Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

After the FRENZY of DiseaseProof’s redesign, I’m pooped! I need some peace and quiet. Speaking of peace! This week we’re heading to World Peace Café in Atlanta, Georgia. No, not literally, via the internet!

The menu is decent. Just a few problems; like eggs, cheese and bread. But overall, World Peace Café looks pretty good. Here’s what caught my eye:

Lentil, Kale and Mushroom Soup

• It’s pretty self-explanatory. It could be salty, so I’d ask first.

Full Veggie Sandwich

• Avocado, tomato, sprouts and rosemary mayonnaise; I’d ditch the mayo and order wheat bread and side house salad. Love that avocado!

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

• Marinated grilled carrots, zucchinis, roasted red pepper, portabella mushrooms and mozzarella cheese; again, wheat bread and a side salad and I’d nix the cheese.

Jamaican Burger

• Peace burger (made with organic vegetables and oats), Jamaican jerk sauce and fresh mango salsa and roasted the potato wedges; the burger is intriguing and mango ALWAYS cool!

Sun Salad

• Organic greens, avocado, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and raisins; all good, but I’d skip the bread it comes with and order the plum vinaigrette dressing.

Peace Burger Salad

• Beets, carrots, tomatoes, sliced Peace Burger and organic greens; same deal, no bread and I like the plum dressing.

Veggie Rice Bowl

• Grilled or steamed veggies, tofu hearts and flowers and sauce of the day; I’m not sure what tofu hearts and flowers are, but steamed veggies KICK butt and yes, the rice is a concession.

World Peace Café has some COOL sides too. They’ve got salads, grilled veggies, fresh fruit, roasted potato wedges and steamed rice. I’m not feeling the rice, but pairing up the fruit and veggies would be a GREAT idea!

In the end, I’d probably order the Sun Salad. That’s the BEST option. But what do you think? Check out World Peace Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Just leave a comment! Until then, eat wisely. Peace.

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It’s freaking COLD in New Jersey. I need WARM weather. Florida here I come! Not literally, I’ll have to pretend. This week, via the powers of the internet, Eating to Live on the Outside heads to Sublime in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

And Sublime looks pretty good! I see PLENTY of vegetables. And veggie sushi, I LOVE veggie sushi! Okay, here’s the food I'd consider ordering. Take a look:

Rice Paper Spring Rolls

• Rice paper, napa cabbage, carrots, red pepper, bok choy and yuzu sauce; provided their NOT fried or greasy, I can deal with rice paper.

Organic Edamame

• Roasted sea vegetables, sesame, edamame and cracked black pepper; if it’s NOT too salty, I’d be cool with it.

Sublime Roll

• Avocado, cucumber, scallions, soy paper and lemon aioli; I LOVE avocado and I’m okay with the soy paper and oil.

Mini-Maki

• Avocado and cucumber; pretty simple, I DIG it!

Hydroponic Baby Arugula Salad

• Roasted red peppers, spiced walnuts, olives, golden raisins and balsamic vinaigrette; I’d DITCH the olives and order the dressing on the side.

Sublime Chopped Salad

• Romaine lettuce, garbanzo beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, onion, kalamata olives, scallions and red wine vinaigrette; same deal, I’m nixing the olives and dressing on the side.

Sublime Picatta

• Grilled asparagus, olive oil whipped mashed potatoes and lemon caper sauce; the olive oil is a little iffy, but the asparagus KICKS butt!

Wok Garden

• Tofu, bok choy, Napa cabbage, water chestnuts, carrots, bell peppers, ginger and steamed brown rice; it’s probably stir-fried, but that’s still A LOT of great stuff!

Sublime Loaf

• Lentils, brown rice, water chestnut, wasabi red bliss mash and grilled asparagus; very interesting, I’d give it a try.

Stuffed Portobello

• Marsala demi-glace, fried shallot, quinoa pilaf, vine-ripe tomato and seasonal vegetable; the fried shallots makes me nervous, but quinoa ROCKS, so I can handle it.

Or you can order a BUNCH of sides. I like the seasonal vegetable, grilled asparagus, marinated cucumbers, wasabi red bliss mash, roasted red bliss potatoes and quinoa pilaf. Hard to argue with that!

Overall, my two FAVORITES are the Wok Garden and Sublime Chopped Salad. I’d order either one, but what about you? Check out Sublime’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Just leave a comment. Until then, happy eating! Peace.
 

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Surprise! It time for another Eating to Live on the Outside and this week we’re heading to Bay Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant in Portland, Oregon. So, via the internet, let’s check out the menu. Okay, here’s what looks good to me:

Bay Leaf

• Steamed Chinese leeks, mashed broad beans and minced tofu; hard to argue with this!

Fresh Lettuce Wraps

• Fresh lettuce filled with vegetables and mushrooms; looking good here too.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

• Cabbage, carrots, cucumber and sauce; I’d ask about the sauce first, could be salty.

Seasoned Spinach

• Blanched spinach, citrus soy sauce and sesame; soy sauce might turn you off, I’m okay with it.

Edamame Beans

• Edamame; very cool, plain and simple!

Pumpkin Bisque

• Soup with pumpkin and carrots; talk to the waiter, salt MIGHT be an issue.

Asparagus Bisque

• Asparagus soup and coconut milk; same deal with the salt.

Bay Leaf Salad

• Spinach salad, tofu, tomato, raisins, nuts, and dressing made with olive oil, honey and pepper; I’d order the dressing on the side.

Papaya Salad

• Green papaya, peanuts and spicy dressing; this is one of my FAVORITE foods!

Pad Thai

• Rice noodles, bean sprouts, tofu and peanuts; the noodles are iffy, but I’m okay with it.

Eggplant with Garlic Sauce

• Eggplant, sautéed in tangy garlic sauce, served on bean sprout greens; the sautéing is dicey, this wouldn’t be my first choice.

Wild Yam Delight

• Wild yams sautéed with baby corn and snow peas; same problem with the sautéing.

Lotus Root Delux

• Sliced lotus root, bamboo shoots, snow peas, carrots and brown sauce; I’d ask about the sauce before ordering.

I don’t have any SERIOUS gripes with Bay Leaf. They do cook with A LOT of tofu and I prefer nutrient-dense veggies over bean curd, but it’s still pretty cool. Overall, the Papaya Salad and Bay Leaf Salad are my two favorites.

Now it’s your turn. Scope out Bay Leaf’s menu and let me know how YOU handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Just make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat wisely! Peace.

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Alright, it’s Friday. The week’s almost over. Just ONE thing left to do. It’s time for Eating to Live on the Outside. And this week Abay Ethiopian Cuisine is on the menu. It looks pretty good. Plenty of veggie food! Here’s what I like:

Abay House Salad

• Leaf lettuce, string beans, red onions, tomatoes, peppers and a olive oil and fresh lime juice dressing; limit or omit the dressing and you’re all set.

Tomato Salad

• Diced tomatoes, onions, peppers and the olive oil-fresh lime dressing; same deal, just WATCH the dressing.

Potato Salad

• Potatoes, peppers, onions, cinnamon and special house dressing; keep an eye out for that DRESSING!

Indugay Wat

• Fresh mushrooms, brown lentils and berbere sauce; no problems here.

Kay Sir Dinich

• Potatoes, fresh beets, garlic, ginger and onions; sounds GREAT, beets kick butt!

Azifah

• Brown lentils, onions, green peppers, cumin and lime juice; very nice.

Misir Wat

• Red lentils simmered in berbere sauce; I like it.

Shiro Wat

• Ground split peas, lentils and chickpeas simmered in berbere and seasonings; I LOVE those peas!

Kik Alicha

• Yellow split peas simmered in flavorful sauce; it’s cool, but ask about the sauce before ordering.

Tikil Gomen

• Lightly spiced cabbage, carrots, onions and tomatoes stewed in a mild sauce; I’d ask about the sauce here too.

Ye’ Abesha Gomen

• Kale, peppers, ginger, garlic and onions slow-cooked in a mild sauce; again with the sauce, but hooray for KALE!

Wow! All that stuff looks GREAT. I have A LOT of favorites this week! Now, if you’re also having trouble deciding what to order. Combine up to four entrees and SHARE with your tablemates!

I’m digging Abay. It’d DEFINIENTLY work for a nutritarian, but tell me what you think. Check out Abay’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat right! Peace.

UPDATE: Check it out, the owner of Abay dropped me a line:

I ran across your post on Abay. Thanks so much for taking the time to consider my restaurant. I noticed that a poster indicated that our wats contain butter. All of our vegan dishes truly are vegan. This includes the vegetarian wats. Thus, Misir, Inguday and Shiro contain no butter despite the fact that they are wat stews.

Arguably, we take people's food decisions to the extreme in that we don't even use the same cooking utensils for vegetarian and meat dishes, let alone include animal products in dishes we denote as vegan. 

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. Thank you.

James W. Wallace, Esq.
Owner
Abay Ethiopian Cuisine

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside heads south. Well, not literally. Via the internet! We’re checking out Café Sunflower in Atlanta, Georgia. And it’s a lot like last week’s restaurant, Paradox Café. So I’m pretty sure we’ll find something GOOD to eat.

Let’s start with the salads. The Mixed Greens is COOL! It’s made with broccoli, cucumbers, Roma tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette. I’d order the dressing on the side. The Harvest Salad also looks good. They make it with organic mixed greens, granny smith apples, crumbled gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, shredded carrots, dried cranberries, homemade croutons and thyme shallot vinaigrette. Dressing on the side and the cheese and croutons are OUT!

The next two salads are cool too. Combined the Spicy Thai Salad and the House Salad are made with organic mixed greens, smoked tofu, shitake mushrooms, tomatoes, peanuts, spicy red Thai curry vinaigrette, garden loaf with mushroom gravy, walnuts and peanut-curry dressing. These two are a LITTLE iffy. I’m not digging the smoked tofu or the garden loaf. So I’d skip those.

Alright, the salads are a nutritarian’s BEST bet, but there are some other options worth checking out. For example, I could go with the Stir-Fry Tofu in Ginger Sauce. I know, I know! It’s fried, but I NEVER eat fried foods. So, if I wasn’t in the mood for a salad, I could deal with it. The ginger sauce could be a little salty, so that is worrisome too.

The Lemongrass Coconut Curry is better. It’s prepared with celery, sugar snap peas, sweet onion, crispy tofu, lime, peppers, potatoes, red curry and served with jasmine rice and mango chutney. That’s A LOT of good stuff! I’d probably ditch the tofu because it’s crispy, odds are its fried and with all those great veggies, there’s NO reason to eat something fried in this case.

The Summer Quinoa is a nice option. It’s made with ratatouille, almond crusted tofu, quinoa and vegan cucumber cream. I’m cool with the tofu. The quinoa and the ratatouille are GREAT, but I’d ask the wait staff about the cucumber cream—sounds of mysterious to me.

Now, if none of these sounded appetizing to you. You could always pair these two sides together. The Hummus, which is served with sliced pita and fresh vegetables. And the steamed Edamame; i.e. steamed soy beans. The pita is a tiny worry, but just FOCUS on the veggies and beans. That’s what I’d do!

Café Sunflower looks pretty good to me. There SOME dicey things to avoid or limit, like fried foods and cheese, but overall, a nutritairan could make it work. Remember, in the land of fast food, it could ALWAYS be worse! But let me know what you think. Check out Café Sunflower’s menu and tell me how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email too diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat mightily! Peace.

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It’s Friday and its NEARLY quitting time, but the week isn’t over yet. First we’ve got to check in with Eating to Live on the Outside. So, what’s on the menu this week? We’re heading to Paradox Café. It’s an unusual restaurant, serving a mix of vegan and non-vegan dishes, but hidden in the confusion are plenty of Fuhrman-friendly fare.

Okay, I’m digging the Number Two. It’s made with seasoned potatoes or brown rice, seasonal vegetables, egg, tofu or tempeh, Aisan curry sauce, raisins and nuts. No egg or tempeh for me, I’m going with the tofu and the potatoes. A lot of my vegan friends are REALLY into tempeh, but I think it tastes funny.

The Fiesta Burrito is also cool. They make it with seasonal vegetables, egg or tofu, house chili, salsa, green onions, a wheat tortilla and seasoned red potatoes. Alright, the tortilla is iffy, but I can deal with it. I’m also passing on the egg, again. The chili has me a little worried. It could be salty, but I’d be willing to risk it.

Next up is the Tree Hugger Sandwich. The name certainly appeals to my hippie sensibilities. Its fresh bread stuffed with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, guacamole and vegan cream cheese. I’ll pass on the faux-cream cheese and yes, the bread isn’t the MOST nutrient-dense menu item, but I’m cool with it. I don’t eat bread that often anymore. Besides, the veggies ROCK!

Now, the Asparagus Sandwich is looking good. Asparagus is a SUPER food. So any opportunity I have to eat some—I take it! It doesn’t say what kind of bread it’s made with, but it includes roasted asparagus, caramelized onions, fresh tomato, 1000 Island Dressing and vegan cream cheese. Alright, we’ve got some eliminations to make. Adios dressing and goodbye fake cheese. Honestly, if it weren’t for the asparagus, I’d probably pass on this one.

As always, the salads are looking the best. I see four I like: Deluxe Green Salad, Mediterranean Salad, Solstice Spinach Salad and the Crisp Tempeh Salad. Combine they’re made with Romaine lettuce, tomato, cucumber, veggies, seeds, spinach, kalamata olives, feta cheese, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, Fuji-apples, roasted asparagus, mushroom, tempeh, raisins, almonds and almonds. Okay, I’ll pass on the olives, tempeh and feta cheese and I’ll order the dressing on the side. Oh, and as for what type of dressing, I think the lemon tahini is probably the MOST harmless.

Finally, I’m feeling the Coconut Spiced Vegetables. It’s pretty simple. It’s made with organic vegetables, seared tofu and coconut-chili sauce. Any time vegetables are the heart of a menu item it’s a solid option. This might go good with a side salad. Luckily a couple of Paradox Café’s salads come in smaller sizes too!

Yeah, I think Paradox Café is okay. It’s not a slam dunk, but it’s decent. Plenty of veggies and not TOO much nasty stuff, just a little cheese—which is easy to get around, don’t order it! Alright, I’ve talked to much, its Friday and you want to go home, but before you do. Check out Paradox Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. You can always make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat right! Peace.

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I’m REALLY excited about this week’s restaurant! Electric Karma is right up my alley. It looks like a Yoga studio that serves food and—and as an aspiring Yogi—I LOVE that! Most importantly, the menu looks very good. So get ready, its time for another Eating to Live on the Outside.

Let’s start with the appetizers. If I had to pick, I’d go with the Samosas or the Vegetarian Pakoras. The Samosas are prepared with potatoes, peas, spices, herbs and served with tamarind chutney. Sounds great! Now, the Vegetarian Pakoras are made with spinach, cauliflower, potatoes and home-made tomato chutney. Hooray spinach!

Okay, I’m skipping the meat and poultry dishes and going right for the salads. There are five good ones: Tossed Green Salad, Kachumber Salad, Karma Salad, Ashoka Salad and the Tandoori Vegetarian Salad. Combined they’re made with A LOT of great stuff: romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, dressing, red onions, cilantro, lime juice, red potatoes, tamarind chutney, gram flour vermicelli, mushrooms, paneer and eggplant. Out of all that I am ditching the paneer—it’s a cheese—and I’d order the dressings on the side. Good stuff though!

Onto the tofu dishes, I like the Tofu Tikka Masala and the Tofu Jalfrezzi. They make Tikka Masala with cooked tofu, bell peppers, onions, and spices. Simple, yet effective! The Tofu Jalfrezzi is pretty basic too; its just tofu, mixed vegetables and yellow curry sauce. Neither of these are better than the salads, but if you’re in the mood for tofu—they work!

Electric Karma, like a lot of Indian restaurants, has an entirely vegetarian section, which for people eating a vegetable-based diet is GREAT. Technically, I could probably go for any of the dishes with only minor alterations or concessions, but here are the ones I REALLY liked.

The Aloo Gobi is prepared with cauliflower, potatoes, tomatoes, ginger, green chilies, coriander, tumeric and cumin. Cauliflower is awesome. I find it really absorbs flavors. Next, I’m digging the Channa Masal. They make it with garbonzo beans, onions and tomatoes. Another very simple dish, but most of the time simple is BETTER. The Aloo Saag and the Sal Daal also look cool; combined they’re made with spinach, potatoes and yellow lentils. Beans and greens, certainly a win-win combination! Lastly, the Palak Paneer looks interesting. It includes spinach leaves, tofu or paneer cubes, sautéed onion, garlic, ginger and green chilies. Okay, I’d take the tofu over the paneer and the sautéing is a concession, but I could live with it. It’d be a break from ALL the steam food I eat!

Overall, I REALLY dig Electric Karma! I think, like a lot of restaurants, the salads are your best bet. Good thing the salads are YUMMY! Plus, the vibe of Electric Karma certainly appeals to my Zen sensibilities. If I EVER get to Los Angeles, I’ll have to drop by.

Alright, you know what’s coming next. It’s your turn. Check out Electric Karma’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Just make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until them, eat wisely. Om shanti.

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Alright, Friday’s here and you know what that means—Eating to Live on the Outside—yet another installment of TRYING to make American restaurant cuisine more palatable to the discerning Eat to Liver. This week Great Sage is on the menu.

To be honest, it’s pretty good. Not earth-shaking, but WAY better than most places. Let’s do the appetizers first. I like the Guacamole Tostada. I know. Quite the shocker, there’s avocado in it and I’d order it. It’s made with chipotle black beans, brown rice, Romaine lettuce, tomato salad, corn shell, and guacamole. The tortilla sucks, but everything else is cool.

I’m more excited about the Roasted Vegetable Plate; it’s made with eggplant, red onion, zucchini, red pepper, Balsamic reduction, and hummus. Looks good to me! If the hummus is made with olive oil, it’s a tad iffy, but overall, I dig it.

Okay, the salads are all decent—in their own special way—but I’m leaning towards the Ensalaa Cubana, Young Spinach Salad, or the Strawberry Asparagus Salad. They’re PACKED with goodies. Combined they’re made with lettuce, avocado, orange, red onion, chili-lime almonds, citrus basil mint dressing, white button mushrooms, marinated tofu, candied walnuts, shallot dressing, chopped almonds, asparagus, and strawberry vinaigrette. Aside from the candied walnuts—which are REALLY no big deal—this stuff is great.

Now, I like a couple of the wraps too. I LOVE mushrooms, so the Portabella Caesar Salad Wrap is a lock. They make it with roasted portabella, Romaine lettuce, tomato, red onion, artichoke hearts, vegan Caesar dressing, grilled flour tortilla, roasted red potato, and pickle. Well, the tortilla might make you wince, but I can deal with. Too much good stuff to ignore!

I’m also digging the Roasted Vegetable Wrap. It’s prepared with roasted eggplant, red onion, zucchini, red pepper, balsamic reduction, mesclun greens, hummus, flour tortilla, and kettle potato chips. Alright, the chips are getting the axe—I DON’T eat that crap—but everything else is cool and no worries on the tortilla again.

Lastly, there are a couple cool entrees too. The Indian Vegetable Cakes look good; red lentil dahl, cashew spinach, brown rice, mango date chutney, and cucumber raita. Now, I’d only go with it, if the raita is made with some vegan option—NO yogurt for me! Oh, and I can deal with the brown rice.

The Panang Spiced Coconut Curry with Cauliflower is also worth a look. It’s prepared with green beans, red pepper, fried tofu, mung bean sprouts, toasted peanuts, and brown rice. Admittedly, the fried tofu spoils the dish a bit, but I SELDOM eat anything fried. So I’d be okay with it this time. I like sprouts enough to take the hit. Plus, the word “mung” makes me laugh.

If by chance, none of Great Sage’s food intrigues you. You can try this. Just order a bunch of sides. Personally, I’d go with the roasted potatoes, vegetable of the day, lemon-garlic broccoli, and cashew spinach. Not a bad option if you’re not willing to bend too much.

So yeah, I think Great Sage would work. It’s also really cool that they are an organic restaurant—especially if you’ve gone green! Okay, now I need your help. Double check, make sure Great Sage’s menu is up to snuff. Check it out and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat smart! Peace.

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Last week Kaffa Crossing made us feel warm and fuzzy in our tummies. Could this week’s restaurant keep the streak alive? Today Eating to Live on the Outside is checking out Borrowed Earth Café. And yeah, it looks pretty decent.

Okay, let’s start with the appetizers. I like Borrowed Earth’s Nori Rolls. They’re made with avocado, cilantro, jicama, and nori. Very nice! The Stuffed Mushrooms are also pretty neat; mushrooms, pine nuts, herbs, and spices. It’s hard to beat mushrooms!

The salads are next. I’m feeling the Borrowed Earth’s World Famous Salad, but it’s a little mysterious. Apparently, they throw a whole bunch of side salads together—intriguing, very intriguing. Now, if mystery isn’t you thing, give the Kale-Licious Salad a whirl; kale, pine nuts, raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, and salad dressing. Yup, I’d order the dressing on the side.

Now, I’m on the fence about the entrees. Most are made with nut cheese—not my most favorite thing—but the Spinach Frittata looks worth a try. Borrowed Earth makes it with spinach, nut cheese, fresh vegetables, and THREE side salads. I think all the spinach and the fresh vegetables will help me forget about the nut cheese.

Another entrée I’d consider would be the Burrito Loco. I like it because it’s apparently crazy and believe me, the cheese slid off my cracker A LONG time ago. Now, the burrito is made with some sort of faux-sour cream, which I’d ditch. Other than that it includes guacamole, salsa, sunflower seeds, corn tortilla, and again, THREE salad salads. Okay, the tortilla is iffy, but I can live with it—no biggie.

Alright, time for the wraps. I like the Far Easter and Indian Curry. Together they’re made with fresh julienned vegetables, jicama, teriyaki sauce, seasonal leaf wrap, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, and tomato sauce. Well, the only thing I DON’T like is the teriyaki sauce—WAY too salty for me! So that gets the axe, but everything else is cool.

Lately I’ve been gobbling up smoothies like crazy, so I guess its only fitting that Borrowed Earth has a couple good looking smoothies. For example, the Pina Colada is made with coconut, banana, and pineapple. Very nice! The Earth Green is also yummy. They whip it up with fresh greens, seasonal fruit, and banana. Come on—a GREEN smoothie—you know I’d order that!

So, what do you think? Borrowed Earth, cool—right? I think it is. Sure, it’s not perfect, but FEW restaurants are. Anyway, I want to hear from you. Check out Borrowed Earth’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Drop a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Remember, eat wisely! Peace.

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This is my fault, but Eating to Live on the Outside does not spend enough time investigating Ethiopian restaurants. Ethiopian cuisine is VERY veggie heavy. Making it a GREAT choice! Remember Mesob, it was kick ass. So, this week we’re going Ethiopian again.

Kaffa Crossing is REALLY cool. Tons of veggie fare with an ethnic twist. Let’s start with the breakfast. You might not recognize these dishes, but they look yummy. I’m digging the Ful, Ful Special, and FirFir. I know, weird names, but check out the ingredients: crushed fava beans, onions, jalapeno peppers, tomato, cumin, Ethiopian spices, and injera—a pancake-like bread made out of teff flour. Not bad if you ask me!

As for the appetizers, also cool! I like the Timatim Fitfit. It’s made with injera, diced tomatoes, onions, jalapeno peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, and spics. The olive oil is a small concession. The Layered Tofu Wat is another good one; tofu sautéed in onions, garlic, red pepper, and injera. Not bad either. Lastly, the Injera Wraps look interesting. Their made with yellow split pea or spiced split lentil wrapped in injera. Split pea is usually a homerun for me.

Okay, onto the salad and soups. I’m cool with the Mediterranean Salad, the Kaffa Veggie Tuna Salad, the Hummus Platter, and the House Salad. Combined they include Romaine lettuce, olives, tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, sunflower seed paste, walnut, sprouts, lettuce, onion, hummus, roasted red peppers, eggplant, pita bread, and homemade dressing. Out of all this, I’m nixing the feta cheese. Everything else is cool—just limit the dressing.

The vegetarian section of the menu is LOADED. A lot of great stuff here! In fact, I like EVERY fish Kaffa Crossing serves up. My two favorites are the Tikel Gomen and the Ethiopian Vegetarian Combination. The Gomen is made with collard greens, onions, garlic, and spices. Now, the Ethiopian Vegetarian Combination includes yellow split peas, spiced split lentils, collard greens, string beans, carrots, and salad. Can you see why I like these two? The GREENS!

The other vegetarian dishes are worth a look too. Together the Shiro Wot, Misir Wot, Kik Aletcha Wot, Tikel Gomen, Tofu Wot, Okra Wot, and the Egglplant Wot are prepared with spicy ground chick peas, onions, Ethiopian spices, spiced lentils, yellow split peas, cabbage, carrots, ginger, tofu, garlic, okra, and tomatoes. Honestly, how can you argue with that stuff!

Now, if by some bizarre circumstance NONE of this pleases you. Kaffa Crossing allows you to create your own special veggie platter. You can pick from eggplant, cabbage, potato, carrots, okra, beets, tomato salad, lentil salad, and tofu. Again, where’s the problem here. I don’t see any! You’d have to be pretty skilled to screw this up—don’t you think?

Yeah Kaffa Crossing is cool beans—or should I say—cool split peas! One of these days I have to get up off my butt and actually try some Ethiopian cuisine—it’s long overdue. In the meantime, help me out. Check out Kaffa Crossing’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. As always, make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat and be merry! Peace.

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Time for another episode of Eating to Live on the Outside! This week I'm off to Java Green. Not literally, just via the internet. Okay, Java Green is about fifty-fifty. Some of the stuff is good and some it not so good, but let's take a closer a look.

First up are the organic wraps. Here’s the problem. Many of them are made with faux-meats and cheese on the menu. Fake food doesn't float my boat. So I’d go with these instead. I like the Tofu & Avocado wrap and the Rice Wrap. Combined they're made with spinach, tomato, cucumber, onion, carrot, sesame soy dressing, Chili Java, organic rice, lettuce, and Smooth Java. Clearly, rice isn't exactly nutrient-dense. I can deal with it. But hey, the veggies are cool! Although I'm not sure about the Chili Java and Smooth Java, I'd talk to the wait staff about those first.

I’m skipping the rice rolls and going straight for the salads. Now these I can work with! I’m digging the Very Berry Salad, the Spinach Avocado Salad, the Sesame Soy Salad, Bi-Bim Bob, and the Kale Salad. Lots of good stuff here: mixed greens, berries, strawberries, grapes, fresh mozzarella, almonds, dried cranberries, berry vinaigrette, avocado, baby spinach, red onion, grape tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette, Romaine lettuce, cucumber, carrot, pepper, sesame soy dressing, tofu, rice, cabbage, sprouts, kale, zucchini, shiitake mushrooms, and sesame hot pepper sauce. Good stuff! Well, not totally. The mozzarella and rice are getting the axe and then I’d order the dressing on the side. Now it’s all good.

Alright, I’m passing on the soups. We all know that prepared soups are notoriously salty. Moving on, I see a few entrees I like. They’re not perfect and I wouldn’t order any of them over the salads, but maybe you’re feeling dangerous. Here they are. First, the Jobche Noodle; made with yam noodles, cabbage, carrot, onion, mushroom, spinach, and spicy tofu. The noodles worry me. Same goes for the Curry Noodle; includes buckwheat noodles, creamy curry sauce, carrot, potato, broccoli, edamame, and spicy tofu. Hopefully that cream sauce is dairy-free. And lastly, the Raw Garden Sandwich might work for you. They make it with tomato, cucumber, sprouts, radish, pickle, raw bread & garden patty, and a side salad. Actually, this one doesn’t sound too bad. What do you think?

The organic sandwiches might tickle your fancy. Granted, you’ll take a bread-hit, but maybe you think it’s worth it. Bread doesn’t scare me, mainly because I don’t eat it all that often. I’m cool with the Java California, BaToMo, Garden Burger, Vegan Burger, and the Grilled Tofu. They’re made with avocado, spinach, cheddar, Swiss, provolone, avo-spread, basil, tomato, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, pesto, balsamic vinaigrette, veggie patty, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, onion, soy cheese, garden dressing, grilled tofu, and mushrooms. Yup, I’m nixing the soy and regular cheese and keeping those dressing to a minimum.

Almost done, one more area left to explore—the sides. Now, if none of Java Green’s food struck your fancy so far or you just don’t feel like making any exceptions. Order a bunch of sides instead. If it were me, I’d get a plate of edamame beans, steamed vegetables, tofu, and a green salad. Love those soy beans!

Another one bites the dust. I think with a little effort Java Green works! Sure, you have to dodge the fake meats and cheeses and go easy on a few salad dressings, but overall Java Green is cool. But never mind what I say, I’m just a dopey blogger. It’s your turn. Check out Java Greens’ menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, may the force be with you. Peace.

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Time for another round of Eating to Live on the Outside and this week we’ve got a good one. Mixt Greens is very similar to Eating to Live on the Outside favorites: Just Salads, Salad Works, and Salad Creations—that’s some great company to be in!

Mixt Greens serves of plenty of fruits and veggies and some awesome salads. Take the Dagwood for example; mixed greens, roasted red peppers, roasted zucchini, roasted portabella mushrooms, caramelized onions, goat cheese, garlic croutons, and lemon herb vinaigrette. Okay, the “roasted” worries me because of acrylamides, but I don’t eat a lot of roasted food, so I can deal with it. As for the cheese and croutons—yeah, bye!

The other salads I like include fish or chicken. I’d definitely ditch the chicken and in this case I’d nix the fish too because its tuna and tuna can carry a hefty pollution risk. So, besides the fish the Cowboy Salad, the Maui Salad, and the Fusion Salad are prepared with romaine hearts, roasted red peppers, black beans, sharp cheddar, red onion, blue cheese dressing, chipotle honey drizzle, butter lettuce, avocado, cherry tomatoes, mango, cucumber, red onion, mango citrus vinaigrette, macadamia nuts, mixed greens, pea shoots, fresh herbs, edamame, cucumber, soba noodles, and sesame soy vinaigrette. We’ve got some good stuff and some bad stuff. The cheese, cheesy dressings, and noodles are gone! Other than that, these are pretty cool.

As usual, the salads are your best bet, but if you were feeling adventurous and willing to take a lavish bread concession, you might consider a sandwich. I see one I like. The Farmer is made with burrata cheese, grilled zucchini, roasted red peppers, roasted portabella mushrooms, fresh basil, aioli, balsamic reduction, and herb bread. This is easy! The cheese is going bye-bye. I can deal with the bread and the oil—again, not stuff I eat all the time. If the Farmer doesn’t do it for you, you can throw any of Mixt Greens’ salads on bread too.

Now, here’s where it gets fun and this is why I really think Mixt Greens is very workable. They actually encourage you to make your own salad—hard to beat that! If you’re making it, how could you possibly make it not up to snuff?

Mixt Greens offers plenty of fantastic things to choose from, like baby spinach, red leaf lettuce, sesame seeds, golden raisins, mango, cherry tomatoes, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, tofu, and black beans—and there’s plenty more!

Alright, if I had to make a salad it would look something like this: baby spinach, romaine lettuce, sesame seeds, edamame beans, roasted zucchini, roasted yellow beets, roasted red peppers, roasted portabella mushrooms, red onion, and I’d go with some fat-free honey mustard vinaigrette on the side. So, how’d I do? Would you eat my creation or are you vomiting on your keyboard?

Yeah, I’ll say it again. Mixt Greens is good to go. I think a diet-conscious Eat to Liver would love the place. I mean come on. It’s hard to argue about a place with the word GREENS in its name. But hey, maybe I’m wrong. That’s why I need you to check out Mixt Greens’ menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Then, make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until you do, eat wisely! Peace.

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Last week we had a good time at Trio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but this week—via the worldwide web—Eating to Live on the Outside heads to Real Food Daily in California. Now, does it stack up? Could an Eat to Liver eat there? Only one way to find out!

At the top of Real Food Daily’s menu are their juice and beverages. As far as these go, I could go for some orange juice or a glass of rice milk, but generally I stick with water. Onto the small plates, the edamame beans are great, but I’d ask them to hold the salt.

I also like the Hummus & Pita. Sure, the toasted pita chips aren’t exactly nutrient-dense, but the chickpea dip, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, celery and leafy greens are fantastic! The Spring Rolls look good too. The rice paper is clearly a concession, but check this stuff out: Napa cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, daikon, red pepper, mint, cilantro, scallion, and a raw mango sauce. It’s hard to argue with all that. Actually, I love red cabbage!

Okay, I’m going to skip the breads and spreads and move onto better fare—like the salads! My top three are the House Salad, the Farm Chop, and the Yin Yang. Together they’re made with A LOT of good stuff: seasonal greens, carrots, beets, cucumbers, dressing, seasonal vegetables, avocado, cabbages, Romaine lettuce, edamame, cilantro, sesame seeds, peanuts, and a peanut dressing. Good easy on the dressing and you’re set!

Since the specials will change, I’m bypassing that section of the menu and going to the main courses. It’s a little iffy. Honestly, I only see one I like—the others include too much faux-meat products for my liking. So, I’m sticking with the Stir It Up; julienne vegetables, gingery garlic sauce, brown rice, soba noodles, and daily greens. I know. It’s probably fried and most likely salty. I like the salads better, but maybe this works for you.

