Are you a vegan or raw food vegan trying to determine how you're going to maintain and hopefully grow your social life? One of the biggest challenges can be dining out with friends and family. There's no avoiding this--eating out socially is probably the most popular activity in our culture.
Rest assured, it is definitely possible to eat a healthy, raw, satiating meal while out to eat with friends or family. The key here to maintaining your new healthy diet, as it is while traveling, is planning ahead and packing some food with you!
You'll probably want to order some sort of salad from the menu. This could be an entree salad without the meat or a double-order of the simple side salad. Maybe you can even choose the organic or local salad if they offer one--all the better for you!
Never be afraid to ask your server to customize a salad for you. You can create your own salad by looking at the menus salads and entree side vegetables to know what ingredients the restaurant has on hand. Ask for a big salad with greens, other than iceberg, as the base and a variety of different chopped raw vegetables on it. Ask for as many different colored vegetables as possible. If the restaurant has any guacamole or avocado anywhere on the menu--fantastic! Now you know they have avocados in their kitchen and you can ask for avocado to be put on your salad as well if you'd like.
Of course, try to be as polite and as discrete as you can and they will most likely do their best to help you. Your customized salad can lead to the most gorgeous and most colorful salad the restaurant has ever seen! Your salad might just have people turning their heads in your direction asking where was that on the menu? That looks amazing! For salad dressing you could choose the restaurants vinaigrette, lemon juice, or oil and vinegar on the side.
In case your salad and vegetables does nut supply your body with the calories, fat, or protein that it's used to, you may want to bring a long a supplemental snack. You may be very glad you did in case it will be hours before you get a chance to eat again. In your purse or jacket pocket, you could bring along some trail mix, dried fruit (can double as a dessert!), your favorite on-the-go snack bar, etc in a small plastic baggie.
One of the worst things when eating out with friends and family is to still be hungry and thinking about eating while there is great conversation being made all around you. You want to feel comfortable and happy enough with your meal that you can be in the present moment and not give a second thought to what you just ate. This is probably the most important social aspects of succeeding with a special diet--to do whatever it takes to be happy and satiated with our meals out!
You could also supplement your salad with super-nutritious foods such as hemp seeds and sea veggies but be prepared, as this could definitely turn some heads. It depends on how comfortable you are around the party you're with. There is a well-known raw foodist in Chicago who does this to her salads at cooked-food restaurants and swears by it. She knows it raises the vibration of the food before it reaches her mouth.
Here are some more tips for vegans and raw foodists dining out at a cooked food restaurant:
Nuts and seeds that come on salad are usually coated in sugar, or "candied" so be careful. Be sure to watch out for cheese or dairy-based salad dressings, like ranch, that come automatically on the salad and ask for it to be left out. It helps tremendously to pack some sort of sweet snack with you to eat after your meal--especially if you have a sweet tooth and will be tempted by others' desserts. If you're not entirely "raw," don't hesitate to ask your server for some steamed vegetables on the side of your salad or as an entree.
Others in your party may or may not notice what you're doing. If you're comfortable, confident, and nonchalant about what you're doing, they probably wont notice. They're more likely to notice and focus on you if you feel uncomfortable and embarrassed about it yourself. Others may be a bit interested in what you're eating and will even comment on how good your food looks!
If and when people ask about your diet, have a simple definition planned and memorized that you can give them. If you don't want the entire dinner conversation to focus on your new diet, just say its how you prefer to eat right now or you're trying something new out for a while. In a nutshell, choose your line and deliver it in a positive and confident way.
If going out with a larger group of people, you can always eat beforehand as well. Telling others that you just ate due to a late lunch usually fares well. If you're going to be out and about for a while after the meal, you may want to bring some sort of snack or trail mix with you though just in case end up getting hungry later.
In time, you will definitely get used to how to eat out at any type of restaurant--whether or not it caters to vegetarians, vegans, or raw-foodists. Dining at fine restaurants may not be as fun as it used to be, but that's because you know you can eat a much healthier and more satisfying meal at home for pennies on the dollar now. Try proposing a night out for your non-vegan friends at your favorite restaurant. This is a great way to show them how much fun and creative gourmet healthy vegan or raw-vegan food can be.
