m 38s):

So here we go. Let me go through some tips, one, you know, going to dinner in and having a little bit of something even before a healthy snack before is not a bad idea, this, this way. You're not sort of like, feel like you're gorging at dinner. You know, maybe a healthy little snack. Maybe it's a handful of nuts or some raw veggies before you go out. Another tip is if you don't, if you want to prevent sort of a big insulin spike, not to say that having an insulin spike is necessarily unhealthy. It's not, but if you cut a water with some apple cider vinegar, this this will help prevent a big insulin spike at dinner.

(4m 19s):

And it is also quite satisfying as well. So you can give that one a try. Another one, another great tip. I love is asking the server to refrain from bringing bread to the table. Honestly, I don't really eat bread at all. I would say we really grains in general. You know, I think if, if you're going to have bread, make it yourself, maybe a quality homemade sourdough bread, but everything else is just processed too much in general, whether it's whole grain or white bread. I mean, if you, if you do want to try a bread, there's a bread called Ezekiel bread and it's in the frozen part of the market.

(4m 59s):

So that's a, that's a healthier grain that, that is definitely worth checking out if you liked it, if you want to have some bread, but in general, if you ask the server the refrain from bringing bread, then you won't be tempted next, like starting also your meal with some type of healthy, super side salad, I think is a great way to go. You'll be less likely to maybe overeat during the meal because, you know, you'll get some fiber have been even some water, obviously from the salad as well. And this is, this is, this has helped to, you know, keep you satisfied and, and fill you up. So that's a great way to start the meal. Also drinking some water before the meal is not a bad way to go either.

(5m 42s):

We always talk about actually, if you listen to my last micro podcast of the importance of maybe having water in a little bit of salt in there, just for some electrolytes and some soap, sodium and potassium and magnesium, you know, you could do a, you could do a, a mineral drop, or you can just maybe do like some of these like element, which I mentioned in the last episode, these little electrolyte powders you could put in the water anyways. I think it's, it's not a bad idea to do that as well. A lot of times you think you're hungry, but you're actually just thirsty. Next is just, this is a big one is avoiding fried foods. And the creamy sauce is in the breaded items. You know, this is so important because you know, obviously fried foods are fried in some type of vegetable oil and, you know, vegetable oils, as we know can cause inflammation, you know, when they're heated at high temperatures, you know, you're essentially, it's called causing some oxidative stress and is going to cause inflammation.

(6m 47s):

And it's not going to be good for your mitochondria. So we want to avoid the fried foods for sure. Ask maybe to get them grilled braised or steamed, or even pan-seared as opposed to being fried. So that's a big one. Another one too, is maybe ask the server what your food is being cooked in. A lot of times, if I go to a restaurant, I order eggs, I'll say, you know, instead of cooking it in canola oil or, you know, sunflower oil or safflower oil, which most 99% of the restaurants were cooking them in these cheap vegetable oils, ask them to cook it in olive oil or ghee or butter or tallow, or, you know, some type of animal fat, the saturated fats can, can handle the high heat as opposed to these refined vegetable oils, which just cannot handle the heat and get oxidized.

(7m 46s):

And that's not good for your body. So that causes inflammation in the long run. So I know it might seem like a pain, but, you know, I would ask the server what, what they're cooking in and, and ask for a healthy option other than just these vegetable oils. So don't be afraid to ask also, don't be afraid to ask maybe for some healthy substitutions, you know, instead of French fries, I'll have a baked potato or a side of, I dunno, side of asparagus, whatever it is, that's a big one as well. So, you know, those are the main tips and tricks I would say that you should do when you're going out. And I think this can, you know, you can still enjoy your meal and get, get some, get some foods that maybe you wouldn't make it home, but, but also keep, keep it on the healthier side.

(8m 31s):

So, you know, I think in an ideal world, we can all cook for ourselves because we know that we know exactly what's going in our food. And I think over, over the quarantine and the COVID, the COVID era, a lot of people were cooking for themselves. And I think that actually helped people with their weight. Some people that went the other way and they ended up ordering in every night. And that doesn't, that, that doesn't do you so good. So nothing wrong with every once in a while, maybe once or twice a week, but if you're doing it ordering in every night, I would be, you know, I would think twice about that. So anyways, those are the tips I wanted to go through. You know, when, when, when eating out it might not be a perfect thing and that's okay.

(9m 14s):

It's not about being perfect. It's just about taking these small little steps that could, you know, could help you just maintain or optimize your health, whether you're eating in or going out. So, you know, if you have any questions regarding this, let me know, send me an email, brian@briangreen.com and hopefully you're enjoying these micro podcasts. And yeah, so, so that's all I wanted to touch on today is, you know, you can still eat out, enjoy it, you know, socialize with friends and family, but also do it in a responsible manner. So I appreciate you listening to the podcast. Hopefully you're enjoying all these episodes. If you have any questions, like I said, email me, brian@briangreen.com and enjoy the rest of your week.

(9m 60s):

I'll talk to you on Friday. Thanks for listening to the get lean, eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member. That's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.

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