The sandwiches and wraps look interesting. Check out the Ciao Bella. It’s made with Portabella mushroom, onions, red peppers, lettuce, tomato, pesto spread, and hemp bread. Not bad. The hemp bread sounds interesting. The Tofu Wrap is pretty neat; grilled tofu, squash, onions, sun-dried tomato pesto, lettuce, tomato, and spinach tortilla. The tortilla is a tiny no-no, but I can deal with it. Now, the Living Wrap looks REALLY good. They make it with red pepper sunflower spread, cucumbers, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, salad greens, citrus herb dressing, and collards—collard greens are great!

Alright, so far I think Real Food Daily is a nice stop for an Eat to Liver, but if you don’t like any of these. Just do our little trick, order a bunch of sides. I could go for any number of these: millet, quinoa, beans of the day, black beans, veggies of the day, daily greens, sea vegetables, and tossed salad greens. Next to the salads this is probably your best bet.

So what do you think? Does Real Food Daily make the cut? I think it does, but then again, I’m not expert. I need your help. Check out Real Food Daily’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. You can always make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, happy eating! Peace.

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It’s Friday, time for Eating to Live on the Outside and this week I’m taking a digital trip to Trio, an Asian-inspired restaurant in downtown Philadelphia. At first inspection, it looks iffy, but there are a handful of dishes that might work for Eat to Liver. Let’s take a look.

As for the soups and appetizers, I can roll with the Portabellas in Coconut Milk and the Vegetable Spring Rolls. The portabella soup is made with portabella mushrooms, light coconut broth, lime juice, and galangal. Apparently galangal is similar to ginger—via Wikipedia. Now, the spring rolls are prepared with shiitake mushrooms, glass noodles, and cabbage. I’d probably opt for the soup over the spring rolls. Although, I recently found out glass noodles are made from beans, so I’m intrigued.

Moving on to the salads, I’m digging the Trio House Salad and the Salad Kak. For starters, the house salad includes a spring mix, Asian pears, candied walnuts, and light soy balsamic vinaigrette. The candied walnuts make me a little nervous but I can deal with it and obviously I’m ordering the vinaigrette on the side. The Salad Kak is a strange name, but a decent option. Trio makes it with Romaine lettuce, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, sliced hard boiled egg, and peanut dressing. I like it, except I’m nixing the egg and going easy on the peanut dressing.

Alright, the entrees are next. They’re tough. I only see one I’d consider eating. The Crispy Tofu with Julienne Ginger; tofu, mushrooms, sweet onions, steamed Jasmine rice, and julienne ginger. Crispy worries me. There’s a good chance that tofu is fried. So, I wouldn’t order it—check with the wait staff first—I like tofu, but frying anything ruins it.

Now, you might be tempted by the Baked Atlantic Salmon. Salmon is a safe—right? Yes and no. Certain varieties of salmon are good choices like wild Alaskan salmon because they’re low in pollutants and chemical contaminants. Sadly, Atlantic salmon isn’t. In fact, the Environmental Defense Fund classifies it as an Eco-Worst; citing elevated levels of PCBs. So, I’d pass on this entrée.

Overall I’d say Trio is okay, not great but not horrible. My go-to choice would be the Trio House Salad without the egg, but what would you pick? You know the drill. Check out Trio’s menu and tell me how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well! Peace.

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DiseaseProof reader Travis suggested this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside. He said Boba House is one of his favorite restaurants. Alright Travis, let’s see if Boba House really stacks up. After all, Eat to Livers have really high standards.


Okay, I just printed out the menu. Now, there are a lot of vegetable-based dishes, but I also see a ton of faux-meats. That makes it tricky. Veggie meat alternatives are processed foods and they’re notoriously salty. So, in order to make Boba House work, we’ve got some bullets to dodge.

As for the appetizers, I’m cool with the Crispy Spring Rolls or the Steamed Tofu. The Steamed Tofu is my first choice; steamed tofu, “beef” chunks, peanuts, onions, and fresh herbs—I’d skip the fake beef. The Crispy Spring Rolls are made with vegetables, glass noodles, spices, and a sweet & mildly spicy sauce. The noodles make the spring rolls a less attractive option than the steamed tofu, but it’s not the worst concession in the world. Personally, I’d stick with the tofu.

The soups are too iffy for my liking, but I like a few of the salads. I’m digging the Rainbow Salad, the Avocado Salad, and the Boba Salad. All three of these include a nice serving of veggies. Combined they’re made with organic spring mix, shredded carrots, chopped cucumber, tomatoes, almonds, raisins, mandarin oranges, mixed greens, avocado, “bacon” bits, and almond seeds. Okay, I’m ditching the fake bacon. Nothing about that sounds appealing to me, but the rest of ingredients are great! To top it off I’d order the vinaigrette on the side. These three salads are probably your best bet.

The rest of the menu is pretty hit or miss. I like the Hula Pot. It’s prepared with aromatic curry, rice or noodles, your choice of vegetable, tofu or “duck”, sauce, and brown rice on the side. Alright, no “duck” for me, I’d go with brown rice, and as for the vegetable, I’m thinking broccoli. With the sauce on the side it’s a decent meal.

The Karma Noodle has some potential too; vermicelli, mixed greens, carrots, cucumber, bean sprouts, bell pepper, crunchy noodles, and satay sauce. I’m cool with the vermicelli—a minor concession—but I’m ditching the crunchy noodles and ordering the satay sauce on the side. Actually, I really like the taste of cooked cucumbers—do you?

Moving onto the entrees, Eternal Bliss looks interesting. It includes crisp broccoli, water chestnuts, baby corn, carrots, snow peas, tofu, and a side of brown rice. The rice is an itty-bitty concession—I can deal with—the stir-frying is a bigger concession, but I can deal with that too. I seldom eat anything fried. So this wouldn’t worry me too much.

And lastly, I like the “Seafood” & Vegetables. First off, I am nixing the “seafood.” Maybe some of you like meat imitations, but they gross me out—yucky! So, minus the fake seafood it’s made with crisp broccoli, baby corn, carrots, snow peas, and shitake mushrooms. Not bad, provided you can deal with the stir-frying—I can. No worries.

So did Travis pick a good restaurant? Is Boba House a good place for an Eat to Liver? Honestly, I’d say Bob House is okay. It’s not perfect. Way too much pseudo-meat for my liking, but overall, I think it works. Nice find Travis! Hey, maybe Travis should comment and tell us what he orders—hint, hint, wink, wink!

While we wait for Travis, it’s your turn. Check out Boba House’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, may the veggie force be with you.

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As a Yoga practicing guy who doesn’t eat junk food, I LOVE this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside restaurant, Om Garden. The place is loaded! Plenty of Fuhrman-friendly fare to go around. If I’m ever in Miami I’m dropping by. Let’s have a look-see.

Okay, I’m pretty sure everything on the menu would work. They’re all veggie-inspired—vegan in fact—the only bad stuff I see is a little salt, olive oil, or agave nectar. Not the end of the world. So, here are my favorite menu picks for Om Garden.

Starting with the raw deli salads, I like the Seven Seas Seaweed Salad; 7 kinds of seaweed, kale, tomatoes, red onions, olive oil, and garlic. It’s probably a tad salty, but I dig seaweed so I could live with it. Besides, I don’t eat seaweed very often. The Cabbage Chi looks good too; cabbage, cucumbers, red peppers, olive oil, lemon, apple cider vinegar, and sea salt. I can deal with the oil, but I’d ditch the salt. I also like the Soothing Cucumber Salad; cucumber, sesame oil, sesame seeds, lemon juice, dill, sea salt, and red onion. Again, the salt gets the axe. Lots of tasty veggies here!

Under vegan deli salads, the Natures Harvest is quite intriguing; wild rice, pine nuts, raisins, papaya, and grapes. Since rice isn’t a nutrient-dense food, it’s a concession, but I’m cool with it. The combination of flavors sounds interesting. Papaya rocks!

Some of the regular salads are great too. Like the Zen House Salad; mixed baby greens, carrot, beet, cucumber, sprouts, avocado, and tomatoes. Hard to argue with all that! The Chakra Salad is neat too. It’s made with beet, tomato, carrot, yellow pepper, broccoli, and red cabbage. Provided you go easy on the dressing, these are really good.

Onto the raw entrees, both the Rainbow Roll and Green Goddess Roll look good. Combined they’re prepared with carrot, beet, cucumber, avocado, baby greens, mango, figs, balsamic syrup, sprouts, spinach, and green onion. Beets cool, greens cool—avocado fantastic!

Check out these cooked entrees. The Macro Cosmic Bowl; steamed veggies, brown rice or quinoa, and your choice of sauce-miso, teriyaki, and sweet & sour. Steamed veggies are great. I’d go with the quinoa and use some sweet & sour sparingly—good idea? The Full of Life looks tasty too; sprouted tortilla, beans, rice, baby greens, avocado, tomatoes, guacamole, salsa, and onions. The tortilla and rice are concessions—I’m okay with them—and provided the guacamole is sour cream-free, then it’s okay too.

The desserts don’t really do anything for me, but there are a few smoothies and juices I like. The Liquid Sunshine smoothie is made with banana, carrot juice, and coconut meat. Very cool! The Wild Jungle smoothie is cool too; avocado, spinach, coconut milk, and orange. As for the juices, I’m eyeballing the Bunny Love and the Be Green Juice. The Bunny Love is made with apple, carrot, beet, and celery. Nice! And the Be Green Juice is prepared with celery, cucumber, spinach, and kale. Again, nice!

What do you think, is Om Garden as good as I think it is? It looks pretty solid to me, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. That’s pretty hard to beat, but—like I’ve said before—I’m a big dummy. Come on, I blog for a living! So it’s your turn. Scope out Om Garden’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat greatly!

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After last week’s walk down memory lane, Eating to Live on the Outside is heading back to my favorite stomping ground, New York City. This week we’re checking out Wild Ginger at the corner of Bleecker and Grove. Does it measure up? Only one way to find out!


Okay, I’ve got the menu in front of me right now and at first glance, it’s so-so. Pretty typical of most Asian restaurants—a lot of sautéing, frying, dumplings, and noodles—but there’s also plenty of fruits and veggies too. It looks like we’ll be taking the good with the bad.

Let’s start with the appetizers. I don’t see anything that makes me overly excited. Odds are I’d skip the appetizer, but if I was feeling adventurous I’d go with the Spring Rolls. They’re pretty simple. Fried vegetarian spring rolls served with dipping sauce. Yeah, like I said, I probably wouldn’t order an appetizer.

As for the entrees, it gets a little dicey for me. I don’t eat chicken, duck, pork, or beef. So that eliminates a lot of the menu. I’m going to jump right to the salads. I like the Papaya Salad. I dig papaya salads. If you remember, I picked the papaya salad at Vegan Glory and Happy Buddha. Here’s why I think it’s a good fit for an Eat to Liver. Wild Ginger’s Papaya Salad is prepared with carrots, cucumber, alfalfa, green papaya, and lime dressing. Not wrong with that stuff! I like the Mango Salad and Wild Ginger Salad for similar reasons. Combined they’re made with carrots, cucumber, alfalfa, tomatoes, ginger dressing, mixed greens, and sprouts.

The salads are probably the best option, but Wild Ginger does serve up some other interesting vegetable-based entrees. I like these four: Sweet Basil Eggplant, Mixed Vegetables, Basil Tofu, and Asian Broccoli with Shitake Mushrooms. The names say it all. If you can deal with the sautéing, they’re pretty cool.

Now, I don’t eat meat, but I do eat fish. That’s why Wild Ginger’s seafood does intrigue me, but there is a little snag—for me at least—I don’t like shrimp, but maybe you do. So you might want to consider the Sweet & Sour Prawns Thai Style. Its prawns (shrimp), onion, pepper, carrot, tomato, and pineapple. Same goes for the Shrimp & Pineapple Coconut. Before you order either of these, you might want to check out OceansAlive. Shrimp is a complicated choice when it comes to contamination risk.

Even though I don’t eat shrimp, I do eat squid. Not often, but I do eat it. So I’d be tempted to order the Spicy Black Bean Calamari. It’s made with sautéed calamari, red bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, and a black bean sauce. Its okay and squid isn’t a huge pollution risk either.

Overall, I think Wild Ginger is decent. Clearly, it’s not perfect, but in a pinch I think an Eat to Liver could make it work. The salads are the best choice and my personal preference is the Papaya Salad. Now, as with most Asian restaurants, you’ve got to contend with the salt factor.

If I end up eating something a little too salty, I just make sure that I am extra vigilant about my food during the days that follow. So I’d like to think in the end, it averages out—know what I mean? Anyway, it’s your turn. Check out Wild Ginger’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. As always, you can make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat wisely. Peace.

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It happened quietly, but back in May DiseaseProof’s series Eating to Live on the Outside turned 2. It's been fun and we’ve certainly covered a lot of restaurants! So, I figured a recap was in order. This Fourth of July check out some of our not-so favorite restaurants:

• Girasole
• Jackson's Sports Grill
• Firkin Pub
• The Flying Biscuit Café
• Buffalo's Southwest Café
• Dagwood's Sandwich Shoppes
• The Old Bay
• Sage Grill
• Old Man Rafferty's
• Hobee's California Restaurants
• Lonni's Sandwiches
• Carino's Italian Grill
• Michael Jordan's Steakhouse
• Harvest Moon Brewery
• Huddle House
• Marie's Scrambler
• Caroline's on Broadway
• Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café
• Gumbo Shop
• Indigo Joe's
• Panera Bread
• Don Pablo's
• Fazoli's
  
• Tony Roma's
• Ruby Tuesday
• Boston Market
• Desert Moon Fresh Mexican Grille
• Denny's
• Carrabba's Italian Grill
• Perkins Restaurant & Bakery
• Houlihan's
• Ground Round
• The Office
• Bennigan's
• Sizzler
• Lonestar Steakhouse
• Friendly's
• Outback Steakhouse
• IHOP
• Fridays

While I was compiling this list, it struck me. The most well known restaurants are some of the worst for you. I guess it says something about Americans—we love crap food! Check back next week for a new Eating to Live on the Outside. Happy Fourth of July!

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Hopefully my government rebate check comes soon, because I’m heading to Las Vegas! And in between gambling my dreams away, I’m dropping by Habib’s Persian Cuisine. This week Eating to Live on the Outside heads to Sin City—digitally at least.

Actually I’ve been to Las Vegas before, remember Vegas Style and Go Raw Café? But this week, from the comforts of New Jersey, I’m giving Habib’s Persian Cuisine a look-see. And to be honest, it’s looking pretty good, lots of stuff for a ravenous Eat to Liver.

The menu’s really cool. It comes with pictures and from the looks of them. I’m digging the Hammus and the Borani. The Hammus is made with chic peas, sesame seed oil, olive oil, and lemon juice. The oils are a little troublesome, but chic peas kick butt! The Borani is prepared with sautéed eggplants, onions, herbs, garlic, and yogurt. I’m ditching the yogurt.

The salads are rocking too. I’d go with either the Salad Shirazi or the Tabuli. The Shirazi comes with diced tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers—nice! The Tabuli also looks great. It’s prepared with parsley, tomatoes, cracked wheat, green onions, mint, red peppers, and olive oil. No worries on the olive oil again. It’s hardly the end of the world.

The entrees are little dicey. Too much beef and chicken for my liking, but there’s hope! Take the Mahi Mahi for example. It’s a filet of fish with vegetables and rice. Mahi Mahi is a safer fish and the rice isn’t a HUGE concession. Same goes with the Salmon. It comes with lemon chive and butter sauce. I’d skip the butter—yucky! Salmon is also a better variety of fish. Now, I don’t really like shrimp, but maybe you’d consider the Shrimp Scampi. It’s pretty simple; shrimp, vegetables, and rice. So far, what I like about the menu is the simplicity. Nothing too complicated. I find the simpler a food is, the better it is for you—don’t you agree?

Okay, onto the daily specials. The Ghormeh Sabzi is cool. Its sautéed herbs, vegetables, kidney beans, dried limes, seasoning, and rice. Well, sautéed can be iffy, but no worries, it could be worse. Sadly, that’s the only special I’d go with. The rest of them have chicken and beef. You might eat a little chicken every once and a while, but I’ve sworn off all animal products except fish. The Koresht Fesenjan is interesting because it comes with pomegranate and pomegranate is a wonder food.

As for the desserts and beverages, I don’t see anything I’d consider. Cheese cake and soft drinks aren’t exactly on an Eat to Liver’s radar. But overall I think Habib’s Persian Cuisine is pretty good. So next time you’re betting the farm in Las Vega, stop by. In the meantime, check out Habib’s Persian Cuisine’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. As always, you can make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat wisely! Peace.

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I’ve got to thank Earl, Dr. Fuhrman’s tech-support and resident superman, for suggesting this week’s restaurant. Believe it or not, but it can take me a long time to find a place to review. So, this week Eating to Live on the Outside heads to 18 West. Well, digitally at least.

Alright, between the lunch and dinner menu I see a few appetizers I could run with. The Steamed clams are cool and so are the Mussels Bianco and the Zuppa Di Clams. The Mussels Bianco is made with farm raised mussels a light white wine, oil, and garlic broth. A little iffy, but I can deal with the oil and wine. The Zuppa Di Clams is better; little neck clams simmered in a light plum tomato broth. Now, Oceans Alive considers both mussels and clams safe to eat and according to Dr. Fuhrman mussels and clams are decent food choices. From the Food Scoring Guide:


18 West offers up two good salads too. The Spring Mix Salad is a bit of a mystery. The menu doesn’t say what’s in it, but it’s probably pretty basic. Ask the wait staff to be sure. Oh, and order the dressing on the side or not at all. The Seafood Salad could work too. Although, it doesn’t specify what seafood is in it. Again, ask the wait staff. Aside from the seafood it comes with onions, peppers, celery, and a lemon, oil, and garlic dressing. Provided the seafood checks out, it’s cool with me.


Okay, if you’re feeling bold. Maybe you want to give the pasta a whirl. The best options are the Papardella con Broccoli Rabe and Shrimp and the Cavatelli & Broccoli. Obviously I like the both of these for the broccoli rabe and the broccoli, the light oil and garlic broth is okay, but the parmesean cheese and shrimp have got to go. I don’t like shrimp and I wouldn’t eat cheese if you held a gun to my head. As for the cavatelli, I can handle it in this instance, but believe me. I know pasta isn’t a nutrient-dense food. Just focus on the greens, just focus on the greens!

Onto the entrees, I like the Tilapia Mare Chiaro. It’s prepared with tilapia, plum tomato broth, clams, mussels, linguini, and a side salad. Alright, both Dr. Fuhrman and Oceans Alive approve of tilapia, so that’s cool, but I’m nixing the linguini—I know, an Italian passing on pasta—sorry, not enough nutrients! I also like the Grilled Salmon Natural or Champagne Cream. Clearly, I’m going natural—not interested in the cream sauce. That means it comes with grilled salmon, exotic mushrooms, and NO light champagne cream sauce for me. When I read “cream sauce” I head for the hills.

Now, as is often the case, you could go very simple. Stick with the sides. In a pinch I could certainly be happy with a side of sautéed broccoli rabe, roasted vegetables, and a baked potato. What makes me sad is, as an Italian, I can’t really eat anything at an Italian restaurant. Maybe when I become a millionaire, I’ll open my own vegetable-based nutrient-dense Italian restaurant!

Overall, not 18 West is not the worst restaurant I’ve reviewed. A real bad Italian restaurant was Girasole. I’m pretty confident an Eat to Liver could make 18 West work, but, let’s not kid ourselves. I’m a big dummy. I blog for a living! So, it’s your turn. Check out 18 West’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. As always, make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well. Peace!

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With the Cubs and the White Sox kicking major butt, the windy city is the place to be. So, this week Eating to Live on the Outside heads to Chicago—via the marvels of the internet—we’ll be grabbing a bite to eat at the Blind Faith Café. Does it hold up? Let’s find out.

As for the appetizers, I’m thinking either the Mediterranean Hummus or the Guacamole and Chips. The hummus comes with toasted pita wedges and the guacamole is served with tortilla chips and fresh salsa. Neither of them is perfect. I wouldn’t order them, but if you’re hard up for an appetizer, these aren’t horrible.

The salads are a bit more palatable. I like them all and with a few alterations they’re all workable. You’ve got five salads to choose from. The Green Salad, Blind Faith Chef Salad, Santa Fe Salad, Pear and Goat Cheese Salad, and the Poached Asparagus Salad; combined they’re made with field greens, fresh sprouts, mixed greens, grated carrots, red onion, cashews, raisins, jack cheese, avocado, Romaine lettuce, barbeque seitan, tomato, corn, peas, tortilla ribbons, raspberry vinaigrette, caramelized pears, goat cheese fondue, steamed asparagus, poach egg, and ginger dressing. This is easy! I’d ditch the cheese, seitan, and egg, and I’d order the dressing on the side.

Onto the entrees, I see three I like. I’m digging the Teriyaki Grilled Tofu. It’s prepared with organic grilled tofu, teriyaki glazed Asian vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, and jasmine rice. The teriyaki glaze makes me a nervous, but I’m not too worried. The rice is a little iffy too, but, I can deal with it. The Massaman Curry is also pretty cool. It comes with Bok Choy, red pepper, cauliflower, asparagus, sweet and spicy yellow curry, and brown rice. Not too bad. And lastly, the Macrobiotic Plate looks tasty. It’s made with brown rice, shiitake gravy, butternut squash, steamed kale, sea vegetable salad, bean of the day, and miso soup. Hooray for kale! This is probably my favorite menu item, but I’d still skip on the miso soup.

Okay, what do the small dishes have to offer? The Grilled Vegetable Pesto Sandwich is neat; grilled zucchini, red pepper, organic tofu, sautéed pesto on baked foccacia, and salad, rice, or fries. Clearly, no fries for me! The foccacia bread is a little worrisome, but I’m okay with it. I also like the Pasilla Stew. It’s cooked with roasted garlic, tomato, caramelized onion, pastilla peppers, shimmered in an exotic savory stew. Provided this isn’t overly salty, it’s a nice option. Personally, I probably wouldn’t chance it.

I’m skipping the breakfast menu, nothing there really impresses me. Same goes for the eggs. I kicked eggs a long time ago. Now, there are a bunch of smoothies and juices that might be worth a look. The fresh squeezed carrot juice is cool. I also like the Blueberry Banana Boogie. It’s blended with blueberries, banana, apple cider, and Oregon berry juice—sounds yummy! The Hawaiian Sunrise is neat too. It’s made with peaches, pineapple, banana, mango nectar juice, and pineapple coconut juice. Nice! I can see the hula girls already.

Now, like always, if worst comes to worst and you don’t like anything on Blind Faith’s menu. Just order a bunch of sides. You’ve got a nice list to choose from: steamed kale, vegetable of the day, beans, sautéed tofu, a bowl of oatmeal, and steamed or roasted baby red potatoes. I’d go with the steamed kale, the veggie of the day, and the sautéed tofu. What would you order?

What do you think? Does the Blind Faith Café past the test? I think it does. There are plenty of veggies to soothe the savage Eat to Liver, but hey, what do I know? Let’s face it, I’m not that bright. You’re smarter than me. So give it a shot. Check out Blind Faith’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat wisely. Peace!

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside is brought to you by Bug. Bug is a loyal DiseaseProof reader and asked if I would take a look at Café Gratitude. All I can say is thanks Bug! Café Gratitude is great, definitely cool for any Eat to Liver.

Pretty much anything on the menu works. So, I picked my favorites. Let’s start with the appetizers. I’m digging the I Am Generous Guacamole; authentic guacamole, spicy tomato salsa, and live flax chips. The chips are a tad iffy, but its flax! No worries. I also like the I Am Insightful Spring Rolls. They’re made with carrots, cucumbers, unfried beans, avocado, tropical fruit, sprouts, fresh herbs, almond butter Thai dipping sauce, and collard green wraps. Sounds fantastic!

Onto the salads, I like the I Am Giving Asian Kale Salad and the Autumn Salad; combined they are made with marinated kale, sea vegetables, cucumbers, shiitakes, sesame seeds, fresh arugula, pears, walnuts, lentils, fennel, soft cashew cheese, and fig balsamic vinaigrette. Go easy on the dressing and these salads rock!

I’ll skip the soups because of the probable salt factor, but there’s a great pizza I like—when does an Eat to Liver get to say that! The I Am Mahalo Hawaiian Pizza is prepared with pineapple, avocado, marinara sauce, buckwheat-sunflower seed sourdough flatbread, sliced tomatoes, cashew ricotta, Brazil nut parmesan, and a side salad. Again, this is very cool.

The entrees and warm grain bowls have some good stuff too. As for the entrees, I like the I Am Terrific Live Pad Thai and the I Am Cheerful Live Sun Burger; together they include vegetable noodles, kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts, teriyaki almonds, Thai almond butter sauce, sprouted pumpkin seed and walnut burgers, sweet onion sunflower bread, lettuce, onion, house made catsup, pickles, side salad, macadamia cheddar cheese, and avocado. There’s a tiny salt hit here, no biggie.

As for the warm grain bowls, I like the I Am Graceful Indian Bahraini made with steamed red rice or quinoa, fresh veggies, cilantro, mint, cashews, Indian coconut curry sauce, sprouts, and avocado. Now, the I Am Accepting Sushi Bowl looks really tasty. It’s prepared with red rice, kale, cucumbers, nori, scallions, avocado, herbs, and a sesame-ginger sauce. Sure, the grains are a tiny concession, but I’m cool with it.

But, if none of these strike your fancy. Why not make your own meal from Café Gratitude’s sides? If it were me, I’d order a plate of I Am Extra Giving Side of Asian Kale-Sea Veggie Salad, I Am Extra Cheerful Sprouted Pumpkin Seed Walnut Burger Patty, I Am Powerful Spicy Live Sunflower and Pumpkin Seeds, and the I Am Extra Generous Scoop of Guacamole. Yummy in my tummy—sorry, that was corny.

Café Gratitude has a cool breakfast menu too. I’d go for the I Am Bright-Eyed Pecan Porridge; made with young coconut, pecans, seasonal fruit, vanilla, and cinnamon. Or, I’d give the I Am Plenty Great a whirl. It’s made with live granola, fresh fruit, and almond milk. I love almond milk! And for fun, I’d pair my breakfast up with a smoothie. I really like the I Am Luscious Raw Cacao Smoothie; fresh hazel nut milk, figs, dates, raw cacao, and vanilla. Yes, that would make me oh so luscious!

Now, the desserts and believe me, I know that they’re probably not the most nutrient-dense foods available, but if I were “forced” to order one. I’m leaning towards the I Am Cherished Raw Cheesecake. It’s a cashew cream cheesecake with an almond-date crust. Sorry, I’m from New Jersey, the diner state. Cheesecake—even faux-cheesecake—is in our blood.

Café Gratitude also serves up teas, coffee, beer, and cocktails. I don’t drink coffee anymore and none of the cocktails appeal to me, but I do like a couple of their organic caffeine-free teas and one of their beers—although I hardly ever drink beer. The two teas I like are the I Am Vital and the I Am Awed. The vital is blueberry roobios with schizandra berries and strawberries—sounds exotic—and the awed is tropical citrus rooibos, hibiscus, passion fruit, and essential oil orange and tangerine. Both sound very soothing. Okay, in regards to the beer. I consider Pinkus Organic Hefeweizen a delicacy. So, despite the health consequences, I’d be tempted to order one. I swear, just one!

My hat goes off to Bug for suggesting Café Gratitude. It’s a great place with lots of interesting Fuhrman-friendly creations. I’m pretty sure you’d have a good meal their, but—like I always say—I’m just a dopey blogger. Can you do better? Check out Café Gratitude’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well! Peace.

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In the spirit of DiseaseProof’s new Green Living category, this week Eating to Live on the Outside takes a look at a 100% veggie-friendly restaurant, Vegan Glory. The cuisine at this place is sure to leave a tiny carbon-footprint, but, can it satisfy the savage Eat to Liver?

Well, it’s not a total slam dunk, but it’s certainly workable. Let’s start with the appetizers. They’re a little tough; lots of frying going on. The steamed veggie dumplings are your best bet. Personally, I’d skip the appetizers.

Instead of an appetizer, you could go with a soup, but before you do, know that you are probably going to be taking a salt hit. Restaurants soups tend to be very salty. If I were feeling bold, I’d go with either the Miso Soup, Seaweed Soup, or the Tom Yum Soup; combined their made with soft tofu, kelp, mushrooms, broth, seaweed, vermicelli, napa cabbage, tomato, exotic herbs, and hot & sour lemongrass broth. All good stuff, maybe the vermicelli worries you, it doesn’t bother me, but the salt does, so I’d skip the soup.

Now we come to the best part of the menu—the salads! I like them all. Here are my two favorites. The Papaya Salad is made with green papaya, carrot, green beans, sliced tomatoes, lime juice, and ground peanuts. Honestly, this is one of my favorite things to eat. I order this at almost every Thai restaurant I eat at. So for me, this is a great option!

I also like the Green Power Salad. It’s got lots of great stuff! It’s prepared with Romaine lettuce, tomato, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, cucumber, edamame beans, red onion, walnuts, and your choice of peanut, tahini, or Italian dressing. Told you, it’s really cool! I’d go with the peanut dressing and order it on the side. How about you?

The other salads are nice options too. The Cucumber Salad comes with cucumber, red onion, and sweet vinegar. The House Salad is greens with your choice of Italian, peanut, or tahini dressing. The Glass Noodle Salad is made with vermicelli, tomato, mushrooms, red onion, lettuce, and a spicy lime dressing. And the Glory Salad is garden salad, grilled tofu, and peanut dressing. All good!

The curry is decent too. Vegan Glory serves up three kinds, green, red, and yellow curry. Combine these curries are made with hot red curry paste, coconut milk, basil, bell peppers, eggplant, bamboo shoots, seasonings, medium green chili paste, spices, herbs, mild yellow curry, onion, carrot, and potato. Not bad. Although I’m not a huge fan of curry, are you?

The chef’s specials and burgers have some potential too. I like the Lentil Loaf. It’s made with lentils, brown rice, bell pepper, onion, spices, and served with steamed brown rice. Well, if you can get passed the rice, it looks good to me. The Grilled Tofu Burger and the Veggie Burger are nice. The veggie burger is made with lentil, brown rice, veggies, and spices, and, they’re both served with Romaine lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, vegenaise, and an organic bun. Same deal here. If the rice and bun doesn’t bother you, these work in a pinch, but I’m dropping the vegenaise—yucky.

Now, the A La Carte section of the menu is iffy. Sure, they come with lots of veggies, but they’re all either stir-fried or sautéed. So it’s up to you. Is that a big deal to you? It’s a big deal to me, but since I hardly eat any fried foods, I can handle it. Here are the two dishes I really liked, despite the frying.

The Chinese Broccoli is neat; stir-fried Chinese broccoli, garlic sauce, served with steamed brown rice—simple, but good. I also like the Garlic Pepper. It’s prepared with sautéed garlic, black pepper, cilantro, garlic sauce, lettuce, and steamed brown rice. The lettuce cushions the blow of the sautéing.

Now, if all else fails and none of these strike your fancy—not even the salads—you can always order a side of grilled potatoes and a side of steamed vegetables (snow peas, carrots, broccoli, and zucchini), but hey, maybe I’m insane. Maybe you can do better. Check out Vegan Glory’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat yummy good food. Peace!

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside heads all the way, down the street. Yup, keeping it local today, we’re checking out Fusion. Fusion serves of French/Asian cuisine. An interesting combination, but, is Fusion Fuhrman-friendly? Let’s find out.

Okay, it’s a mixed bag. Like this. Under specialties, I like the Kuril Salmon, but before I ordered it. I’d ask the waiter what kind of salmon it is because according to Oceans Alive, Atlantic salmon is a high contamination risk. So, I’d only go for it if it’s wild salmon.

Next, I like the Roasted Tomato and Lentil soup, under potages; it’s made with fire roasted tomatoes and masoor yellow daal. Honestly, beans and tomatoes are both great. I’ve got no issues with this one. Have you ever had daal?

There are a couple nice options under salades. The Shanghai Greens and the SumTum are rock star! Combined their prepared with fresh greens, chili truffle vinaigrette, green papaya, roasted peanuts, cherry tomatoes, and vodka citron vinaigrette. Okay, both dressings are a tiny concession, but, do as I do. Order them on the side or just skip it!

Now, I see three things I like under Mises-En-Bouche. I’m digging the Tofu Delight, Spring Roll, and the Fusion Triangles. Yup, they’re not the best option. Here’s why. The Tofu Delight is crispy tofu glazed with sweet chili, the Spring Rolls are your basic vegetable spring roll, and Fusion Triangles are stuffed with cinnamon spiced ground vegetables. The tofu isn’t too bad, but the rolls and triangles are probably made with some sort of dough, so that makes them iffy. Neither of these are my first choice, but they hey, could be a lot worse!

The Polynesian Mahi Mahi is pretty cool. It’s under Plat Principal. Mahi Mahi is an iffy fish too; be sure to check out Oceans Alive on Mahi Mahi. Okay, so provided Fusion’s Mahi Mahi is safe, the Polynesian Mahi Mahi is made with meunier sauce and accompanied with sautéed bok choy—can’t beat some bok choy!

