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‘Tis the season to be invited out to restaurants…
I
have made it a habit to look through every restaurant menu to find the best
food option. This is my little thing
and one of the reasons of course is so that I can counsel my clients
better. But it’s not the only
reason. Has anybody every said to
you that you couldn’t do something or other? What was your reaction? Mine has always been to do everything in
my power to prove them wrong!
When
I was in grade 8, my teacher said I would never be able to write properly
because I didn’t like to read. She
was right about the reading part (and this is something I learned to
appreciate much later in life) however she was way off on the writing
part. I like to think that I can put
together a few words to enlighten and inspire people… My grade 9 teacher said I would never be
a good violin player unless I cut my long nails (painted red if you
please…) well didn’t he have to eat his words when in grade 12 I was
awarded the highest marks in music and was granted the title of Concert
Master… with long nails and all…
So
when it comes to eating out, I look for the “needle in the haystack” option
in every restaurant menu. This, so that I can continue to say that there is
always something you can chose that will keep you compliant on Phase
1.
The
one thing I want to flag here is chicken.
Have you ever noticed that restaurant chicken doesn’t quite have the
same texture as the chicken you eat at home? Ever wonder why? The reason is that most restaurant
chicken that comes as a boneless chicken breast has been enhanced with what
they call seasonings. These seasonings are in fact a variety of things
starting with MSG and other preservatives and always sugar!
Take
for example the Lilydale precooked
turkey breast that you can buy in the grocery store. Amazing looking meat that is precooked,
pre-sliced and ready to eat. When
you look at the nutritional information it all looks great… zero carbs and
all this protein. Oh but wait, have
you checked the ingredients list?
Right there in the middle is the word sugar! Yep, I’m serious!
So
when you go to a restaurant and experience great tasting, tender to the
max, chicken, don’t even wonder for a second… there are carbs in there and
they come in the form of spices and meat enhancers.
Well
then, is there a time when you can eat chicken in restaurants? Yes of course… you can select chicken
when it comes on the bone… simply remove the skin and skip the dipping
sauce. A great choice however would
be steak or grilled salmon. It is
pretty hard to process those two and get away with it.
So
tonight, as we gathered at the Cage aux Sports in Gatineau, I was thrilled
to see a number of options that were phase 1 compatible… Double chicken leg
meal, half-chicken meal, steak and salmon.
All could be ordered with steamed vegetables which included
zucchini, red peppers and broccoli…
Pretty awesome when you can actually eat ALL of the vegetables!
So
if you thought that the only thing to have at a sports bar was nachos and
chicken wings, think again! There
aren’t many restaurants that leave me hungry!
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