So you’re doing pretty well so far: cooking at home, eating delicious food, and feeling pretty great. *Virtual high five* Hopefully you’re now feeling tiger blood coursing through your veins. Or don’t worry, you will be very soon! More energy, less stress, less cravings, better sleep…ISN’T. IT. AWESOME!?
UPDATE: I’m no longer creating any new Whole30 content. Learn why in this NEW podcast episode: I Quit Whole30.
You may be feeling a little ambitious now. You’ve tried out some new ingredients, recipes, and are (most likely) feeling, in general, a little pretty proud of yourself. But maybe…a little antisocial? Missing restaurants and not having to cook every. damn. meal?
NEWSFLASH, people. It is possible (and can even be enjoyable) to eat out at restaurants while you’re on the whole30! And it does NOT involve any plain steamed chicken and broccoli. (Though you could do that, if you like boring food.)
I know what you’re thinking.
WHAT?! What is this magic?! Seriously though. You can do it! Prime example: How about this breakfast burger with an egg, bacon and tomato on top…that I got in an AIRPORT in Lisbon, Portugal? Totally Whole30-friendly. And totally delicious.
Boom. Drop the mic and leave.
tip #1: Go with a game plan and do some googling before you go.
Know that you’re going to have to be that guy/girl at the restaurant asking the waiter multiple questions about what your food is being cooked in, if any sugar was added, and (if necessary) telling them you can’t eat gluten/dairy/etc. They may or may not look at you like a crazy person. As someone who has severe gluten and dairy intolerances, I have to do this every single time I go out to eat. You’re preaching to the choir, folks: I get you.
Check menus online before you go to make sure there’s something GOOD you can eat. Not only good for you, but delicious-sounding too. Then you won’t go hungry or feel deprived at all!
tip #2: Make it easier on yourself. You don’t need to tell the whole world WHY you’re eating “this way”.
DON’T try to explain to all your friends, family, relatives, co-workers, random people you happen to be at dinner with, etc. why you’re doing a Whole30 and eating “this way” unless you want to dig yourself into a BIG, gaping, nutritional debate hole. Everyone has their own STRONG opinions about food, and you don’t want to get in to that when you’re just trying to enjoy a meal. You don’t want people to think you’re judging them for what you’re not eating. Simply tell them you just eat this way. Most of the time, they won’t even notice anything different: just chat the waiter as discretely as possible about what you’re ordering instead of yelling them across the room.
And if they give you a bread/chips basket, send it to the other end of the table…or back with the waiter. Why torture yourself and stare at it until your food arrives?
tip #3: Focus on what you CAN eat, not what you CAN’T.
Here comes the tough love part. Stop RIGHT NOW feeling sorry for yourself that you can’t eat the bread or pasta at an Italian restaurant, the corn tortilla chips and beans at a Mexican restaurant, the slice of pie at your favorite pizza joint, etc. There’s a reason you started on this Whole30 journey in the first place: to feel BETTER. We all know what beans do to you. Trust me, you (and whoever you share a room with) will be MUCH happier later when you’re not dutch ovening yourself thanks to those musical fruits. Yeah, I just went there. You were all thinking it, I’m just saying it. Think how much better you’ll feel after NOT indulging in bread, pizza, pasta, rice, beans, etc… and dessert? Food baby (and REALLY painful symptoms for some) avoided. #winning.
Instead, learn how to navigate menus for things you CAN eat. After many years of being both gluten and lactose intolerant and being that girl at restaurants, I’ve got some hard-earned experience with this. So you don’t have to navigate the scary world of paleo/whole30 eating at restaurants all on your lonesome. You’re welcome!
Just like when you’re cooking at home, prioritize this formula when eating out: Veggies + protein + healthy fats. When in doubt, go with a grilled meat and veggies, or a salad with oil and vinegar. Pop an egg or half an avocado on anything and you’ve got a tasty, flavor-packed meal. Simple, right?
Here are some of my go-to’s at restaurants:
American
Grilled meat or fish with a side of veggies or salad. Burgers with no bun (go for a lettuce wrap or on a bed of greens) – ask for extra veggie toppings. My favorite salad: cobb! Ask for no cheese, and dress it with oil and vinegar.
Brunch/Diners
Eggs with grilled meat, roasted vegetables and/or fruit. Be sure to ask about milk in omelets!