Flambe Wok offers a lot of potential. I see three dishes I like. The Mekong Vegetables, Chili Paneer, and the Szechwan Tofu; combined they’re prepared with stir-fried fresh vegetables, black bean sauce, sautéed fresh chilies, onions, bell peppers, light soy sauce, and tofu sautéed in an Asian sauce. Lots of good stuff here, the sautéing, frying, and soy sauce worries me, but it’s a decent amount of veggies, so I can deal with it.

Okay, the lunch menu has two nice options. The Pad Ka Tiem is stir-fried tofu and vegetables glazed in a black pepper garlic sauce. I’m becoming a bigger and bigger fan of tofu. Also, the Chengdu Vegetables seems interesting. It doesn’t say what vegetables are in it, but whatever they are. They’re prepared in a Szechuan sauce. Yeah, not perfect, but workable.

Like I said, Fusion is a mixed bad. It’s a clear cut example of how Eating to Live on the Outside goes. You’ve got to take the good with the bad. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself eating at home all the time. Now, since Fusion is close by, maybe I can coax Dr. Fuhrman into heading over to Fusion with me. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, check out Fusion’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well! Peace!

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It’s Friday! And you know what the means. More blog posts from me using the phrases, “check it out”, “take a look”, and “here’s a bit?” No. Well, actually yes, but that’s not what I’m taking about. Friday means Eating to Live on the Outside, and this week we’re heading to New York City.

I’m a total city urchin, I love New York! And New York City is a great place for health eating and this week’s restaurant, Candle Café, is no exception. Candle Café claims to serve up organic vegetarian cuisine—so it’s got to be good—right? Only one way to find out!

Okay, most of Candle Café’s menu is very workable. I don’t see any major red flags. So, here are the menu items I’d be most inclined to order. Now, since the cocktails and smoothies are first on the menu, I’ll start with those.

As for the cocktails I like the ones made with greens. Combined the Green Goddess, Candle Cocktail, and the Solar power are concocted with mixed greens, apple, lemon, ginger, carrot, celery, and beet. Yeah, no pun intended, but you’d be hard pressed to find a problem with these.

Onto the smoothies, the Tropical Freeze is cool. It’s got orange juice, bananas, strawberries, mangos, and pineapples—no problems here! The Classic Combo is awesome too. It’s made with apples, berries, and bananas. So far, so good!

Now, it’s time for an appetizer. The steamed edamame beans are great—I eat a lot of them—but I’d ditch the sprinkle of sea salt. I also like the quesadilla, relax, there’s no cheese, remember, “Organic vegetarian cuisine.” However, it does come with soy cheese, which I can do without. I don’t like that stuff. In addition to the soy cheese the quesadilla is made with bean puree, grilled vegetables, salsa, guacamole, and a whole wheat tortilla. Clearly, the whole wheat tortilla isn’t the best thing in the world, but I can live with it—hooray for grilled vegetables!

Next up are the salads. No surprise here, there’s a bunch of great ones. I’m cool with the House Salad, Living Crunchy Sprout, Chopped Salad, or the Aztec Salad. They’re made with a lot of great stuff; mixed field greens, hearts of palm, tomatoes, carrots, sprouts, raisins, sesame seeds, Romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, chickpeas, red onion, tofu feta, bi-color quinoa, black beans, jicama, spiced pumpkin seeds, barbequed grilled tempeh, seasonal vegetables, brown rice, steamed greens, avocado, mango, and a variety of dressings. Yup, lots of good stuff! The only thing I’d do is nix the tofu feta and tempeh—not my bag—and I’d order those dressings on the side—good idea?

Alright, there are a couple decent options in the sandwiches and burgers, but they’re all made with tempeh and seitan, and as I’ve said, neither of those get my motor running. So, I’ll skip that section of the menu; which brings me to the sides. In the event that you don’t like any of menu items I’ve mentioned, the sides might be your salvation. You could certainly order a plate of quinoa salad, a baked sweet potato, and steamed vegetables and greens. Now that’s Fuhrman-friendly!

Yeah, Candle Café is cool beans. Certainly a healthy spot in the heart of the big apple and since New York City is one of my stomping grounds. I should drag my butt into Candle Café and tell you all about it, but in the meantime, check out Candle Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat very healthfully! Peace.

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I just flipped through the last couple month’s of Eating to Live on the Outside and I’ve got to admit, its been a nice run. Check out these great restaurants: Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille, Salad Works, Live, Green Tango, and Leaf Cuisine. All good!

And this week’s is another winner. Daily’s has serious potential. Thanks to Michael for emailing me about it. Daily’s menu is about half and half; half the food is iffy, but the other half could easily soothe the savage nutritarian. So, enough vamping—let’s hit it!

For starters I like the steamed vegetables and the small mixed green salad; hard to find something wrong with these. Steamed veggies rock and provided you go easy on the dressing, the green salad kicks butt too.

Now, onto the salads; I like four of the six. I’m skipping the Baja Flavors Pasta Salad and the Large Mixed Green Salad; the Baja Salad because of the pasta and the Green Salad because it’s a tad boring, but the rest entice me.

Combined the Chinatown Chicken Salad, Thai Noodle Salad, Greek Salad, and Spinach Pasta Salad are made with Romaine lettuce, cucumber, carrots, water chestnuts, chicken, sesame seeds, sprouts, soba noodles, celery, scallions, cabbage, feta cheese, black olives, pepperoncini peppers, rotini or fussili pasta, spinach leaves, red onions, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and your choice of dressing. Wow, a lot of stuff!

Okay, here’s the stuff I’d omit: the chicken, soba noodles, feta cheese, black olives, either pasta, parmesan cheese and of course, I’d order the dressing on the side. I’d go with the balsamic vinegar. What would you do?

I’m passing on the entrees and pizza; nothing there gets my motor running. Let’s check out the sandwiches and wraps and yes, the wrap, bun, or bread would a concession. I’m fine with it. A bread concession I can live with, believe it me, it could be A LOT worse!

My two favorites are the Veggie Wrap and the Mediterranean Wrap. The Veggie Wrap is made with a flavored tortilla, mushrooms, onions, black olives, tomatoes, zucchini, brown rice, and a ginger sesame dressing—I’m ditching the olives and getting the dressing on the side. Now, the Mediterranean Wrap includes a flavored tortilla, tomato sauce, zucchini, mushrooms, lentils, brown rice, and nonfat mozzarella cheese—I’m dropping the cheese.

I also like the Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini, the Garden Vegetable Burger, and the Thai Wrap; altogether they’re prepared with roasted red pepper spread, eggplant, zucchini, French baguette, garden vegetable burger, whole grain honey bun, flavored tortilla, tofu, celery, cucumber, shredded carrots, mushrooms, rice, and various dressings. All good stuff; grilled eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms are three of my favorite things!

I’m jumping over the desserts and drinks and going right for Daily’s Blender Bar. I like four of them. The Paradise Splash Smoothie; fresh orange juice, strawberry, and banana. The Double Berry Blitz; blueberries, strawberries, and apple juice. Razzle Dazzle; cranberry juice, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. And the Fit & Fresh; raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, and apple juice. Seriously, what’s better than blended bananas!

Now, perhaps the coolest thing about Daily’s is that the menu lists the nutrition facts. This is a HUGE asset for anyone who is mindful of their nutrition. So, here are the nutrition facts for the items I selected. Take a look:


Pretty cool—right? Yup, I definitely think Daily’s is a great place to have a healthy meal. But hey, I say it all the time, what do I know? I’m just a blogger. I’m hardly a nutrition expert. So, do me a favor, scope out Daily’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat wisely. Peace.

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On your way to work today you probably drove past three or four fast food joints, one or two casual dining places, and at least few delis or mini-marts; not exactly havens of healthy eating. Hey, by now you know, Eating to Live on the Outside is hard work!

But, lucky for us, this week’s restaurant is a break from the terrible. By terrible I am referring to Eating to Live on the Outside flunkies like Don Pablo's, Jackson's Sports Grill, Fazoli's, and Lonestar Steakhouse—I’m still shaking from these places.

Good thing Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille serves up plenty of fruit and veggie-inspired dishes. Now, Blue Sage isn’t perfect, but we can work with it. I’m pretty confident even the most ardent nutritarian could find something to eat on this menu. Let’s see if I’m right!

Admittedly, I’m not much of an appetizer guy, but there is one that might work. The Green Curry BBQ Summer Rolls are rice paper wrapped around baby spinach, Thai glazed barbeque vegetables, smoked red onion, ginger, basil, soy syrup, dipping oils, and a side of jicama. Agreed, it’s a little dicey, but the hefty amount of veggies could help you overlook the oil, smoking, and barbeque—what do you think?

The salads are less complicated, let’s jump to them. Both the lunch and dinner house salad are great; combined their made with spring mix, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sun-dried berries, plum tomatoes, with a maple mustard, chile lime, or smoked chile vinaigrette. I’d probably get the chile lime on the seed and then kick back and enjoy those pumpkins seeds and berries.

The Asian Citrus Spinach salad is also really cool. It’s prepared with roasted gold beets, tangerines, green curry barbequed onion, spicy cashews, and an orange sesame vinaigrette. Another solid option is the Adobo Cubano; roasted plum tomatoes, grilled peppers, chipotle carmelized onions, baby spinach, and cheddar cheese. For both of these I’d order the dressing on the side and as for that cheese—no thanks!

Onto the entrees. I’m digging the Green Curry Shepherds Pie; made with couscous, brocolini, butternut squash, candy stripe beets, sun burst squash, green curry coconut broth, and Okinawa purple potato rosette. Its kind of exotic, but it does sound great. The Sonoma Sampler works too. It includes tabouleh grain salad, black beluga lentils, black berry barley, roasted sweet corn, grilled zucchini, guacamole, sesame eggplant, and a pepper-topped grilled pita hummus. Alright, provided that guacamole is sour cream free, the only major concession I see is the pita. I can deal with. Black beluga lentils, sounds interesting.

Two more. Both the Quesa Havana and the El Fino sound nice; combine they’re made with whole wheat tortilla, adobo black beans, cilantro, mango, jack cheese, avocado-roasted corn salsa, baby greens, chile lime vinaigrette, spinach, grilled pears, maple pecans, gorgonzola, grilled onions, dairy-free carmelized onion mayo, spring mix, pear-walnut vinaigrette, oranges, roasted baby yellow beets, and sun-dried cranberries. There’s a lot of good stuff here, but I’d drop the mayo, gorgonzola, jack cheese, and, I’d get those dressings on the side.

The cool thing about Blue Sage is that quite a few of their entrees are vegan, like the house salads and Asian Citrus Spinach salad. Now, even though I’m not a vegan. I like to see this because vegan usually means vegetable-based. Sometimes it can mean faux-food and refined junk, but more often than not it means veggies—very cool!

Well, I feel pretty good about Blue Sage and I’m positive a nutritarian could have a nice meal there, but what do I know? I’m just some dopey blogger. You people are smarter than me. So, put your thinking cap on and check out Blue Sage’s menus and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well. Peace.
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As a card-carrying member of Italian-American society, I think I’m pretty qualified to examine Girasole for this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside, and, a good friend of mine asked me to do it. So, let’s see if this Italian kitchen passes the test.

Actually, it’s pretty bad. I just scanned through the lunch and dinner menu and both menus don’t offer much for the discerning nutritarian. I kind of expected it. As an Italian guy, I can tell you firsthand, since I started eating a vegetable-based nutrient-dense diet. I’ve cut out A LOT of traditional Italian favorites; things like pizza, chicken parmesan, lasagna, antipasto, and meatballs.

Sure, now I’m the black sheep at family get-togethers, but that doesn’t bother me. I’ve been crazy for years. So eating lots of fruits and vegetables and doing Yoga is pretty tame for me. Okay, enough about me, back to the Girasole’s menu.

Okay, I’ll start with the appetizers. Well, there’s a whole mess of them—mess being the operative word—lots of gooey cheese, sausage, and prosciutto. Yeah, not exactly health-promoting, but, there are two menu items I could roll with.

The first is the Funghi Trifolati. It’s made with Portabello mushrooms, domestic mushrooms, sautéed white wine, herbs, garlic, and bread crumbs. Not perfect, I know. But comparatively speaking, it’s not bad. The sautéing and the bread crumbs are a concession, but mushrooms are great and so is garlic—right?

Next up is the Vongole in Bianco or Rosso. Relax you don’t need to know Italian. It’s prepared with clams, and your choice of white wine and garlic broth, marinara, or far diavolo sauce. This one is certainly iffy. According to Oceans Alive clams have some contamination issues. So, even if I ordered them with the marinara sauce—which I would—I’d still have to deal with the typical seafood concession.

Alright, truth be told. I probably wouldn’t eat either of these appetizers, but in a pinch and if for some reason I HAD to order an appetizer. I’d go with Funghi Trifolati. Hey, let’s just move onto the salads!

Now, the Insalate is not the slam dunk it can sometimes be. For example, consider the Mozzarella Fresca e Pomodoro. It’s hardly a salad—this is actually a pretty common Italian food—its just mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. Not exactly a salad packed with phyonutrients—egad!

As for the real salads, I like the Tre Colori—in fact, I think this is the best option overall—it’s prepared with arugula, radicchio, Belgian endive, and lemon vinaigrette. Nothing too bad here, just order the vinaigrette on the side and you should be all set—agreed?

At first the Capricciosa caught my eye, until I looked closely. The lead ingredient is organic greens—GREAT—right? But it quickly gets a whole lot worse; provolone cheese, olives, and salami. I saw that stuff and all I could say was, “Feets don’t fail me now!” No thanks.

And that’s it folks. I don’t see anything else I’d consider ordering. There are pasta dishes, but I hardly eat pasta anymore and none of Girasole’s are worth taking the refined pasta hit. Like I said, when you’re an Italian nutritarian a lot of your traditional ethnic food goes out the window.

Alright, now it’s your turn. Perhaps I’m in a stupor. Maybe Girasole really is a great place for nutritarians to grab a meal. So do me a favor, check out Girasole’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat wisely! Peace.

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I guess it’s only fitting that it’s a warm sunny day out and I’ve got Bob Marley on the stereo, because today, Eating to Live on the Outside heads to Island Flavors for a taste of “Authentic Caribbean Cuisine.” Does it hold up? Only one way to find out!


Right away we’re off to a promising start. The salads are up first and I see two I like. Let’s start with the easier one, the Reggae Salad; prepared with seasonal fruits, paradise dressing, tropical spring mix (I’m guessing veggies), and mango bread. Not perfect, but not bad either. The fruits and veggies are great, the dressing doesn’t bother me that much and I could take or leave the mango bread—although I’m curious to try it. How about you?

Now, the Tropical Jerk Chicken Salad—relax, I know there’s chicken in it! We’ll deal with that in a second, but first, check this out. It’s made with FOUR different lettuces; green leaf, Romaine, iceberg, and radicchio. That’s cool! It gets better. This tropical salad also comes with cucumbers, tomato, mango, pineapple, dressing, and of course, the jerk chicken. Okay, I love the fruits and veggies, but the spiciness of that chicken terrifies me. If I eat jerk ANYTHING, you’ll have to jerk me off the toilet all night, so, I’ll pass on the chicken, and, order that dressing on the side.

Moving on, the sandwiches and wraps are next. The Grab and Go Fish Sandwich has potential—just as long as the fish is an Eco-Best—it’s made with fresh fish, spices, roti skin, lettuce, tomato, and mango-papaya salsa. I know what you’re thinking, what the heck is a roti skin? Roti skin is basically a flatbread, which makes it a concession, but I can live with it. The sautéing makes me nervous, but I could handle it in a pinch—although I like to water sauté my veggies.

The Caribbean Vegetable Wrap is also a nice choice. Like the name says, it comes with a lot of veggies; carrots, zucchini, Portobello mushrooms, yellow squash, red peppers, onions, fresh basil, roti skin, and fried plantains. I like everything, but the fried plantains. I’ve got nothing against plantains. It’s the frying I can do without. Oh, and you’ll have to come to grips with the sautéing here too.

Veggie Style is a really good place for a discerning nutritarian to check out. I see three things I’d order; Curry Vegetables, Plantain Special, and the Dreaddie Special. Combined these dishes are made with garden vegetables, curry sauce, plantains, rice, peas, salad, and spicy or mild sauce. Hard to argue with these, maybe the rice makes you a little apprehensive, but I don’t eat rice very often—and when I do its usually brown rice—so I can handle it.

Alright, to finish up our digital trip to the Caribbean, here are some miscellaneous menu items that might strike your fancy. The Curry Veggie Roti; carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sugar snap peas, curry sauce, greens, and plantains. Now, I like all of this, my only concern is if that curry sauce contains cream, is so, NO THANKS! A side of steamed cabbage is a nice option to consider and finally, the carrot juice is a surprising winner. Here’s why, from Dr. Fuhrman’s Food Scoring Guide:


Hooray for carrot juice! Okay, I think someone eating a nutrient-dense vegetable-based diet could certainly find refuge at Island Flavors—there are plenty of workable fruit and veggie inspired dishes to soothe the savage beast. Well, my Bob Marley CD is nearing an end, so it’s your turn. Check out Island Flavor’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well! Peace.

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Okay, last week we had a hard time with Jackson's Sports Grill, but no worries, this week is a little more palatable. We’re heading to Boston to grab a bite to eat at Ma Soba. An Asian restaurant with plenty of veggie inspired goodies. Let’s have a look!

Now before we start going through the menu. We should remember one thing. While it’s true that many Asian restaurants serve up lots of Fuhrman-friendly food choices. Asian food usually comes with a price, salt. So, we’ll do our best, but we’ll probably hit a snag or two.

Alright, I see a couple entrees I could roll with. The Tofu and Chinese Eggplant Stew is prepared with two kinds of tofu, sliced eggplant, rice, and a soy and wine sauce. Soy sauce, yup there’s a concession! I’d probably ditch the sauce or at least order it on the side. Now rice isn’t exactly nutrient dense, but I can deal with it—trust me, it could be worse.

Next up is the Grilled Salmon Filet. Along with the fish you get mango salsa, mashed sweet potatoes, and stir-fried vegetables. Provided the salmon isn’t Atlantic salmon, I’ll cool with it. Perhaps the bigger hit is the stir-fried vegetables. The veggies are great, but the frying part, not so much, might be a good idea to inquire about steamed veggies instead.

Ma Soba also serves sushi. I like sushi, but I don’t eat it very often and usually—for the sake of safety—I stick with salmon. Ma Soba does serve salmon sushi, so I’d probably go with that, but if I was in the mood for sushi rolls, it wouldn’t be my first choice. Here’s why.

Check out the maki rolls. Ma Soba has got some great VEGGIE sushi options. Now, I like sushi, but I LOVE veggie sushi. These four are great. From Ma Soba’s menu:


I would pass on any soy dipping sauce, but as for the rice these rolls are prepared with, I can live with it. White rice doesn’t scare me that much, but if do feel a little guilty about eating some, I’ll just run an extra mile at gym or maybe hold a Yoga a little longer than I normally would.


Let’s move onto the “others” section of the menu—kind of a funny name, but there’s some good stuff here. Like the edamame and steamed tofu appetizers. I probably eat steamed edamame beans once a week. Beans in general are great foods—musical too!

Perhaps even better than these appetizers are the salads, in fact, I’d say the salads are the BEST options on the menu. I went ahead and marked them on the menu. Take a look:


For either of these salads I’d ask for the dressing on the side. Now, the seaweed salad looks tempting and green seaweed is wonderful, but seaweed salads are usually LOADED with salt, so, got to skip it—darn!


To close out our digital visit to Ma Soba, I think the Steamed Vegetarian Dumplings and Sauteed Asian Vegetables are okay options too—no great, but not horrible. Neither of them would be my first choice and if I were to order one of them, I’d make sure to keep close tabs on my diet over the next couple of days, just to keep myself from tripping.

So there you have it, another restaurant onto the ever-growing pile of Eating to Live on the Outside, but, we’re not finished yet! It’s your turn. Check out Ma Soba’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well! Peace.

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“I see the bad moon arising. I see trouble on the way. I see earthquakes and lightning. I see bad times today.” Maybe John Fogerty was singing about this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside—BECAUSE IT’S BAD! Jackson’s Sports Grill is a ROUGH mission.

Most of the menu is totally off limits. I mean I’m no dietician, but I hardly think meat pizzas, cheesecake, Buffalo wings, onion rings, Italian sausage, fried shrimp, and patty melts are nutrient-dense—right? Yeah, this isn’t going to be easy.

Okay, let’s see what—if anything—we can do with this menu. Well, the appetizers are out and so are the wings, pizzas, and desserts. So, I’ll just jump right to the salads. I see two I like, but they’re not without problems.

First, the Mandarin Chicken Salad; made with salad greens, green peppers, tomatoes, green onions, pineapple, mandarin oranges, Asian noodles, sesame seeds, sesame seed dressing, and grilled chicken breast. Okay, if you wanted to keep the chicken—I guess you could—but I’m ditching it, I’m also nixing the noodles and ordering the dressing on the side.

The next option is the Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad; prepared with Romaine lettuce, mandarin oranges, raspberry vinaigrette, grilled chicken breast, and shaved roasted almonds. Pretty much the same deal here; keep the chicken if you want to and order the dressing on the side.

Moving on, the sandwiches, wraps, and specialties are no man’s land—or should I say no nutritarian’s land. There are a couple fish dishes that you’d THINK would be a decent, but, in both cases the poor fish has been deep-fried to death—yeah, pass!

Now, below Jackson’s specialties are the sides; coleslaw, salad, Caesar salad, collage cheese, corn, green beans almondine, onion rings, mashed potatoes & gravy, French fries, seasoned curly fries, and fresh-fried potato chips. Okay, most of these are junk, but I could certainly make a nice meal out of the corn, green beans, and salad—good idea?

Lastly, there’s a workable option under burgers, The Veggie Burger. According to the menu it’s made from all vegetables. Now, earlier in the week I blogged about veggie burgers; sure, they are meatless, but they’re hardly super foods. They’re loaded with salt. Maybe Jackson’s veggie burgers are different. Personally, I wouldn’t risk it. I’ll stick with a salad.

That’s that! Another lousy standard American restaurant bites the dust. It’s sad. So many restaurants are just dumping stations for the standard American diet—very depressing. Alright, maybe I’m slipping, maybe you can do better. Check out Jackson’s Sports Grill’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat healthfully! Peace.

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The other day I was thinking, “Do you guys think I’m a vegan?” Not that it would be a bad thing, but, I’m not. I’m a true-blue nutritarian. My diet is vegetable-based; which means I eat plenty of fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds, and beans, but, I do eat some animal products.

Now, in the beginning I used to eat a lot more animal foods. Just check out these previous Eating to Live on the Outsides: Friday’s, P.F. Chang's, Lonestar Steakhouse, and Sizzler. I’d like to think I’ve evolved because now the only animal I eat is fish.

I don’t eat it all the time, a couple times a month—tops! And when I do, I only eat the fish Dr. Fuhrman’s considers to be low in mercury: salmon, tilapia, sole, flounder, and trout. My favorite fish is Steelhead Trout. Now, thanks to Oceans Alive we can examine these fish further:


See, it’s tricky. Even with the good fish you’ve got to make sure it’s the right kind. So, let’s test ourselves. This week Eating to the Live on the Outside heads to Naked Fish. Obviously this place is a fisherman’s dream, but, is it a nutritarian nightmare? Only one way to find out!


Okay, let’s start with the Starters. Alright, I don’t like shrimp and I’m not into blazing peppers and ham slivers, but, the Steamed Prince Edward Island Mussels might work; prepared with tomato laurel broth or white wine and leeks. Yes! I know mussels aren't on Dr. Fuhrman’s list, but Oceans Alive gives them high marks:


Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I had mussels, so I wouldn’t be too hung up about ordering them. Oh! And I’d probably ask for the tomato broth with the leeks and pass on the wine.


Next up are the Sandwiches. I’m going with the Vegetable Wrap; roasted tomatoes, peppers, onions, mixed greens, tomato lavash bread, with avocado aioli spread. Clearly, the bread is the concession—I can deal with it—although I can’t deal with the side of fries.

Speaking of sides, since I’d be ditching the French fries, I’d ask if I could sub in one of these: Roasted Garlic Red Bliss Potatoes, Sauteed Golden “Maduros” Plantains, Grilled Asparagus, Grilled String Beans, Stir Fry Vegetables, and Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Bananas. The mashed potatoes are cool—provided they aren’t made with any cream or butter—but my first choice is either the asparagus or the string beans. And hey, why not just make a meal out of the sides?

Moving on to the Salads. The Chopped Salad is a good option—although the menu doesn’t say what’s in it—but be sure to nix an undesirables, like croutons and order that dressing on the side or skip it altogether. Now, maybe the Salmon Salad is a nice choice; made with grilled salmon, seasonal greens, red onion, diced orange, and lemon vinaigrette. As along as that salmon isn’t Atlantic Salmon, I’d be sitting pretty.

As for the Grilled Seafood and the Sauteed & Roasted, I’m digging the Tilapia, Mahi Mahi Fillet, and the Pan-Seared Mahi Mahi. The Tilapia is cool, that’s easy, but what about the mahi mahi? Again, it’s not on Dr. Fuhrman’s list. Let’s check back with Oceans Alive:


Yeah, it’d be a good idea to ask the wait staff about the mahi mahi, but in the end, I really wouldn’t have any regret ordering either of these; especially if I were to pair these up with one of those great sides.


In the end, I think Naked Fish is certainly a decent place to eat if you’re looking to have a nutrient-dense meal, but remember this piece of advice from Dr. Fuhrman. Pay attention now:

Choose fish over other animal products, but be aware that the place where it was caught, and the type of fish, matters. Don't accept recreational fish from questionable waters. Farmed fish is safer. Never eat high-mercury-content fish. Don't eat fish more than twice a week, and if you have a family history of hemorrhagic stroke, limit it further to only once a month.

I felt a post like this was long overdue. As a fish eating nutritarian, you got to know what to eat and what to stay away from! But tell me what you think. Check out Naked Fish’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well! Peace.

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Sometimes healthy restaurants smack you right in the face. Earlier this week I was sitting in traffic, and, after I finished banging my fists against the steering wheel. I looked up—and like a message from the beyond—I saw a billboard for Salad Works. A nutritarian’s dream!

Salad Works is along the same lines as Eating to Live on the Outside all-stars Just Salads and Salad Creations. I mean heck, they all have SALAD in their name—they got to be good! But there’s only one way to know for sure. Let’s crack this menu open stat!

Well, pretty much anything on Salad Works’ menu is workable. Sure, some of the salads harbor nasty things like bacon, croutons, and cheese, but, if you nix these things, you’ll be in good shape. So, here are my selections for the “best” choices—tallyho!

As for the Signature Salads, the Garden Salad and the Mandarin Chicken are solid choices; together they include iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots, onions, chicken, mandarin oranges, craisins, and chow mein noodles. Alright, the Garden Salad is completely without problems, but in order to make the Mandarin Chicken concession free. You got to de-chicken it and while you’re at it, toss the noodles too. What do you think? Good move?

Now, you’re probably wondering about the dressing. Salad Works has a bunch of them. Here are the ones that caught my eye—yes I’d order them all on the side—Balsamic Vinaigrette, Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Vinaigrette Italian. The others are very creamy, and, I don’t do creamy—at all!

Okay, if for some bizarre reason I didn’t feel eating a SALAD at a SALAD JOINT, there’s a couple wraps that look interesting. I could go with either the Oriental Wrap or the Veggie Wrap; combined they’re prepared with a “fresh spring mix”, chicken, mandarin oranges, cucumbers, carrots, oriental sesame dressing, lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and your “favorite” dressing. What’s got to go? The chicken—go cross the road! Now, no matter what dressing I ordered, it’s definitely going on the side.

Next up is the Grilled Panini. I’ll pass, there’s nothing worth investigating here. Alright, if you feel like taking a salt hit—can’t imagine why you would—you could go with the Tuscan Bean Minestrone; made with vegetables and white beans. Or, maybe you like the Vegetarian Vegetable, prepared with lots and lots of vegetables! On face value, these soups look cool, but chances are—like all prepared soups—they are salt-heavy. I’d double-check with the wait staff, but why bother. The salads are great!

Yeah, Salad Works is an awesome place for a nutritarian. Now, here’s the really awesome part. There is one practically down the road from my apartment, so very soon I’ll haul my butt over there, eat some delicious nutrient-dense food, and tell you all about it. But, as for right now, its time for you to check out Salad Works’ menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Then, make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat greatly! Peace.

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Believe it or not, but its been almost two years since I reviewed Friendly’s for Eating to Live on the Outside and I’ve worked hard to block it from my memory—it’s bad, real bad—here are some lowlights. Proceed with caution:

One minute you’re at home checking out DiseaseProof (shameless plug) and the next you’re at a restaurant with friends—-totally dumbfounded by the menu! It may be Friendly's, bit it's not looking very Fuhrman-friendly! You’re scared. Your initial reaction is, “Oh man! I gotta get out of here. I can already feel myself getting fatter.” Don’t worry, you're not alone. We'll stare down this menu together. Although feel free to curl up into the fetal position if you need to…


…Okay, time to flex my powers of guess-timation. This week I’ll being taking a look at the ironically named Friendly’s menu. After a few minutes of perusing the menu sweat actually began to bead up on my forehead. This restaurant is a tough sell for an Eat to Liver—-just lots of good-old fried goo smothered with cheesy American goodness! But surprisingly, you do have some options…

…Another dish that is certainly worth a try is the Vegetable Fajita Quesadillas. You Eat to Livers know what I mean, you see the word vegetable on a menu and your eyes snap to attention. Now, it's not perfect, but you can work with it. The flour tortillas are a problem, but an acceptable concession if you skip the Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese. Then you’re left with baby portabella mushrooms, sautéed onions, and red peppers and green peppers—-I’m a sucker for portabella. Yes, I realize cheese is high on Dr. Fuhrman's list of evil foods.

Eek! Not good, and, I actually go on to recommend ordering a chicken dish. This was WAY before my healthy lifestyle. Now, onto current events, its being reported that Friendly’s is going trans-fat free. More from The Boston Globe:

Friendly Ice Cream Corp., once an iconic New England venue for family restaurant meals heavy on burgers and sundaes, could become the latest restaurant chain to switch over to using trans fat-free oil.


Friendly's, a Wilbraham-based chain of about 500 restaurants, said it expects the change-over to be completed by the fall.

Trans fat has been linked to heart disease in humans and to diabetes in experiments with animals.

Although Friendly's said it has been working on the initiative for over a year, the chain came under fire yesterday from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, or CSPI, a Washington, D.C., advocacy group that crusades on behalf of such issues as nutrition.

Well, nixing the trans-fat is great, but, what about the cheese, bacon, mayonnaise, ice cream, and other garbage? It’s a start, but I hardly think this move is going to skyrocket Friendly’s out of the Eating to Live on the Outside reject list. Sorry Friendly’s, try again.

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Eek! We got a Firkin nightmare on our hands this week. As you’ll soon see Firkin Pubs will quickly join the ranks of Eating to Live on the Outside rejects: Hobee's, Carino's, and Huddle House. I’ve said it before, you got to take the good with the bad. So, let’s see if this standard American restaurant has SOMETHING that a nutritarian MIGHT considering eating.

Whoa! This is going to be tough sledding. I’m no nutritionist, but, I’m pretty sure there is NOTHING nutrient-dense about breaded chicken fingers, bacon wrapped scallops, and barbequed beef brisket—EGAD! I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Okay, with a “liberal” eye let’s search this menu. Well, the Vegetable Stir Fry is kind of an option. Obviously the FRY part sucks—frying, a great way to ruin a good thing—if you can get passed the frying, it’s made with mixed vegetables, basmati rice, and sesame teriyaki sauce. HELLO CONCESSIONS! The frying, the white rice, the oil, and the salty sauce—I wouldn’t eat it!

Maybe the Veggie Burger? I guess it’s your standard veggie burger amalgamation; prepared with sautéed mushrooms, onions, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickle, and your choice of sides (the best being the grilled vegetables). Even with the grilled veggies, I’m not eating it. Processed meat substitutes aren’t my favorite thing, they’re okay, but I usually pass—what about you?

Alright, if by some complete miscarriage of fate you found yourself in a Firkin Pub, just head for the salads. That’s your best bet. The safest option is the House Salad; made with seasonal vegetables, greens, and your choice of dressing—I’d go with the Balsamic Vinaigrette on the side. Go on. See for yourself, the House Salad is really the ONLY option.

Now, if you were feeling naughty, you might want to give the Greek Salad a whirl; includes mixed greens, feta cheese, tomatoes, onions, Kalamata olives, and “Firkin” dressing. Well, like I said, if you were feeling risqué, you might want to drop the cheese, keep the olives, ditch the Firkin dressing, and swap in the Balsamic Vinaigrette. Maybe those salty olives would give you a cheap thrill. Personally, I’ll stick with the House Salad.

Hopefully by now you’ve realized just how much of a train wreck Firkin Pub really is. With that being said, if none of these entice you—which wouldn’t be all that surprising—maybe you could ask for a double side order of grilled vegetables. That’d be a decent option, especially if you pair it up with a little salad. At this point, it’d probably be easier to just walk out the Firkin door!

I’d like to close on a high note—I really would—but Firkin Pub is just another junk food restaurant. It might be fun to watch a football game there, but eating a Firkin meal is gambling with your health, and, I don’t think you have to be a nutrition guru to make that statement.

