Jarrod: 0:00

You're listening to episode number 146, where we're finishing up a four part series on traveling, whole food plant based style. Today we share with you some of our best strategies on how to do that successfully. So don't worry, we got you covered. And as a bonus, we'll even share our two ingredient salad dressing that you can get at any restaurant. Let's get started.

Anita: 0:22

Hey there, Sunshine. Welcome to the Power On Plants podcast, where your host, Jarrod and Anita Roussel and we're absolutely head over heels for whole plant foods, and helping you navigate this incredible plant based journey. That's because our lives have been completely changed by plant based goodness, we used to struggle every day with excess pounds and low energy, vascular disease, joint pain and lack of sleep, just to name a few. And even though we're medical professionals, we still weren't getting practical answers that actually worked. So we dug into the research, we started living what we learned. And now we both have our lives back. And that's what we want for you to the truth is you can do this, and it's not hard, you just need a way that will bring real and lasting change. And that path, it has to be simple and enjoyable. And it's got to be delicious to you. So are you ready to live your life to the fullest, then you're in the right place, because living without limits. That's what Power On Plants is all about. So pull up your chair, grab a matcha latte, and let's get started. Hello, and welcome back sunshine, we are so excited to be hanging out with you today talking about the life changing results of eating more whole plant foods. I mean, we all know we need to get more fruits and vegetables into our lives. Most of our parents even taught us that. But the thing is, how do you do that in a way that's easy and enjoyable, that will work with day to day life so that it lasts for the long term. Because the whole goal here isn't to eat more fruits and vegetables, it's to find a way to live, you enjoy the old build your body and make you be able to enable you to do the things that you want to do in this life. If you don't have the energy, if you're constantly sick, and you're fighting diabetes, and high blood pressure, and high cholesterol and extra pounds and all these things, you're tired, you're exhausted every day, you don't feel like exploring when you go to different places, and you're traveling. And today we're talking about travel. And it's really important that you're able to get out there and enjoy things to the fullest enjoying your life to the fullest. And so today's topic is dining out while you're traveling. Now, this isn't just about traveling, it's about dining out in general, you can use the tips that we're going to share with you today these strategies work, even during your week, when you decide you want to dine out, these are the things that you're going to want to do. But when you're traveling, and when you're at home, that one of the first things you want to do when you're dining out is planning ahead, Jared and I found this to be so crucial in making it work for you on a regular basis. And one of the things we're planning ahead is just figuring out where do you go. And we have some tips for that,

Jarrod: 3:12

especially if this is something you've not done before. If this is a new way of living a new way of eating, you have your habits so you want to do a little research plan ahead find some new favorites.

Anita: 3:24

Yeah, because you think about oh, I want to go out Oh, I love cheesecake factory. Let's just go there. I love this or that let's just go there. But you know cheese cake because I'm probably going to make you feel the best. It's going to clog up your arteries because it's filled with saturated fats and sugars and all these things your body doesn't need that makes you feel bad and you may be able

Unknown: 3:41

to find some workable options there. But when cheese is in the name, you kind of know what's on the menu.

Anita: 3:49

It is stupid but truly like let's say that's where you go always with your family and your family still wants to go there. Today we're going to share strategies that will help you even know how to order a Cheesecake Factory. Alright, so the first thing is you want to plan ahead. We love using apps and using the internet for this. You can also call the restaurant we've been known to do some sleep or sleep super sleeping solution. Slipper sleuthing is what almost said, Oh my goodness. Okay, so SuperSleuth look at Happy Cow. Is it happy? cow.net Yeah, happy cow.net Okay, so you go to happy cow.net Or you can just download the Happy Cow app. Look for it. It's got a little purple cow on it. I think that's the emblem. That's what I say to recall from every time cute little Purple Cow. I don't know where they got purple. But there's a happy cow. All right, so you got a happy cow. And right there. You're going to find vegan restaurants in your area. You can type in the location you'll either be visiting or where you live, and it's gonna give you suggestions and many times are often reviews that accompany that. And I love very helpful. Oh my goodness. Anytime you can find reviews On restaurants read them, particularly if you're using a vegan or a vegetarian type app, because people talk in those reviews about what did they eat? What did they like about it? What did they not like? What did they order that had some hidden ingredients that they discovered afterwards and were mad about? Have y'all heard us tell the potato story, the potato story, the famous one, you know, where we used to go all the time to Outback and get a baked potato because that's vegan, right? It's vegan, it's just a potato. But they were rubbing pig fat. They're rubbing lard all over the outside of our potato. And we went many times before someone finally told us, Hey, you might not want to eat that

