Tips for Restaurant Dining and the HCG Diet
Well folks, just got back from a nice vacation and was inspired to write and short HCG Restaurant Guide and tips for eating out and restaurant dining on the HCG Diet Phase 2 and 3. The good news is… it can be done. P2 is a bit more challenging however so I’m offering a few tips here to help you avoid the pitfalls and enjoy the experience.
HCG Restaurant Guide and Tips
Restaurant Tips for HCG Phase 2:
- Have a salad with grilled chicken breast, steak, etc. Keep it simple, avoid mixing veggies (spinach salad, mixed greens, or tomatoes)
- Ask for you chicken on steak to be grilled plain. Avoid marinades, sauces, etc. Top with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
- Carry packets of stevia with you and enjoy a cool iced tea with lemon or hot coffee or tea with your meal (1 TBS of milk is allowed)
- Order a sparkling mineral water (add flavored liquid stevia if you like to make a soda)
- Choose organic or natural restaurants if possible. You less likely to get processed meats or vegetables.
Restaurant Tips for HCG Phase 3:
- Avoid most sauces and gravies. Many restaurants have sugary sweet sauces and thickeners that can mess up your diet if you’re not careful.
- Exercise caution with Salad dressings and condiments. Check the labels if possible or stick with a simple vinegar (avoid Balsamic vinegar due to the sugar content) and oil dressing.
- Avoid the bread, potatoes, or starchy sides and order extra vegetables instead. Feel free to top the veggies with butter, spices, salt and pepper, and lemon juice.
- Any proteins and most fats and oils are acceptable. Again, watch out for sugary marinades and order your steak or chicken as natural as possible.
- Order fresh fruit for desert.
An HCG dieter author friend of mine is working on a full length HCG Diet Restaurant Guide detailing the best ways to dine out while on the HCG diet so I’ll keep you all posted when its available. Best advice I can give while dining out is to stick to the basics and when in doubt… don’t order it. Shift your focus from the food to socializing and having fun with your family and friends. As you move through this diet and on to the rest of your life you will find yourself changing inside and out. A new and healthier lifestyle awaits!
Hi Donna, Happy to help. It can be challenging when eating in restaurants. Best advice I can give is to watch the sugar. Restaurants put it in EVERYTHING! I’m glad you’re here. I am going to be blogging a lot in the near future. So much information to share.
I didn’t think you could have a salad. You only get two veggies a day and you can’t have the same ones twice. I have been eating mostly raw. I had some grilled red peppers in my chicken last night. We are headed out to Chilis and I was wondering what I could eat. Maybe the fajitas with only the peppers.
Any kind of green salad is just fine. Any add ons aren’t allowed, for example tomatoes and greens, and not peppers I’m afraid. Not on the allowed list by Dr. Simeons. Squeeze of lemon and some fresh pepper is nice or … Shhh, don’t tell anyone… I have snuck my own dressing in made from broth, herbs, and apple cider vinegar. Dining out can be a challenge on the HCG Diet for sure. Best to you!
any news on the book from your friend about eating out while on the diet?
I’m going to have to check. She is working on a couple of projects right now that I think will rock the HCG diet world and I’m definitely going to keep everyone updated when her book is released. Super helpful. Eating out is really tricky on P2 and P3 because of the sugar and starches in everything. Not to mention MSG. I’ll keep you posted!
I’ve been on the HCG for 6 days today and have lost 11 pounds. I had a successful today and went “out” for the first time to the movies. I made a turkey wrap with romaine lettuce leaves and spicy brown mustard and took a big bottle of water. My husband had a bag of popcorn and a box of chocolates (he works out everyday so Sundays are his cheat day). Pleased to say the smell of popcorn and chocolate did not bother me! However, I’m a bit concerned because we are going to dinner next Saturday to a Brazilian grill with 6 of our friends…. How or what am I supposed to eat???? I’m a bit worried!