So, another restaurant bites the dust, but hey! Maybe I’m crazy—believe me, it’s a possibility—maybe Firkin Pub is a fantastic place to eat. You decide! Check out the Firkin menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. In the meantime, eat your veggies! Peace.

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Eating to Live on the Outside breaks for the border—the northern border that is—this week we’re checking out Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s own, Live. I’ve got to thank DiseaseProof reader Adrienne for this. Live looks like a GREAT place for to snag a health-promoting meal.

Live’s menu is packed with good stuff. You could pretty much order anything on the menu—barring the alcohol—and only encounter minimal concessions; like olive oil, salt, or rice. So, with that being said, here are the menu items that really caught my eye.

Okay, starting with the appetizers, I’m digging the Pecan “Tempura” Rolls and the Thai Spring Rolls. Combined they’re made with pecan and sunflower pate, sweet potato “tempura”, mixed veggies, almond sauce, collard greens, and coriander oil. Clearly the oil is a concession and apparently the pecan rolls are made sushi style, meaning they might be made with rice. If so, the rice would be a concession too. Other then these two things, I’m call with both appetizers.

Live has some cool salad options too. What’s really great is you can build your salad. That’s a fantastic way to go, but I’m really feeling The Big Bowl; made with field greens, kale, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, cucumbers, sprouts, seeds, grilled tofu, beans, with your choice of dressing. Personally, I’d order the Creamy Ginger (olive oil, miso, ginger, rice vinegar, and agave) on the side—good idea?

Now, as for the entrees, I see three I really like. First is the Ayurvedic Dish: Winter Warming Pave; made with root vegetables, caramelized tempeh, balsamic reduction, and criminni mushroom gravy. I’m not a huge tempeh guy, but I don’t mind it every once and a while. Next, I’m liking the Macrobiotic Dish: The Rejuvenation Bowl; made with brown rice, a creamy tahini sauce, grilled tempeh, steamed kale, carrots, burdock root, lotus root, and served with brown rice miso soup and house-made kimchee. I’d probably pass on the soup, but the kimchee sounds interesting, and the brown rice would be the concession. Oh! And I also like the Curry Stuffed Mushroom; made with criminni mushrooms, curry pumpkin seed pate, and coriander oil. Well, the oil is the concession here, but, I deal with it.

There are some pretty neat sides too. I could certainly make a meal out of these. I’d order both of these. Corn Tostados; prepared with corn tostados, sunflower seed “refried” beans, salsa Verde, guacamole, and cashew sour cream. The corn tostados are a little bit of a concession, but I’m not too worried about it. But the Tropical Fresh Fruit Salad is an even better choice. It’s a nice collection of mango, kiwi, pineapple, and mint. Pairing these two together would make a decent dish.

Live also has some interesting juice options to choose from. Here’s the two I liked. The Green Kick; made with pear, kale, ginger, dandelion, lemon, and hemp protein. Sounds cool to me! I actually eat dandelion greens, so this is right up my alley. The juice that caught my eye is the Liquid Plumber—I love the name—it includes kale, cucumber, celery, dandelion, lemon, and milk thistle. I’m telling you, blended greens are way underrated—good stuff!

Well, I got to say. Nice pick Adrienne! Live is certainly a wonderful place for a nutritarian to grab a bite to eat—thanks for the heads up! But, who cares what I think? I’m just some dopey blogger. It’s your turn. Check out Live’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or a send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat greatly! Peace.

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I’m not much of a dancer—me on the dance floor looks a lot like a dog floundering on a frozen pond—but nevertheless, Eating to Live on the Outside is about to tango. This week we’re hitting salad emporium, Green Tango.

A place that advertises “fresh chopped salads” has got to be good—right? Yeah, it is. Green Tango is a fine place for the discerning nutritarian to call home. So, enough jibber-jabber! Let’s crack this menu open and see what we got.

Green Tango offers two major options, Salads and Wraps. Let’s check out the salads first. Okay, technically they all “work.” All you’d have to do is drop the occasional egg, bacon, and cheese, but here’s the four that really caught my eye.

I dig The Big Salad, the Tusan Salad, the Fiesta Salad, and the Garden Delight. There’s A LOT of veggies in these. Combine they included iceberg lettuce, hard boiled egg, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, potatoes, chickpeas, feta cheese, arugula, white beans, cremini mushrooms, artichokes, parmesan cheese, corn, black beans, avocado, red onions, grilled shrimp, mesclun greens, broccoli, beets, artichokes, asparagus, and zucchini. Not doubt—this is a MASSIVE amount of phytonutrients—awesome! And once you ditch the egg, cheese, and shrimp it gets even better.

To ensure the health-promoting integrity of these salads, I’d order the dressing on the side. Speaking of the dressing, Green Tango has two options that won’t leave me feeling very guilty; fresh squeezed lemon juice and age balsamic vinegar. I could go for either of these.

If none of the Green Tango favorite salads entice you, why not make your own creation out of these wonderful ingredients? Feast your eyes on these: Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, arugula, spinach, mesclun greens, almonds, artichokes, asparagus, avocado, beets, black beens, broccoli, carrots, celery, cauliflower, chick peas, cremini mushrooms, crispy noodles, corn, croutons, cucumbers, dried cherries, dried cranberries, green beans, hearts of palm, mandarin oranges, peanuts, peas, peppers, potatoes, radishes, raisins, red onions, and roasted red peppers. How fantastic is this!

Here’s the salad I would create. Okay, I’d start with a spinach base—I love me some spinach—then on top of that I would pile on some avocado, beets, asparagus, and carrots. Now, for my dressing, I think balsamic vinegar would go nicely with the root veggies—don’t you agree?

Okay, if a salad is striking your fancy—which would be hard to believe if you’re a nutritarian—you could go for a wrap. The wraps are basically one of the salads wrapped up in an original tortilla or either an herb garlic, spinach, or sun-dried tomato basil tortilla. Now, I’m not anti-wrap, but when confronted with all these salad options, I’d easily pass on the tortilla, but if I were to order a wrap, I’d probably go with the spinach tortilla—it’s kind of cruciferous!

Now, to wrap things up—pun intended—I should mention that Green Tango also sells soup, but as we all know, prepared soups tend to be very salty—so, not thanks. Oh! And if you’re looking for a side to go with your salad, Green Tango offers fruit—pretty neat!

I feel like I got off easy this week. Green Tango sounds like a great place to grab a meal; very reminiscent of Eating to Live on the Outside favorite Just Salad—but what do you think? Does Green Tango REALLY stack up? You decide. Take a look at Green Tango’s menu and let me know how you’d handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat greatly! Peace.

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Man, am I happy this week is over—what a bear! Anyway, it’s Friday and you know what that means. Time to fire up the machine—vroom-vroom—Eating to Live on the Outside rides again! And this week Salsa Rico is on the hot seat. How will it do? Well there’s only one way to find out.

Time to rock and roll! First up, burritos, and right away we’ve got a concession, flour tortillas—eh, I can deal with it. Believe me, it could be A LOT worse. Now, the burrito I’d go with would be the Calimax; made with ancho chile salsa, melted jack cheese, rice, pinto beans or black beans, fresh pico de gallo, and fresh guacamole. Okay, I’ll ditch the cheese and the rice—and provided the guacamole has no sour cream—it’s a decent option.

Oh! If the tortilla freaks you out. Another option might be the Fajita Burrito Bowl; prepared with flame-roasted peppers, onions, Mexican rice, black beans or pinto beans, ancho chile salsa, jack cheese, and pico de gallo. Nix that cheese and rice and its looking good, and, no tortilla to contend with—sweet!

Next are the Specialties. Yeah, we’ll skip those. Unless of course you think nachos and quesadillas are nutrient-dense—you don’t, right? Let’s just move onto the Salads. I like all three of them. There’s some undesirables in there but combined they include shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, a blend of cheeses, cilantro, a taco shell, black beans or pinto beans, avocado mango salsa, tortilla chips, Romaine lettuce, black olives, cheddar cheese, corn salsa, and a chile lime vinaigrette. Wow, that’s a lot of stuff. Out of all that I’m dropping the sour cream, cheese, tortilla chips, taco shell, and black olives. So if you make those alternations and go easy on the dressing, the Taco Salad, the Cabo Salad, and Chili Lime Salad are all good—nice!

Now, let’s check out the Tacos. I see one I like. The Grilled Vegetable Fajita Taco; made with flame-roasted peppers, onions, and obviously taco shells. It’s not the best option, but if you’re not feeling the salad, you might be willing to make the taco shell concession. Personally, the grilled veggies are great, but give me one of those salads any day.

Alright, let’s scope out the Salsas, they all look very veggie friendly. They could be a nice accent to one of dishes we already looked at. Here’s the three I really liked. The Corn Salsa is cool; made with ancho chili pepper, corn, fresh tomatilos, char-grilled plum tomatoes, fresh lime, and orange juices—not too shabby. I also like the Salsa Fresca; prepared with table salsa, plum tomatoes, sweet onions, jalapenos, and cilantro—you got to love cilantro. And finally, the Onion Salsa is simple but very tasty looking; it’s made with jalapenos, Spanish onions, cilantro, and lime juice—again, another winner! These would certainly liven up one of the salads, maybe as a salad dressing?

It’s probably worth mentioning that Salsa Rico has a couple sides you might want to consider making your main dish. The two that work for me are the pinto beans or black beans and the fresh guacamole—again, provided it is sour cream free. I hate when they ruin perfectly good avocado with sour cow juice—YUCK!

So what do you think? Is Salsa Rico workable? I think there’s hope. Sure, there’s some nasty stuff to deal with like rice, cheese, char-grilled (or burned) food), tortillas, and a potentially heavy salt load—ask the wait staff before you order—but overall I’d give Salsa Rico a shot.

Now it’s your turn, time to judge for yourself. Scope out Salsa Rico’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat the best you can! Peace.

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I’m hungry. I worked out hard this morning, did an extra Yoga class last night, and now I’ve worked up quite an appetite. Lucky for me it’s Friday, which means its time to test out a new restaurant and—hopefully—grab a nutritious bite to eat.

And, I think we’ve got a chance this week. Justix has potential. It’s not perfect—most restaurants aren’t—but I think it’s got a decent shot at satisfying the discriminating nutritarian. So, grab your knife and fork, tuck a napkin into your collar, and let’s hit it!

Justix is, “Grilled food on a stick.” Well, as far as the “on a stick” part. That’s a little iffy. You’ve got six options; beef, chicken, pork, tofu, portabella mushroom, and salmon. Okay, I’m cool with the tofu, portabella, and salmon. The portabella mushroom is by far my favorite. It’d be my first choice.

As far as the sides go, I’d pair my portabella mushroom sticks with either steamed broccoli, grilled zucchini, steamed carrot sticks, potato wedges, or roasted veggies. I’m leaning towards the steamed broccoli or the roasted veggies, but I’d probably go with the broccoli—I’m on a bit of a steamed broccoli kick lately.

Onto the sauces, there’s three I’d consider ordering. I like Annabelle’s Mint & Orange, Cousin Tony’s Balsamic Glaze, and the Sub-lime Peanut Cilantro. Neither of them strikes me as a massive concession, but just to be safe. I’d order them on the side—what do you think?

Now, Justix isn’t just sticks and sides. They’ve also got some salads and wraps you can work with. Some are bad news; loaded with bacon, beef, blue cheese, and ranch sauce. Clearly, I’ll be avoiding all that stuff. As I’ve pointed out in the past, bacon is my nemesis—growl!

Let’s start with the wraps. I’m digging The Salmon BLT Wrap and The Veggie Wrap—the veggie being the obvious favorite—combined they include grilled farm-raised salmon, bacon, baby lettuce, tomato, ranch sauce, flour tortilla, portabella mushroom, red onion, zucchini, red pepper, goat cheese, and a Balsamic glaze. No question, I’m ditching the bacon and the cheese—yuck! I’m cool with the salmon. I’ll just make sure I don’t eat fish again for a few weeks. So, when all is said and done, the only major concession would be the flour tortilla—I can live it.

Salad time! The Justix Side Salad is cool. It’s made with mixed greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion. With dressing on the side, this one looks good. The next salad I could work with is the Southwestern Chicken Salad—relax! I’m nixing the chicken. Post chicken, the Southwestern salad comes with mixed greens, yellow corn, red onion, tortilla strips, and a lime cumin vinaigrette. Yeah, those tortilla strips are history and that vinaigrette is going on the side.

So there you have it, short but sweet. Granted, Justix is not a homerun, but, if you’re a hungry nutritarian looking for a quick bit to eat, you can certainly make it work—don’t you agree? Now, whether you do or don’t, let me know how do you handle Eating to Live on the Outside? Check out Justix’s menu, make a comment, or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat healthfully! Peace.

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It’s Friday! Thank goodness. I’m pooped! But before my weekend can begin, I got to pay Georgia Brown’s a visit. Georgia Brown’s is a southern-style restaurant located in the heart of Washington DC. Let’s see how it measures up.

Well, it certainly won’t be an Eating to Live on the Outside all-star, but it has SOME Fuhrman-friendly potential. Sure, we’ll have to bob and weave through some of the undesirables—like fried chicken, cheese, and bacon—but there is hope.

Okay, as far as the “inspirations” go, I’m not too confident about any of them. Maybe you can make a case for the Fried Green Tomatoes, but I wouldn’t eat it; especially since they’re topped with cream cheese and mayonnaise—yuck! Let’s scope out the salads instead.

Unfortunately there’s only one I’d consider ordering—and it’s not without its own issues. The Country Kitchen House Salad is prepared with baby greens, dried apricot ginger vinaigrette, goat cheese, Bermuda onions, and grape tomatoes. Clearly, the cheese gets the axe! Now, like I said, the rest of the salads aren’t worth the trouble; loaded with chicken, cheese, and sausage—no thanks!

Now, even though I’m not a vegetarian. Georgia Brown’s two vegetarian options are looking good. The Black Eyed Pea Cakes are a bit of a mystery though. The menu doesn’t explain what they’re made of, so I’d ask the wait staff first; they’re served with Carolina red rice, asparagus, and lemon-cayenne mayonnaise. The asparagus is great, the rice is a concession, but the mayo has got to go! The Vegetarian Sample is okay; it comes with a black eyed pea cake, a fried green tomato, Carolina red rice, and sautéed spinach; not exactly a homerun, but workable. Personally, I’d ditch the fried tomato and yes, the rice would be a concession and so would the oil used to sautéed the spinach. I can deal with it!

If none of these tickle your fancy, give this a whirl. Try making a meal out of the sides because Georgia Brown’s offers some good ones. I’d order the collard greens, red rice, grilled asparagus, seasonal vegetables, and sautéed spinach. Nothing too bad here; the only concessions would be the rice and—again—the oil used to sauté the spinach and other veggies. No worries. It’s cool.

Like I said, Georgia Brown’s is far from perfect, but if all else fails. The side dishes make it workable. Now before I bid Georgia Brown’s farewell, let’s talk about their fish options. I’m not a vegan or a vegetarian—because I do eat fish—but I wouldn’t order any of these dishes and here’s why. For starters they’re prepared with things like sausage, duck, cream, and butter, but it’s also because the types of fish available aren’t exactly the most eco-friendly.

The Fried Catfish is the safest fish, but the whole “fried” thing puts the kibosh on that one. Next, unless you know the type of crab, lobster, scallops, or shrimp, it’s at best a crapshoot. So I wouldn’t order any of them. Finally, Chilean sea bass and Atlantic salmon are flat out bad news—I wouldn’t touch these! Do you see why I skipped over the fish now?

Okay, what do you think? Does Georgia Brown’s really have a shot at feeding a discriminating nutritarian? It’s certainly not perfect, but I think it works—just focus on those sides—but hey, its time for me to shut up. Check out Georgia Brown’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or drop me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until next time, eat well! Peace.

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Sometimes healthy living can be hard work. Imagine walking into Huddle House or Carino's Italian Grill. Eating at these places is like playing Russian-roulette with your health. So what we need is a healthy restaurant. Do we have one on tap this week?

Yes! “Our intention is to create healthful, tasty, and affordable foods, in their natural state, using only organic ingredients, imagination, and conscious care.” That’s the mission of Leaf Cuisine, an organic raw vegan restaurant. Sweet! That’s what I’m talking about. Let’s hit it!

Alright, I’m looking at the menu and I like what I see, so, its time to put my favorite strategy into action. Since all the food looks good—unlike the most of the standard American restaurants I review—I’ll share with you my favorites, and, I encourage you to do the same in the comments.

Let’s start with the appetizers. I like the Raw Slaw a lot; cabbages, carrots, herbs, and a creamy seed cheese dressing. Very cool, I make dressing with nuts and seeds all the time—avocado too! Speaking of avocado, I dig the Guacamole with Flax Seed Crackers; it’s pretty self-explanatory. Now, I really like wakame—seaweed in general—but wakame salads tend to be salty. So, I wouldn’t be too quick to order the Seaweed Salad. Darn it!

The soups don’t excite me too much, onto the wraps and salads. The Garden Delight is great; mixed greens, tomatoes, sprouts, carrot, red cabbage, and house dressing. Pretty basic, but still yummy, provided I go easy on the dressing. The Mediterranean Medley looks tasty; made with sun-dried tomato, walnut croquettes, spinach pesto sauce, greens, tomatoes, and sprouts. Oh! The croquettes are prepared by dehydrating a veggie, nut, seed, and herb pate. Sounds good to me! What do you think? Now, the Veggie Sunburger looks fantastic! It’s another veggie-seed croquette, topped with a tangy tomato sauce, mixed greens, sprouts, and, it’s all wrapped up in a collard green. What a great idea! An awesome way to avoid a bread or tortilla concession—kudos to Leaf on this one!

Okay, I’m briefly skipping over to the breakfast and house specialties. The Apple Spice Oatmeal looks tasty; sprouted oats, apple, banana, almond butter, raisins, and dates. Well, I’m hard-pressed to find anything bad about this. The Kale Salad is also a solid choice; they make it with copped kale, avocado, sprouted wild rice, mung beans, tomatoes, and cayenne. Lots of phyonutrients here, but I’d probably ditch the cayenne, no sense risking my tummy with the hot spice.

Now, jumping back to the smoothies and drinks. The Very Berry is cool; strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, banana, apples, and dates. Sweet! No pun intended. The Chocolate Milkshake looks very tempting; cacao, carob, banana, nut milk, coconut milk, and dates. For a chocolate-fiend like me—awesome! The Green Lean Scene is very Fuhrman-friendly; kale, mango, orange juice, cinnamon, and banana. Love that kale! As for the drinks, the Veggie Combo and the Got Greens are full of great stuff; combined they include carrot, celery, beet, kale, collard greens, parsley, and spinach. I can almost feel the nutrients surging through my body.

As for the desserts, I’d easily devour them all, but my two favorites are the Apple Pie and the Chocolate Brownie. The Apple Pie is made with apples, raisin compote, a date-nut crust, and cashew cream, and, the Chocolate Brownie is put together with raw cacao, chocolate sauce, chopped walnuts, and whipped “cream.” Provided neither of these are packed with sugar, I could order either one guilt free. What about you?

Okay, so there you have it. I think Leaf Cuisine is a slam dunk for a ravenous nutritarian, but, I want to hear from you. Check out Leaf’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat healthfully! Peace.

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When did breakfast become synonymous with bacon and eggs? All the breakfast cafés I’ve been to are loaded with wall to wall eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, and other griddle thingies, and, The Flying Biscuit Café, pretty much continues the tread.

Clearly, I’ve got my work cut out for me. As expected The Flying Biscuit Café has plenty of omelets, creamy dairy, smoked meat, and bread to go around, but, are they’re at least one or two nutritarian-type dishes to found? Could an Eat to Liver make this work? Let’s see.

First up, is the all-day breakfast. Now, I know Dr. Fuhrman considers eggs to be a cleaner and safer animal food, but, eggs just aren’t for me, but by ditching the eggs, I’m seriously cutting down the menu. So, what’s left? Well, as far as the breakfast goes, not much. The Organic Oatmeal Pancakes might work (provided they’re not cooked on a greasy griddle); three cakes, topped peach compote and served maple syrup. It could be worse! At least the oats are organic, peach is a fruit, and the maple syrup is served on the side—it kind of works.

Alright, onto the appetizers—unless you think I should spend time examining the Pasta, Sausage & Eggs—that’s what I thought, moving on. The appetizers are a little better and by “better” I mean there’s ONE item I’d order without reservation. Take a guess what it is? A salad! Of course it’s a salad. According to the menu the House Salad is field greens tossed with balsamic vinaigrette and a Flying Biscuit. Personally, I’ll make the biscuit fly alright. I’m tossing it out the window, and, getting that dressing on the side. Good idea?

Let’s see what the favorites have in store for us. Okay, this is better. I like the Vegan BBQ Burrito; barbecued tofu, collard greens, mushrooms, sun dried tomato tortilla, and topped with salsa verde. Well, the barbecued tofu does give me pause. It’s probably a little salty and burnt, but since I seldom eat this sort of thing, I could roll with it. Same goes for the tortilla. Overall, not a bad option, I’m definitely digging the collard greens—actually, I’m eating some right now!

Cool, we’ve reached the salad portion of the menu. As we all know, salads are a great place for the panicking Eat to Liver to find refuge. Not all of The Flying Biscuit Café’s salads are winners, but I see two I could work with. First is the Warm Chicken Salad; grilled chicken breast, oven-roasted rosemary potatoes, bleu cheese, field greens, and balsamic vinaigrette. Relax! The cheese and chicken are history. Next I like the Tofu & Tater Salad; tamari-marinated tofu, oven-roasted rosemary potatoes, field greens, feta cheese, red onion, and balsamic vinaigrette. Adios cheese! And you guessed it, dressing on the side.

And to close the show, let’s scope out the sandwiches. Okay, I see two I really like. The Hummus Wrap and The Angel Burger are cool; combined they include sun dried tomato tortilla, rosemary potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, feta, veggie-grain patty, and roasted red pepper mustard. For starters, the bread and tortilla are concessions, but beyond that I’d nix the feta. Provided you can get past the bread, you’ve got lots of yummy veggies to enjoy—hello phytonutrients—nice!

Well, there you have it. The Flying Biscuit Café is certainly in the mold of standard American restaurants, but, they are clearly making an attempt to offer some healthier options. So, despite all the eggs, cheese, bacon, and sausage, I have to give them a little kudos, but what do you think? It’s your turn! I’m putting YOU to work. Check out The Flying Biscuit Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until next time, eat greatly! Peace.

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In tribute to the Giants surprising trip to the NFL AFC championship game, Eating to Live on the Outside is heading back to the big apple. Let me point out, I’m not a Giants fan, so I’m doing this under protest—GO RAIDERS—alright, time to check out NYC’s own, Souen.

According to their website Souen is an “Organic Macrobiotic Restaurant.” Well, this is certainly a promising start. Oh! If you don’t know what macrobiotic is, just Wikipedia it. In short, people who are macrobiotic eat a lot of whole foods and avoid refined and processed food; its “kind of” Fuhrman-ish. Okay, lets crack this menu open!

First up are the soups. Now, at this past weekend’s event at the Beaver Brook Country Club Dr. Fuhrman pointed out that you should never order soup at a restaurant because most of these soups are loaded with salt. He’s right, but to be honest, most food cooked outside the house is salt bombarded. Hence my whole rap about concessions and not eating out very often.

So, if I felt like enduring a salt hit, I’d go with the Hayato Soup; a big bowl of mixed vegetables in a miso soup. Hey, it’s hard to beat mixed vegetables! Now, there is a Wakame Soup on the menu and I love wakame, but wakame is really salty and this soup has sesame oil too, so, I’ll pass.

Next, I’m skipping the breads and jumping to the Salads. Honestly, they all work. Here’s the two that really turned me on. The Green Garden Salad looks yummy; heaps of greens, watercress, raddichio, endive, daikon radish threads, grated beets, and sesame vinaigrette. Beets! You got to love that. The Cucumber Salad is cool too. It’s pretty basic, just slices of cucumber tossed with akatosaka seaweed, carrot, and sesame vinaigrette. The seaweed might be a tad salty, but I can live with it. Overall, if you go easy on or omit the dressing, these are both solid options.

Now, there’s a bunch of stuff under Small Plates. Most of them are iffy, but, I like the Edamame and the Sauteed Greens. The Edamame is just steamed soy beans in the pod and the Sauteed Greens are dark leafy greens sautéed in olive oil and garlic. Let’s start with the greens. Clearly the olive and sautéing is the concession—I can deal with it. The soy beans might have a concession too. I’ve found that occasionally these beans are salted. Before I’d order them, I’d ask the wait staff, but overall edamame beans are really great.

The Daily Fare looks good. There’s a bunch of things I’d order; the vegetable summer roll, bean of the day, avocado, steamed vegetables, grain of the day, hijiki seaweed, and steamed greens. Heck, I could make a meal out of these and be more than happy about it. I’d probably order the bean of the day, some avocado, steamed vegetables, and the steamed greens. The awesome part about all this is its concession-free—sweet!

I love some of the Vegetarian Entrees, namely the Macro Plate, Broccoli Tofu, Inspired Vegetable Curry, and the Kuzu Stew. Combine they’re made with beans, hijiki seaweed, steamed greens, vegetables, rice, broccoli, vegetables, scrambled tofu, onion, carrot, kabocha squash, white mushrooms, snap peas, a turmeric-curry-ginger broth, cauliflower, snow peas, shiitake mushrooms, tamari, and apple juice. Lots of good stuff! I don’t see really anything alarming here. Do you?

Okay, the rest of the menu is comprised of fish dishes, noodle-based entrees, desserts, and beverages. Now, as I’ve said many times before. I do eat fish, but, when confronted with all these veggie options, I wouldn’t order any fish. Take a moment and acknowledge my continued growth as a nutritarian—thank you, thank you.

But as for the beverages, there are some cool juices. Yes, I know, in one of today’s posts I say I don’t drink a lot of juice. I’m not lying, I really don’t, but sometimes, some very tempting juices do come along. All three of Souen’s are cool; Organic Fresh Squeezed Juice (apple, carrot, beet, ginger, celery, cucumber), Carrot with Ginger, and Carrot with Mixed Vegetables. I wouldn’t binge drink on any of these, but, I’d certainly give them a whirl. How about you?

Well, unlike the Giants this weekend, I like a nutritarian’s chances of finding a great meal at Souen. My friend swears by it. She said she usually orders the Miso Soup and apparently, Souen also offers an incredible Chef Salad that isn’t on the menu. Now that is certainly worth a look! Speaking of looking, it’s your turn. Scope out Souen’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. As always, make a comment or send me an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well. Peace.

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Whoa! I’m reeling. Between the news that blogging is hazardous to my health and the aftershocks of last week’s Eating to Live on the Outside nightmare, Buffalo's Southwest Café, I’m in need of saving. Oh please, oh please! Let this week’s restaurant be more palatable.

Now, like avenging angels, loyal DiseaseProof readers Jayson and Julie, swooped in and splattered this on my windshield. So, today Eating to Live on the Outside is paying Main Squeeze Natural Foods Café a visit. Well, not literally, via the powers of the internet—BEHOLD!

Main Squeeze is actually looking pretty good. It’s not perfect, but far better than Buffalo’s Southwest Café...of premature death. Now, there are some pesky things to deal with, like cheese, bread, and eggs, but nothing as bad as last week’s grilled pork chop and fried cheesecake. Alright, time to put Jayson and Julie’s recommendation to the test. Let’s hit it!

Okay, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and lucky for me. Main Squeeze has some solid breakfast options, four in fact. I like the Aussie Platter, the Mediterranean Scrambler, the Fruit Salad, and the Low Carb Scrambler—and yes, the name of that last one gave me the heebeegeebees too. Combined, these dishes include scrambled eggs or tofu, steamed spinach, soysage, wholegrain toast or corn muffin, tomato, scallions, spinach, broccoli, Monterey Jack cheese, peppers, onions, Feta cheese, and seasonal or organic fruit. Alright, I’m ditching the eggs—even though Dr. Fuhrman considers eggs to be a safer animal food—the soysage, cheese, and wholegrain toast or corn muffin have also got to go. In the end, you’re left with a nice array of veggies to go with that tofu.

Next up are the soups and salads. Honestly, I like them all. They’re all loaded with tasty veggies—like spinach, beets, sunflower seeds, and almonds—but I really like Nell’s 7 Layer and Babette’s Feast. Nell’s 7 Layer is prepared with lettuce, cabbage, carrot, beet, tomato, cucumber, sunflower seeds, and sprouts. Come on! It’s hard to beat beets. Now, Babette’s Feast is made with spinach, apple, beet, red onion, Swiss cheese, and almonds. Clearly, the cheese is out the window, but other then that, they’re both looking really great. Oh! And I’d be sure to go easy on the dressing.

There are also some options lurking in the sandwiches and wraps. They’ve go some teeny-tiny concession, but nothing earth-shattering. For example, the Super Mario sandwich is prepared on a baguette with hummus, roasted peppers, spinach, tomato, red onion, Feta cheese, and topped with a roasted red pepper dressing. Again, the cheese gets the heave-ho, but, I’d obviously keep the baguette and the hummus. The baguette is a concession because its bread and the hummus most likely has some sort of oil. I can live with both of them, especially if I order the dressing on the side. Two more decent options would be the Good Fortune Wrap and the Garden Burrito; together they include tofu, brown rice, carrot, spinach, cabbage, scallions, sesame seeds, sesame ginger dressing, grilled tortilla, beans, Monterey Jack cheese, beets, sprouts, salsa, and lettuce. For starters, I’m ditching the cheese, but keeping everything else, meaning the concessions would be the tortilla and the brown rice—no biggie!

As for the hot dishes, I’m digging the Buddha Bowl and the Peggy Plate. The Buddha Bowl is made with brown rice, tofu, carrot, broccoli, cabbage, scallions, sesame seeds, sprouts, and sesame ginger sauce. The concession would be the brown the rice, I can deal with it. I’d also order the sesame ginger sauce on the side. The Peggy Plate comes with brown rice, beans, the vegetable of the day, and lemon tahini. Looks cool to me! I’m currently on the edge of my seat thinking about the veggie of the day.

Finally, Main Squeeze offers some fresh juice combinations too. Personally, I’m not that big on juice—aside from my shot of pomegranate juice every morning—but, if you’re feeling adventurous, they all looking pretty nutrient-dense. The Ring of Fire is neat; it’s made with apple, orange, beet, and ginger. The Elvis Parsley is fun too. It’s a blend of carrot, celery, spinach, parsley, and beet—interesting, very-very interesting.

Well, I got to hand it to Jayson and Julie. They picked a winner here. Usually when I pick a winner, I just stick it under my desk. Kudos guys! Okay boys and girls. It’s your turn. Are Jayson and Julie really onto something? Scope out Main Squeeze’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. As always, make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat healthfully! Peace.

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Have you ever been punched in the stomach? I mean really had the wind knocked out of you. Well, in case you haven’t. Just check out the menu for this week’s restaurant. Without question, Buffalo’s Southwest Café is a Mike Tyson sized wallop to the gullet—Wham!

Even a casual Eat to Liver would be hard-pressed to find SOMETHING acceptable on this menu, but, let’s knuckle up, strap on our helmet, snitch up our gloves, and step into the ring. Oh man, this has all the symptoms of a David versus Goliath rematch.

Okay, the World Famous Wings and the Starters aren’t exactly cutting the mustard. They might however, help you cut the cheese, because they’re loaded with ooey-gooey mozzarella, pepper jack, and white cheese. Not exactly nutrient-dense eating!

Now, beyond the appetizers and wings, it’s not going to get any better. The Steak & Favorites, Sweet Stuff, Outlaw Burgers, Lunch Stampede, Hand Helds, and the Mixed Grill are quite simply the antithesis of healthy eating. In fact, this stuff is the food of nightmares.

But hey, maybe I’m wrong. What do you think? Is there something redeeming about a grilled pork chop topped with bourbon roasted apples and brown sugar—those poor apples—or what about fried cheesecake wrapped in a flaky tortilla, topped with ice cream and raspberry sauce? If you think either of these are an option, please sit quietly and hang your head in shame.

Alright, I had to dig deep here, but, I think there might be a couple Fuhrman-friendly options under Soups & Salads and Southwest Specialties. However, before I proceed, let me say this, I don’t think they’re slam dunks, just the best this hellish menu has to offer.

The best salad I see is the Buffalo’s Cobb Salad; fresh greens, crisp bacon, cheddar jack cheese, black bean & corn salsa, bleu cheese crumbles, fresh tomato salsa, and chicken. The word “best” is relative here. Clearly, the bacon, cheese, and chicken have got to go, and, I’m skipping the dressing entirely. After that you’ve got something that at least resembles healthy food.

Another option might be the Sonora Salmon Salad. It’s made with grilled salmon, mixed greens, tomatoes, bacon, bleu cheese crumbles, and chipotle-ranch dressing. Well, the bacon, bleu cheese, and dressing are history, and, I’d probably go with a little vinaigrette dressing. Overall, it’s not great, but, it works. Oh! And if I got the fish, I’d wait a few weeks before I’d eat fish again.

Onto the Southwest Specialties, I could go with either the Black & Bleu Salmon or the Chimayo Mahi-Mahi; combined they include salmon filet, southwest seasoning, chipotle sauce, bleu cheese, steamed veggies, rice, mahi-mahi filet, jalapeno butter, and black bean & corn salsa. Now, after I nix the chipotle sauce, bleu cheese, and jalapeno butter, I could go with either of these, but again, I’d wait a while before I’d dine on fish.