Jarrod: 5:43

if you don't want to eat the animal if you don't want to eat animals, or pig fat, and we definitely don't want to eat that. And it never occurred to us. I don't even ask that because it was a potato wrapped in foil, like you've probably seen so many times I grew up with, but they, they rubbed it down with

Anita: 6:01

bacon. So if you read these reviews, you're gonna see tips and strategies and things that just people have used regular people that have gone into the restaurant, and they found these dishes that they love, oh, I always get this loaded with that. And I asked for side of this. These are the tips. These are the things you need to know to make this again,

Unknown: 6:22

that's a great suggestion too, because these people may have some small add ons to make the dish even better.

Anita: 6:31

There are some ever websites you can use to do the same thing. There's one called Vegan dining.com. And there's also TripAdvisor don't just use tripadvisor.com, for your planning of where to go to hotels. Yeah, use it for restaurants, look up restaurants in the area. Think of searching things like vegan restaurant or whole food plant based restaurant, those are two of the big keys that you can use. You can also ask Siri or Google Assistant for vegan restaurant, find vegan restaurants in my area or finding in restaurants. And it will give you suggestions and pull those up for you. And you can just go straight to your favorite search engine. I mean, like Google or something like that, and just type in, vegan restaurant in and then the city name. So like right now we're visiting family in Baton Rouge. So we would type vegan restaurant in Baton Rouge or Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And it would pull up vegan restaurants. It even will map it out for you. If you're on Google Maps, or whatever MAP program you use search some different ones, it'll probably come up with different suggestions for you. And it's a wonderful way to find a new favorite place. Look at the star reviews. I mean, that's the first thing I do I look at and write them by star. So if there's five Chinese restaurants, and one has four stars, and the other one has four and a half stars, I'm gonna look at the four and a half star one first and see what people like there and are there vegan options. Or if by chance there's one that has one star, you're not going to even consider that at all right? And do you know, there's one thing Jared and I didn't know until recently is that in Google Maps, you can go into the app, you can go under settings and manage your preferences and put in your dietary preferences so you can enter vegan and there and that's going to influence what maps will show you regarding restaurants,

Jarrod: 8:25

which is brilliant. And they have vegan and some other options there. But this was specifically in the app on our phones, I tried looking at it on the desktop and they didn't have that. Of course I'm not gonna be using my desktop to go navigating anywhere but it's in the app on the phone.

Anita: 8:41

Oh, y'all this has already been so jam packed full of information. I mean, if you look these things up, you're gonna already have probably a bazillion restaurants you want to try

Jarrod: 8:50

well that and I think most of the battle is is at this point where you're going to have some great ideas of where to go because in the beginning, again you have your favorites. And you're going to think I've not been vegan or whole food plant based. I have no idea where to begin. You're going to get some great options here. Right zero in on two or three and then go from there.

