How do you Restaurant-Keto?

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(Dan Dan) #41

I find these the easiest because they cook to order and are happy to customize and a la carte :yum:

(TJ Borden) #42

I can’t do it. I can skip bread at restaurants easy enough, but I can’t resist chips and salsa on the table.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #43

Lots of sauces with hidden carbs in chinese… cornstarch as a thickener for sauces, sugar in a lot of sauces, and so on. Lots of hidden corn and sugar in Mexican. Depending on the quality of the restaurant, they can be easier or harder, but as you go down the value scale, gets a lot harder.

And tons of people cannot resist the chips and salsa.

(Dan Dan) #44

That’s were the customize comes in :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I’m very lucky my favorite Chinese and Mexican restaurants are low carb friendly even without customizing. I can eat my favorite meals about 50 net carbs and stay in ketosis :yum::innocent:

(Cailyn Mc Cauley) #45

I’m such a dunce! I never thought to order that way.

(Cailyn Mc Cauley) #46

I use my chips as my carbs for the day. I prefer the green avocado - tomatillo dressing as my “salsa”

(Sophie) #47

Last time I was at a Mexican place I asked if they had chicharones to sub for the chips…they didn’t, of course, but next time if I know in advance I might just take some of my own!

(Cailyn Mc Cauley) #48

What a good idea! I’ll try that too…

(TJ Borden) #49

I tried that once. Then I told myself I’d just use the next days carbs… next thing I know, I’m telling the waiter “yes, I would like another basket of chips, thank you”

(Cailyn Mc Cauley) #50

Hahaha! I guess my journey has really squelched that behavior. My few chips with the fattiness of the avocado dressing do it for me.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #51

Exactly. Maybe someday I’ll have the control not to want just one chip that turns into two baskets.

(Brian) #52

It is hard to do Mexican if you don’t have good control. I guess I’m a little more fortunate than most in that I can have just a few chips and be pretty satisfied with that. I do tend to have about as much salsa and guacamole on that chip as there is real estate to put it so maybe I’m minimizing the actual chip part of it somewhat that way.

At one time, I really did want the second basket of chips. Not anymore. A few will do.

Steak or chicken with veggies in a Mexican flair can be pretty keto friendly.

I don’t live near a good Chinese restaurant so don’t really have any experience there since going keto. I would think the typical cheap Chinese restaurant would be more difficult than Mexican. But it might depend upon the restaurant.

(Doug) #53

Truer words were never spoken, Brian.

(Dan Dan) #54

Each restaurant corn chip is 1g carbs and I can wipe out two baskets without thinking if service is slow :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

of course thät was the old me :wink:

(Doug) #55

Dan, have to laugh - very familiar experience there. I met my wife-to-be 22 years ago, and for a long time mexican restaurants were a big thing of ours. Chips and salsa, with a bowl of the hot cheese to dip them in, too. We’d always get too full on them to be able to fully enjoy our main course dinner or even physically consume it all. You would think that after the 15th or 20th time of doing that, we’d learn, but no…

(Cynthia Martel) #56

That’s what the forum is for! Getting good ideas from one another! I love your chicharron idea for the Mexican restaurant! Just perfect!

(Beth) #57

OMG so true. As you may know we’ve been doing an AIP elimination diet and I’ve been staying keto. So at my husband’s suggestion (what was he thinking???) we went to a Mexican restaurant with non keto friends. Our order went something like this, “We will take the steak fajitas with no beans, no rice, no green or red peppers. Can you add broccoli and double the guac?”

At that point the waiter looked at us as if we had three heads. But he happily accommodated our request! haha. No more Mexican restaurants!

(Renee Slaughter) #58

But you didn’t do badly. I thought I would have to cut out the Mexican food. But I see how you did it. Well done

#59

I think that works well. Add the sour cream, cheese and lettuce, no problem

I find Mexican and steak houses and diners to be the easiest and Italian and Japanese or Chinese to be the hardest although recently at an Asian fusion place. Had a Naruto Roll (no rice), gluten free soy sauce and a stir fryed steak and vegetables and miso soup and so much green tea. While that may prevent me from losing if there are hidden carbs on the steak, in general what triggers me are items that look like carbs. Such as rice and corn, not hidden carbs as much

(Cailyn Mc Cauley) #60

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Chorizo, Eggs, Sour Cream, Avocado. No hash browns, no toast.

Yep, that’s how I Restaurant Keto at Mid-Town Santa Rosa.