Boy I know it can be tough trying to get out of the house, have some fun, go to a party, the movies, family gatherings. Restaurants can be tough too. For the Brazilian grill you can just make the best choices available. Choose lean beef or chicken probably. This is place where they come around and just slice off unlimited meat for you tableside right? Green salad. Try to ask for red wine vinegar (no balsamic) or I will often make my own dressing and bring it with me. lemon, salt and pepper. Toss it up with some fresh sliced steak or lean chicken breast. It’s not perfect anytime you eat at a restaurant on P2 because it likely has been cooked or roasted with a higher fat content than you would have at home. Just do your best and make good choices from the options available. Best to you 🙂
Just ate out for the first time on hCG and I think I made a great choice. Went to Red Lobster. I asked our server for some guidance on no-oil-added options. She was quite helpful and showed me a page near the back of their table-top, spiral-bound menu, listing calories and nutrients for some of their items. I chose the wood-grilled tilapia (yum!) with a double portion of steamed broccoli (took half the veggies home) and a plain garden salad, no croutons or dressing. Iced tea with lots of lemon. Totally satisfying and social, and I was down 1.2 lbs the day after! 🙂
Love it!!! Great advice while eating out. When in doubt… ask the chef! or server. Technically (many plans take liberties like broccoli with the plan) broccoli isn’t on the Dr. Simeons HCG diet plan but kudos for finding ways to keep it FAT FREE, SOCIAL and DELICIOUS!!!
On my 3rd day of P3 and I am going out to dinner with my family for the first time – a bit scared, actually. Steak is what I am after. How much and what can I have with it? I am not sure when you go out to dinner at a restaurant what I can and cannot have. Please help!
Tammy-
Hey there! I love reading your suggestions and have tried to live by them since the start of my first round. Obviously, the first round, I didn’t eat out much. I was just learning what this was all about and how to manage it. I became more daring and even began to mix veggies and add in other matching veggies not on original protocol (as long as they had equal or lower levels on the glycemic index). I have found SO many things that work for me and keep my losses at a pound a day that were NOT on original protocol (generally, I average half a pound a day). I’m not suggesting that people diverge from protocol but that they remember that part of the protocol is learning to function on a low carb diet in your daily life! Relax a little and know that even on days when you don’t have losses, your body is actively working to keep you losing! I have lost 50 pounds and love how quickly it’s happened even with all my planned interruptions and tweaks. I began in December and I’ve taken weeks off for vacations, I’ve done many different lengths of P3, etc. I’ve maintained beautifully in each P3 too! This is a beautiful and fast working diet if you can just keep your head in the game and remember that, on any other plan, sometimes you don’t even lose a pound a week! If you can keep it in perspective, then you are satisfied to occasionally live it up (within reason) and suffer the slower losses for the ability to still maintain a life outside of the stringent requirements of protocol! (btw, I’ve used homeopathic drops for all of my rounds, just in case anyone is curious. I’d imagine those using a clinic or prepared shots don’t feel they have the time or money to be a little more loose with protocol:)
April,
Thanks so much for sharing and I’m so thrilled that you are enjoying the book and finding value in the suggestions! The HCG diet is really amazing and the weight truly does drop off rapidly and stays off in most cases I have personally taken the position to encourage people to stick to the tried and true… ie: the original protocol. I do caution folks who step too far outside the protocol that they may be defeating the purpose, which is to stabilize the metabolism to achieve those lasting effects and STOP DIETING for good. After the diet is over, it takes a certain health and lifestyle shift, mostly getting back to a whole food, nutrient rich, unprocessed diet. That said, there are doctors and clinics and dieters who have found what works for them and have successfully lost weight with modifications. I’m really happy that you did so well and are happy with your results. For those who read this post however, I do caution that by being too loose… you might only lose 20 pounds when you could have lost 35 pounds. My goal with the HCG Diet Gourmet Cookbook series is to present a framework and basis for success and from that, people will find their best personal path to success. I wish you all the best 🙂
Thanks for the helpful eating out tips. Would you recommend any specific restaurants – national chains? I’m just getting started on the diet and I like eating at places like Chipotle. Again thanks, Deborah
Hi Deborah and thank you for writing! When you start on the diet, I always recommend staying very strict to the diet as created by Dr. Simeons.