Anita: 9:12

Exactly. And start keeping a list I want to try and so that when you go out you don't have to do all these things again, right for that area. Exactly. And you can keep it and organize it under your files on your computer. You can have a favorite notebook that you always have with you or your planner and just keep a page written down have all these favorites that you're finding got to try must try whatever you were verbiage you want to use, just use it and type that in there or write it down and you've got a list. That's going to be your go twos. And I would even add once you start finding your favorites, make a list of those two. We loved this or my favorites, whatever you want to call it. Put it in an easy place that you'll be able to find it again whether in a notebook or on your computer. Just keep it organized so you can find it in the next time you want it We have

Jarrod: 10:00

iPhones, I use the Notes app. So it's on every iPhones very easy to use. And I've done that before, with certain restaurants specific dishes that we like. Because if it's been a while, you may not remember, you may think, Oh, we had this particular dish, but I don't remember which one was my absolute favorite. Just keep a few notes. Very simple. And you're typically going to have your phone with you.

Anita: 10:22

Listen, this one right here that I'm going to share with you is a big mind blower. I mean, the first time I heard this, I thought, What in the world? Why have I not thought of doing this before? It is joining the local vegan Facebook group a few days before you travel? Or just do that for your area? And ask the vegans who live there? Where do they recommend for dining out? Where do you go? What are your favorites on the menu? These are the ways that you can get the inside scoop easily. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, this is it. Get in those vegan Facebook groups. So search the area. So you go to Facebook, you go under Search, you type, vegan, and then whatever city or vegan group, whatever city or plant based, and the city, or whole food plant based in the city, and try those ways, you're going to find some amazing Facebook groups to join. But again, do it a few days before you travel, because if it's a private group, what's going to happen, it's going to take a day or two to get approved to get in sometimes. So I mean, you might even wanted to Yeah, you might want to do it a little bit earlier than that. But listen, go on the locals recommendations, these are places that you wouldn't find by probably just driving by, you know, and sometimes those that say most all the time, these are the best places that you want to eat. These are the don't miss restaurants. Now, the other thing that you want to do, pull up the actual restaurant once you find it. And once it's been suggested by somebody who lives there, once you found it on a search engine, you type in the restaurant name, pull up their website, or search the name of the restaurant. Like let's just say I'm just gonna use PF Changs, for example, PF Changs menu. All right, and so then that's gonna pull up the menu for you. And again, you may find it on their local website. So you pull up the menu. And the other thing I've seen is if they don't have the menu listed, but they have an order out or order takeout thing, you can walk through that and see the menu as well. So if they don't have a little menu tab on their website, you can do takeout or delivery order online. And you can walk through the process without submitting your order. And you can see what they actually have available. And that's very helpful too. So oh my word, this is mind blowing. Look at all the things we've shared with you already that you can do to find the places that are game changers for you. All right, now, let's talk about ordering. I want you to think about vegan choices that are listed because thankfully Today we live in a time and place where a lot of places are starting to have vegan and healthy plant based options available. And that is such a wonderful thing. So sometimes they have them notated in a certain way, like they might have a leaf by it if it's a vegan or vegetarian, or it might just say, vegan option. And I want you if it says vegetarian, I want you to realize that a lot of times those are going to have dairy. Yes, it's important to know, right? Or egg, right. And so you want to note that just because it says vegetarian doesn't mean it's whole food plant based or vegan. And just because it says is vegan doesn't mean its whole food plant based at my house and processed foods in there. So just look at the ingredients that you use. And don't stress about it, just choose the best option or your dining out, you're not going to be able to freak out about every little thing, or you're never going to go out to eat. But just do your due diligence and you'll be prepared and you'll have a great meal that won't make you feel like you need to recover for a whole month after you eat it really realistically, I mean, sometimes it can take days if you don't make the best choices, or if you don't do that little bit of planning ahead. And it's just not hard to do and it will make for such a better experience. And I find that if you kind of have in mind some of the options and then you're gonna choose while you're there. It's just so much less stressful and you're gonna lay while you're going there for what reason? I mean, it's to build relationship and relationship with other people with you. Yeah, and honestly, just always think when you're dining out relationship is so much more important than the food. Yes, the food's important and yes, if you're sick, you're not going to be able to have good relationships. But when you're dining out Don't be sitting there stressing about the food just take these steps use these strategies to make this just a knock it out of the ballpark success for yourself and you're going to enjoy yourself so much more.