Well, I feel like I just went twelve rounds with Evander Holyfield. My head is spinning, and, my stomach is turning. Buffalo’s Southwest Café is a standard American disaster. Lots of junk, “good ole fashioned America food,” and we’ve seen how good this stuff has worked out. I can’t image ever eating at a place like this.

Restaurants like Buffalo’s Southwest Café are a shining example why so many Americans are having heart attacks and are hopped up on statins and blood pressure medications, but, maybe I’m wrong. After all, I’m just a loony blogger. Tell me what you think. Check out Buffalo’s Southwest Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well, or at least try to. Peace.

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The holidays are nearly over. Hopefully you’re all staying on track. Saying, “It’s the holidays. I can have one more cookie,” can’t last forever. So, if the yuletide is getting the best of you. Sit down and get ready for this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside—EXTREME VERSION!

Well, it’s not really extreme. It’s just that today we’re taking a look at Extreme Pita. Now, Extreme Pita claims to be healthy, fresh, and fast. This may very well be true, but, there’s only one way to find out. Saddle up folks. Its time to crack this menu open—CHARGE!

First let’s take a look at the Freestyle Pitas. Clearly, if we are going to go for a pita, concession number one is the pita, i.e. bread. Okay, the only one I’d consider ordering would be the Market Fresh Veggie; lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, mushrooms, onions, and cucumbers, and, I’d order it with the light Italian dressing. Now, not only are veggies great, but, if you check out the nutrition facts, you’ll see it’s your best bet, by far.

Alright, I’m skipping the Extreme Pita Creations and the Flat Baked Pitas, both are very meat and cheese oriented; not my thing. Onto the salads, and the salads—as they usually are—are a great refuge for the bleary eyed Eat to Liver trying to figure out what the heck to order.

There are two salads I’d go with. The first is the Fresh Veggie; lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives. I’d keep everything but the olives, that way I could avoid the salt hit. I’d also get the Light Italian dressing, on the side of course. The other salad is the Traditional Greek. Now, it’s a tad mysterious because they don’t say what’s in it, but from the photo on the menu. I’d guess it comes with lettuce, black olives, tomatoes, Feta cheese, and the Greek Feta dressing. Well, after I ditch the cheese, olives, and switch the dressing. It makes more sense just to stay with the Fresh Veggie Salad. Don’t you think?

Outside of the Fresh Veggie Pita and Fresh Veggie Salad, you’re pretty much out of luck. Extreme Pita may advertise itself as a healthy fast food and yeah, compared to the likes of Burger Hut and Pizza King, they’re a better choice, but it’s no landslide victory.

Outside of these two options, the menu is slathered with cheese, lunch meat, and daunting condiments, but what really knocked me for a loop is the Just for Kids section of the menu. Here are the selections: Chicken Pita, Ham & Cheese Pita, 6” Pepperoni Flat Baked Pita, 6” Cheese Flat Baked Pita, and Chicken Nuggets & Dip—WHAT!

At least most of the adult menu sections have at least one “healthy” offering. Why is the kids menu loaded with the worst of the worst; cheese, processed meat, and, lunch meat! If you ask me that gives kids all the tools they need to make dopey food choices later in life, but then again, I doubt Pizza Kings’ kid’s menu is any better. So, on second thought and as far as standard American fast food restaurants go, it sure seems like Extreme Pita is par for the course.

But hey! Maybe I’m crazy. Heck knows I have been called it before. That’s why I need you. You people are the brains of the operation. Check out Extreme Pita’s menu—be sure to check out the nutritional information too—and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat greatly! Peace.

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Okay, I’ve got a surprise for you. Usually I pick the restaurants for Eating to Live on the Outside—with the occasional reader suggestion of course—but today, we’re getting a special treat. This recommendation comes straight from the top. That’s right, Dr. Fuhrman himself!

He suggested Blossom after having a nice meal there with his friend Peter Max. So, you know what that means. If Dr. Fuhrman’s eating there, it’s got to be good—right? Sorry Joel, there’s really only one way to know for sure—let’s do it, to it!

I love New York City restaurants! Partly because I love New York City, but mainly because I can actually go there and experience the food firsthand, which brings me to an interesting idea I’ve been kicking around. I’m thinking about…to be continued…yes more “to be continued” stuff!

Now back to Blossom. Alright, this is good. According to the website Blossom is a gourmet organic vegan restaurant. That’s a great start! Vegan can be hit or miss, but ORGANIC is always a good thing—enough filibustering—on to the menus!

This is interesting. Looks like Dr. Fuhrman picked a winner here. You could conceivably order anything on the menu. None of the concessions would be that traumatic. The only things that give me pause are some of the soy-foods, oil, and salt, but, these are pretty minor. No worries.

So, since I’ve done this before. I’ll do it again. Here are my favorites—first up, the lunch menu. As far as the appetizers go, I really dig the Black-Eyed Pea Cake; a Yukon gold potato cake, black-eye peas, and chipotle aioli. Potato good, black-eyed peas good, but the chipotle aioli is a concession. I can live it. The rest of appetizers have a lot of faux soy-meat. Not really my thing.

Alright, the salads look good, but I’d nix the croutons that come with the Cesar Salad. I’m not feeling the breakfast options, again, too much soy-meat. Okay, there are a couple sandwiches I’d be cool with. I like the Portobello Ciabatta and the Avocado Sandwich; together they include grilled Portobello mushroom, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, vegan mozzarella, fresh avocado, sprouts, tomato & chipotle mayonnaise, grain or ciabatta bread, and fries or a salad. This is easy. I’m dropping the vegan cheese and going with the grain bread and a salad. Since the caramelized onions are probably sautéed in oil, that’d be a concession, along with the bread. As for the mayonnaise, vegan mayonnaise sounds worth investigating. I’d just order it on the side.

The entrée I’d order is an easy choice. I really like the Vegetable Stir Fry; stir fried vegetables served with brown rice or cous cous. I could go with either cous cous or brown rice, but either way they’re both a bit of a concession and so is the stir frying. It’s cool. I’m not worried about it.

Now, let’s scope out the dinner menu. The Beet & Tofu Salad looks like a nice starter. I’m cool with tofu just as long as it not overly messed with. This little salad comes with roasted beets, baked sweet & spicy tofu, daikon radish, and a sherry reduction. The sherry reduction is probably the concession. Its alcohol, but, I’m a twenty-something, so I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t imbibe from time to time.

Oh! Blossom has a great dinner salad, and why is it so great? AVOCADO! The Avocado Mango Salad is made with Romaine lettuce, avocado, mango, chick peas, sunflower seeds, and topped with a chili lime dressing. I have a feeling that dressing is oil-less. So let the good times roll!

The dinner entrees are pretty cool. I see two I like. First, the Stuffed Portobello with Cashew-Tahini Sauce; prepared with Portobello caps, herbed tofu-walnut stuffing, apricot cous cous, steamed asparagus, and a cashew-tahini sauce. Looks good to me—what do you think? The Dancing Curry is also pretty neat; tofu and seasonal vegetables, curry sauce, black rice, and papadum. The papadum is a concession and rice is a tiny one too, but otherwise, I dig it!

Now, another option is just go for the side dishes. Blossom has a bunch of really good ones. You could certainly make yourself a nice plate out of them. Here’s what they got: garlic spinach, grilled asparagus, Swiss chard, braised tofu, mashed potatoes, broccoli rabe, grilled Portobello, braised Miso tofu, and fresh cut fries. Let’s see, what would I do with this? I got it! I’m going with the broccoli rabe, grilled Portobello, and the grilled asparagus—I’m on a bit of an asparagus kick lately.

I think Dr. Fuhrman found a good restaurant in Blossom. I’m planning a trip into the city in a couple weeks and if I don’t get sucked in the by the siren song of Sacred Chow, I’ll give Blossom a look-see. But now—you know the drill—it’s your turn! Scope out Blossom's menus and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. In the meantime, keep eating to live. Peace.

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Eating to Live on the Outside is back! After getting bumped last week for my success story's teaser-post—yes, I’m evil—the weekly series dedicated to helping Eat to Livers survive the gloomy swamp of standard American restaurants has returned and this week, Zen Palate is in my sights—click, click, BOOM—let’s hit it!

Clearly, given my love for Yoga, anything with “Zen” in its name is going to pique my interest. At first glance it looks pretty good. It’s a vegetarian place so that automatically ups its chances of being Fuhrman-friendly, but, it’s got a few quirks and trips we’ll have to work through.

“No soup for you!” Well, almost no soup. Restaurant soups make me nervous—salt can be an issue—but I love wakame seaweed, so, I’d be willing to give the Miso Soup a shot; made with white miso broth, wakame, soft tofu, and scallions. If it’s not too salty, I'd order it, wakame is a seriously tasty green—Wakame What?

Next up are the salads. I like all of them but the Spinach Linguine Salad; I prefer to avoid pasta whenever possible. My two favorites are the Kale & Seaweed Salad and the House Salad; together they include mesclun leaves, cherry tomatoes, red onion, enoki, soy vinaigrette, wakame, kale, soft tofu, and soy dressing. Well, if you go easy on the dressing or skip it altogether I don't see much of a problem with any of this. What do you think?

Alright, the appetizers don’t exactly have my heart in races, but here is a couple I’d consider ordering. First, the Peanut Basil Moo-Shu Rolls; prepared with jicama, carrot, mushroom, soy, basil, ginger, peanuts, and rice paper. The rice paper is the only iffy thing here. Eh, I can live with it. Now, the Edamame are a nice option; steamed in the pod and salted. Just ask the wait staff to hold the salt and you’re all set!

Now, I’m not digging the sandwiches—a lot of faux-meats and stuff—onto the rice and noodles and the prix fixe. I’m not thrilled about this section of the menu either, but maybe these options work; if you don’t mind enduring a rice, noodle, or stir-fry concession that is. I like the Stir-Fried Whole-Wheat Noodles with Soy & Vegetables; includes cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, basil, and snow peas. I mainly like it because of the cabbage. The Mango Halo is also kind of interesting; made with mangos, cherry tomatoes, gingko nuts, snow peas, soy nuggets, and sweet kung pau sauce. Personally, I’d ditch the soy nuggets and go easy on the sauce. Also, for both of these I’d go with brown rice over the noodles. How about you?

Under prix fixe I like the Felicity Mushroom and the Eggplant Zentastic. They both come with some sort of roll and rice and combined they’re prepared with shiitake mushrooms, button mushrooms, basil, bamboo shoots, carrots, eggplant, shanghai bok coy, and garlic sauce. Okay, the Felicity Mushroom involves sautéing and both come with rice. So, if you can deal with the sautéing, maybe order brown rice, and nix the rolls, you’d be in decent shape. Works for me!

Whenever I walk into an Asian restaurant I know chances are I'm going to have to deal with rice, oil, and salt—kind of par for the course. Now, as I’ve said before. I don’t eat out very often, but when I do it’s almost like a treat, so I’m more willing to bend the rules than I would be at home. Basically what I’m saying is I can pretty easily deal with all the aforementioned concessions. When you're and Eat to Liver and you're eating out I've got to have low expectations—most of the time.

Oh! And a friend of mine recently paid Zen Palate a visit, here's what she had to say:

I found the tea to be delicious, nectar of the gods, the salad and entree were bland, the presentation beautiful, but the portions were huge.

Okay, so there you have it. Does Zen Palate pass the test? I think it does. Granted, it’s not a slam dunk, but, it’ll do. An Eat to Liver could certainly survive the menu. But what do you think? Your turn! Check out Zen Palate’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well. Peace.

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What a coincidence. The name of this week’s restaurant was also my ex-girlfriend’s pet name for me…moving on. Boneheads serves up a lot of fish—so you know what that means. We’ve got to be careful. Who’s ready to dodge some mercury? Let’s get ready to rumble!

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way now. You can also order chicken at Boneheads. I don’t eat chicken, so I’ll skip all that. Now, the types of fish we’ve got to choose from are salmon, tilapia, mahi-mahi, shrimp, and grouper. For starters, let's get the skinny from OceansAlive.org:

Salmon
Only Atlantic salmon is rated and Eco Worst and a Health Concern.

Tilapia
All three varieties are rated as Eco Bests.

Mahi-Mahi
It’s also an Eco Best!

Shrimp
Northern shrimp are the variety rated as an Eco Best.

Grouper
All five varieties are rated an Eco Worst and a Health Concern.

For me the writing is on the wall. The easiest—and probably best—option is either the tilapia or the mahi-mahi. Personally, I adore mahi-mahi, so that’s what I’d go with. How about you? I guess you could ask the wait staff about the salmon if you were really hell bent on it.

Alright, so I’ve ordered the grilled mahi-mahi, what would my topping and side dish be? I’d probably go with the Pineapple Salsa over the Sautéed Piri Piri Mushrooms. Between the spice of the Piri Piri peppers and the sautee oil, the salsa is the clear-cut winner.

As for my side, I’m cool with either the Grilled Zucchini Strips, the Chilled Marinated Broccoli, or a Side Salad, but my heart is with the broccoli. You’d be hard-pressed to get me to choose something other than the cruciferous vegetable. Oh! Here’s an idea. Why not just order the chilled broccoli with the zucchini strips and a side salad—good idea? I think so.

The appetizers and soups are bad news, so no need to waste time with them. The salads on the other hand are workable. I’m digging either the Greek Salad or the House Salad; combined they’re made with cabbage, feta cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, carrots, and bell peppers. The only thing I’d ditch is the cheese and in this case skip the dressing—unless of course you think Greek, Ranch, and Blue Cheese dressing are nutrient-dense. You don’t—right?

Now, you might be bold enough to give the tacos and sandwiches a try. Given the other choices, I wouldn’t order them. The Grilled & Roasted Portobello sandwich is made with lettuce, tomato, a piri piri mayonnaise, and served with fries or Asian cole slaw. Well, after you drop the mayonnaise and don’t order the fries or the cole slaw, you’re still left with a bread concession and honestly, not a lot of food. Sorry, but why bother? Stick with a salad or some grilled fish.

I kind of feel like I got off easy this week, Boneheads is pretty straight forward. The things that work are pretty obvious and the things that don’t, even more so, but you tell me. Scope out Boneheads menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send me an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat greatly!

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Hopefully everyone’s recovered from their Thanksgiving tryptophan hangover because this week Eating to Live on the Outside hitches a ride on the LIRR and sits down for a meal at the Tiger Lily Café. It’s a good mix of healthy vegetarian and healthy flexitarian food, but let’s see if it works for an Eat to Liver. Time to put the Tiger Lily Café to the test—growl!

Let’s start with all the sandwiches and wraps. Okay, let’s just get this out of the way now. All the wraps include bread (the wrap), so that’s the first concession. Personally, I can deal with it. I seldom eat bread anymore and for any of these wraps I’d order the whole wheat to cushion the blow. Alright—glad that’s over with—moving on.

Well, I see four options I like. My favorite is the Balsamic Roasted Vegetable Wrap; made with zucchini, eggplant, yellow squash, onions, peppers, scallions, hummus, kalamata olives, mesclun greens, and balsamic vinaigrette. The reason why I like this one should be obvious—ALL THE VEGGIES! Now, I’d probably ditch the olives because they’re salty and I’d ask for the dressing on the side. Oh, and if the hummus has olive oil, that’d be a concession too. I can live it with.

Next up is the Shaharazade; prepared with hummus, grated carrot, mesclun greens, and sprouts. The main reason I like this one is the sprouts. Sprouts are really tasty and can help jazz up a boring entrée. The only potential worry I see is the hummus, if it has olive oil. The next two are pretty cool too. The Bella Bella Sandwich and the Greek Salad Wrap; combined they’re made with Portabello mushrooms, red peppers, mozzarella, salt & pepper, balsamic/pesto sauce, Romaine lettuce, Roma tomatoes, Kalamata olives, red onion, bell peppers, cucumber, and vinaigrette. Okay, if you eighty-six the salt & pepper, cheese, and olives, you’re in good shape. And again, if it was me, I’d order that dressing on the side, that way you can use as little as you’d like.

Now, if you’re feeling silly—I usually am—you might give the Peanut Butter and Fresh Banana Wrap a try; it’s just chunky peanut butter and sliced banana. Here’s the problem. Dr. Fuhrman once told me that conventional roasted peanut butter usually contains acrylamides. So, if you order it, you’re making a pretty decent concession, but like I said. If you’re feeling silly, go for it. I say this because I find it hard to resist the siren-song of bananas and peanut butter—just call me Elvis. “Uh thank you, thank you very much.”

Before we move onto the salads, its worth noting that the Tiger Lily Café gives you the option of making any of those wraps into a salad. So that’d nix that pesky bread concession. Although, I doubt a peanut butter banana salad would taste good, but tempting nonetheless. Now, Tiger Lily Café does offer salad-salads too. They all look good and all could conceivably work; with tweaks as needed. My two favorites are the Mesclun Salad w/”The Works” and the Greek Salad; together they’re made with field greens, salsa fresca, cucumbers, scallions, Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, Bermuda onion, Kalamata olives, feta cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. Peace of cake! Drop the olives, cheese, and go easy on the dressing. Wham-bam thank you mam!

Finally, the Tiger Lily Café offers up a whole host of fresh-squeezed juices and smoothies. If you feel like treating yourself to something sweet, this might work for you. Heck, it’s a lot better than having a candy bar or something worse. Here’re a few things I’d order. Maybe an apple-pear-carrot juice or what about a blend of blueberries, beets, and cabbage? Hello antioxidants! As far as the smoothies and cocktails go, I like the Iron Maiden, the Red Devil, and Bermuda Triangle—clearly I am feeling evil. The Iron Maiden is made with carrot juice and wheatgrass. Wheatgrass is very interesting. The Red Devil is a blend of beets, red apples, and ginger—neat! And lastly, the Bermuda Triangle is just a bunch of bananas, strawberries, and orange juice all whirled together. Honestly, any one of these sounds mighty refreshing right now!

The goods news is if you ever find yourself stuck in a Tiger Lily Café trap, you know you’re in good hands. The Tiger Lily Café is certainly Fuhrman-friendly. Plenty of wholesome veggie options for even the most ardent Eat to Liver. For me, it all comes down to how many fruits and vegetables I can get my hands on. The Tiger Lily Café has more than enough to go around, but don’t take my word for it! Check out The Tiger Lily Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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First off, big kudos to Michael for emailing me this week’s restaurant—thanks Michael! Today we’re grabbing a bite to eat at The Natural Café. Now, I’ve got to say, having just given it a quick scan. It looks good. So no long preamble today—let’s dig in!

Alright, I’m going to try and keep this evaluation as close to 100% Fuhrman-friendly as possible. With that being said, the appetizer I’m going with is the Vegetarian Chili; which includes cheese, onions, and corn bread. Once you ditch the cheese and corn bread it looks mighty good. The soups are another option, provided they’re not to salty, have lots of veggies, and you skip out on the 7-grain bread.

Next up are the salads and you’ve got plenty of options. Here are my favorites. The Botanical Garden Salad is great; made with baby-leaf lettuce, carrots, red onions, jicama, tomato, and sprouts. The Spiritual Spinach Salad also looks very tasty; prepared with spinach, carrots, olives, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, veggie-bacon bits, and sprouts. I’m ditching the cheese, olives, and the veggie-bacon. And lastly, I like the East Beach Salad; it comes with grilled veggies, baby-leaf greens, carrots, tomato, and jicama. I’m a sucker for grilled veggies on salad! Now you know what I’m going to say next, “Of course I’d go easy on the salad dressing.”

In the face of all these great veggie options, I doubt I’d be inclined to order a sandwich, but, what the heck! Let’s take a look at a couple. For obvious reasons I like the Grilled Veggie Sandwich; its made with grilled veggies, lettuce, sprouts, tomato, garlic mayonnaise, and served on 7-grain bread. Now, the bread is the concession and the mayo is out the window, but like I said, I’m a sucker for grilled vegetables. The other sandwich I’m digging is the Portobella Mushroom; prepared with a marinated grilled portobello mushroom, jack cheese, grilled onions, tomato, sprouts, pesto, garlic mayo, and served on 7-grain bread. Again, the bread is the concession and I’m totally ditching the cheese and the mayo.

Moving on to the Vegetarian Entrees and there’s lots of good stuff here too. I really like the Buddha Burrito; it’s prepared with sauteed veggies, pinto beans, rice, ranchero sauce, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and wrapped in a whole wheat chapati with a salad garnish. Okay, I’m sacking the cheese and sour cream. Hopefully there’s not too much oil being used in the sautéing process—that would suck! And the chapatti is a concession I can live with. Hey, the salad’s cool! The Natural Tamale is also pretty neat; it’s made with corn, green chiles, pinto beans, ground peanut, and garlic wrapped in a corn masa topped with ranchero sauce and sour cream and served with rice and black beans. Goodbye sour cream! Other than the masa concession, it looks good.

And finally, if all else fails. You can give this time-tested strategy a whirl. Make yourself a tasty meal out of the sides. Let’s see what we got. Well, I could certainly go for some steamed veggies, a baked potato, avocado, and some pinto beans. Not sure those around me would appreciate the pinto. Eh, it’s a risk I’m willing to take! I’m a real sucker for steamed veggies too. Especially steamed broccoli, I’m sure most of you would agree. Steamed broccoli is surprising addicting!

Thanks again to Michael for giving me a heads-up about The Natural Café. An Eat to Liver could certainly find refuge here. Sure, you’ve got some cheese and bread to dodge, but in a frontier packed with standard American restaurants a little cheese and bread should be the least of your worries. Now, it’s your turn! Check out The Natural Café’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until next time, eat well!

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Okay folks. I’ve said it a bunch of times, but, with Eating to Live on the Outside you’ve got to take the good and the bad. Sometimes we get the good, like Sacred Chow and Arnold's Way, but other times we get the bad, like Friendly’s, Fazoli’s, and this week’s destination, Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppes. Brace yourself buckaroos, it’s about to get messy.

Clearly, a sandwich shop right away implies lots of problems; bread, nasty fixings, and sandwich meat. And guess what? It’s just as bad as you think. The majority of the food is “good ole fashioned” standard American junk-food; corn beef, hot reubens, bbq pork, roast beef, etc, etc. Lucky for all of you, I am feeling pretty spunky today and ready for a challenge—charge!

Let’s start with the sandwiches. I only see two I’d entertain the notion of, but, they both need work. Oh, and let me say this right now. Obviously there is a bread concession, believe me, it’s the lesser of many evils, I can deal with it. Here’s the first one. The Turkey Avocado Club; made with turkey, bacon, Swiss cheese, guacamole, mayo, baby greens, and toasted white bread. Lot’s of garbage here. Okay, bye-bye cheese, adios bacon, ciao turkey, and goodbye mayo. Wow! We’re sure left with a lot—aren’t we? I know, pretty pathetic! Well if the guacamole is made with out sour cream and you’re into toasted white bread with just the baby greens, then I guess it works. Although it hardly sounds appetizing—don’t you agree?

Alright, I think the Lite Turkey is better. It’s prepared with turkey breast, fat-free honey Dijon, lettuce, red onion, tomato, and toasted multi-grain whole wheat bread. I’m ditching the turkey again; the only flesh I eat is fish. Also the Dijon has got to go, just not my thing. Again, hardly a monumental meal, but if you’re a distressed Eat to Liver trapped in a sandwich shop its better than conceding to a Hot Pressed Cuban sandwich loaded with unhealthy pork loin, ham, salami, Swiss cheese, and mayonnaise.

Surprisingly, Dagwood’s offers up a bunch of salads or—as I call it—an Eat to Livers bastion of hope. From what I see, you’ve only got two real options: Mary K’s Green Salad or a Side Garden Salad. Mary K’s Green Salad is a comprised of romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, Greek feta cheese, Greek dressing, Kalamata olives, diced tomatoes, and Greek potato salad—Egad! Okay, I’m tossing—no pun intended—the cheese, olives, and the potato salad. After that, you’re left with something, sort of. Now, I have no idea what the Side Garden Salad comes with. It doesn’t say, but I’m assuming it is pretty basic; probably lettuce, red onion, tomatoes, carrots, and croutons. If so, I’d scrap the croutons and go with it. And of course, I’d go easy on the dressing.

There you have it Eat to Livers, all done! And after doing that review, I can honestly hope that I never find myself in a Dagwood’s. The majority of the menu is utter ooey-gooey standard American goodness and I stay far clear of restaurants like this, but, in the event that the Mafia kidnapped me and threw me into a Dagwoods, at least I can say I’d have a fighting chance. Alright, you know what time it is. It’s your turn! Scope out Dagwood’s Sandwich Shoppes’ menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until next time, eat well!

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Alright! We got a real winner this week. McFoster’s Natural Kind Café, way off in Omaha Nebraska, is packed with veggie goodness! Even the website is loaded with fruits and vegetables. Hard to beet that—OOPS!—I mean beat that. So let’s get right to it!

There’s lots of good stuff all over this menu, I’ll focus on my favorites. For starters, there are plenty of Fuhrman-friendly appetizers to order. I really like the Happy Hummus; made with pureed garbanzo bean, garlic, tahini, lemon, spike, Indian spices, whole-wheat flatbread, and a garnish. Clearly the bread is the concession, but when you consider everything else, I think it’s worth the risk.

Probably even better than this is either the Cold, Raw and Blanched Veggies or the Your Favorite Vegetable. The Cold, Raw and Blanched Veggies is just carrots, broccoli, celery, other vegetables, and two dipping sauces. Well, provided you go easy on the sauce, kind of hard to hate this one. And Your Favorite Vegetable is exactly that. Your favorite vegetable sautéed, charbroiled, or steamed with garlic, Italian seasoning, fresh basil, spike, or, nothing at all. Personally, I would keep the seasoning and order up some steamed greens. What do you think about that?

The salads are looking strong too. My two favorites are the Kind Salad and the Artichoke Salad. The Kind Salad is prepared with greens, cabbage, carrots, onion, cucumber, and seasoned with whole-wheat croutons. Obviously, once you ditch the croutons you’re all set! Now, the Artichoke Salad is made with oil-less balsamic vinaigrette, greens, poached veggies, sprouts, onions, cucumbers, kashi green salad, and garlic bread. I’d pass on the garlic bread and keep everything else status quo. Oh! I would definitely ask for the oil-less dressing on the Kind Salad too.

Okay, onto the Entrees and Sandwiches. I’m digging the Vegetable Enchiladas; made with steamed corn tortillas, seasoned veggies, ancho chile sauce, umeboshi plum sauces, and served with an organic orange, jicama, and pickled onion salad with Cajun red beans. I’m cool with all of this. I can deal with the tortillas this one time. Next—and no surprises here—I am way into the Avocado Deluxe. They make it with toasted sunflower bread, avocado, cucumber, onion, greens, sunflower, pea sprouts, salsa, and organic or soy cheese. The fact that this thing is made with avocado earns it high marks in my book, but even still, I’m ditching either variety of cheese. I don’t eat dairy and I’m not into soy cheese, but other than that—rock on avocado, rock on!

Now, if none of this strikes your fancy. Check this out. McFoster’s gives you the option of ordering veggies any way you want them. Your options are steamed, steamed with spices, sautéed, made with sesame and ginger, curried, primavera style, or charbroiled. I’m partial to either steamed option or getting them sautéed; getting them sautéed would mean olive oil, no big deal. I can deal with it. Especially when you consider the veggies you can pick from: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, onions, peppers, and other seasonal vegetables. I’m leaning towards some broccoli, carrots, and cabbage—yummy!

I’m telling you, I am really feeling McFoster’s. If I ever get to Omaha, I’ve really got to pop in for a visit. What about you? Does McFoster’s get your mojo going too? If so, tell me about. If you haven’t yet, check out McFoster’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or drop me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. In the meantime, eat well!

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside tangos with The Old Bay. The Old Bay serves up New Orleans inspired creations and, in this case, in all their unglory. Yeah, you guessed it. Its not good, but, we solider on—lets see what we got!

Oh boy. I don’t think the Natchitoches Beef Pies aren't going to cut it. Neither will the Gator Balls or the Three Cheese Baked Bread. Well, the only thing I see on the Sharing Plates that might work is the Wild Mushroom Mini Pizza Forestier. Yeah-yeah, I know what you’re saying, “PIZZA!” Relax, I’m ditching the cheddar cheese, but, I’m keeping the roasted red pepper sauce and the Criminni, Portobello, Shitake and Oyster mushrooms. So, with that being said, the only concession would be the pizza dough. I’m not thrilled about it, but its cool.

Alright, the soups and the classic Cajun dishes aren’t looking good, so I’m skipping over that section of the menu—onto the rest of the main dishes! Okay, the only thing I see—and this is a big concession—is the Vegetarian Zucchini Boat. What is it? Brace yourself. It’s a seedless zucchini “boat” corn floured, fried, stuffed with ratatouille, surrounded by long grain rice, and smothered in a roasted vegetable sauce. Now, this thing has a lot strikes, but maybe if the sun, the moon, and the stars are in line, you might be willing to make this concession. Personally, I wouldn’t. The misgivings with this veggie dish is obviously the frying and any cheese or dairy products that might be used in the ratatouille or sauce. If it turns out its dairy-free and you can deal with the frying. It’s an option, albeit a bad one.

Now, the steaks are next—and we’re done! Moving on. The next viable menu items are the salads, again, no surprises here. You’ve got two options: the Garden Salad of Mixed Greens and Caesar Salad. The Caesar Salad is a big waste of time. I never bother trying to futz with Caesar salads, especially in the face of a house salad. In the case of The Old Bay the garden salad comes with mixed leaf greens, grape tomatoes, carrots, and mushrooms, and your choice of dressing. As always, if you limit or omit the dressing you’ve got a great meal here and possibly concession-free—hard to argue with that!

Okay, confession time. I’ve actually eaten at The Old Bay. So, what did I ordered? Drum-roll please, actually it’s not that dramatic. I had the Garden Salad with a teeny-tiny amount of balsamic vinaigrette. It was pretty good. It’s hard to muck up a salad. My friend I was eating with—she is not an Eat to Liver—ordered the Wild Mushroom Mini Pizza and the Fried Calamari Creole. Now, she ordered the pizza with the cheese, so I didn’t touch it, but it did look good and without cheese I think it’d still be very tasty. I don’t need to talk about the fried calamari do I?

Well, there it is. Eating to Live on the Outside Cajun-style. I’m sure a Cajun restaurant in New Jersey isn’t the best representation of Creole cooking, so maybe it is a lot better than this, but as far as The Old Bay is concerned I doubt it’ll become a hotspot for Eat to Livers. But what do you think? Check out The Old Bay’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well. Peace!

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As you know, my favorite Eating to Live on the Outside restaurant is New York City’s Sacred Chow. In fact, I was there again this past weekend. Now, this week’s installment isn’t about Sacred Chow, rather, it’s about another New York City eatery right down the road. I haven’t eaten their yet, but, Red Bamboo certainly has some potential. Let’s take a look-see.

Red Bamboo serves up vegetarian cuisine, and, it certainly lives up to its namesake. The only immediate gripe I have about the menu is the tremendous amounts of faux-meat products like tofu chicken, bacon, fish, and seitan. I’ve got nothing deep-rooted against this stuff. I just don’t like them all that much. I rather eat wholesome fruits and vegetables—you know?

Alright, let’s start with the appetizers. I like the steamed Edamame the best, but I’d nix the sea salt. There’re also a few dumplings and rolls that I might give a look. Combined the Asian Dumplings, Spring Rolls, and the Thai Vegetable Rolls are made with spinach, cabbage, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, mixed green salad, soy-ginger dipping sauce, carrots, bean sprouts, soy protein, jicama, basil, rice paper, and soy-lime dipping sauce. Certainly lots of good stuff! I’m not sure about the soy protein and I’d probably go without either dipping sauce—I don’t want all that salt!

And like always, the salads present a lot of opportunity. The House Salad works; prepared with mixed field greens, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and carrot-ginger dressing. Limit that dressing and you’re good! My favorite—because it is so exotic—is the Sea Vegetable Salad. It includes wakame, sesame hijiki, mixed greens, cucumbers, carrots, onions, bean sprouts, and house dressing. I love me some wakame! Again, watch that dressing. The Roasted Vegetable Salad and the Mediterranean Salad are also neat; combined they’re made with Portabello mushrooms, shallots, green peppers, red peppers, beets, sundried tomatoes, mixed greens, toasted walnuts, sherry-wine vinaigrette, field greens, seaweed, grilled tofu, kalamata olives, and house dressing. Personally, I’d probably ditch the tofu—not really my thing—I’d also can the olives and go easy on the dressing. All and all, pretty good!

There are some interesting vegetable entrees too. My favorite is the Grilled Vegetable Platter. They make it with grilled yellow squash, zucchini, red onions, Portabello mushrooms, and brown or white rice. I’d order it with brown rice, and, I’d just like to say—grilled yellow squash is fantastic! Yummy! The Stuffed Portabello Mushroom is up my alley as well. It’s prepared with a large Portabello mushroom, minced red pepper, garlic, basil, fresh cilantro, and mixed greens. It’s hard to beat Portabellos! Another two options might be the Teriyaki Vegetable Stir-Fry and the Black Bean Ginger Stir-Fry. Now, these are okay if you can get past the whole “fried” thing. I don’t really like fried food, but, I’m a very good boy with my eating, so I might consider one of these. Together they  include zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet teriyaki glaze, garden vegetables, Cantonese black bean, chili ginger glaze, and white or brown rice. Naturally, I’d go with the brown rice for either of these. How do you feel about stir-fried dishes?

