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I have no problem sticking to LE diet at home or when I grocery shop bc I buy what I want. However, we have a large extended family and are constantly going out to eat. What are some good LE options for restaurants. I won't even eat a salad bc they are all nutrient dense spinach, etc. and I'm afraid of all the sodium in the restaurant food. Any suggestions? Well and especially with the holidays coming up. What are some safe thanksgiving foods? Thanks in advance!
Honestly a spinach salad is far less offensive than a steak dinner or burger and fries as far as the LE diet goes. Personally if a salad was the only vegetarian item on the menu, I'd get that with a side of dressing and no cheese. A baked potato would be good to go along with it, just ask for no toppings. Most restaurants offer steamed veggies as a side as well. There's also shrimp provided it's not smothered in butter or a creamy sauce, certain soups, pasta with marinara. Don't worry about sodium. Lots of ladies here have dropped that and really everything at a restaurant is sodium packed. It is okay to cheat every once in awhile though. Some months ago, we once went out with family to a nice restaurant and I had been thinking I was going to order a veggie burger but it turned out to have an ingredient I was allergic to in it. I had no choice but to order meat so I had some but I ate only half and didn't sweat it. :)
As for Thanksgiving, I'm making lighter versions of foods we normally have although we're skipping the turkey this year because I don't need that giant bird tempting me with its deliciousness ;) If you're looking for ideas, we're having vegetable pot pie (main dish), roasted asparagus, light mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, and a lightened up version of pumpkin pie. If you're not the one in control of what's being made for Thanksgiving dinner, then have small portions of stuffing, vegetables, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, a dinner roll. Salad is a great option too. Really anything would be fine just skip fried foods and anything drowning in a creamy sauce. Keeping the portions small is key I think especially since there's so many foods being served. A small slice of pie or cake or a cookie or whatever would be fine too for dessert.
I wouldn't stress over Thanksgiving. Enjoy it. It's just one meal. You can be more judicious with leftovers. Roasted Brussels sprouts and turkey breast are yummy leftovers.
I agree with KSMom, Salads are fine for eating out. They are nutritious but not as nutritionally dense as things like steak and burgers. I'd skip creamy dressings and croutons or bread but otherwise salad is fine. Also lean protein with steamed veggies can be found on almost any menu. Ask about vegetarian options too. Many restaurants have at least one or two meatless options. If they aren't fat laden and covered in sauce, they're probably good choices. Mushroom sub for beef on a sandwich for example.
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Spinach is perfectly fine and allowed on LE Diet. It's free and unlimited. If you have an option between that and an iceberg lettuce salad then pick the iceburg, but overall it's not something that you need to stress over at all. You'd have to eat an absolute mountain of spinach to get anything near the amount of nutrients in a burger and fries.
We started off thinking that nutrients in fruit and veg mattered but they don't seem to. It's the macronutrients like protein, fat, cals themselves that sway hard and then things like multivitamins and fortified foods.
We are also finding that sodium isn't swaying so I would feel fine about relaxing that. I got my girl without limiting sodium at all after a failed sway with DS 4 where I was limiting it.
Anything vegetarian is fine, and another strategy is to eat only half of what you order, take the rest home in a doggy bag and you've immediately halved the nutrients without any effort. SHellfish is the best meat cheat.
I have a thread of Thanksgiving recipes which I'll try to find to bump for you, but the basic idea is to skip the meat and eat sides.
Thanks everyone! I feel much better! I know everyone says it's easy but I think it's hard! So aside from the fruits and veggies, carbs are what we want but just not that add up to a lot of fat and cals overall??
Studies in animals showed that a higher carb, lower fat and protein diet, especially where majority of fat was from vegetable sources and not animal/saturated fats (so vegetable oil and not butter or meat) seemed to sway pink. This hasn't been studied yet but additionally, since we do know that vegetarians have more daughters, it's likely that vegetable proteins are also be more pink-friendly than animal ones.
So for our purposes, we want you to eat more carbs and less fat and protein, and more of your fat and protein intake from vegetable sources rather than animal ones. But we can't totally cut OUT fat and protein, because you would stop ovulating if you did. That's why the limits are what they are, they're the lowest normal level of cal/fat/protein intake that is safe pre-conception. :)
So when you go out, things like salads and vegetarian options are going to be your best bet. even if you do go over the limits, you're still going to be doing the basic principles of the diet if you stick with those things. :)
Except if you have or tendency toward pcos because all those carb laden sides will not be good for your blood sugar/insulin resistance....so you get a little meat and avoid the white processed carbs....plus if no protein eating out salad, probably ok to have that ranch dressing....i always get my dressing on the side and either dip my fork before putting salad on it or at least with the salad not drowning in dressing i can just put a spoonful on it. Hope this helps someone who like me wants to sway pink but can not just eat rolls, stuffing, mashed potatoes etc....
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I mean relatively speaking. 99% of everyone on the site is eating more carbs and less fat and protein than they were when they conceived their boys regardless of the diet they were following. That advice actually holds true for everyone swaying pink. Everyone swaying pink should eat more carbs as a proportion of their overall diet than they were, the majority of their cals should come from carbs, with less protein/fat than they were eating. PCOS or not. Since most people are also limiting calories, it is entirely possible to both be eating less carbs than you were when you conceived boys, but still have a higher proportion of your calories be from carbs than protein and fats.
Standard LE Diet - more carbs with at least some from simple sources, 40-50 g protein, 30-60 g fat and most people eat lower levels of fat (30-40 g) so they are getting a higher % of cals from carbs
PCOS Diet/AFD - more carbs but coming from wholegrains OR white rice (some on AFD for other reasons, do better on white rice than on wholegrains), fruits and vegetables, 50-60 g protein, 50-60 g fat. So while they're still getting more carbs percentagewise than fats and protein, a lower % of their cals are coming from carbs, more from fat and protein. And since most people are limiting cals to 1500-1800 cals or even 1200-1500 for some, this can still be less carbs by far than they were eating when they conceived boys.
A 3000 cal a day diet where a woman is eating tons of protein and fat and limiting carbs to only 20% = 600 cals from carbs at 4 cals per g = 150 g carbs (and let's be honest here it's next to impossible to get 3000 cals a day with only 20% carbs unless you're inhaling sticks of butter so virtually everyone is eating more carbs than that) Virtually all sources recommend at least 20% cals from carbs per day for women with PCOS and some sources recommend up to 50% cals from carbs. I know you Skillet are not eating 3000 cals a day but many of us are.
A 1500 cal a day diet where 40% coming from carbs - 600 cals from carbs, 4 cals per g = 150 g carbs. Plus, remember you're doing whole grains, fruit, and veg and any carbs that come with fiber are not counted (the fiber is subtracted) so at least some of those will not count. Plus, the vast majority of ladies on here who have PCOS are not eating the way they are supposed to be anyway and are getting more like 200-300 grams of carbs a day. It's still a huge improvement.
BOTH GROUPS both on the Standard LE Diet and on the PCOS and AFD are still getting a higher % of cals from carbs and lower protein and fat intake then when they got their boys.