Saturday, August 28, 2010

Low Carb at Olive Garden

OK, I have to admit this was not as hard as I was expecting it to be! Someone wanted me to go to Olive Garden with them and I was dreading it thinking I would be craving the pasta and be tortured sitting there watching the person I was there with eating Chicken Alfredo and bread sticks. Well..... I already knew I was not going to touch the pasta or bread sticks, that was never a question or even an option that I was going to allow myself! But I thought the temptations would be harder to resist once I was there. I knew I wasn't gonna eat it, but I thought I would want it more, but I didn't want it at all. The pasta did smell good as we were walking by the other tables though. 

I knew they had a steak dish and chicken and fish so I looked for those on the menu right away. I found one that looked ok except for the potatoes so I was going to ask for veggies instead, most places are always willing to do that instead of fries, potatoes or rice. I noticed the bottom of the menu said to ask the server for nutrition information, so I did. They brought out a pamphlet called "The Garden Fare Guide" and it has options listed for substitution for lower fat or lower carb. I didn't have time to research this online before I went there as going to dinner was kind of a short notice thing.
 The Lower Carb section:

My Salad:
 
I used my bread plate to hold the unwanted croutons from the salad:

I got the "Mixed Grill" that has the broccoli substituted for the potatoes and I also asked if I could substitute broccoli for the grilled vegetables, the grilled veggies was squash and zucchini. You have to ask for it that way or else they will still bring the potatoes because it is a normal menu item. The description of "Mixed Grill" is skewers of grilled steak and chicken marinated in Italian herbs and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with roasted potatoes and grilled vegetables.

The Mixed Grill with 2 sides of Broccoli:

This was what was left and came home with me for later:

-CJ
(Sent from my Droid, please excuse any typos!)

4 comments:

  1. Hi CJ!

    You don't know me, I don't know you but after have reding this blog, I have to let you know my thoughts:

    You are incredible and amazing!

    This blog will help lot's of people having same problem as you and never thought about carbs.

    Fantastic work you have done for yourself and your body!
    You look stunning and you have to be so incredible proud over yourself and how far you have reached, keep it up:-)

    By the way - love your dog;)

    I will continue to read and follow you!!

    Jeanette Petersson
    Dajala's Lhasa apso, Sweden

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  2. Thank You Jeanette,
    My two beagles are very spoiled, but not as spoiled as my Mother's dogs (Don't tell her I said that!). LOL

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  3. Just starting low carb with my sister and she is having a hard time with not being able to EVER eat her favorite foods again (they're not really food, chips, chocolate). I stumbled upon this site because some old girlfriends want to go to Olive Garden for lunch, I thought, UGH! Thank you so much! What a great site and the food suggestion is definitely what I will be eating. I will continue to check out your site for tips. Congratulations on your loss (and gains)! You are amazing!

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  4. Thanks for the post. I am doing low carb also and have about 60 days of weight loss so far. I am going to Olive Garden tonight with some friends and thought I would Google low carb at Olive Garden before eating today so I could plan my meals around the big dump of carbs I was expecting. That's where you come in. Who knew I could do so well at a Pasta Joint? Thanks for the menu suggestions and for the great pictures. I am looking forward to dinner now and I won't have to starve all day to make it happen. Thanks.

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