Okay, if all this doesn’t turn you on, try this. Honestly, this is an idea that I’m increasingly warming up too. Make a meal out of the sides! And Red Bamboo has some really killer sides. Here are the ones that caught my eye: sweet corn mashed potatoes, garden salad, collard greens, hijiki with carrots, steamed mixed vegetables, and mango salsa. Well, I love collard greens, I eat collard greens many-many times a month—oh, and who doesn’t love steamed veggies? Alright, here’s my combination. I’d order the sweet corn mashed potatoes, collard greens, and the steamed mixed vegetables, and, I’d order the garden salad as an appetizer. What do you think about that?

I been in New York City a lot lately, so, I think the likelihood of me hitting up Red Bamboo is pretty good. And rest assured, if I do, I’ll certainly blog my hot little hands off about it. But now it’s your turn. Check out Red Bamboo’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. And please, make a comment or send me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well! Peace.

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside heads all the way to California, home of the Sage Grill, and, it’s a toughie. Not the most daunting menu we’ve ever encountered, but not the easiest either. I’d say it’s middle-of-the-road, but, there’s only one way to know for sure—let’s hit it!

Surprisingly there are a couple options under Burgers & Sandwiches. First is the salmon burger. Salmon is a low-risk fish (provided it isn’t Atlantic Salmon), so that’s good. It’s prepared with Muenster, dill aioli, and an Italian herb ciabatta. Well, the cheese is history. After that, the concessions would be the oil and the bread. I’m not thrilled about it, it’s not my first choice, but, at least the salmon has lots of healthy fats.

The Artichoke & Basil Sandwich could work too. It includes artichoke hearts, spinach, basil, tomatoes, parmesan, garlic, capers, balsamic vinegar, and focaccia. Okay, the parmesan and the capers are gone, making the bread the only concession. It’s not a slam-dunk, but it’s an option—I guess.

The salads have the most potential, well, all but Spinach Goat Cheese Salad and the Caesar Salad. In general, an Eat to Liver ordering a Caesar Salad is a big waste of time. My favorite salad is the Sage House Salad; made with romaine lettuce, organic baby greens, cherry tomatoes, Asiago, and champagne vinaigrette. Once I cut the cheese—pun intended—it looks pretty good to me. Provided I go easy on the pesky salad dressing. What do you think?

Other salad options could be the Grilled Tiger Prawn Salad and the Club Salad; combined they’re prepared with tiger prawns, organic baby greens, tomatoes, Pomelo orange, citrus fruits, mango vinaigrette, romaine lettuce, roasted chicken, applewood bacon, avocado, and blue cheese dressing. Alright, if you eighty-six the prawns, chicken, bacon, and blue cheese dressing, I think you’re sitting pretty. Remember just focus on those phytonutrient-packed veggies—yippee!

Outside of the salads, it really gets iffy—I’ve certainly said that before. I originally thought the Miso Black Cod was an option, but, when I checked it out on OceansAlive—wow! Cod isn't exactly safe, so I scratched that idea. The Pan-Fried Buttermilk Catfish also gets the axe, because of the fried and the buttermilk—egad! Even the Saffron Salmon is bad news. Why? Isn’t salmon a safe fish? It is according to OceansAlive, but this is Atlantic Salmon and Atlantic Salmon is an Eco Worst and a Health Concern—screw that!

Now if none of these strikes your fancy, try this strategy. Make a meal out of a bunch of sides. Here’s what I have in mind, a plate of roasted new potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and sautéed organic baby spinach. Hopefully none of these are cooked in any animal products or excessive amounts of oil. If they’re not, I think this is a solid option—any thoughts?

There are also some soups you can toy with, but, in my experience eating out, most soups—even the vegetable soups—are made with chicken broth. Personally, meat broths kind of revolt me. So instead of interrogating the wait staff about it, I usually order something else, most likely a salad. I can say quite honestly, nine times out of ten, when I eat outside my home, I order a salad—stick with what works!

Like I said, not the worst restaurant we’ve encountered, but certainly not a Fuhrman-friendly paradise. I often wonder, if it wasn’t for the inventor of the salad, I’d never leave the house. Okay, your turn. Check out Sage Grill’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well!

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I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a Jersey guy; born and breed. An Italian from New Jersey—go figure! Now, all kidding aside, Jersey is a great place for food. But, in my experience doing Eating to Live on the Outside I can tell you New Jersey is not unlike other states. Sure, we got healthy eateries, like Mesob and Fresh Food Kitchen, but there’s also plenty of IHOP’s, Panera Breads, and Friday’s to go around. This week’s restaurant certainly falls towards the latter.

One of my Jersey stomping grounds is the town of New Brunswick—home of Rutgers University—and, Old Man Rafferty’s is a local favorite. Not of mine, I’ve never been—and thank goodness for that! Because I’m looking at the menu right now and it doesn't look good. It’s positively loaded with all the trappings of the standard American diet; cheese, bacon, beef, bread, chips, etc, etc. But, I’m dedicated to my craft, so, I’m going in. To the Eat to Live mobile boy wonder!

First off, Old Man Rafferty’s has two menus—lunch/dinner and dessert—I’m nixing the dessert menu. I hardly think ice cream, cake, and fudge are Fuhrman-friendly. Onto the lunch/dinner menu! Alright, what do we have here?

I see a few salads I like—I know what you’re thinking, “What a shock!” Hardly, but I’m a big salad guy, so I don’t mind. I’m digging the Italian Country Salad—for obvious reasons—it’s prepared with mesclun greens, poached pears, gorgonzola cheese, candied walnuts, and sherry wine vinaigrette. Ciao cheese and candied walnuts! After you say goodbye to those two unsavory characters, you’re left with a pretty basic salad.

If this is too boring for you, give Rafferty’s House Salad a whirl; made with romaine lettuce, baby lettuce, fresh vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, and your choice of dressing. I love cucumbers! Not as much as I love avocado, but they’re great. I’d probably just drizzle some balsamic vinegar over all this which makes it a pretty tasty pile of veggies if you ask me.

Another option is the Tuna Nicoise. Now, I know tuna isn’t the safest fish to eat, considering it high mercury content, but, if I were to order this it would be the first time in long time that I’ve eaten tuna, and, I certainly wouldn’t be in any rush to eat it again! It’s prepared with Boston Bibb lettuce, radicchio lettuce, plum tomatoes, red bliss potatoes, red onion, hard boiled egg, black olives, hearts of palm, grilled tuna, and a lemon & roasted garlic vinaigrette. Lots of stuff! Well, I’m ditching the egg and the olives, and, keeping the dressing to a minimum. Sounds goods, don’t you agree?

Okay, outside of the salads, things get dicey—don’t they always? Maybe the Stir Fry is an option. I say maybe because I’m really not into fried food, but for veggies, I sometimes make an allowance—sometimes. Its prepared white meat chicken or shrimp, assorted vegetables, sesame oil, stir fry sauce, sticky rice, and lo mein noodles. Yeah, it’s a little rough. Well, if you ditch the chicken or shrimp and the noodles. The only things you’re stuck contending with are the noodles and the sesame oil. Now, this isn’t my first choice, but, if the mood struck me, I might consider ordering. Might being the key word—what do you think?

The Grilled Salmon Filet is cool. I like it because it’s served with red bliss potatoes and asparagus—asparagus rocks! In fact, I’ve regularly seen Dr. Fuhrman himself munching on some. Quite a sight, the man is ravenous for his veggies. In addition to the vegetables and the salmon filet, the dish is topped off with a lemon black pepper vinaigrette. Honestly, I can live with the whole shebang. Especially since Dr. Fuhrman considers salmon to be a low mercury risk.

Old Man Rafferty’s also serves up a Veggie Burger. Now, I’m not really into veggie burgers, but this one has intrigued me. It’s made with whole grains, chopped vegetables, and soy beans—very cool! Here’s the problem, it’s served on a hard roll, with fries, coleslaw, and a pickle. I dig the pickle, but everything else makes me gag! So, I’d take the bread hit and keep the roll, but instead of the fries and coleslaw I’d order a salad to go along with it. I think that works.

Now, even though I hangout in New Brunswick fairly often, I can’t say I’ll be dropping by Old Man Rafferty’s anytime soon. Outside of the dishes I mentioned the rest of the menu is no man’s land for an Eat to Liver. But maybe I’m crazy—my mother says I am—so, it’s your turn. Check out Old Man Rafferty’s menu and tell me how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Until then, eat well!

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I’m in a New York state of mind. So, time to grab the next train and hit the big apple. This week we’re checking out Counter, right off east Houston Street in the capital of the world—New York City! And this vegetarian bistro certainly makes a good first impression.

I first heard about Counter when I was dining at Eating to Live on the Outside favorite Sacred Chow—I love Sacred Chow! I’ll actually be eating there again this weekend. Alright, enough back-story and brownnosing, time to put Counter to the test. Let’s get to it!

Counter’s got quite a few menus to choose from, but I’m only interested in the dinner and brunch menu; the others are for liquor and kids. There’s a lot of good stuff on both menus. Some bad stuff too, like eggs, cheese, and milk. Okay, what to order? What to order?

I’ll start with the appetizers. This shouldn’t be a shocker. The Market Salad is looking good. It doesn’t say what’s in it, but whatever it is, it’s topped with a fresh herb lemon vinaigrette. Honestly, I highly doubt you can go wrong with a salad at a vegetarian bistro.

The Citrus Greens Salad and The Avocado Basket Salad are also pretty cool. The Avocado Basket Salad for obvious reasons—I STILL LOVE AVOCADO! Between them they’re prepared with bitter greens, grapefruit, toasted almonds, balsamic dressing, hearts of palm, Roma tomatoes, avocado, and lemon herb dressing. If you go easy or omit the dressing, I’m not sure there’s a problem with either one of these.

I love soups, so this next appetizer is right up my alley. The Soupe Du Pistou, which is a nicoise style hearty white bean and vegetable soup with pesto. White beans are fantastic! Loaded with fiber, and, after you eat them, you can serenade your friends—sorry, couldn’t resist. I think the only concession here would be the oil from the pesto. Not bad. Oh, and if any of these are too worrisome for you. You can always order some fresh fruit, Counter gives you that option—pretty cool, right?

Now, the first entrée I like is the Marinated Vegetable Terrine; prepared with sun-dried tomato pesto, herb puree, nut cheese, shaved fennel, and bitter greens. I mainly like this one because it’s raw. Lately I’ve been trying to eat more raw veggies. Probably the only concession here is the oil used to make the pesto. Now worries—I can live with it!

The Vegetable Mosaic also looks mighty tasty—great name too! According to the menu it is a market-fresh array of vegetables; including sautéed haricots verts & escarole, braised fennel with orange, Portobello mushroom roulade, whipped maple sweet potatoes, and steamed & spiced quinoa & cumin emulsion. Wow, quite the compliment of veggies! I guess the only concession would be maple syrup used in the whipped sweet potatoes—but then again—they might not even use it. I’d check with the wait staff.

I love stews. My mom makes a killer lentil-curry stew. So it shouldn't be a huge surprise that I like the Provencal Stew; amaranth & millet dumplings, vegetables & potatoes, simmered in a seaweed-scented broth. Sounds pretty nifty if you ask me!

Finally, the Hale & Heartland looks interesting; multi-grain pancakes with organic blueberry compote & fresh citrus fruit. Well, the grain is the concession. Whole fruits and veggies would certainly rank better on Dr. Fuhrman’s Health = Nutrients/Calories, but, I don’t eat this sort of thing all the time, so, I’m cool with it. What do you think?

Well there you have it. Another one bites the dust. Honestly, I’ll probably drop into Counter one of these days, I’m intrigued. But enough about me—your turn! Check out Counter’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Drop a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Healthy eating!

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Okay, you can thank my local cable television network for this week’s restaurant. One night I’m watching South Park—yes, I’m twenty-six years old and I still watch cartoons—and a commercial for House of Souls comes on. This restaurant/nightclub serves up a hefty offering of soul food.

Now, I have to admit, I’m not that versed in soul food, but, I have a sneaking suspicion it’s not very Fuhrman-friendly; a little investigation is in order. Now, I haven’t looked at House of Souls’ menu yet. So let’s find out together! Alright, give me a second. Here we go. Let’s get to work.

Well folks, we’ve already run into trouble. The appetizers are frightening; lots of cheese, meat, and fried thingies. I swear, I’m trying to keep an open mind, but I don’t see any hope for the appetizers. Hopefully the entrees will be a little more inviting. Onward!

Oh boy, problems here too. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here, but, I doubt foods like fried chicken wings, honey ham, grilled cheese, lasagna, and manicotti are high on any Eat to Liver’s list of favorite foods—they’re certainly not on mine! Okay, what should I do? Eureka!

Actually, it’s hardly a eureka—time to order a salad. On the menu there’s something called a Tossed Salad. It’s probably a basic house salad, but it doesn’t say what’s in it. I’d ask the wait staff and ditch any undesirables it may come with and of course, I’d go easy on the dressing.

I’m sad to say, but on the whole front page of the menu, the only thing I’d order would be the salad. But let’s not tuck our tail between our legs just yet, maybe there’s more choices on the next page. Okay, hold on. Let me just click this link. Hey, hey, hey—look at this!

There’re some fish dishes I can work with. Now, Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t recommend eating a lot of fish, largely due to mercury pollution, but if you’re going to eat fish, he suggests fishes like salmon, flounder, sole, tilapia, and trout because they have lowest contamination-risk. And as luck would have it, House of Souls serves up salmon, tilapia, and flounder; OceansAlive doesn’t digs them too.

According to the menu the salmon can be made grilled or steamed, the tilapia is set on fire, and the flounder is breaded and fried. Well, the frying nixes the flounder for me, but steamed salmon and flaming hot tilapia sounds pretty tasty. And as I say all the time, if were to order either fish, I’d make sure I waited awhile before I ate fish again—Dr. Fuhrman’s orders!

Now the fish was good, but the sides are better. Here are the ones that caught my eye: collard greens, beans & rice, garlic potato, string beans, asparagus, mixed veggies, and corn on the cob. Provided none of these are cooked in butter, heavy amounts of oil, or anything that comes out of a cow. They’d all make a great accompaniment to either fish, or, any combination of them would be a nice stand-alone dish. Personally, I’d take a plate of collard greens, asparagus, and mix veggies!

So what do you think? Could soul food work for an Eat to Liver? I think so. Sure, House of Souls’ menu is saturated with plenty of unhealthy fixings, but, there’s clearly hope if you use your noggin. Speaking of that, its time for you to employ you’re Eat to Live skills. Check House of Souls’ menu (page 1, page 2) and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Healthy eating!

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It’s Friday—and you know what that means? Hit the intro-music. Turn on the laser-lights. Cue the background dancers. It’s time for Eating to Live on the Outside baby! “Who let the dogs out! Woo-woo-woo-woo!” Wow, that was lame. Sorry, onto the serious stuff.

This week—the ever-exciting—Eating to Live on the Outside heads to Washington, D.C. to visit Nora, America’s First Certified Organic Restaurant. Well, it’s certainly a mixed menu. There’s lots of food I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole—like Crème Fraiche and duck livers—but there’s also plenty of good stuff too—like kale, broccoli, shiitakes, and mango.

Okay, where to begin? Let’s start with the appetizers—since there’s one that caught my eye. The Grilled Baby Eggplant looks cool. It’s prepared with red peppers, yellow peppers, black olives, hummus, and micro cilantro. I like it! I’d ditch the olives because they’re salty, but that’s it. So far, so good!

Onto the salads—an Eat to Livers pillar of hope—all three have potential, but two of them need a little tweaking. The Mesclun Greens salad is perfect; greens, hearts of palm, mango, macadamia nuts, and lime macadamia nut oil vinaigrette. The concession here would be the vinaigrette. Personally, I’d order it on the side and only use a little bit—no big deal!

The next two salads include cheese. So once you ditch that, combined the Arugula & Heirloom Tomatoes and the Local Baby Heads of Lettuce salads are made with pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted pumpkinseed oil vinaigrette, arugula, tomatoes, lettuce, peaches, walnuts, and caramelized onion vinaigrette. Some good stuff here! And I doubt you’re going to miss the goat cheese and brie. Provided you go easy on the dressing, these are great. What do you think?

Now, beyond the salads its get a little dicey—as it usually dos—but don’t fret. Nora’s got a few tricks up her sleeve—or should I say treats. I see three dishes an Eat to Liver could get by with, they require no alternation, and only some minor concessions. Let’s take a look.

Two of the menu items are fish dishes, so, if you don’t eat any animals these aren’t for you. Personally, I eat fish. Not often, but I do it eat once or twice a month. First up is the Shichimi Crusted Alaskan King Salmon with shiitakes, baby corn, cherry tomatoes, scallions, broccoli, and ginger soy emulsion. The veggies look great, but what about the fish? Is it safe? Yup! According to OceansAlive.org Alaskan King Salmon is also called Chinook Salmon and Chinook Salmon is an Eco Best; meaning it has a low risk of contamination—nice!

Same goes for the Pan Roasted Alaskan Halibut. It’s also known as Pacific Halibut and our friends at OceansAlive.org give it an Eco Best stamp of approval. This tasty and safe fish is served with eggplant-tomato ratatouille, potatoes, kale, and salsa verde. You got to love when you actually see KALE on a menu! I’ve got no gripes with this either. Its worth mentioning that if I were to order either one of these, I’d make sure I’d wait a while before I ate fish again—doctor’s orders!

Alright, the last menu item I’d consider ordering is the Tokyo Hot Pot. It’s prepared with shichimi crusted tofu, udon noodles, shiitakes, baby carrots, miso mushroom broth, and crispy yams. You guessed it. The noodles are a concession. After all, noodles and pasta are nothing more than processed food—I can live with it. The Tokyo Hot Pot wouldn’t be my first choice, but if I HAD to order it, I’d just focus on all the veggies and not worry about the noodles, especially since I don’t normally eat pasta or noodles of any sort.

An important thing to mention about Nora is that it’s an organic restaurant; pretty admirable in a country saturated in trans-fat, processed junk, and fast food. So if you’re an organic fan and planning to visit the D.C. area, pop into Nora and let me know how you handled Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. Healthy eating!

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Honestly, I’m not going to act surprised anymore. I’m just going to say it. Most American eateries are epicenters of low-nutrient, disease-causing food—period! And Hobee’s is just another in the long list of offenders. So, as is often the case, this week is going to be rough—argh!

Hoebee’s menu is packed with typical standard American garbage foods—not sure what those are? Mostly over-stuffed greasy omelets, char-cooked burgers, ooey-gooey cheese dishes, and plenty of sweets, to name a few. No doubt, this isn’t going to be easy. Alright, let’s give it a try.

Well, I had to skip five sections of the menu before I found some thing with potential. That’d be the Seasonal Fresh Fruit Plate; basically a plate of fruit served with a strawberry yogurt sauce. Minus the sauce, it’s a safe option. Not sure how excited I’d be to overpay for fresh fruit, but in a pinch, it’d work. The Oatmeal with either bananas or blueberries would work too, provided it’s not made with milk. If these don’t wet you’re taste buds you could always give the Breakfast Quesadilla or the Cheesey Scramble a whirl—not!

Now let’s look at the salads. For starters, it’s worth mentioning that Hobee’s offers an all-you-eat salad bar. This is Hobee’s saving grace and without looking at the rest of the menu, I can say with confidence. This is your best bet. Personally, I’d go with the salad bar and quit trying to make the unhealthy healthy. But, I’m a glutton for punishment, so, I’ll proceed. The Embarcadero Salad and the Mediterranean Salad both look good, but, both need augmenting. Together they include grilled chicken, pears, apples, walnuts, dried fruit, Bleu cheese, raspberry vinaigrette, spring mix salad, roasted vegetables, olives, beans, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, Feta cheese, and Balsamic vinaigrette. Okay, the cheese, chicken, and olives are out, limit that dressing, and either one is looking good. One or the other would work for me, but I’m leaning towards the Mediterranean.

Outside the salads, they’re a few more things I’d consider ordering, but just to reiterate. I prefer the salad bar over any of this. But for giggles, I’d also give the Portabello Ciabatta Sandwich a try; made with grilled portabello mushroom, roasted red pepper, fresh spinach, avocado, Swiss cheese, Ciabatta bread, and sundried tomato butter. Well, the clearly the bread is the concession, and, the butter and the cheese are toast—as in gone! Not terrible, but not great either.

If a sandwich isn’t to your liking, try the Seven Veggie Medley. It comes with at least seven vegetables, grilled tofu, and your choice of tomato-basil, classic basil, chipotle pesto, or teriyaki glaze served over brown rice pilaf. Alright, I’m pretty sure there’s a fair amount of oil in this, so that’s a problem. Also, rice pilaf has pasta in it—that’s a concession. I guess this could work if you’re in the right mood. I’m not thrilled about it.

Finally, if I were willing to make a pasta-concession, I might flirt with the Salmon Fettuccine; includes fettuccine, salmon, mushrooms, spinach, chopped tomatoes, garlic, capers, lemon, herbs, and olive oil. Luckily salmon is a safer fish to eat, so that’s not a big deal, but capers are salty so they’re out and all that olive oil makes me nervous. So, if I was really feeling daring I might order this, but I’d have to at least ditch the capers.

Okay, despite these options. Hobee’s is really bad news. If you’re a responsible Eat to Liver and you have a choice, avoid Hoebee’s. Granted, the salad bar is great, but what’s the point of paying all that money for salad—you’re better off staying at home. Now that’s just my opinion. It’s you’re turn. Check out Hoebee’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com or make a comment. Happy eating!

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Alright, I may be a lot of things, but a coward isn’t one of them. After all, just look at all of the standard American nightmares I’ve braved over the past year: Carino's Italian Grill, Huddle House, Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café, Indigo Joe's, Don Pablo's, Fazoli's, and Denny's.

I feel battled tested to say the least. And I’m going to need all my skills to tackle this week’s restaurant, Lonni’s Sandwiches. I mean come on! Any restaurant with the word sandwich in the title is a major asterisk for the fickle Eat to Liver—hell hath no fury like bread’s scorn.

Upon brief inspection, a lot of the menu is bad news, but, I’m sure I can find something—just in case I’m duped, bonked on the head, tied up, thrown into the back of a Cadillac, and revived by a bucket of cold water, only to find myself chained to a table in Lonni’s Sandwiches. So, lets have at it!

No surprise here, the menu is packed with sandwiches. Okay, no egg salad for me—I actually just threw up in my mouth a little. Yuck, ham and cheese! And I’ll definitely pass on Cecil’s Sunrise. This heart attack bomb is made with egg slices, ham, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, and potato bread—eek! What to order, what to order? Here are a couple ideas.

First is the Custom Vegetarian. It can be made with Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, cucumbers, alfalfa sprouts, sweet onion, lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, black olives, sunflower seeds, and dressing. Well, that is a lot of veggies. If I were ordering this thing, I’d start with whole wheat bread—the grainer the better—and I’d take everything but the cheese and the mayo. So that would make my concession the bread, the salty olives, and the tiny bit of dressing I’d use. I’m not too worried about—that’s a ton of plant matter!

The only other sandwich I’d entertain would be the Mango Breeze, but, I’d first do some renovations. Here’s why. It comes with brie, avocado slices, dried mango chutney, alfalfa sprouts, mayonnaise, and wild rice bread. Even after ditching the brie and mayonnaise, I still think it’s a pretty interesting meal. Oh, and the concession here would be the bread…again.

In addition to sandwiches, Lonni’s Sandwiches also offers soups, salads, desserts, and drinks. Well, the soups aren’t looking too Fuhrman-friendly. Maybe the Wild Rice Soup, but who knows if it’s made with chicken broth or not. If it isn’t, it’d be a solid an option; wild rice, tomatoes, carrots, celery, and corn. The only concession would be the rice—no biggie.

Okay, the desserts and drinks aren’t worth it—onto the salads! I like two of them, but despite their high veggie count, they’ve both got plenty of undesirables that need to be dealt with. Let’s start with the Chef’s Supreme. It’s made with Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, tomato, egg slices, cucumber, radishes, celery, summer squash, sweet onion, ham, turkey, Swiss cheese, and cheddar cheese. I know, what a way to ruin a good thing! The egg, meats, and cheeses are toast—no thank you! Now provided I go easy on the dressing or omit it altogether, this salad is looking pretty good.

The next salad is the Very Vegetarian, which is funny, because the Very Vegetarian comes with cheese and egg—what the heck is vegetarian about that? Anyway, it’s made with Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, tomato, egg slices, cucumber, radishes, celery, black olives, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, sweet onion, alfalfa sprouts, garbanzo beans, artichoke hearts, and sunflower seeds—certainly a lot of veggies! Like I said, the cheese and the egg are getting the boot. After that, the only concession would be the black olives and maybe some salad dressing.

You could also give the Wild Rice Salad a try. It’s prepared with wild rice, sliced almonds, celery, onion, green peas, lettuce, egg slices, sweet mustard dressing, and a poppy seed muffin. Once you ditch the eggs and the muffin it’s a little more Fuhrman-friendly, but, that’s too much rice for me. I’d prefer one of the other salads in stead. Personally, I’m leaning towards the modified Very Vegetarian—how about you?

So, is Lonni’s Sandwiches as bad as I originally thought? I mean I was able to find a handful of dishes that an Eat to Liver could sneak by with. The answer is yes. It is still a rough place for a health concession person. In my humble opinion, the menu is way too bogged down with standard American ooey-gooey junk foods, but what do you think? Check out Lonni’s Sandwiches’ menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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I’m a city guy. I’ve always been fascinated by the culture, architecture, and general dynamic of big cities—growing up near NYC has that effect—and one of the places I’ve always wanted to visit is Chicago. Well, I kind of get to do that today. This week Eating to Live on the Outside examines Chicago’s Samba Room.

At first inspection Samba Room looks pretty middle of the road. Not outstanding, but not terrible. The dishes are relatively basic and have a fresh feeling. I’ve found from doing all these reviews that being basic and fresh usually up a dish’s chances of being Fuhrman-friendly. So, let’s see if it holds true. Time to rock and roll!

Alright, first up are the Plantain Chips. They’re an appetizer and served with a black bean and tomato salsa. Provided the chips aren’t fried, I’d order them. If they are—heck no! Not just for health reasons. Fried foods have always grossed me out. That yucky feeling greases your whole mouth and throat—gag!

Okay, next up are two salads—surprise-surprise—the Latin Chopped Salad and the Caesar Salad. The Latin salad needs a little work; it comes with grilled chicken, tomato, red onion, avocado and bacon-cabrales dressing. Cabrales is a type of cheese, so I’m ditching that. Also, the chicken has got to go. In the end you’re not left with much, but hey, it’s still an option!

The Caesar is a lot better—well maybe. According to the menu it comes with chipotle-lemon mojo and toasted pumpkin seeds. I’m not sure what mojo is in food terms, but I have a hunch it’s veggie-based. Clearly the pumpkin seeds are cool. Now here’s the catch. I can't tell if this is like a regular cheesy Caesar salad just mixed with all this stuff or not. So, before I’d order it, I’d ask the wait staff. Cheese, gross!

Next in line is the Marinated Heart of Palm and Jicama, served over sliced tomatoes and fresh citrus. Well, provided that palm and jicama aren’t marinated in bacon fat—which I doubt they are—this looks like a good one. Another option worth trying is the Brazilian Black Bean Soup. If it’s not made with animal broth—cool-cool!

Now, even though I’ve kicked all meat. I still eat fish. Not often, but I do enjoy it. My favorite fish is mahi-mahi—how lucky for me that it’s on Samba’s menu! The Plantain Crusted Mahi-Mahi is prepared on coconut rice, mango-mojo, and with maduro salsa. Well, the rice is a concession, but I can deal with it, especially since mahi-mahi is an Eco Best. Sweet! Also on the menu is Chilean sea bass and red snapper, two words—Eco Worst.

Another thing to try is the Grilled, Mashed & Crisp Vegetables—the title kind of says it all—it includes yuca, marinated onions, portabella mushrooms, and potatoes. I’m not sure you can go wrong with all this. Mushrooms are great. I know Dr. Fuhrman recommends them as a nice chewy substitute for meat. I grew up on mushrooms. I love them, even if they do grow on poop.

It might have been a short—imaginary—trip to Chi-Town, but certainly not uneventful. I’m pretty confident in saying that Samba Room has real potential. Outside of the dishes I mentioned the menu is rough, but if you keep it tight, you can have yourself a decent—healthy—meal. But tell me what you think. How do you handle Eating to Live on the Outside? Check out Samba Room's menu and make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com. In the meantime, go eat some lettuce!

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A name can say a lot about a restaurant. For example, The Heart Attack Grill; home of the single, double, triple, and quadruple bypass burgers. That is standard American restaurant for—DON’T EAT HERE! Luckily Harvest Thyme’s name is a little more inviting.

Harvest Thyme is certainly an upgrade over abominations like The Heart Attack Grill, but, it’s not without its own problems. Harvest Thyme does offer plenty of enticing veggie-based options, but the menu is also tempered with lots of typical ooey-gooey standard American favorites. Let’s check it out.

I’ll start with the breakfast menu. Ham and cheese omelet—no! Bacon, egg, and cheese bagel—pass! Fruit cup—now we’re talking! And Mom’s Oatmeal also looks good. Mom prepares it with bananas and raisins. So, provided there’s no milk in it. I’m cool with the oatmeal. Okay, breakfast was easy.

The lunch menu is a little tougher, but workable. The Favorites, Wraps, and Deli Sandwiches are out—too much cheese and meat—but, the Soups & Salads, Veggie Lovers, and Fresh Fruit are another story. Personally, this is where I’d focus all my efforts. So that’s exactly what I’ll do!

For starters, I like the Harvest Thyme Salad; includes greens, tomatoes, sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, onions, and homemade croutons. I’d limit the dressing and axe the croutons. That’d leave me with a nice wallop of phytonutrients—what do you think?

Next up is the Mother Nature’s Best. It’s a big fruit plate and nice a mix of banana, pineapple, granny smith apples, cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes, strawberries, granola, and frozen yogurt. Minus the frozen yogurt, it’s a solid option. Although sometimes I think I eat too much fruit—I love fruit!

There’s another neat option under Veggie Lovers. The Homemade Hummus Pita; prepared with lettuce, tomato, sprouts, carrots, and cucumbers. The concession here would be the pita bread and the oil used in making the hummus. I’m okay with it, but I still like the fruit plate the best.

Lastly the Farmers Market Pita could work. Just like the hummus pita it’s made with lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, carrots, and cucumbers, but, also includes melted jack and cheddar cheese. If you ditch the cheese, the only concession would be the pita—focus on the veggies!

Do you dig shakes and smoothies? Harvest Thyme has a whole slue of them, but there are a few glitches. Some of them contain milk and protein powder—no thank you! Although, the Berrylicious looks tasty; a blend of orange juice, bananas, strawberries, and pineapple.

Now, I’m not a big juice guy—with the exception of my morning sip of pomegranate juice—but I do like the Later Gator. This one’s made with mandarin papaya, strawberries, banana, and coconut. Eating the whole fruit might be better, but man, these look good!

Okay, that wasn’t too bad, especially after last week’s horrible excursion through Carino's Italian Grill. But now the responsibility is in your hands, check out Harvest Thyme’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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The Darth Vader theme song should be playing. Because get ready! Here comes another standard American restaurant. Now, without even getting into it, I can sense that Carino’s Italian Grill is going to be a commercialized-Italian food nightmare for even the most liberal Eat to Liver.

That being said, I’m not surprised. Just look at Fazoli’s faux-talian food and Carrabba's Italian Grill. These pseudo-Italian restaurants really annoy me. Io sono Italiano and I can tell you first hand, I’ve never sat down to eat a plate of my nonna’s “Italian Nachos” and “Skilletini.”

To paraphrase comedian Nick Di Paolo, these places call Baloney Alfredo authentic Italian cuisine—mamalukes! But be that as it may. With out any further ado, let’s crack open Carino’s menu and see what it’s got to offer—biting my tongue.

Well, the appetizers are tutto male—all bad. Something about the aforementioned Italian Nachos just doesn’t do it for me. Maybe its the oodles of cream and cheese? I wonder. The Sicilian Fire Sticks are another abomination; bacon, sausage, cheese—oh my! 

Moving past the appetizers brings me to a familiar menu section, the salads. My old adage holds true yet again. Salads are a bastion of hope for an Eat to Liver. Granted, most of Carino’s salads are more than iffy, but, there are a couple options worth running to.

The first is the house salad. It doesn’t say what’s in it, but I’m assuming it comes with lettuce, tomato, and onions—nothing wrong with that. Plus, Carino’s offers one of those never-ending salad deals; which is good, because if you’re like me you can plow through salad like a ruminant.

I might be persuaded into ordering the Honey-Pecan Salmon Salad; salmon with a honey-pecan crust, romaine lettuce, sun-dried tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, red onions, and lemon-caper vinaigrette. Truth be told, this isn’t a horrible dish; especially since salmon is on Dr. Fuhrman’s list of less-contaminated fishes. If I limit the dressing, I’d escape this meal relatively unscathed.