Jarrod: 14:55

Now one other point about the the menu if for some reason it doesn't give you a any kind of indication of what may be vegan or hopefully plant based, you can always ask the waiter the server, because they may have some suggestions for their specific dishes. Now another great tip, wait,

Anita: 15:12

I want to stop you there. Okay, because I've got something to add to that. Now, they may not know. I mean, what if they're not familiar yet or they're newer, they're always happy to ask the cook or the chef. So ask them well, what would the chef would know? What would the cook recommend? Because a lot of times, they know what they can just switch up a little bit. And I think Jared is going to talk about I have a feel in your head as well.

Jarrod: 15:34

That was the next suggestion that we love, because it's so simple. And we're all about keeping things simple. Sometimes you'll see dishes that have meat, or dairy or maybe cheese sprinkled on it, look to see what one or two things that could be removed from a dish that would then make a whole food plant based. So maybe there's a Cobb salad. I forget. I don't know if Cobb salads, I can't remember if it has bacon Dez. Okay, blue cheese, maybe it has a sprinkle of cheese and bacon, just ask them hey, would you mind leaving? Or could you have them leave this off? And maybe, I don't know, add some extra olives or add something else in its place. And then boom, you've got a dish that's whole food plant based. So think a little outside the box? How could this be altered? One or two different ingredients? And then now you've got a perfect dish for the evening.

Anita: 16:27

Right? Exactly. That is how you do it. Okay, so now I want you to think about items you could order at most any restaurant, this is another thing you might want to make a list of, especially if you're a list maker and you like that, and it helps you to get your ideas on paper. So think of your go twos at most any restaurant, what could you find what gets you eat at even your favorite restaurant? What could you possibly order at Cheesecake Factory or at any Chinese restaurant or any Japanese restaurant, think about types of cuisine? What could you eat there? We love brainstorming with people about things like this. This is what we do inside our q&a in our membership all the time. And I love being able to share these types of things with you guys as well, that but we

Jarrod: 17:08

also love seeing that light bulb moment on people's face. Yes. Have I ever thought of that? That's so great. It's so simple. And a lot of times, it's the simple things that have a biggest impact. Well think

Anita: 17:20

here's the thing about being surrounded by community too. I mean, if you're talking together, you get these light bulb moments, you're in a community where you know, you can come a couple of times a week and go, Man, these people just get me they understand the walk, I'm on the journey I'm on. And you get these ideas, Jared, and I get ideas we were talking to the other night about how you know, you look at people who've been on this journey for a long time. And you think, Oh, they know everything. And there's so much to know, here's a little clue you'll never or a little truth nugget, let's call it that. You'll never know everything about anything. There's always something to learn. There's always something to learn. They're always new, great suggestions. And I don't want to Well, I never want to be at a place where I'm stagnant. I mean, people say stuff, and you're going I never thought of that before. Like the other night, Marianna was sharing how she puts avocado and her pika guy, what in the world? Like, I've never thought of that. Now, maybe you already do that. And you knew that. I just it's not something I've ever done. And I thought that would be amazing. And I told her I said, what, what? And so it's just like you get on there and you share these ideas of the way she cook things the way you prepare things. And when you get in community and you can do that it just will blow your mind at the ideas you get. And that's why surrounding yourself by community is so so important. Okay, so when you are going to any restaurant, even your favorites, your current favorites, what could you order if it's an American style cuisine? Could you get a salad with loaded up with veg have them loaded up with beans, and then just get this is one of my big tips. Just get a side of balsamic and brown mustard that can bring him to you separately, you make some on your salad. It makes an amazing dressing and it's all free. You're not going to leave feeling nasty because you've eaten 10 tons of oil at 120 calories per tablespoon. You're gonna feel great and it's gonna taste really good.