Rest assured, it is definitely possible to eat a healthy, raw, satiating meal while out to eat with friends or family. The key here to maintaining your new healthy diet, as it is while traveling, is planning ahead and packing some food with you!
You'll probably want to order some sort of salad from the menu. This could be an entree salad without the meat or a double-order of the simple side salad. Maybe you can even choose the organic or local salad if they offer one--all the better for you!
Never be afraid to ask your server to customize a salad for you. You can create your own salad by looking at the menus salads and entree side vegetables to know what ingredients the restaurant has on hand. Ask for a big salad with greens, other than iceberg, as the base and a variety of different chopped raw vegetables on it. Ask for as many different colored vegetables as possible. If the restaurant has any guacamole or avocado anywhere on the menu--fantastic! Now you know they have avocados in their kitchen and you can ask for avocado to be put on your salad as well if you'd like.
Of course, try to be as polite and as discrete as you can and they will most likely do their best to help you. Your customized salad can lead to the most gorgeous and most colorful salad the restaurant has ever seen! Your salad might just have people turning their heads in your direction asking where was that on the menu? That looks amazing! For salad dressing you could choose the restaurants vinaigrette, lemon juice, or oil and vinegar on the side.
In case your salad and vegetables does nut supply your body with the calories, fat, or protein that it's used to, you may want to bring a long a supplemental snack. You may be very glad you did in case it will be hours before you get a chance to eat again. In your purse or jacket pocket, you could bring along some trail mix, dried fruit (can double as a dessert!), your favorite on-the-go snack bar, etc in a small plastic baggie.
One of the worst things when eating out with friends and family is to still be hungry and thinking about eating while there is great conversation being made all around you. You want to feel comfortable and happy enough with your meal that you can be in the present moment and not give a second thought to what you just ate. This is probably the most important social aspects of succeeding with a special diet--to do whatever it takes to be happy and satiated with our meals out!
You could also supplement your salad with super-nutritious foods such as hemp seeds and sea veggies but be prepared, as this could definitely turn some heads. It depends on how comfortable you are around the party you're with. There is a well-known raw foodist in Chicago who does this to her salads at cooked-food restaurants and swears by it. She knows it raises the vibration of the food before it reaches her mouth.
Here are some more tips for vegans and raw foodists dining out at a cooked food restaurant:
Nuts and seeds that come on salad are usually coated in sugar, or "candied" so be careful. Be sure to watch out for cheese or dairy-based salad dressings, like ranch, that come automatically on the salad and ask for it to be left out. It helps tremendously to pack some sort of sweet snack with you to eat after your meal--especially if you have a sweet tooth and will be tempted by others' desserts. If you're not entirely "raw," don't hesitate to ask your server for some steamed vegetables on the side of your salad or as an entree.
Others in your party may or may not notice what you're doing. If you're comfortable, confident, and nonchalant about what you're doing, they probably wont notice. They're more likely to notice and focus on you if you feel uncomfortable and embarrassed about it yourself. Others may be a bit interested in what you're eating and will even comment on how good your food looks!
If and when people ask about your diet, have a simple definition planned and memorized that you can give them. If you don't want the entire dinner conversation to focus on your new diet, just say its how you prefer to eat right now or you're trying something new out for a while. In a nutshell, choose your line and deliver it in a positive and confident way.
If going out with a larger group of people, you can always eat beforehand as well. Telling others that you just ate due to a late lunch usually fares well. If you're going to be out and about for a while after the meal, you may want to bring some sort of snack or trail mix with you though just in case end up getting hungry later.
In time, you will definitely get used to how to eat out at any type of restaurant--whether or not it caters to vegetarians, vegans, or raw-foodists. Dining at fine restaurants may not be as fun as it used to be, but that's because you know you can eat a much healthier and more satisfying meal at home for pennies on the dollar now. Try proposing a night out for your non-vegan friends at your favorite restaurant. This is a great way to show them how much fun and creative gourmet healthy vegan or raw-vegan food can be.
About the Author:
Lenette Nakauchi is a raw vegan foodist living in Chicago who loves sharing, teaching, and showing to others how to go and stay raw in a fun, healthy, sustainable way. Learn more about the raw food lifestyle and about superfoods by visiting her informational websites www.gorawhavefun.com and www.eatsuperfoods.com.
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