Sunday’s Reflection/Weekly Challenge #3

Sunday’s Reflection

Today is the Third post to reflect on your second week of the paleo challenge.   This is a mandatory assignment for everyone participating.  Reflect on your experiences and share your thoughts!  Have any questions!? See what your peers have for advice!

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

How the weekly challenge works? The challenge is for individuals, not teams.  Weekly challenges will vary week to week. The prizes will vary week to week.   The weekly challenges are for fun and not mandatory.  We will consider your participation, however, when we decide winners at the end of the challenge.

What was the challenge Last Week?!  Paleo Sit while eating!  We raffled all participants in this week’s challenge and the winner was Kristin P! She won a pair of Hoosier CrossFit pink tall socks!  They will arrive in the mail this week and be on sale for our Barbells 4 Boobs Fundraiser on Saturday 10/22!!

What is the challenge this week?!  Participants will go to a restaurant and order a paleo meal.

1. Restaurant Name
2. Are you ordering breakfast, lunch or dinner
3. Original Menu ingredients/items
4. Did you make changes?
5. Restaurant Experience: Was the staff understanding of your substitutions? Did they have many options?  Were they knowledgeable about menu ingredients?

Shaun and I had Brunch at the Scholars Inn Gourmet Cafe & Wine Bar.  I had the Eggs Oscar: lump crab, seasonal vegetables, fresh herbs, english muffin and Bearnaise Sauce.  I asked what the seasonal vegetables were (she said something about tomatoes, onions, and zucchini, but I found only a small amount 1/2 slices of grape tomatoes in it), what the sauce was made of (which was hollandaise sauce with herbs added to it), then I asked how they made hollandaise sauce (one of my favorite sauces!) and of course it has butter in it.  The meal came with potatoes, bread, and the sauce.  I asked for the meal to come without those things and my server ask if I’d like a complimentary bowl of fruit.  That was extremely nice and that type of service is going to depend on the particular server you have, not necessarily the restaurant. I’ve been to Uptown Cafe twice, and they gave me complimentary fruit one of those times without me asking, and the other time I didn’t want to ask.    Our server at Scholars Inn was great, very understanding.  The cooks and management were, also, supportive of our dietary needs.

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is a phobia many people have; stop fearing that you’ll be judged or considered nuisance if you ask questions.  Questions help you become more educated and we can all use a little bit of that.  If you’re a shy person, then overcome this challenge.  It’s Your Responsibility to Ask What is IN your Meal and How it’s MADE So You Do NOT BREAK CHALLENGE RULES!
• You just HAVE to ask questions. You don’t know if dairy, legumes, corn syrup, etc. are hidden in the soups and sauces, if grain based thickeners are in the gravy,  if  beans, corn or rice are part of a mixed vegetable option (even though they aren’t vegetable), or if they add butter to the vegetables.  Most salad dressings are a NO GO.
• Ask for more and just pay it.  It seems that Restaurants welcome large portions of deep fried foods, but small portions of vegetables and meat.  I assume it’s more expensive.  Regardless, Shaun ALWAYS has to order a larger meat and extra vegetables.  Chances are your $3.50 cup of broccoli will barely fill the palm of your hand, but you’ll feel a little more satisfied.
• Seek out a restaurant that isn’t a chain.  Usually their food will be fresh, sometimes local ingredients.  It’s my opinion they will be more understanding of your needs.
• It’s ok to talk about your challenge.  At the table I discussed our needs with the server, but didn’t go into detail about our challenge.  But, on our way out of the Scholar’s Inn, I took a picture of the menu because I forgot at the table.  I didn’t want to leave the hostess clueless because, come on -that’s weird. So, I shared with her our challenge details (and how proud we were of you guys!).  She had heard of paleo, and we talked about it for a minutes.  You never know you can change someone’s life with a simple conversation.  It could be nothing, but it could be something!
• In general, be careful about eating out.  As you may already know, restaurants aren’t using olive oil or coconut oil.  There’s a reason why we don’t eat vegetable oil, so eat it very much in moderation. It’s critical you do not eat out everyday.