Jarrod: 19:16

But this is this is a premium truth nugget. They're suggesting that dressing because it tastes absolutely amazing. Yeah, it's so but it's two ingredients. Do things that just about every restaurant is going to have the balsamic vinegar, and then a mustard or brown mustard, something like that message

Anita: 19:38

mix it together. Oh, that's amazing, spicy brown, or Dijon? Or you can ask what kind of you can say what kind of vinegars Do you have? Because they might not just have balsamic? Maybe balsamic isn't your favorite. I love it because it's got a hint of sweetness. So you don't have to add sugar to your dressing balsamic is just naturally sweet. And so they're by nature. It's healthier. But it tastes great. But maybe they have red wine vinegar. And you prefer that because you like that better because it doesn't have the sweetness, you get to cheese. And then you can ask for a side of that with your master makes a fantastic dressing. They don't have to mix it, they don't have to bring them together two different sides. You put them on your salad, you stir it together, it's amazing. And they get some fresh black pepper on there. You can even ask them for a side of garlic. I mean, it's amazing what you can do with just a few sides. That right there bumps up the flavor tremendously. Goodness, it's ingredients, and then that makes that experience more enjoyable. That is so true. All right. Now what about aside potato? Most American restaurants have potatoes of some sort. But please ask them if they're ever down with anything. I'm just so scared aside potato and think of what can you load it up with? Do they have black beans and salsa, black beans and salsa are amazing on potato are kit What if you have a child with you, and you don't want to order greasy? French fries, but you want something that tastes like a french fry. Our kids love ketchup, they like a little ketchup on their baked potato. So you can do that and have their veg on the side. Most every restaurant has steamed or grilled veggies, or they can salt taste them. And you can say Would you just pan saute meats and vegetables with with like a little water or little wine or something like that? They'll do that and no oil. Like my doctor says I can't eat oil or I shouldn't eat oil. What can you do that for me, most of the chefs are really happy to do that. And so having those vegetables, you could do a pan sauteed vegetables on top of your potato loaded up. That's really great. And then there's just so many I mean, I could go on and on just about the potato. I mean, they're actually really good videos about potatoes fan. I have old videos about mosquitoes right in the membership because I people know I love potatoes, shared loves rice, so you're gonna get rice training too and different grains. But I'm a potato girl used to be a meat and potato girl. But now I'm a veggie, veggie and potato girl. But there are just so many ways that you can do this. There's no wrong way, as long as you stick with the five foundational feeds. And listen, if you don't know what those are, you've got to go back right now and listen to episode number nine, as soon as this episode is over, because five foundational foods are what it's all about when it comes to healthy plant based. And if you can order and somehow get those five foundational foods, those are the things you want to look for in your dishes when you're ordering out. And when you can think of just ways you can combine those to make a meal. I mean, you can just order sides, just different sides. Now if you're getting beans do ask them to add lard or meat to those because that's another common thing that you see when you're dining out. But I want you to think about different cuisines Chinese, let's just take that for an example. You could get rice, brown rice is a better choice because it has the all the bran and things like that, right so you don't want to miss out on the fiber. So get the brown rice when you can get veggies get some tomorrow your source soy sauce to add on that asked for low sodium if possible, because it still has a lot of salt in it and gives you a lot of flavor. And but it has a lot less salt than the regular. So it's good to ask for that. And just add a little less you don't have to go heavy on it just add a little less instead of adding salt. And sometimes you get to where after you've eaten like this for a while you don't even need the salty things as much so your taste buds are going to change. But you can always do rice and veggies of some type or do a lettuce wrap and instead of chicken have a mad tofu, you know there are different things we there's so many ideas again, we could go on and on Mexican, there's always beans and rice and some way you can wrap it you can make a rice bowl, you can use those fajita veg and get those in your salads in a Mexican restaurant or into a wrap. I mean, listen, we don't want to take too much of your time. But this is the kind of thing that just lights us up we love and sharing