Humans are social animals, so we won’t always be eating on our own at home. We’ll need something to eat while we’re out working or shopping, or we’ll want to eat out with friends and family. This is another area in life that used to come easily, but where we’re going to have to learn a whole new approach.
Disclaimer: The advice on this website has come out of my own experience in my own particular situation. Where it contradicts your nutritionist’s advice, please ignore mine. Your nutritionist knows best.
Contents:
Family Dinners and Dinner Parties
Take Out Snacks
If we’re going to be out of the house for any length of time, especially in our early days, we’ll need to ensure we have something to eat to sustain us in the meantime. It isn’t easy finding something suitable to buy on the run, so we might prefer a take-out snack from home. Again, let me remind you to check with your nutritionist when and if you can eat the following.
§ A small banana, apple or mandarin
§ A snack bag of grapes, orange sections, cherry tomatoes, snack carrots or cucumbers
§ A snack bag of mixed nuts and/or dried fruit, roasted chickpeas or fava beans
§ A muesli, nut or oat bar from the supermarket or sesame nut squares from the nut shop
§ A small wrap with a slice of cheese or deli meat with lettuce or spinach leaves
§ Homemade High Protein Biscuits, High Protein Muffins or Egg and Cheese Bites
§ Cheese, dip, tuna, chicken or deli meat with crackers, pre-packaged from the supermarket or assembled at home (see Quick and Healthy Snacks: Homemade Dips)
§ Cream cheese triangles, cheese slices/sticks or mini babybel
§ Salami sticks, beef jerky or similar
§ A single serve preserved fruit, yogurt or a similar packaged dessert
BYO Lunch
Perhaps, one of the high points in your working day was going out and buying your lunch, but now it might not be as easy to find something suitable. And then there’s the cost! Bringing lunch from home might be your best option all round. However, depending on your working situation, rather than bringing one lunch, a more viable option might be to bring several snacks which you can eat throughout the day.
Nevertheless, as well as the options above, here are a few more ideas to work with (especially if you have access to fridge and a microwave oven):
§ A serving of rice or pasta salad, frozen soup or savoury rice etc as found among the Cooking in Bulk recipes
§ A frozen or refrigerated prepared small meal or soup either from the supermarket or a delivery service (See Eating In with Next to No Cooking)
§ Soup-in-a-Mug ingredients in a sealed microwave mug, ready to go into the microwave oven with one or two savoury High Protein Biscuits on the side
§ ‘Make up at work’ options such as a combination of a snack size can of tuna and one of flavoured beans or chickpeas, or flavoured tuna or chicken with microwave rice or instant couscous
§ Cottage cheese, or canned chicken or tuna in mayonnaise or tomato with rice cakes or crackers
§ A bento lunch box with a selection of fruit, cheese, deli meats and hard-boiled egg etc
§ Store-bought or Homemade Dip with rice crackers, or celery and/or carrot sticks
§ Tuna Salad or Chicken Salad or Chickpeas and Mayo Salad with a few rice cakes or crackers
§ Two or three Egg and Cheese Bites, High Protein Muffins, little quiches or pastries
§ Fresh salad with dressing in a jar to be added just before serving (See Cold Salads from the Pantry for ideas) (Tip: If you like garlicky salad dressing, it would be a great way to re-use those crushed garlic jars that never seem to lose the smell.)
§ Fruit salad with some yoghurt on the side
Food Halls and Shopping Malls
If you’re out shopping, you might stop to have something to eat in a food hall. There’ll be a wide range of food to choose from, so take your time and browse them all before making your choice. You don’t want to make a hasty decision and then notice a much better choice as you’re walking out.
Even if you’re eating in, you might consider ordering in a takeaway container in case the serve proves too big to eat at one sitting. Don’t be shy about ordering off-menu and asking for a simplified version of their fancier offerings, or just the fillings without the bun.
In your early days you might not be able to each much, but there are a few options:
§ In a coffee shop, you’ll generally find that a small soy milk or skinny hot chocolate or cappuccino is enough on its own.
§ In most shopping centres and food halls you can usually find soup, grilled fish, chicken nuggets, a roast potato or a small pastry.
When you’re ready for larger portions, your choice widens, somewhat:
§ You’re sure to find stalls selling Chinese, Japanese or Indian food, where you can get a bowl of soup, a small plate of rice with a spoonful of two or three dishes, or two or three dumplings, spring rolls or samosas.
§ From the European style stalls, you might find a piece of fish or chicken, a bowl of soup or pasta, a wrap or a pastry.
§ If you enjoy Japanese food, the selection from a sushi bar is ideal. Sashimi is light and easily digestible while a sushi roll is the perfect meal, just the right size and easily digestible. (However, it might be some time before you can digest the nori wrapping. Check with your nutritionist.)
§ Vietnamese rice paper rolls are also the right size and easily digestible. In the same shop you’ll also be able to get small servings of noodle soup.
Cafés, Bistros and Pubs
In your early days, it would be wise to meet up with friends just for coffee, and you’ll most likely find that a small soy milk or skinny hot chocolate or cappuccino is enough on its own. Later, you might be able to manage a light lunch, in which case you can extend your range.
If you’re having a day out or catching up with friends for coffee or a quick lunch, it might be a good idea to plan ahead to make sure you don’t get flustered, rushed or pressured into choosing something unsuitable. Fortunately, especially with the popularity of home delivery these days, you can look up the menus of most venues online. Some of their websites even give you the specifications of their dishes that will help with your choice.
Most franchised restaurants offer suitable soups, entrées or side dishes. Cafés usually serve soup, frittata, quiche or sausage roll. If breakfast is still on offer, you could ask for eggs without the trimmings and perhaps with toast on the side. Bistros and pubs often have an interesting range of entrées which, most likely, will be more than enough for you. If you must order from the mains menu, fish is probably your best option, which you can usually order grilled and with salad instead of chips.
Don’t be shy about asking if you can order from the kids’ or seniors’ menu. The management will generally be understanding if you explain your situation.
Restaurants
Eating in restaurants with friends can sometimes be awkward. If you have a say in the choice of restaurant, you might suggest an Asian or Middle Eastern one where you can share dishes. This gives you the choice to eat as little or as much as you like without your friends even noticing.
In a European style restaurant, I’ve found the best strategy is to refrain from the antipasto and order an entrée only. By the time we get to dessert, I’m usually able to indulge in something light such as fruit, sorbet or a scoop of ice cream.
If you do happen to order more than you can eat, don’t be embarrassed to ask for a container to take the rest home. After all, you’ve paid for it and the restaurant will only throw it away.
Family Dinners and Dinner Parties
Eating with family can sometimes be problematic, especially if you come from a family where eating together is central to family life. You may be urged to eat more than you should, and a refusal might be taken as a rebuff. You may have to be strong, and explain your situation to your friends and family, stressing that eating too much will make you feel very ill. You might find, however, that you can keep your family happy by packing up part of the meal to take home to eat later.
If you’re invited to a dinner party, it would be wise to have a quiet word with your host about your surgery before you sit down to dinner, so that they will understand why you’re not eating much and not be offended or worried about their cooking.