Okay, time to leave the comfort of the salads. Onto the rest of the menu—oh boy—well, if you’re feeling fishy you’ve got a couple more options. I’m talking about the Jalapeno Garlic Tilapia and Salvatore’s Fish Positano. Together they include tilapia, garlic, Roma tomatoes, jalapenos (how Italian), spinach, lemon butter cream sauce, pasta, green olives, black olives, capers, and white wine lemon sauce. To make these work I’m ditching the sauces. But even with those two unsavories gone, they’re not perfect. The salty olives and capers are a big concession and the pasta is a rough mission too. I’d opt for a salad. Oh, and Dr. Fuhrman recommends Tilapia as a safer fish as well.

You probably guessed by now. Even though I’m Italian, I rarely eat pasta—non mi piaciono gli alimenti raffinati. Making these next two dishes a big waste of time, but, maybe you’re more liberal than me. So, here goes. The Stuffed Roasted Vegetable Rigatoni includes rigatoni stuffed with portabella mushrooms, red peppers, yellow peppers, onions, asparagus, spinach, squash, and a creamy-cheesy marinara vegetables sauce. Ciao creamy-cheese sauce! Insert regular sauce. That’s what I’d do, but I’d still be left with the pasta concession. Now, given the amount of veggies in this dish, there’s a slight chance I’d order it, which would mean extra gym-time for me—bad Gerry, bad!

And finally, the Angel Hair with Artichokes has some potential. It’s made with artichoke hearts, Roma tomatoes, garlic, capers, basil, black olives, parmesan cheese, and angel hair pasta. Yup, a few problems here! First the capers are going bye-bye, then the olives, and then the cheese. What are you left with? Some veggies, pasta, and probably a bunch of olive oil—eh, if I went with pasta, I’d prefer the Vegetable Rigatoni. But again, a regular-old salad is probably the safest bet.

So there you have it—un dolore nel collo! Yet another standard American restaurant sliced and diced. There’s actually a Carino’s Italian Grill close to my house, but I doubt I’ll be visiting it anytime soon. But in the odd chance that I do, rest assured, I’ll be primed and ready to squawk about it. As for right now, check out Carino’s menu and let me know how you’d handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Shoot me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com, or, make a comment. Until next time!

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Alright, this week Eating to Live on the Outside hits the west coast—the way west coast! We’re heading to Hawaii to chow down at Veg Out. With a name like that, it should be good. Let’s hope so, because after enduring Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse, I could use a breath of fresh nutrient-dense vegetable-based air. Okay, synch up your grass skirt and let’s crack this menu open!

I’ll start with the appetizers and beverages first. Veg Out has a bunch of juices that might interest you. Personally, I’m not a big juice guy. I drink a little pomegranate juice every morning and that’s about it, but, I might try the Carrot Juice with beets. As for the appetizers, I’m either going with the Edamame beans or the Steamed Veggies—can’t go wrong with these!

Next up are the salads. Well, they all look good to me, but, there’re a couple alterations to be made. Take the Greek Salad for example. It’s prepared with Romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese. As usual, the cheese gets the axe. I’m also ditching the olives because they’re salty. So, after dropping these two things, I’ve got a pretty decent meal in front of me. The Veg Out Salad is an even better option; made with Romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, mushroom, tomato, red onion, and sprouts. You really can’t complain about this one. And finally, the Etsalada Salad; includes Mexican beans, seasoned tofu, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, cheese, olives, salsa, and guacamole—wow, that’s a lot of stuff! Okay, I’m killing the cheese and provided the guacamole—AVOCADO!—isn’t made with sour cream, I’m keeping everything else. Not to shabby if you ask me. Oh! And as always, I'm keeping the salad dressing to a minimum.

Now, onto the Sandwiches and Wraps, this stuff is a little more hit or miss. For those of you that like garden burgers or veggie burgers, Veg Out has got a couple of them—they’re not really my thing—but, the Falafel Wrap looks pretty cool; prepared with lettuce, tomato, green onion, tahini sauce, hummus, and wrapped in a tortilla. Clearly, the concession is the tortilla. I can live with it. I hardly ever eat bread anymore, so I’d consider it a treat—hey, at least it better than downing a gallon of ice cream! Veg Out also makes an Avocado Wrap, but apparently it isn’t always available. So I’m not sure what’s in it, but remember I’m an AVOCADO FREAK. Meaning there’s a real-real good chance I’d order it. Sorry, I’m an addict.

Diversity should be Veg Out’s middle name, because there’re all sorts of different foods on this menu; including pasta, Mexican, Far East, and pizza entrees. But here’s the problem. None of these are all that Fuhrman-friendly. I’m bailing on the pasta dishes because there aren’t enough veggies to compensate for the pasta. Pizza is obviously out. I don’t do dairy, period. Now, the Old Mexico Entrees and the Far East Entrees are a little better. I like the Fajitas; made with sautéed bell peppers, onion, tofu, beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and flour tortillas. Again, the cheese is out and the flour tortillas and sautéed peppers are concessions. I'd really prefer a salad over this. I feel the same way about the Yellow Curry; it’s prepared with tofu, seasonal vegetables, and your choice of rice, noodles, or flatbread. The noodles or the bread would be the concession here. I still want that salad.

While not perfect, Veg Out could work for an Eat to Liver. I admit, given Hawaii's love affair with spam, I was a little worried, but, Veg Out has potential. If push came to shove, you can make it work. I just find it interesting that week after week, the best options are almost always a salad—go figure. Okay, it’s your turn. Check out Veg Out’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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If you’re a sports fan you know the name Michael Jordan—actually—if you’ve been alive for the past twenty years you know MJ. Michael Jordan is sports royalty, but, he’s also quite the restaurateur. In fact, the Jump Man’s got his own restaurant. That’s right! This week Eating to Live on the Outside goes one on one with Michael Jordon’s Steakhouse.

I know. The word STEAKHOUSE is daunting, but don’t forget, we survived our Outback adventure just fine, and, had no problem wrangling Lonestar. So let’s grab a menu and take it to the house—or outside the house for that matter.

Okay, the appetizers don’t do it for me. I can’t imagine eating Foie Gras—yuck—and the rest of the offerings are also pretty gross; Ahi Tuna Tartare and Prime Steak Tartare. Needless to say, I’ll pass. Let’s see if we can find something more Eat to Live friendly further down the menu.

I’ve said this before, but no surprise here. There’re a couple very doable salads. Sure, the Baby Spinach Salad needs a little work, but it’s totally manageable. The Baby Spinach Salad is made with baby spinach, smoked bacon, walnuts, and grain mustard. Clearly, my nemesis bacon has got to go, but other than that it’s all good. Another nice choice is the basic House Salad; baby lettuce and balsamic vinegar. I’d ask the wait staff, but I bet it comes with other veggies too. Now, if you go easy on the dressing—or ditch it altogether—you’re doing pretty well. To be honest, it takes a lot of effort to screw up a salad.

Alright, time for the main courses. Obviously I wouldn’t be foolish enough to order a steak, so that’s out. Now, all the main courses are meat-based. So if your vegetarian you’d probably just sick with the salad. As for me, I don’t eat meat, but I’m cool with fish. That’s why the Broiled Maine Lobster caught my eye; made with Maine lobster and sweet vermouth butter. Yup, you guessed it. I’d ask the wait staff to omit the butter, but other than that I’m cool with the lobster. After all Maine Lobster has a very low contamination risk. I like the Sea Scallops too; prepared with sea scallops, pink peppercorns, pancetta, and mustard aioli. Sea scallops are another safe seafood option, which is great. However the pancetta—Italian bacon—is not so great. I’m dropping that. With that being said the only concession I’d be looking at is the aioli (oil). I can live with it. Now of course, if I ordered either of these seafood dishes, I'd wait awhile before I ate fish again—Dr. Fuhrman's orders.

Now, you’re probably wondering. Where are all the side dishes? Wonder no further. They’re up next and here’s a bunch to choose from, but the only ones I’d order are the Roasted Assorted Mushrooms or the One-Pound Baked Potato. The roasted mushrooms are cooked in white truffle oil, so that’d be a concession—albeit a minor one—and as long as you don’t order the potato with sour cream, cheddar cheese, or butter, you’re sitting pretty. Oh, and of course. Instead of ordering any of the main entrees you could just pair these two side dishes together. But if you ask me, the Baby Spinach Salad or the House Salad is still your best bet.

That wasn’t so bad. I always thought going one on one with MJ would have been a lot harder. You know what? I find it ironic that a supreme athlete like Michael Jordan would have so many unhealthy foods on his restaurant’s menu. Well, actually I’m not that shocked. Just check out Why NFL Players Shouldn't be Nutritionists. But hey, do me a favor. Check out Michael Jordan’s menu and let me know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or shoot—pun intended—me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Eating to Live on the Outside is a lot of fun. It’s also great practice and helps me—and hopefully helps you—make more informed decisions when dining outside the home. Now, for the most part I don’t catch a lot of flack for my sometimes scathing evaluations, but, it does happen. Just check out the bickering about Fazoli's. Take a look:

Commenter Bridget
Have you ever been in a Fazoli's. I have worked at the Fazolis for 7 1/2 years and i can tell you that most of what you said just isnt accurate. It is very easy to eat healthy at Fazolis. There are many meals that are advertised as under 5 grams of fat. We don't use Olive oil on anything, not even the Grilled Chicken salad. Also, we are always willing to special order anything you want. If you want no dressing or mayo on your sandwich we can do that or if you want extra sauce or a different kind of sauce...we can do that too. The lite Italian dress is lite compared to our regular Italian dressing. If you ask you can get a nutrition guide.


Commenter Chante
Fazoli's doesnt even use "olive oil". The comment that you made about the chicken panani, and the whole wheat penne isnt accurate... no such thing. There is NO OLIVE OIL in a Fazoli's restaraunt..thats like looking for A1 sauce @ a Steak n Shake. I think their catchy little commercial says it all, "fresh, fast, italian" Fresh it is. They prep their menu items daily. Salads are made to order. The cooking process for the pasta, is just perhaps as if you made it @ home. Cooked in boiling water, with some salt for 8-12 minutes. Then covered w/ some vegetable oil, *not olive oil* the vegetable oil is actually cooked off, because they submerge the pasta in boiling water to heat it, when you order. all orders are made to order.Comment about the minestrone soup, all soups are loaded w/ sodium, read the back of the soup cans. Now, your comment about your meat allotment for the week, the chicken panani only has 2 1/2 oz of chicken on it, so if thats your meat allotment for the week... *shruggs* There are plenty of "meatless" menu items. They do serve Alf Sauce and a Marinara Sauce. Perhaps next week we'll read about how you have compared a McDonalds burger to that of a Ruby Tuesday's burger. Good Day.

As you can see, most people that object to my amateur reviews—and I’m not ashamed to say that—don’t know the slightest thing about truly healthy eating. Take this for example. Recently someone named Mike emailed me to share his “great deal of knowledge” on the human body and nutrition, and, to let me know he disapproved of my recent review of Huddle House. Here it is:

I read your "informative" comments about Huddle House on your website and felt compelled to send you an email. Obviously, grease is not the way to healthy nutrition...that much we agree upon. However, when you stated that you do not even eat eggs at all, you demonstrated to me your lack of education regarding healthy foods. To put it simple...eggs are some of the most nutrition rich food a person can eat...provided of course they are not cooked in grease. I am an extremely healthy person, a gym rat for 20+years, with around 10% bodyfat year round. I have competed in many bodybuilding contests in my life and have acquired what I consider a great deal of knowledge concerning the human body and what works and what doesn't work. Red Meat is not bad for you...as long as it is lean red meat. Eggs are an excellent source of nutrition. Vegetables are also very nutritious...much more so than fruits and dairy products...which raise the blood sugar level too high.


I won't carry on. It's just when I read where someone is writing about nutrition and foods as an "advisor" so to speak...and they talk like a typical vegetarian (foolish people that don't understand the body), I have to comment.

Have a good day. Go enjoy some eggs and steak.

By the way, I have eaten at Huddle House...and they will cook your meals like you want if you will only tell them how.

Wow! Mike has some serious emotional attachments to food, but, he’s entitled to his opinion and I’m happy to hear him out. Now, since I’m not the expert here, I’ll refrain from nitpicking his remarks, but, Dr. Fuhrman was more than happy to impart a little knowledge. If you’re reading Mike, hopefully this broadens your horizons a little. Have a look:

Sorry for the straight talk Mike, but just because you consider yourself knowledgeable about nutrition doesn't mean you have a broad and insightful knowledge. Most misinformed individuals consider themselves knowledgeable about nutrition and as a result we have over 80 percent of our country dieing of heart attacks, strokes and cancer. Lots of self-proclaimed knowledgeable nutrition "experts" die prematurely of heart disease.


If you want to disagree with the information here, it might be a good idea if you read my books or even some of the prior blog posts that discuss meat eating. My work is supported with extensive research from scientific sources and an understanding of the broad overview of relevant scientific studies, not just a few selected citations. This helps a person understand the issues with clarity.

I do considers eggs a relatively cleaner and safer animal product compared to cheese and red meat, however I’m still careful to advise limits on animal product intake because animal products at the level of consumption eaten in America is clearly disease-promoting and lifespan shortening. Lastly, Americans only consume four percent of calories from fresh fruits, vegetables beans, nuts and seeds, and yes fruit is essential for protection against certain cancers. I hope you decide to hang around and read more of my blog. Then if you disagree, at least you will know what you are disagreeing with and you will learn about the science that supports such viewpoints.

Now, as for me and Eating to Live on the Outside, keep looking for my “foolishness” every Friday. Oh, and here’s a few posts on meat consumption and disease:

• The Meat-Disease Connection
• Animal Fat and Cancer
• HealthDay News: Veggies Good, Cured Meats Bad

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Relax! I know you read the word brewery and freaked out a little. No, I didn’t order any beer. But yes, you just assumed correctly. I have eaten at the Harvest Moon Brewery. In fact, it’s only a quick highway-drive from where I live. So last Friday night my friends and I paid it a visit.

Sadly, my friends aren’t exactly into nutrient-dense living, so their orders were typical standard American fare; greasy meats, fried things, and ooey-gooey cheese. My salad stuck out like a sore thumb. Speaking of thumbs, let’s go ahead and thumb through Harvest Moon’s menus.

Alright, let’s start with what I actually ordered. Now, I admit. I didn’t think too deeply about it—I really wasn’t in the mood to nitpick. So I went with the Moon Salad; prepared with red leaf lettuce, cherry tomatoes, julienne carrots, red onions, garlic croutons, Romano cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. Yup, I nixed cheese and the croutons. I also ordered the dressing on the side. Truth be told, it was a really tasty. Very simple, very light, but most off all—packed with phytonutrienty goodness!

Now unlike last Friday, today I feel very nitpicky. So let’s cruise through the menu and see if there’s anything else worth ordering. The lunch menu is up first. Okay, the appetizers are out. So are the pizzas. Well, the veggie burger might work for some people, but I’m not a fan. Alright, the Veggie Flatbread has potential; it comes with eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, pesto mayo, flatbread, and house chips. Clearly the cheese, mayo, and chips are out. The flatbread is a concession, but if I was in the mood for a sandwich this would be my best bet. I still like my salad better.

Speaking of salads, what other salads could I have tried? The Spinach Salad is a solid option; it’s put together with baby spinach, saffron orzo, grape tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, chickpeas, and lemon-basil vinaigrette. I’m ditching the feta and the orzo—orzo is a type of pasta. Again, I’m also going easy on the dressing. Overall it’s got the makings of a decent meal. The Asparagus Salad is very similar; it comes with white beans, asparagus, roasted red peppers, mixed baby greens, Romano cheese, and honey-Dijon vinaigrette. And one more time, I’d ditch the cheese and limit the dressing—what a fine meal it’d make!

Onto the dinner menu! Again, the appetizers aren’t all that great. The Sesame Hummus looks okay, but doesn’t fascinate me enough to order it. But if you think it is, go ahead; it’s made with sesame-green onion hummus, tomato-ginger salsa, wonton crisps, and sliced cucumber—not a terrible choice if you ditch the wonton crisps. Well, the salads are the same on the dinner menu, and yes, I still love my Moon Salad the most.

The entrees aren’t that spectacular. Actually, there’s only one I’d consider ordering. I’d go with the Atlantic Salmon; it’s prepared with salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, vegetable quinoa, grilled asparagus, and peppercorn-chive oil. Now, salmon is okay because it is one of Dr. Fuhrman’s least contaminated fishes. Quinoa is great—as this post explains: Know Your Quinoa. The peppercorn-chive oil makes me nervous, but I could live with it. I do a good job at limiting my consumption of oil.

Well, having spent a little time more thoroughly going through Harvest Moon’s menus I can tell you, I stand behind my original selection. For me the Moon Salad is the best fit. The Veggie Flatbread came with bread, the Sesame Hummus had wonton crisps, and the salmon—while lower in Mercury than most fish—is still a little bit iffy. Give me leafy greens instead of fish any day of the week.

So what do you think? Did I do okay? Is the Moon Salad really the best option out there? I know everyone’s taste is different. So do me a favor, check out Harvest Moon’s menus, figure out what you’d order, and tell me about it. How do you handle Eating to Live on the Outside? Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Eat to Livers—welcome to hell! I’m sure a lot of people say to themselves, “Why are Americans so unhealthy?” It’s because of restaurants like this. Huddle House might just be the worst standard American restaurant Eating to Live on the Outside has ever attempted to tackle. Let us proceed with caution.

I find it ironic that the Huddle House’s website has colorful pictures of fresh strawberries, peppers, and tomatoes, but don’t be confused, this place is simply chock full of cheese, bacon, cured meat, creamy sauces, and greasy fixings. Otherwise know as—DYING YOUNG!

First up is the breakfast menu, well, its horrible. Fried eggs—no! Cured sausage—no! Greasy hash browns—no! Rib-eye steak—no! Yeah, let’s move on to the next section, omelets and waffles. I don’t know about you, but a Philly cheese steak omelet doesn’t sound very health promoting to me. And regardless, I don’t eat eggs, so none of these will work for me and as for the waffles? Think again—nah!

Next up are the big house platters and the signature sandwiches. Clearly the signature of Huddle House is furthering heart disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure in this country, because there’s nothing good about a Triple Decker burger, Country Fried Chicken sandwich, Half Pound Hamburger Steak, Chicken Melt, Philly Cheese Steak, or whatever other horrible excuse for food this place can cook up. I’m sorry Eat to Livers, but this place is miserable.

Now let’s look at the dinner menu—bad, just bad. Again, I see nothing I’d be eager to order here; lot’s of French fries, red meat, fried chicken, and toasted white bread. Not exactly the instruments of a long healthy life. Perhaps the only redeeming thing here is the dinner salad. If I had to order something, I’d go with the dinner salad, but as we’ll see, there’s no guarantee that salad is going to be Fuhrman-friendly either.

This menu section is called “Lite House.” My guess is this is supposed to be the healthy section of the menu, which is funny, because there’s nothing really overwhelmingly healthy about it. Sure, compared to the rest of the menu it’s a few steps up, but overall, more standard American garbage food. The two salad options are packed with hardboiled egg, cheese, and chicken strips—I’ll pass!

But again, if I HAD to eat at Huddle House—which would mean I was struck over the head, kidnapped, and awoke chained to a table—I’d take either the Grilled Chicken Salad or the Crispy Chicken Salad and strip it of its chicken and egg. Leaving you with a pile of lettuce and tomato, now, as good as lettuce and tomato are for you, I’m not paying restaurant prices for it. This would be the part of my kidnapping story where I gnaw through my chains and run out of Huddle House screaming.

In the end, I would not eat at the Huddle House. If I were asked to go, I would politely decline or just go and eat ice chips the whole time. The Huddle House is no place for the casual or ardent Eat to Liver. In fact, it should be considered a public health hazard.

Okay, time for a dumb question. Have any of you ever eaten at a Huddle House? If so, let me know. Make a comment or send me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Oh, and if you're a gluten for punishment. Check out Huddle House’s menu and see if you can make any of it work. Feel free to evoke the power of higher beings, you’ll need it.

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Well, it’s Friday and you know what that means? Time to once again test the waters of restaurant Americana—and we’ve got a cool restaurant on deck this week! Cilantro Live is quite similar Eating to Live on the Outside favorite Pure Food and Wine; all raw, loaded with phytonutrients, and looking delicious. So, enough stalling—let’s see we what we got!

First up are the soups and salads—no surprise here. The first soup to catch my eye is the self-titled Cilantro Live; made with avocado, cilantro broth, and diced tomatoes. Okay, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see why I picked this one…the avocado! But it’s not just that, cilantro is a great herb and the combination of all three ingredients sounds scintillating. The Autumn Wild Rice also looks cool; it’s got tomato broth, wild rice, kale, and mushrooms. Kale! Dr. Fuhrman would be proud. And yes, the rice is a bit of a concession, but, at least its not refined white rice. I can live with it.

As for the salads, I’m digging the Baby Spinach; primed with red onion, marinated Portobello mushrooms, pine nuts, and pink grapefruit. Pretty unique sounding—right? I’m curious about this one. I wonder what the flavor combination tastes like. Hopefully good, because this salad is concession-free—sweet! Speaking of unique, try some cactus! Yeah, that’s right, I said cactus. The Nopalitos is prepared with cactus, avocado, tomatoes, and cilantro. The avocado, tomatoes, and cilantro are cool—but cactus! Hey, it’s worth a try. Have any of you ever eaten cactus?

Okay, here are some cool appetizers and wraps. The Nori Rolls are neat. They’re sushi-like; nori seadweed rolls stuffed with daikon sprouts, red peppers, cucumbers, avocado, wild rice, and a carrot-pine nut pate. As a fan of sushi, this is right up my alley, although the rice is a concession. I also like The Cilantro Live Guacamole, its pretty simple; salsa fresca and flax seed crackers. Now, I’m not sure if flaxseeds crackers are a concession or not. I’ve never tried them before, so, in this case curiosity can kill the cat…meow! The Buenos Vida wrap is looking good too. For starters, all the wraps are made without tortilla, instead, everything is wrapped in a lettuce—I do this at home! And it’s cool to see an actual restaurant doing it too. Leads me to believe I’m not all that weird. The Buenos Vida is put together with cilantro pate, wild rice, house almond cheese, and salsa fresca. Again, that pesky wild rice is the concession.

Now, if you haven’t noticed yet. Cilantro Live has lots to offer, so let’s continue—shall we? The entrees and the specials are awesome! I really like the Roma Raw-Violis; made with Roma tomatoes, pine nut-basil cheese, and topped with pesto sauce. Stuffed tomatoes are great! The concession here would probably be the pesto sauce. Every pesto sauce I’ve ever eaten is made with olive and according to Dr. Fuhrman, olive is hardly health food. The Mole Enchilada is cool too. It’s prepared with a lot of different ingredients; raw corn tortilla, banana, Mexican wild rice, sesame seeds, and a sauce made with three different red peppers, fruits, and spices. Sure, the concession is the tortilla and the wild rice, but, this dish is just too interesting to pass up. What do you think?

In addition to all this wonderful food, Cilantro Live also boasts an extensive list of raw juices, smoothies, desserts, and candy—yes—I said candy! Yeah, I’ll skip the dessert and candy. Instead, I’d just make one of the juices or a smoothie my sweet treat. Let’s scope them out. Well, the juices definitely don’t look like the junk they sell in supermarkets. These juices are thick and look like they’ve retained a lot of fiber and nutrients, same goes with the smoothies. Okay, the Cleansing Cocktail looks good; it’s made with beet, carrot, apple, celery, and parsley. I’m also feeling the Wild Berry smoothie; its blended almond milk, agave, and berries. With both of these they’re might a concession lurking in there somewhere, but there’s plenty of phytonutrients to ease my worries.

Cilantro Live has four locations in California, so, next time you’re in the golden state, I think they’re certainly worth a visit. But first, check out Cilantro Live’s menu and let us know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com, or, blow up the comments.

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Buckle up kids. We’ve got a tough sell on our hands this week. Marie’s Scrambler is a bonafide standard American restaurant, with all the trimmings; gallons of ooey-gooey cheese, piles of greasy bacon, and plenty of refined-grains to go around. Yeah, it’s pretty bad.

Try this one on for size, the Meat Market Scramble Wrap; loaded with bacon, sausage, ham, scrambled eggs, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese, all wrapped up in a flour tortilla. Clearly, finding a Fuhrman-friendly option on this menu is going to be difficult.

And here’s my problem. I don’t eat meat or dairy. Right away this eliminates most of the menu. So, what’s left? Well, the Oatmeal and the Hot Granola look okay, but, they’re both made with milk. A major no-no for me, although, before I kick them to the curb, I’d ask the wait staff if either one could be prepared with hot water instead of milk. If so, I’d order either one, especially since they both include blueberries—one of Dr. Fuhrman’s super foods. Oh, the oatmeal and granola also come with brown sugar, I’m ditching that—brown sugar is no health food.

As far as breakfast goes, maybe the best option is the Fruit Bowl. What’s in it? I can’t say for sure, all the menu says is, “A heaping bowl of the season’s best fresh fruit.” A little ambiguous, but how bad could it be—its fruit! Other than the fruit, the only other things I’d consider ordering would be one their muffins or maybe some toast. I know, I know—not exactly wholesome natural food! Agreed, it’s a lousy option and a huge concession, but in my mind refined grains are a few clicks above cheese and meat, so if push comes to shove, it’s a concession I’m willing to make. Although, the guilt would eat me alive—no pun intended—I’d be hitting the gym extra hard that week.

Alright, aside from the Fruit Bowl, breakfast is hopeless, onto lunch. No surprises here, the only dishes to catch my eye are salads. For example, take the Spinach Salad; prepared with spinach leaves, bacon, tomatoes, red onion, hard boiled eggs, croutons, and hot bacon dressing—talk about ruining a good thing. Okay, the bacon is out, so are the eggs, the croutons too, and the bacon dressing should be launched into space. Minus all that junk you’re left with a pretty basic salad, if I could get a little vinegar to top it off with, I’d be in business and concession free—not bad, right?

Same goes with the Polynesian Salad and the House Salad. Between them they include lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, Monterey Jack, mushrooms, carrots, grilled chicken, pineapple, diced ham, bacon, and cheddar cheese. Now, you know what I’m going to say next. All the cheese has got to go, same with the bacon, chicken and ham, and again, I’d keep the salad dressing as basic as possible. If I do this, I’d feel pretty good about myself. Walking away concession-free at this place is a badge of courage. Dare I say worthy of the Purple Heart?

Now, there are other things on the menu you might want to try experimenting with, like the Garlic Portabella ciabatta sandwich. If you get past the bread, this might make a so-so option. It includes a portabella mushroom cap, garlic, herbs, bell peppers, celery, mushrooms, zucchini, onion, tomatoes, and a combination of melted cheeses. If you eighty-six the cheese, compromise on the bread, and order a side of fresh fruit its not so bad. Heck, the ciabatta might not be my first choice, but I wouldn’t rule it out, after all, that's a lot of veggies—i.e. phytonutrients.

Yeah, that was rough. I can’t imagine Eat to Livers lining are up to grab a table at Marie’s Scrambler. There’s got to be better alternatives out there, oh wait, there are; Arnold's Way, Sacred Chow, Veganopolis, and Pure Food and Wine to name a few. But let me know what you think. Check out Marie’s Scrambler’s menu and let us know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay, the work week is over, time to relax—but first! We’ve got to check in on the world of Eating to Live on the Outside. So, where are we headed this week? To sunny—Michigan! Well at least it’s not winter. Besides, I hear Michigan is beautiful, but, is it bliss? Let’s find out, as we explore this week's restaurant Café Bliss. Now, the name sounds promising, but does the menu live up to expectations? Saddle up troops, we’re going in.

Alright, first the appetizers, they look good—not perfect, but what is? For starters, I’m digging the Garlic Roasted Vegetable Paté, although, the word “roasted” makes me nervous. That usually means burnt and that spells acrylamides. But the buzz-word for Eating to Live on the Outside is concessions, and, its time to make one. So, beyond the acrylamides, the Paté comes with fresh vegetables, garlic, herbs, spices, and garlic-roasted crostini. Clearly the crostini is a refined grain concession, but all the veggies are enough to quell my worries. The Portabella Mushrooms are cool too, provided you ditch the butter—egad, butter! Besides the butter the mushrooms are prepared with spinach and pecans. Can you say nutrient-dense?

The salads have potential. There’s some tweaking to be done, but no serious overhauling. The House Salad is a fine option. It’s made with organic spring greens, fresh vegetables, Romano cheese, multi-grain croutons, and soy Dijon vinaigrette. Okay, goodbye cheese, adios croutons, and ciao vinaigrette! Instead of the vinaigrette I’d probably just put some vinegar on the salad—it’s a new habit I’ve been settling into. The Fresh Spinach Salad is probably an even better choice. It’s prepared with spinach, feta cheese, honey-roasted red peppers, black olives, pecans, baguette, and a poppy seed balsamic vinaigrette. Again, the cheese is out the window, same with the croutons, and I’ll toss the baguette too. So, the major concession here would be the honey on the roasted peppers—I can live with it. It’s a mantra; focus on the veggies…focus on the veggies…focus on the veggies.

Now the entrees, there’s hope here too. The Tofu Gahn is my first choice. It comes with marinated tofu, garlic tahini sauce, rice, and sautéed veggies. I mostly like it because its all veggie and the other entrees include fish, cheese, or chicken. The concession here is probably some olive oil or sesame oil, sautéed means cooked in oil and most likely that sauce includes some sort of oil, but regardless, I’d order it. I’m also feeling the Chinese Stir-Fry. They make it with chicken or tofu, ginger, garlic, orange peel, sautéed veggies, brown rice, and stir-fry sauce. I’d order the stir-fry with tofu, so that avoids the chicken issue. With that being said, the concessions here would be the sauce and the brown rice. Trust me, you could do worse—can you say Denny’s!

Well, that about does it. The desserts are too iffy, but, if you were feeling adventurous, maybe you give them a try, but that’s a lot of sweet. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it. I can do without. So overall, Café Bliss is pretty cool. If you’re feeling stranded in Michigan, an Eat to Liver can make Café Bliss work, but hey, what do I know? Check out Café Bliss’s menu and let us know how you eat to live on the outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Honestly, I’m still reeling from last week’s Disney debacle, but, I’ll solider on. So for today, we’re heading slightly north of Disney World—on Broadway! That’s right. I’m grabbing the next C-train and trudging my way uptown to the world famous New York comedy club, Caroline’s on Broadway—and hopefully their menu is no laughing matter!

Okay, I promise, I’ll try and keep the lame puns and dumb jokes to a minimum, but, I make no guarantees. Alright, let’s see what we got here. I’ll start with the opening act, the appetizers—whoa! Why bother? Nothing Fuhrman-friendly here, unless of course you consider nachos, onion rings, and quesadillas nutrient-dense—and if you do, perhaps you’re frequenting the wrong blog? Yeah, I’m going to give the appetizers the hook. Let’s skip them and move on to something else.

Salads and sandwiches are next. Well, it’s better—and by better I mean at least one of the five offerings have potential. No surprise here, I’m eyeballing a basic salad. The House Salad is prepared with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, and sherry vinaigrette. It’s always good to see green on a menu, although Caroline’s does serve up fried zucchini, so not all green is great. Now, as for the rest of salads and sandwiches, they bomb. Cheeseburgers and Cesar Salads make me gag! Oh, and I’d definitely go easy on the salad dressing—ordering it on the side would be a good idea.

Next are pizza and pasta—this can’t be good! For starters, all the pizzas are out. I don’t eat dairy. That means no cheese, no milk, no butter—no nothing! If it comes from a cow, I don’t eat it. So then, what about the pasta? Well, I’d eat pasta instead of cheese any day, but Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t consider pasta health food, meaning, it’s a quite the concession. But, if my back was against the wall and I had to order something, I think the Penne Pomodoro is the safest bet. It’s pretty basic. Tomato sauce, basil, and mozzarella cheese—cheese! Relax, I’m ditching the cheese. Now granted, you’re stuck with a bunch of refined pasta, but to me, it’s better than a load of ooey-gooey disease-promoting cheese. What do you think?

On to the entrees—I’m flashing them the light, which means time to get off stage. The only one I’d consider ordering is the Pan Seared Salmon. It’s made with roasted potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and a lemon-caper sauce. Okay, I like the potatoes, the vegetables are cool, salmon is one of the fishes Dr. Fuhrman considers a low mercury risk, but the sauce. Honestly, I’d omit the sauce, capers are salty and it’s probably got a lot of oil in it too. Now, I realize this is only a minor alteration and there are probably a bunch of concessions still lurking around, but, it’s better than nothing. And yes, if I ate the fish I’d wait a couple weeks before I had fish again.

Now, Caroline’s does offer a bunch of desserts, but, I’m not going there—it’s a tough crowd. But overall, it’s a good thing Caroline’s is better known for its topnotch stand-up comedy because the food is nothing more than standard American junk food. I’m going there in a couple weeks, so if I decide to eat there, I’ll keep you posted, but knowing me, I’ll probably just make a pit stop at Sacred Chow beforehand. Anyway, check out Caroline’s on Broadway’s menu and let us know how you eat to live on the outside. Make a comment or send an email to diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay kiddies, this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside comes by special request. You remember last week’s review of Sammy T’s—you better say yes! Just kidding—you do remember, right? Nevertheless, I recently received a comment on that post from Mike. Mike’s going on vacation real soon and he’s worried about his dining options at a certain magic kingdom. Here, I’ll let him explain:

I am going on vacation to Disney World this summer, and a huge challenge will be finding healthy food there. I have heard that all the restaurants offer vegetarian offerings, so maybe that will help. Have you ever reviewed any of the Disney park restaurants?