these things. Well, this is game changing because you go from a point of I can never eat out again to oh my goodness, I have so many possibilities. Now. I can't wait to call up my friends and go out that is the truth is absolutely true. And we're on vacation. Yeah. And then even sushi. Like you're you're going out Japanese I mean, you can totally get sushi, or just stir fried vegetables right there on the bocce in front of you. I mean, it's so easy when they're preparing it right in front of you. You can tell them what you can eat what you like, what you don't want is just not difficult. And then I want you to know that there are many ways to do this, like Jared and I just shared over and over again. This is just we've shared so many things. I don't want to overwhelm you. We've shared so many things. But we could go on and on. I mean we're scraping the tip of the iceberg but what you don't want to do is think there's so much I'm so overwhelmed. Just pick one thing, pick one new restaurant, look at it think what can I do have the five foundational foods again, those are listed in episode number nine. What can I choose of that and mix and match on this menu? if that would work for me, make sure you do a little planning ahead. Step one is just to locate a great restaurant for dining out. And we've given you so many different ways that you can do that. You don't have to use them all. You don't have to get on Happy Cow, and then vegan dining and then TripAdvisor and then get in a group and Facebook and then search vegan restaurant. And you don't have to do all the things, find one you like, find one you like and try it and think of the different things ahead of time maybe glance at the menu online, like we talked about. And I think that's important because you don't end up spending 2030 minutes of your time at the restaurant agonizing over what am I going to eat, you've already spent that time ahead of time. So it makes it time with the other people you're with more enjoyable. That's really what it's about it is it's about relationships, always think instead of thinking about, because for so many years, fate had such a hold on us. It was all about what is the food, you know, that they have there and all this and we still want it to be good, I still look at the stars on restaurants and try to decide the best place. And I really do. But at the same time, I don't want to get there and not remember what's important. And the importance is building the relationships connecting with each other, and making memories that last. Next is the ordering process. We've shared a ton of ways to order here, don't be afraid to go to your old favorite restaurant and look for the new ways to order there. And don't be afraid to ask your server for suggestions, or have them to ask the chef or the cook in the kitchen. Because many times I've even had them come up with different dishes for us and aren't even on the menu. They have a lot of great suggestions of things that they can do that might not even be listed. So there you have it, a bazillion and one ways to dine out successfully, whether you're traveling on the go or at home in your hometown. Enjoy, make this a part of your new way of life. Even if you're not all in even if you're not 100% whole food plant base. Everything that you do matters. This is an no judgment, a judgment free zone. Jared and I are very, very adamant about the fact that we want you to understand what the options are. We want to teach you how to do these things. This is what we're all about. But we want you to learn it at your own pace. Yes, the quicker you do it, the more healing you'll have. Trust me from experience I can tell you, I've healed from fibrocystic breast disease which I was told really wasn't that abnormal and it's not cancer, so it's okay, it's gone. Okay, I used to have high cholesterol I used to have all these different auto immune symptoms that were crazy. And they will flare and you know when they flare when I've done sent them that I don't need to do anything something that I've either not known about or none mountain but this one time won't hurt me. Okay, so we don't want you to have those experiences. But we want you to also understand, we're not judgmental, we let to get into community to talk with you hear on the podcast, and inside power on Plant Society. This society is opening it only opens a couple of times a year. We're opening the doors next Sunday, March 27. through Thursday night, March 31. That's for five days only. Mark your calendars now SR so you do not miss out. Set it with a reminder for Sunday, March 27. Go ahead and get inside because we do not want you to remember it on Friday, April 1 When the doors have already closed. So on March 27, visit power on plants.com Ford slash membership to sign up you'll get immediate access to all the amazing resources inside we are so looking forward to getting to know you and to be a big part of your life changing plant based journey. Have a great week and we'll see you soon