Eating Out: try a salad buffet

Eating out on a restricted diet can be difficult because every restaurant tends to load its dishes with salt, fat, sugar or all three. If you do find something you can eat, it likely won’t be a large enough portion to fill you either and you’ll just go home hungry and irate about your new limitations.

One solution I’ve found it to frequent all-you-can-eat salad buffets. In my area, I have two to pick from, Ruby Tuesday’s and Sweet Tomatoes.

A recent first trip to the salad buffet for me at Sweet Tomatoes.

Ruby Tuesday’s is good for a quick lunch salad but to really chow down, I enjoy Sweet Tomatoes. Check the website to see if there’s one in your area and if not, look for something similar. The sites lists 15 states with locations, under two different chain names. Continue reading “Eating Out: try a salad buffet” →

August 12, 2013 3

A fun piece, and who doesn’t like watermelon, I eat them half at a time!!!
John

via Watermelon… It's the berries!.

Watermelon… It’s the berries!

August 11, 2013 0

Salt free marinades — are they available in my area?

I wrote recently about two salt-free marinade lines I found online, Mrs Dash and Mr. Spice. I wrote each company to see if they were available in any food stores in the Chicago area since I have not seen them in mainstream supermarkets or at places like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Their answers are below.

Thank you for your interest and support!

We do not know of any locations locally for you to purchase our sauces locally.

You can order them on our site and get free shipping if you order 4 or more bottles.

Lang Pharma Nutrition, Inc.
20 Silva Lane
Middletown, RI 02842

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August 7, 2013 3

Salt free marinades — they do exist, search online

Restricted diets often mean no sauces on the foods you eat. Most sauces use a combination of the big three of death, salt, fat and sugar. So obviously they’re out.

Dry, boring food can be the result, so I’ve been searching for salt-free marinades to use in my cooking. I’ve found two brands and like different varieties in each.

The bad news is that neither of their salt-free teriyaki marinades/sauces does it for me, both compensate for the lack of salt with way too much pepper for my taste. I’m now using them sparingly on things like portobello mushrooms to finish the bottles.

The good news is that other varieties are passing my taste test and becoming regular parts of my new restricted diet. Continue reading “Salt free marinades — they do exist, search online” →

August 6, 2013 10

Lobster and grilled vegetables — an illustrated guide

I’ve written about creating a meal of lobster tails and grilled vegetables. Here’s a step-by-step illustrated guide:

Cut veggies into strips and coat with a salt-free marinade. I use either Mrs Dash or Mr Spice, each of which is available for purchase online (If you find them in a local store, let me know, I haven’t found them in any Chicago food outlet so far).

Peppers and mushrooms cut into slices and marinading in a salt-free marinade.

Cook them either outside on a grill or inside in a frying pan coated with canola oil spray.

I'm using my gas grill here but have done them on charcoal as well for an outdoorsy taste. — I’m using my gas grill here but have done them on charcoal as well for an outdoorsy taste.

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August 3, 2013 9

Lobster and grilled vegetables – a wonderful meal on a restricted diet

Lobster, as I’ve written before, is no longer considered the no-no it once was for people with heart and artery problems like me. A nutritionist who basically told me to eat only vegetables also said lobster is ok, in moderate amounts.

I’ve written previously that a four-ounce lobster tail has about 2.5 ounces of actual lobster meat in it. A serving, per American Heart Association guidelines, is 3.5 ounces, so a tail and a half will do but have two if you want to splurge.

That much lobster certainly won’t fill you up, but I supplement mine with a large amount of grilled vegetables, often made in salt-free marinades I’ve found.

Grilled veggies can help fill you when you reach your lobster, chicken or beef limits.

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August 2, 2013 2

Pizza on a restricted diet — an illustrated how-to guide

I wrote recently about making my own pizza to get the fat and sodium content down to levels I can tolerate on my restricted diet. Believing that pictures can speak louder than words, I’m here including a photo guide on how to make it. Enjoy.
John