Fast Casual
Places like Sweetgreen, Chopt, Cava grille, Roti, Panera, and Chipotle are great – where you can choose your own ingredients. But REMEMBER to stick to meat, tons of veggies, and fats like avocado and oil and vinegar dressings (check the ingredients!). You can usually google ingredient lists online before you go, just to double check.
Chipotle is my favorite, go-to Whole30 restaurant meal. Grab a bowl with no rice (or a salad) with carnitas, pico/salsa, and guacamole. The other meats and fajita veggies are cooked in rice bran oil, which is a no-no for Whole30. (but otherwise, not a bad choice!)
Mexican
Go for fajitas! Nix the corn, beans and rice. Pile up the grilled meats, veggies, salsa and guac!
Italian
Grilled meats or seafood + veggies or salad. At Maggianos I always get the chicken saltimbocca (chicken with prosciutto) and make sure to tell them I have a gluten/dairy allergy so they don’t bread it or put cheese on top. You could also get a red sauce on top, or a lemon based sauce.
Steakhouse
Pretty simple to keep it Whole30-friendly here. Just go for some meat and veggies. (seeing a trend here?) This works at brazilian steakhouses too!
Sushi/Asian Restaurants
Try out this genius idea from Strongfitpaleo. Instead of letting everyone else go out to eat sushi without her, she brought her own cauliflower rice and got sashimi. I would bring my own coconut aminos too. You might get some weird looks, but hey – you get to eat out and not worry about it!
Thai
Go for curries. Check with the server to make sure there’s no sugar in the sauce, which is normally made with coconut milk. Ask for no rice (or pawn it off on a friend).
Not ready to brave the restaurant scene? Try out these tips!
- Organize a dinner party at your house. Cook food you know you’ll be able to eat, and if guests want to bring something, tell them to bring a fruit salad for dessert. Skip the wine. Guaranteed if you’re making some tasty food, they won’t even notice anything different. And you’ll still be sticking to the Whole30. Wins all around! Try some of these fancy a** meals to impress your guests…
- If you’re along for the Whole30 ride with others in your area…host a Whole30 potluck with some friends! Some great potluck food ideas:
- OR, Make socializing not all about the food. Go out to concerts, comedy shows, etc…anything but a wine bar or happy hour. If you’re not comfortable navigating restaurants or bars yet, you don’t want to put yourself through the misery of watching everyone else partake in something you usually enjoy and feel deprived. Have a snack before you go, and you’re good!
Even more Whole30 Resources for you!
*this guide is my creation, and is not affiliated with the Whole30 program.*
This is a great guide! And such perfect timing, I just posted this in my Whole30 support group on FB since one of the girls was asking about this exact topic this morning 🙂
I love Chipotle, but I heard some of the restaurants aren’t currently serving carnitas. I haven’t checked my local spots yet :/
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/chipotle-hundreds-restaurants-pork-menu/story?id=28217932
Aw thank you!! I’m so glad to hear it’ll be useful to you and your group 🙂 But what! I just heard about that this morning too. That stinks!! If only they would stop using rice bran oil in all their other meats and veggies, then we’d be good. But at least they stopped using soybean oil like they used to!
Day 11 and occasional Tiger Blood followed by the sleepies around 8! Whole30 has done amazing things for my leg nerve and it’s pretty motivating to keep going! In my case, no pain is gain :)…crack myself up!
I find my go to meal at a restaurants (and we love them in this household) is a Shrimp Louie with smuggled in dressing. Can’t go wrong…well actually I got one the other day and they served it with all these deep fried crispy things on top…argh! But I can usually have that and an iced tea and I feel pretty happy.
Great post…pinned!
Kathi
Haha no kidding! I was feeling great this weekend, but by 8-9 pm I’m totally dead. Maybe because I’ve been in class for 9 hours each day this weekend! And haha, I love punny jokes 🙂
I’ve never had shrimp louie! Great idea though, sounds fantastic!
Hi Dana, I just had to check back with you…..I pinned this a year ago and it has been repinned thousands of times! It is consistently in my top. 10 rep ins every month! All from my one pin! Kinda cool!
Hey Kathi,
The post went viral! I’m glad so many people are being helped by it 🙂 Especially with January right around the corner, I’m re-vamping the post so I can help even more! Glad it’s helping you too!