I am actually wrapping up a new Phase 2 cookbook with 150 more recipes that includes some vegetarian egg and cottage cheese recipes. I’m also testing recipes for my Phase 3 cookbook and my maintenance cookbook. A hint on P3. It’s not so much about calories. I’ve moved away from calorie counting and am now focusing more on the kind of food and quality of food that I eat. I also eat a lot of healthy fat even now on maintenance. It helps with hunger and you actually eat less and are more easily satisfied. Olive oil, coconut oil, some nuts are fine. Real butter, Cream or half and half are better choices than fat free dairy or eliminating fat. I realize this will be controversial and even uncomfortable for a lot of people who believe calorie counting and fat gram counting are the way to stay slim. The other secret is just to eat clean, healthy, unprocessed, high fiber food and lots of fruits and vegetables.
Best of luck on your diet!
Tammy
Also, whenever you’re in a nice restaurant, ask your server or chef if there’s sugar in the dish. Sugar and starch is what you need to avoid most!
Tammy
Hi Tammy! I am so glad you are putting all this information out there and available to people like me – just starting the HCG diet. I am nervous. I guess afraid of just one more thing I tried that didn’t work. I do have a question – I am not considered obese but I do have 30 pounds to lose to get to what would be considered a healthy weight. I am 5’7″ and am aiming for 130lbs. Being that I am not obese, can I expect to see the same results of .5 to 2 lbs per day?
Hi Paige! Although dieting can be a little scary, don’t be too nervous because this diet can absolutely change your life! 30 pounds is absolutely obtainable, but you do want to expect some slowdown when you get close to your goal weight. One of the greatest things about this diet is it has lasting results and you never have to worry about losing too much weight using HCG — it basically turns itself off if your weight gets too low!
Best of luck to you and please keep me updated on your progress!
Hi Tammy,
I just discovered your Phase 2 Cookbook this week and I’m so grateful! I’m on Day 5 of phase 2 and doing well, but started to feel caught in a rut until i found your book. I didn’t even think of using the juice from an orange to make sauces to flavor the meats & fish…yummy! I had this along with cabbage and apple braised in the apple cider, which was a nice change. As far as restaurants go, I want to make a plug for Applebee’s. They have a nice shrimp & spinach salad. I got the large salad which seemed to be the right amount of spinach (3cups) and shrimp. I omitted the almonds and used lemon and pepper and it was great and filling! Thanks again for your blog and your creative, yummy recipes!
Hi Rebeca! Thank you so much for your kind words — I’m so happy that you like my cookbook!
Restaurant dining on the HCG Diet can be a challenge. On the HCG Phase; the food choices, restrictions of oils, and cooking methods are so limited that restaurant dining can make it difficult to stay true to the diet. Here are some of my tips for eating out on this Phase (you’ll find more information in my upcoming book which will be released in the next few weeks):
Order a salad, plate of raw spinach, or sliced tomatoes with a simply prepared, oil free protein like chicken breast.
Dress up restaurant meals with fresh lemon juice and herbs, cayenne pepper sauce, or fresh black pepper.
Clarify your diet needs with the chef or your server to ensure that your meal will be prepared without oil or sugar.
Enjoy a cup of coffee or hot green or herbal tea instead of dessert.
I’m sure Applebee’s is a great choice — as long as people are very careful since there are very often hidden sugars and starches in most restaurant foods!
Best of luck on your diet and please keep me updated!
I will be done with my first round on Dec. 28th and will be going on the 2 weeks of maintenance. What about alcohol on New Year’s Eve? I would like to have few drinks with my friends to celebrate. Any suggestions for food and spirits during maintenance?
