Heart healthy restaurants

[SJ1000]

Good Morning all,

How do you all find it to eat heart healthy when out at restaurants, pubs etc. there’s only so much chicken salad a man can take!!

[Hidden]

Dear SJ1000

Good luck looking for the holy grail !

All you can do is have smaller portions or just limit how many times as Outoftheblues states, you go out.

Now and then wont harm you and the lift mentally is fantastic for your health.

DO NOT GO FOR VEGAN options , { I’m vegan } most dishes have a lot more calories than the meat equivalent .

Just enjoy your life the best you can, maybe put that scoop of extra chips back, or onto my plate

Take care { I'm always up for a curry }

[SJ1000 in reply to Hidden]

Brilliant comments. Thank you. This whole thread has just got me thinking about a heart healthy restaurant with a tasty low fat low salt menu. I just wonder if I might give it a go.

[Hidden]

One of my Favourites!

[jeanjeannie50]

Would love to have your recipe please, or tell me where I can find it.

Jean

[Chappychap]

I eat out quite a lot, but like you I try to maintain a heart healthy diet. I also want to maintain a healthy BMI which adds to the challenge!

One thing I clearly see is that even quite innocuous meals can bump up my weight by a couple of pounds. I've come to the conclusion that chefs are very generous with salt, where as at home I eat a low salt diet. As soon as I have a bit of extra salt I retain far more liquid, which is why my weight jumps up, at least for a few days until it settles back down.

For an isolated meal I ignore it, but if I'm eating out several days in succession I'll sometimes ask the waiter for an unseasoned meal.

Other little tricks I've picked up are to ask for sauces to be served on the side (generally i don't need more than a third or a quarter of the allocated sauce portion), to skip desserts (or perhaps split one dessert with my wife), and to have a grilled fish main course.

A big part of the pleasure of eating out is the company, the ambience, and the occasion. Shovelling down mouthfuls of food is, for me at least, a surprisingly small part of the joy!

[Heather1957 in reply to Chappychap]

I do agree with your last comment but TBH if I am paying for a meal I want to enjoy that too.

[MountainGoat52 in reply to Chappychap]

You only need to watch a TV chef in action and it's a handful of salt here, a handful there. If that translates to restaurants, heaven help us! 😯

[Pollypuss]

I’m afraid this is the price we have to pay for being alive. I’ve reached the stage whereby eating out or being asked out for a meal is stressful, There are restaurants that serve healthy food but very rarely pubs. It makes you wonder whether the catering business shouldn’t give this some thought as it’s not just the people who actually have heart disease but some prevention for those who have not. They could adopt the the healthy continental diet which doesn’t have to be bland - just imaginative .

[Buddy00 in reply to Pollypuss]

But surely unless you are eating in the pub or restaurant everyday it’s not a problem

[Pollypuss in reply to Buddy00]

No - home eating is fine . You know what goes into the food but it’s hard to find an eating place that replicates your cooking.In my case I cannot tolerate lemons or anything with tomato’s . Try finding a restaurant whereby those ingredients aren’t used in some form

[SJ1000 in reply to Pollypuss]

Great comments. I don’t really eat out much as when I look at menus it feels like the industry is missing a trick and I have to eat the same basic foods or risk falling of the low fat wagon. Heart disease is the UKs biggest killer (I know when you dig at the variations in the data it’s not so clear cut) and yet heart healthy and tasty food is just not easily available. It made me think that maybe if there was a need out there, which it dose appear there is, then maybe there is a need for just such a restaurant. I’m due to retire early next year and I’m intrigued now to see if it’s a viable option.

[uzininemm]

I have to disagree with its not directly heart related, I think it is.

Go for it, would love to give it ago (with possibly my twist

😀)

[VickyHK72]

I feel your pain on this point! I have found that some restaurants have nutritional values online so I lookAt that ahead of my visit and pick out a few dishes that are lowest in sat fats. I find that helps me make a better decision than I would when looking at a menu when I’m hungry and sitting in the restaurant! As someone else also said, going for the fish option (not fried) is often the best as it’s the thing that’s least ‘messed about with’! I go for tomato based sauces, avoid the obvious like cheese, cream etc. I like Thai food but I avoid anything deep fried or with curry as that tends to have coconut milk/cream in it. Thai food does tend to have a lot of sugar in it though so be aware. I often eat out with a friend with type 1 diabetes and she is great as she’s very aware of what’s in different dishes. I try to eat out just once a month as it makes me quite anxious to not know what’s been added during the cooking process (salt etc)

[dinamariea]

I usually ask for a large salad, and I bring my own dressing, also a baked potato and steamed vegetables. I stay away from oil, salt, meat and dairy. I have learned that oil, salt, meat and dairy is not healthy and not good for our arteries. Read Dr. Esselstyn’s Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and Dr Fuhrman’s The end of Heart Disease if you want to learn more. There are some restaurants popping up here and there that offer very healthy choices but they are few and far right now, most restaurants use too much oil and salt. The Mediterranean diet is better than the Standard American Diet but the Whole Food Plant Based diet I believe has been proven to be better then the Mediterranean diet but not too many conventional doctors talk about that. Just getting people off the SAD diet to a Mediterranean diet will offer improvements if done correctly (more fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds, and less meat and dairy).

[rizal]

And I for one am pleased you have. All copies and saved by me. On top of my heary issues, I also have diabetes and for the first time ever my regular blood check has shown my long term sugars are down in the range of normal (so of course the doc cut my meds! meaning I have to try harder to maintain the level) so I shall try making that cauliflower rice to go with it, instead of real rice.

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

I can't take him seriously. He ballooned up to 28 stone then did programs on healthy eating And £33.50 for his Fish 'n' Chips is a joke! 😂😂😂

[Pollypuss]

I love tomato’s and lemons. It’s not an allergy but I have a very sensitive bladder and if I eat either of these I get cystitis which for me is very painful. Unlike my bypass pain this does not go with a couple of painkillers . In fact I would rate it one of the worst pains I have ever had. In a way I am lucky in that if I eat the wrong food like highly processed junk food and anything high in sugar I get it. That way I can keep my weight down and I manage to keep a low cholesterol level without statins