Thank you for posting this. It was very helpful but also deeply saddening… I have been clumsily following the paleo diet now for over a year and have a VERY VERY busy, unstable life so I rely on restaurants (especially Chipotle more than I should); however, I also do not eat pork or beef so the news of the rice bran oil completely threw me… In a mild panic right now but that certainly explains some things about how my body reacts to food…
The learning continues….
Hi Kim,
Of course! So glad it was helpful to you. Don’t panic! It’s a learning curve, and you’ve got to start somewhere. Honestly, rice bran oil should be the least of your worries when switching to a paleo diet. It’s more about eliminating the other pro-inflammatory foods like processed junk and sugar, grains, legumes, and dairy (for some). Then you can really fine-tune it and see what your body does and doesn’t react to. Sounds like you’re doing a good job so far 🙂 Let me know if you need any other advice!
One side note – my grandparents used to own a restaurant and always put a little butter on steaks, and I think many restaurants put a tab of butter on the steak when cooking. So even if you are at a steakhouse, you have to watch for butter on the steaks. That’s probably the trickiest part – a LOT of restaurants have some sort of butter on their meats for steak and seafood. (although if you tell them you have dairy allergy, hopefully that would solve that problem!)
I don’t have any of the restaurants mentioned as “good options” in my area. The closest I could find was a stir-fry restaurant (Hu-hot) where you can skip the noodles, load up on meat and veges, and pick certain sauces that don’t contain soy. Hope this helps!
Hey Tina,
Thanks so much for your response! I think you’re right. Since I’m lactose intolerant, whenever I order steak at a restaurant, I always double check to make sure there isn’t any butter used on the steak. Great tip though!
As for finding places in your area, look for any fast-casual types, or even a place that has a buffet/salad bar where you can choose your options to load up on the goodies! That place (Hu-hot) sounds amazing!
Dana
Hey there! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to take
a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my
followers! Great blog and wonderful design.
Hey Fred, thanks so much! 🙂
Ok I’m on my first whole 30, which means I’m essentially paranoid. I feel like a lot of the listings above wouldn’t actually be compliant. Anyone that’s had to grocery shop for whole30 food knows that almost every processed meat on this planet has added sugar, including bacon, prosciutto, etc and or nitrates. Tons of restaurants marinade meats with sweeteners, and a lot of the signature spice blends they use have sugar in them. So, are the specs on the above confirmed good to go, or just the basis?sorry. Not trying to be a know it all, just trying to eat out for the next two meals as we were on the road at a last minute jaunt.
Hey Jen!
I’ve been exactly in your shoes, I know what you mean! It gets easier every day, and with each round of whole30 you do, so just keep that in mind 🙂 You’re right – it’s hard to find bacon that is whole30 compliant, but it does exist! US Wellness Meats makes a brand, as does Wellshire Farms, and a few others that I’ve seen at my local whole foods. The prosciutto I get at costco only has the ingredients “pork, salt”, so I would keep looking around and see what you can find. You’re completely right about restaurants – for whole30, getting bacon there is not the best option, because you never know what’s in it. Just ask about the spice blends for sugar. For salads, I just ask for oil and vinegar, and to season things, my go-to is lemon juice, salt and pepper. Hope that helps!
Super helpful actually! Thank you so much for responding!
You’re very welcome! 🙂
I was wondering the same things about the meats in restaurants. I completed my first whole 30 in October, and am starting again next month, this time without a 30 day end date (longer, not shorter). I made the mistake of ordering grilled chicken at a restaurant, on day 28, and asked for the meat to be seasoned with just salt and pepper. It came out and I noticed it smelled sweet…sure enough, they marinate all of their chicken in Italian dressing, plain was never an option. I’m definitely nervous about restaurants still, but I feel like maybe I’ll have a better handle on situations like that this time around…
I’m so happy I found your website! I just bought the Whole 30 book, and have been worried about how I’m going to manage without eating out. My boyfriend and I love going out to dinner on the weekends (who doesn’t, right?), and this guide made me feel a little less anxious. Thanks for the info!
Hey Brittany,
You’re welcome! So glad I could help 🙂 As long as you plan in advance, you will be fine! Just double check ingredients with your server, and have fun!
Dana