Hi Janet! In your question prompted me to write a couple blog posts so please go to: http://hcgrecipes.com/tis-the-season-alcohol-on-the-stabilization-phase-3-of-the-hcg-diet/ and http://hcgrecipes.com/enjoy-this-delicious-hcg-diet-p3-stabilization-phase-recipe-for-egg-nog/ and thank you for the inspiration!! Best of luck on your Maintenance Phase!
Tammy, I just wanted to thank you for writting this cookbook, it really helped me through Phase 2. I am ending the 23 day phase and going into phase 3, I am a bit nervious on eating more again other then the sugars and starch, but I wish you had a phase 3 cookbook, so I knew what starchs not to eat, I understand no bread, potatos, pasta, beans, but what else can’t I have? Sugar I have not problem with. I lost 15 pounds in 23 days, I did not lose a pound a day, I had a pattern of days when I will stay the same weight for two or three days, then lose 2 or 3 pounds. I also own a bookstore and would be interested in buying a wholesale lot for the store. contact me with more information. Thanks again! Tamera
Hi Tamera and thank you for writing! I’m so happy you enjoyed my book and the recipes and congratulations on your wonderful 15 pound weight loss! I include much more information about P3 in my new Volume 2 cookbook which will be released in the next few weeks, but for now, a hint on P3. It’s not so much about calories. I’ve moved away from calorie counting and am now focusing more on the kind of food and quality of food that I eat. I also eat a lot of healthy fat even now on maintenance. It helps with hunger and you actually eat less and are more easily satisfied. Olive oil, coconut oil, some nuts are fine. Real butter, Cream or half and half are better choices than fat free dairy or eliminating fat. I realize this will be controversial and even uncomfortable for a lot of people who believe calorie counting and fat gram counting are the way to stay slim. The other secret is just to eat clean, healthy, unprocessed, high fiber food and lots of fruits and vegetables. On Phase 3 and for life.
My assistant, Nita, will be contacting you about wholesale pricing so watch for an email from her soon. Thanks again for writing and we look forward to working with you!
I am going to start the diet on christmas day for my loading days but i am suppose to go to Olive Garden the Wednesday after… what, if anything, do you suggest I order?
thanks Patti
Hi Patti! Restaurant dining on the HCG Diet can be a challenge. On the HCG Phase (P2 or Phase 2), the food choices, restrictions of oils, and cooking methods are so limited that restaurant dining can make it difficult to stay true to the diet. Here are some tips from my upcoming book:
Order a salad, plate of raw spinach, or sliced tomatoes with a simply prepared, oil free protein like chicken breast.
Dress up restaurant meals with fresh lemon juice and herbs, cayenne pepper sauce, or fresh black pepper.
Clarify your diet needs with the chef or your server to ensure that your meal will be prepared without oil or sugar.
Enjoy a cup of coffee or hot green or herbal tea instead of dessert.
Dining out is not something I recommend on P2, but if you have to, the above tips should help!
Best of luck on your diet!
Hi- I am new to this diet and have read all of these posts and you are giving me hope! I am on day 13 of this diet (lost 20 pounds so far) but I am starting to gag on all the food! Where can I find your cookbook that is mentioned? I would love to see my other options!!
Thanks- Holly
Hi Holly! I’m SO happy that the blog posts are helping and congratulations on your wonderful 20 pound weight loss — that’s fabulous! We definitely do tend to get tired of eating the same foods over and over, which is exactly why I wrote my first cookbook. I now have 2 cookbooks out and you can find information about both of them at http://www.HCRecipes.com.
Best of continued success on your diet!
Tammy- Thank you so much! I just purchased your cookbook and downloaded the sample and I am trying the chili tonight! I can’t wait to tantalize my tastebuds with these new recipes!
Thanks again,
Holly
You’re very welcome Holly — I’m happy to help! Let me know how you like the chili — it’s one of everyone’s favorites. I would also love to hear your feedback on the other recipes and the book itself when you receive it.
And thank YOU for ordering my book!