For starters, kudos on the vacation destination Mike, I might be an adult, but I’m still gaga for all that Disney stuff—go ahead, laugh at the dorky twenty-something. Okay, back to business. Well Mike, an expert I’m not, but, a guinea pig I’m willing to be. So, I did a little Google search and found Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, located in the Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland. Alright then, let me gear up. Copy of Eat to Live? Check. Mickey Mouse ears? Check. Sarcastic wisenheimer writing style? Check. Okay, I’m all set. Let’s see what we got.

Well, um, gee, hmm, oh boy—this is going to be rough. The menu reeks of standard American diet. Kind of ironic, the happiest place on earth is so very SAD. Here’s what I mean. Barbecued chicken and ribs—um, no. Fried chicken strips and French fries—heck no! Mini corn dogs and chicken nuggets—you’re kidding, right? Barbecued pork sandwiches and bacon cheeseburgers—okay, enough is enough! Guess what Eat to Livers? This place has all the trimmings of a dietary disaster, but, let’s stick with it, for Mike’s sake.

Okay, we’ve seen the ugly at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café, but there’s got to be some good, right? No, not really. There’s very little I’d seriously consider ordering. And the stuff that seems kind of healthy comes with a price. Take the Vegetarian Wrap for example. To begin with, who knows what’s in it. You’ll have to ask the wait staff because the menu sonly says is that it’s served with, applesauce or pasta. Neither of which intrigue me. Pasta isn’t exactly nutrient-dense and I highly doubt that applesauce is sugar-free. Maybe if the wrap is made with a lot of veggies, no unhealthy dressing, and you’re able to get passed the flour tortilla it’s a good option, but, I’m not impressed. Although comparatively speaking, it might be your “best” option—go on, let out the big sigh you’ve been holding in all this time. How you doing Mike? Not shaking too nervously are you?

Now, if the wrap makes you want to assault one of the custom characters roaming the park, you might want to give the Earthly Delight Vegetarian Burger a try. Personally, these types of foods don’t get my mojo going. I prefer fresh food over processed food, and let’s face it, this stuff might be better than a hunk of red meat, but its still processed food and we know that stuff is hardly health food. The only redeeming thing about the veggie burger is that you can order it with a side of carrots instead of French fries. Honestly, I’m more excited about a bunch of raw characters than some faux-burger. Maybe you can get it on a whole-wheat bun, but given the standard American dietness of the menu—outlook not so good.

Well folks, that’s pretty much it. Other than these two items, I’d say avoid Cosmic Ray's. It might be paradise for the junk-food loving American, but, if you’re even the least bit health conscious, I don’t think it’s for you. With that being said, you might be able to convince them to make you a regular salad with no cheese, chicken, or other junk on it, but again, why bother. For being in a place called Tomorrowland, Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café isn’t really thinking about your future health. Maybe Goofy’s in charge? At the very least Huey, Dewey, and Louie have a hand in this.

So Mike, what do you think? Or will we be reading about a man getting arrested for trying to smuggle fruits and veggies into the Magic Kingdom? I hope not, but I do hope this helped. If it didn’t—which I’m leaning towards—at least you know to skip Cosmic Ray’s. Now what about the rest of you? Have you had any experience Eating to Live at Disney World? If you did, comment like crazy. Mike needs our help. Oh, and don’t forget to check out Cosmic Ray's menu. Why? I don’t know force of habit. And remember, email-email-email at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Good luck Mike. Give the Little Mermaid my regards—wink, wink.

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Well, it’s Friday and—you better know what that means! Fire up your Fuhrman-friendly radar. It’s time to take our weekly look at the standard American restaurant landscape. So, where are we headed today? All aboard! The Eating to Live on the Outside train departs for Fredericksburg Virginia—now! Next stop Sammy T’s Light Food & Ale. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.

Alright, what could an Eat to Liver eat at Sammy T’s? Let’s see. Here we go, check out these soups. Black Bean, made with pureed beans, onions, celery, tomatoes and spices. The Veg Chili, prepared with red kidney beans, bulgar wheat, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and spices. Vegetable Delight, made with more than eight different vegetables and topped with parmesan cheese—relax, I’d omit this. And lastly, the Gazpacho, it’s made with tomato soup, cucumbers, onions, green peppers, and sour cream or yogurt—again, I’m dropping the dairy. Now, provided these soups aren’t overly salty and loaded with oil, they’re pretty decent options.

Sammy T’s has got some cool salads too. Check out the Spinach Salad, it comes with spinach, mushrooms, tomato, crumbled bacon—BACON, HOW I LOATHE THEE—and an oil and vinegar dressing. Now, if my little outburst didn’t give it away, the bacon is gone. Other than that, I’m digging this salad. Of course I’ll go easy on the dressing, but truth-be-told I seldom use both oil and vinegar. Most times I just splash on some vinegar. The Greek Salad and the House Simpleton also look mighty tasty. The Greek Salad is made with mixed greens, mushrooms, tomato, green pepper, black olives, feta cheese, red onion, and pepperoncini. Clearly I’m throwing the feta cheese out the window, probably the olives too, salty. The House Simpleton includes mixed greens, chopped carrots, celery, red cabbage, tomato, and cucumber. No complaints here—say hello phytonutrients!

Okay, as far as the entrees go. The only one to wet my taste buds is the Spinach Foldover. I eat a lot of spinach—I’m kind of a hound dog for it. If something’s got spinach in it, I’ll probably eat it—with in reason of course! The Spinach Foldover is prepared with hummus, sautéed spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onion, flour tortilla, and it’s served with lemon tahini. Alright, clearly sautéed anything is a concession, the oil. The flour tortilla is also a concession, but, I can deal with it. Generally speaking, white flour and oil are concessions I’m more willing to make. You’ll never find me saying, “Oh, a little cheese and bacon. No big deal.” Yeah, when pigs fly!

Now, if you’re willing to a make a bread concession. Sammy T’s sandwiches are loaded with all sorts of veggie-goodness! I’ve got eight options that I think an Eat to Liver could get away with: Veggie Club, Black Bean Cake, Lentil Burger, Vegan Veg, Felafel, Avocado Melt, Bean & Grain Burger, and the Tempeh Burger. Some require more tweaking than others—mainly because of the cheese and some dreadful mayonnaise. Out of this list I really like the Vegan Veg and Veggie Club. The Vegan Veg is prepared with hummus, sautéed mushrooms, onions, green peppers, tomato, walnuts, and garlic. All wrapped in a flour tortilla. Again, if you can get past the sautéed mushrooms, you’re in pretty good shape. Of course, maybe you can ask for your mushrooms to be sautéed in a little water. That’d spare you the oil. The Veggie Club comes with cucumber, red onion, mushrooms, lettuce, mayo, and mozzarella. All served on toast. Oh, oh! You can get avocado with that too. As I’ve said before, I’m avocado freak—SO BRING IT ON! Now as far as the cheese goes on this sandwich—bye, bye! No cheese for me. Same goes for the mayo—again, I find mayonnaise to be rancid. Now for the toast, for starters, I don’t want my bread toasted—no sense risking acrylamides. And I’d only order wheat bread—I know it’s not a slam dunk, but, it’s at least a teeny-tiny bit better than regular-old refined white flour junk-bread.

So, what do you think? Does Sammy T’s have potential? I think it does, but, let me know what you think. Check out the Sammy T’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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I admit, last week I got a little excited about Arnold’s Way—it was so good! Sorry about that, perhaps I need to come back down to earth again. How convenient, this week’s restaurant is actually called Down to Earth—perfect, just what the doctor ordered! Especially since Down to Earth only offers vegetable-based cuisine—pretty cool, right? Okay, enough with the jibber-jabber, let’s crack this menu open.

Do you like soup? I do. I’ll eat it in warm weather, cold weather, and every type of weather in between. That’s why I like the 3 Bean Chili—I know, not technically a soup, but close enough! It’s prepared with pinto beans, black-eyed peas, and black beans, tempeh, tofu sour cream, and served with cornbread. Beans! I like beans—my friends don’t like that I like beans—but I like beans. Okay, I’m not big on processed tofu imitation foods, so I’ll drop the sour cream. For me tempeh falls into that category too, but, I don’t eat it very often, so it can stay—and the cornbread? No thank you. The Soup of Day is another nice option, but I’d have to interrogate the wait staff about it first.

Down to Earth has got some killer salads too—no there’s no meat in them. Check out the Gado Gado. It’s made with red cabbage, greens, toasted peanuts, carrots, sunflower sprouts, smoky tofu strips, and a cilantro peanut dressing. For starters, the smoky tofu strips are out. Since I stopped eating meat, that smoky taste just doesn’t do it for me anymore. The rest of the stuff looks cool—yes, even the cilantro peanut dressing—my only worry is the toasted peanuts. Hopefully they’re not burned to a crisp. Don’t want any Acrylamides! The House Salad and the Glorious Green also look really nice; between them you get field greens, carrots, red cabbage, green cabbage, daikon, and sprouts. All really good—provided I take it easy with the salad dressing or ditch it all together.

There are some interesting “live” foods on Down to Earth’s menu as well. I really like the Raw Plate. Lots of good stuff in here; marinated vegetables, sprouts, sprouted grains, and a raw dressing. You just can’t beat the feeling you get after you’ve eaten a whole bunch of raw veggies—although they sure do taste good cooked too. The Leaf Wraps are also pretty cool. Down to Earth stuffs sundried tomato, black olive nut paté, guacomole, chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, and a raw nut cheese all into a green leaf wrap—hello phytonutrients! I think the only concession here would be the saltiness of the black olives, but I think the rest of dish more than makes up for it—especially if you are already limiting your salt intake.

Down to Earth’s entrees are also looking mighty good. Take a look at the Love Bowl—I hear the velvet tones of Barry White. The Love Bowl is made with seasonal greens, brown rice, black beans, and tempeh or tofu, sesame seeds, and your choice of black bean sauce, peanut sauce, or mushroom gravy. Loving the sesame seeds! I honestly, I think I eat sesame seeds almost everyday—sorry, that just dawned on me. I guess the only concession might be the brown rice—I’m ditching it. The black beans and the greens are all I need. I’d also ask the wait staff if any of the sauces have oil. That might deter you too—doesn’t bother me so much. I also like the Falafel. It comes with baked chickpea patties, a whole wheat wrap, lettuce, tomato, onions, tahini dressing, and a side salad. Clearly the whole wheat wrap is the concession, but I’m sticking with it. I’ll just focus on the extra phytonutrients I get with the side salad.

Finally, like a lot of these natural cafes and restaurants, Down to Earth offers a bevy of fruit juices and smoothies. I’ve said this before, but, I’ll say it again. I’d rather eat the whole fruits and vegetables, but these things can be tasty and they’re certainly better than a glass of supermarket isle “100% juice.” So, I like the Immune Booster juice and the Bugs Bunny smoothie. The Immune Booster is made with carrots, ginger, garlic, lemon, a green mix, beets, and apples. I don’t know, sounds interesting—doesn’t it? Now, the Bugs Bunny is made with carrot juice, vanilla soy milk, and crushed ice. I mainly like this one because growing up Bugs Bunny was my hero—oh you thought he was the greatest too!

So what do you think? Are you digging Down to Earth? I am. But let me know what you think. Look over Down to Earth’s menu and let me know what you’d order or what you’d stay away from. What would you do different? What would you do the same? Either way, make a comment or email me at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay, coming off the heels of Eating to Live on the Outside’s first birthday bash–I’m still enduring a phytonutrient hangover—let’s head over to Arnold’s Way for this week’s installment. I’m excited! Arnold’s Way heralds itself as a Vegetarian Organic Raw Café—come on—with that handle, it’s got to be good. Right?

Yeah, it’s pretty nice. Arnold’s Way gives you a lot of options; soups, salads, desserts, wraps, entrees, and fresh vegetable juices. I spent a few minutes scanning over the menu and there’s plenty of good stuff to choose from. So, here are the dishes that really caught my eye and any alternations, omissions, or concessions I might have to make. Onward!

The soups have definitely got it going on. No surprise here, but the Rich Greens made my motor run. Why? AVOCADO! It’s been a while since I mentioned it, but, I’m still an avocado-fiend—I eat some avocado everyday. In addition to the avocado this soup also comes with zucchini, pumpkin seeds, broccoli, and lettuce—all sound good to me. I’m also digging the Borscht; prepared with almonds, sunflower seeds, beets, celery, and wheat grass. Beets! Dr. Fuhrman thinks beets are an excellent food, check out this post to see why: Beets and Toilet Humor. The only concession I see with these soups is the olive oil—I can live with it.

Now, the salads—thumbs up here too. I really like The Honeymoon Is Over—no, not because it reminds me of my love life—because it comes with carrots, red pepper, broccoli, and tomato. I love tomatoes and lately I have been warming to the taste of raw peppers. The Contrarian Contrast also looks cool. It comes with pumpkin seed, red peppers, apple, beet, and zucchini. Again with the beets! I like the apple being in there, kind of seems out of place. I wonder how it tastes. Probably the coolest thing about Arnold’s Way’s salad menu is it says this right at the top, “Our Salads are so fresh and finely mixed that they require no dressing at all.” Somewhere out there, Dr. Fuhrman is weeping with joy. This post should help explain why: Don’t sabotage your weight-loss goal with oily dressings and sauces.

The dessert menu intrigues me. Take the Apple Sauce for example—very Fuhrman-friendly—it’s made with organic apples, raisons, lemon juice, and a hint of cinnamon. I defy you to find something wrong with that! Now, despite my Eat to Live ways, I’m an admitted chocolate freak. From time to time I must indulge. Well, here’s a way for me to do it without feeling terrible afterwards. Introducing the Chocolate (like) Pudding; made with ripe bananas, dates, and carob. Okay, I’ve experimented with carob myself, and I bet this tastes pretty darn close to chocolate. It’s certainly worth a try. Have you ever played around with carob before?

The wraps, this is tough. They all look so good. Oh, what the heck—I’d order all three! Not all at once mind you. First up is the Original; prepared with avocado, carrot, celery, tomato, zucchini, and green olives. Next, the Mediterranean; made with mushroom, zucchini, red pepper, onion, and green olives. Lastly, the Spring Green; includes broccoli, tomato, carrot, celery, zucchini, red pepper, green olives. Wow! That’s a load of phyonutrients. The cool thing about these wraps is Arnold’s Way uses Nori seaweed as a wrap instead of a tortilla, and, “No dressing other than the juices of the freshly cut vegetables.” Hey, if you cut out those salty green olives, you’ve got a pretty nice sandwich in front of you—don’t you think?

And if all this food wasn’t good enough, Arnold’s Way hits you with their entrees—lots of great stuff here too. This one really sucked me in, The Raw Veggie Burger Platter. Here’s how the menu describes it, “ Almonds, Carrots, Zucchini, Celery, Mushrooms, & Green Olives combine to form the closest thing to a burger that is actually good for you. Served with Broccoli, Red Pepper, and Mushroom on a bed of Mixed Greens.” I love that line, “That is actually good for you.” I think many of you would agree. It also comes with a red sauce, I’d probably ask the wait staff what’s in it, but, I hardly think its going to be bad give this place’s resume so far.

Okay, the juices. Generally I’m not a huge juice-drinker. I like the mouth-feel of food, especially veggies. After all, a vegetable-based diet means your jaw gets quite the workout. But if I had to pick a juice, I’d probably go with a Blueberry Smoothie. Why? Well, according to Dr. Fuhrman blueberries are heavy-hitters in the world of nutrition—the Alex Rodriguez of nutrient density if you will. Peep this post to see why: Blueberries, They Rock!

So there you have it. DiseaseProof’s first Eating to Live on the Outside since last week’s anniversary—and—I think we struck gold this week. I’ll have to go back and confer with the judges, but, I think Arnold’s Way might be the best restaurant I’ve examined thus far. If not, it’s certainly up there. Now it’s your turn, check out Arnold’s Way’s menu and let me what you’d order. Make a comment or send me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Brace yourself. Because today, Eating to Live on the Outside celebrates its first birthday! Hip-hip hooray, for he’s a jolly-good fellow, Feliz Navidad, and all that jazz. Yup, exactly one year ago today, DiseaseProof began its weekly look at the daunting abyss that is the American restaurant landscape.

Over the past year I’ve read dozens of menus. Some, from well known fixtures of Americana like Fridays, IHOP, Sizzler, and Denny’s, and other not-so well known eateries like Just Salads, Go Raw Café, Pure Food and Wine, and Mesob. And what have I learned? Well, I tried to think of some long-winded thoughtful proclamation, but, I’m not one to gush—so I took the easy way out. I asked Dr. Fuhrman for his thoughts on Eating to Live on the Outside, and here’s what he had to say:

Eating to Live on the Outside makes the point that you can't beat home cooked meals and since it is impossible to follow my dietary recommendations in America, we should all move to Fiji.

Now believe me. As Dr. Fuhrman’s blogger I constantly walk the thin line between brownnosing and support. But in this case, I totally agree with him. I mean come on. You’ve read his books and you eat your fruits and veggies. How the heck can any standard American restaurant—even one the “good” ones—really stack up against a true nutrient-rich vegetable-based diet? You probably are better off just eating at home—this should explain why I always say, “I don’t eat out very often.”

Okay, let’s talk about me for second—I know, I know, this is Dr. Fuhrman’s blog and the all the focus should be on him and his work, but go with me on this for a second. When I first started doing this series I was still fairly new to Eat to Live. Meaning, I was applying a lot of its principles to my life, but not all the way with it. For example, check out these earlier installments of Eating to Live on the Outside. Just look at what I said I’d order:

Fridays
I'd go with the Shanghai Chicken Salad, even though the Santa Fe seems healthier. The spiciness might be an issue for some people, myself included. If you skipped the appetizer or ordered a house salad, you might want to keep the chicken on this dish, if not ask the waiter for no chicken. Just remember to go easy on the Cilantro-Lime dressing.


Friendly’s
At first I was thinking I might order the Tuna Roll, but given the amount of mercury in tuna, I'd avoid it. A basic soup and a salad is a decent choice, although stay away from the cream based soups and definitely not choose the oily or creamy salad dressings. Speaking of salad, the Oriental Chicken Salad and the Chicken Caesar Salad look good. I like the Oriental Chicken salad a lot because you get a nice array of plant matter: mandarin oranges, roasted almonds, and mixed greens. Just remember to go easy on the dressing. I'd easily take this over the Chicken Caesar Salad.

Chicken! What was I thinking—chicken! This brings me to my point. For a year now I’ve been the guinea pig. I’ve been the one telling you what I’d order if I found myself at any of these restaurants. And if you read all the posts from start until now, you’ll see that my sensibilities have changed—or more appropriately, evolved—as I’ve become more and more comfortable with my Eat to Live skin.

Nowadays I’m basically a vegetarian. Although, I don’t identify as a complete vegetarian because I still eat fish a couple times a month, but just consider all the stuff I don’t eat anymore: meat, cheese, bread, dairy, and caffeine. Sure, from time to time I might snag a few Peanut M&M's or eat a little too much sushi, but overall, my diet has made a total 360 from what it used to be many moons ago.

Even though I’ve only actually eaten at a handful of the restaurants I’ve examined, just the weekly act of reviewing all these menus has helped me acquire the skills necessary to give myself a fighting chance in the land of standard American restaurants—insert battle-cry here.

My hope is that this series gives you a starting point for your own Eating to Live on the Outside adventures. And, hopefully watching me evolve as an Eat to Liver has been at least mildly entertaining, because believe me, it’s been a blast sharing a part of me with you in this series—and there’s no end in sight!

Now, in case you’ve missed any installment, I’ve gone ahead and listed every post below—and of course you can always find past blog posts in the Eating to Live on the Outside category as well. Enjoy:

• Fridays
• IHOP
• Chipotle
• P.F. Chang's
• Outback Steakhouse
• Baja Fresh
• Friendly’s
• Lonestar Steakhouse
• Sizzler
• Bennigan's
• The Office
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Ground Round
• Just Salads
• Go Raw Café
• Houlihan's
• Paru's Indian Vegetarian Restaurant
• Perkins Restaurant & Bakery
• Carrabba's Italian Grill
• Denny's
• Desert Moon Fresh Mexican Grille
• Lake Side Café
• Luby's
• Boston Market
• Ruby Tuesday
• Tony Roma's
• Bonefish Grill
• The French Laundry
• Fazoli's
• Don Pablo's
• Mesob
• Angelica Kitchen
• Happy Buddha
• Sacred Chow
• Alive Vegetarian Restaurant
• Panera Bread
• Green Light
• Samurai Sam's
• Salad Creations
• Pure Food and Wine
• Indigo Joe's
• Thai Kitchen
• Veganopolis
• Gumbo Shop
• Wholly Tomato!
• Taco Del Mar
• Health in a Hurry
• Camille's Sidewalk Café
• Subway
• La Siringitu
• Fresh Food Kitchen

And let’s not for get all the Eating to Live on the Outside extras too:

• Sara Eats to Live on the Outside
• Lost in Translation: The French Laundry
• Dr. Fuhrman: Eating to Live on the Outside
• Eating to Live on the Outside: Vegas Style
• Eating the Sacred Chow

Oh, and on a side note. Since I blogged about it a few weeks ago, I’ve eaten at New York City’s Sacred Chow numerous times, and, I’m making plans to eat at Pure Food and Wine real soon—as always, I’ll keep you posted!

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I’m a Jersey boy to my soul, so, it’s only a matter of time before Eating to Live on the Outside jumps back on the Turnpike and drops in for a bite to eat. This week we’re taking a look New Jersey’s own, Fresh Food Kitchen. I drive by this place a lot and even though I’ve never eaten there, everyone I know raves about it. So, let’s dust off our wing tips, pluck our collars, and hit it.

Okay, let’s start with the Breakfast Menu. They’ve got hearty offerings of eggs, cream cheese, baked goods, and yogurt. Yeah, not exactly Eat to Live fodder. Breakfast definitely looks tough. My best option would probably be the Fruit Cup, not bad, considering that 99% of my breakfasts consist of fresh fruit anyway. I might give the Hot Oatmeal a try, but only if it’s not made with dairy or sweetened or artificially flavored. Clearly breakfast is doable, but let’s see if the other menus offer a little more variety for the discerning Eat to Liver.

The Soups, Salads, Paninis & Wraps Menu is looking better. Yeah, there are more options here. Right off the bat, the soups look good. These ones caught my eye: Vegetarian Bean Chili, Vegetarian Lentil Soup, and the Vegetable Soup. Now, even though I don’t consider myself a vegetarian—because I still eat fish—when I see the word vegetarian on a menu, nowadays I go right for it. So, provided these soups aren’t overly salty, I think they’re all good choices—not to mention they’re served with fresh fruit!

There are also a couple sandwiches worth giving a look—yes, the bread is the concession. The first one to snatch my eyeballs is the Vegetarian Panini—surprise, surprise. It’s made with sweet peppers, squash, zucchini, mozzarella, and cilantro pesto sauce. Not bad, but, I’m dropping the cheese. So, what am I left with? A lot of hearty vegetables—hopefully not overly cooked, don’t want any acrylamides! With that being said the only concessions I’d have to deal with would be the bread and the oil in the pesto sauce, it’s manageable.

The wraps on the menu also have some good potential, provided you can deal with the tortilla—I can. Okay, I like a bunch of Fresh Food Kitchen’s wraps, so here they are, shotgun style: The Salmon Salad; made with poached salmon, onions, carrots, celery & dill mustard, and low-fat mayonnaise. The Four Seasons; prepared with portabella mushroom, mozzarella, tomato, green leaves, and glazed balsamic vinegar. The Vegetarian; put together with grilled Portobello mushroom, green peppers, onions, black olives, sprouts, tomatoes, lettuce, lite Swiss, balsamic vinegar, and Italian dressing. And finally, The Veggie Delight with Tofu; which is made with grilled braised carrots, eggplant, roasted peppers, roasted onions, broccoli, Portobello mushrooms, sesame tofu, basil, garlic, and sun dried tomato paste. Quite a few options, right? Okay, here’s what I’d drop from all the dishes: the low-fat mayonnaise, the mozzarella, and the lite Swiss. Again, if you can get past the bread, the oil used in the creation process, and limit or omit the salad dressing—they’re all very workable. What do you think? Oh, and the fish! You know the drill. Class, how do we handle fish? “Dr. Fuhrman says not to eat it more than a couple times a week, especially if it runs the risk of high mercury contamination.” Good job class.

Alright, let’s zip on over to the Mexican Specialties Menu. Honestly, Mexican food makes me a little nervous—my system kicks back spicy food like a mule. So, let’s see what’s cooking here. Okay, there are a few vegetarian options, but they come with a lot of cheese and sour cream. I’d strip them out of there, but I don’t think it’s worth the effort—nix that idea! What do you think about The Portofino? I could make that work. It’s prepared with grilled chicken strips, grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, mozzarella, basil, and rosemary. Bye-bye chicken, adios mozzarella! Yeah, that looks a lot better now. Don’t you agree?

Alright, Fresh Food Kitchen has a lot of not-so Fuhrman friendly ingredients on hand, but, they’ve also got a lot of good things going on if you work on it a little. But, if all these alterations prove too tedious, you can always do what I do in most situations—order a salad. Good thing Fresh Food Kitchen boasts a Fresh Tossed Salad Bar—rock on! So come one people, check out Fresh Food Kitchen’s menus and let me know what you think. Make a comment or send me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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What’s a Siringitu? Not sure, but, this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside restaurant looks like a good one; a nice follow up to my Sacred Chow experience. La Siringitu, located in Albuquerque New Mexico, has got real potential for an Eat to Liver. Sure, like always, there are a few catches, but all-in-all it’s seems okay. So, let’s hit it!

Let’s see, what to order? Alright, the African Burrito looks cool. It’s prepared with black beans, corn, rice, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. And I’m guessing, probably tortillas too. Well, the cheese is getting packed into a rocket ship and launched into the sun. According to Dr. Fuhrman, cheese is bad news. Now the rice, personally I don’t get hung up over rice too often, but, given the variety of ingredients, I’m tossing it too. That leaves me with just the tortilla as my concession. I can live with it.

Next, the Hot Sandwich has got my mojo going—not literally, it just looks tasty. It’s made with sautéed barbecued tofu, veggie bacon, bell-pepper, onions, lettuce, tomato, apple slices, cucumbers, wheat hoagie bread, and it’s served with the soup of the day. For starters, the veggie bacon doesn’t interest me, so that’s out. I’ll keep the barbecued tofu, mainly because I’ve never tried it before. So, that leaves me with some concessions. The oil used in the sautéing process and the bread, but, as I’ve said many-many times before, I don’t eat out very often, so I’m willing to roll with a few punches. Oh, and for the soup of the day, well, that depends on what it is.

The Seasoned Curry Tofu Salad seems okay—the flavor of curry intrigues me. This salad is prepared with seasoned curry tofu, lettuce, and assorted veggies. I’d love to know exactly what veggies it includes, but, I can live with the suspense. “Assorted veggies” is a grab-bag I can live with any day of the week. Lately I’ve been eating more raw veggies, so this salad is a good fit. And the dressing? Whatever it is, I won’t use that much—if at all.

Have you ever tried mixing fruit into your veggie salad? I do it all the time with avocado and cantaloupe. So naturally, this salad is right up my alley. The Mixed Leaf and Fruit Salad. Now, the name says it all. I’d probably ask the wait staff exactly what’s in it, but honestly, its not like its going to be bad—its fruit and leaf veggies! And, if you omit the dressing—provided it comes with one—no concessions! Sweet.

Okay, if you look at the rest of La Siringitu’s menu. You’ll see, there are some red flags, like ice cream and cheese for example, but, if I were to stick with one of these four dishes, I think I’ll be okay. What about you? What would you order? Check out La Siringitu's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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And it was good! What’s the significance? Well, back in December I examined Sacred Chow Vegan Bistro for Eating to Live on the Outside and I gave it pretty high-marks. Now, I was in New York City this past weekend, so I decided drop by and give it a whirl. Here’s what my friend and I noshed on.

Alright, I don’t know I how missed this salad in December, but the Shiitake Mushroom and Spinach Salad was dynamite. It came with a hearty amount of meaty Shiitake mushrooms, lots of baby spinach, oodles of sunflower seeds, and a very light Indian dressing. It tasted great! I’m on a bit of a baby spinach kick lately and this combination of flavors really worked. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “What about the dressing?” Sure, definitely a concession, but they don’t use that much and it really ratchets up the flavor of the salad. So it’s worth keeping.

My friend also ordered a salad. She went with the Four Seasons Salad. It was a nice looking dish with lots of stuff in it. It came with seasonal greens, beets, carrots, apples, Dijon vinaigrette, and yuba strips. She really enjoyed it. Now, when you eat out with me, you always run the risk of me picking at your food. So I speared myself a forkful of my friend’s salad and I can tell you firsthand, the amount of salad dressing is very negligible. Keeping it would be a concession, but one I could easily live with. Just focus on those super veggies, the beets!

Now, since my friend and I had never eaten their before, we did look a little bewildered when we first opened up our menus, but a couple of regular diners were quick to make some recommendations. One of them suggested the Lima Bean Dill Soup and the Root Vegetable Latkes with Indonesian Date Butter. Okay, I went with the soup and my friend ordered the latkes. The soup was tasty. Not salty or heavy, very light and almost refreshing, with plenty of nutritious lima beans to go around. It was a nice compliment to the salad.

The latkes were pretty good too. Again, I pilfered one off my friend’s dish. For starters, they’re very colorful and you can see all sorts of things in them, like carrots and beets. The date butter was also very interesting. In my opinion it tasted much better than regular butter—although I haven’t eaten butter in years, so maybe my opinion is a little skewed. But anyway, it was very sweet and really worked well with the subtle sweetness of the latkes.

Now that the weather is getting nicer on the east coast, I’ll be going into Manhattan more often and I’ll probably being going out of my way to pay Sacred Chow so more visits. Honestly, the food is that good. Sacred Chow's menu is loaded with solid options for any Eat to Liver. So next time you’re visiting New York be sure to stop by this great little hole-in-the-wall in Greenwich Village. Cheers!

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Subway! A fast-food restaurant! Have I lost my mind? The answer to that question is yes, but that happened a long time ago. And yeah, this week we’ll be taking a look at Subway, a fast-food restaurant. Relax. It’s not the first time we’ve dabbled in fast-food. Just last month we tackled Taco Del Mar and let’s not forget Eating to Live on the Outside favorites Chipotle and Baja Fresh. So of all the mainstream fast-food restaurants, why would I pick Subway?

Well, this week it just so happened that I found myself witness to an unusual amount of Subway commercials and all of them proclaimed “freshness.” This put a bee in my bonnet—and yes, I look very silly in a bonnet. Fresh is a great word, to me it’s the opposite of processed or refined. And when you’re talking about food, fresh is an Eat to Livers best friend. So, what do you say? Let’s see how fresh Subway really is.

Okay, for starters its worth mentioning that we’ve got one across-the-board concession to deal with, bread. If you walk into Subway hell-bent on a sandwich you’ve got to accept the bread, sure, you can order wheat bread, but either way, bread will be your first concession. Personally, I can deal with it.

Let’s see, the first group of sandwiches are called Fresh Fit—there’s that word again. Well the Veggie Delite looks pretty good to me. It’s prepared with lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, olives, pickles, and your choice of condiments. Now, if I were ordering this, I’d keep everything, get it on wheat bread, and probably garnish with basic yellow mustard. If you get past the bread, you’re left with a pretty phytonutrient-rich meal if you ask me. And, according to the website the Veggie Delite only packs 6 grams of fat or less—a nice little perk.

After the Veggie Delite you basically hit a brick wall. The rest of the Fresh Fit sandwiches include meat, and, there’s really no point ordering them without the meat because you’d just be better off sticking with the Veggie Delite. So let’s just scope out the rest of the menu instead.

Alright, the Fresh Toasted sandwiches are out. I don’t really see any hope here, unless of course Dr. Fuhrman changes his nutritional recommendations to include hearty portions of melted cheese and meat. And you can bet the farm, the beach house, the mansion, and vineyard that that’s not going to happen. Moving on.

Next up are the Local Favorites. Can you hear the sound of screeching tires? Because we’re about to hit a familiar wall again. We’ve got two options, the Cold Cut Combo or the Classic Tuna. The Cold Cut Combo is essentially the Veggie Delite with meat and cheese, and, the Classic Tuna is prepared with mayonnaise—a rancid horrible food in my opinion. Well, let’s see if Subway’s remaining menu selections fair any better.

I’m skipping the Catering Choice—I’m not exactly planning a dinner party here—and the Fresh Fit for Kids doesn’t apply to me, even though I have the mentality of nine-year old. So then, what’s left? Well, not too much. I could try my hand at the Tomato Garden Vegetable with Rotini soup, but it’s loaded with a ton of salt—eighty-six that idea! Or maybe I could just sit and nurse a Fruizle Express. What’s a Fruizle? It looks like some sort of smoothie, but, I have my suspicions about sugar content, so I wouldn’t order that either. So again, what’s left?

Well, as the cartoon pig says, “That’s all folks!” Subway may be fresh, but they don’t offer very much menu diversity for an Eat to Liver. The Veggie Delite is really your only option, provided you can get over the bread concession. Oh, and this worth mentioning. If the bread concession really aggravates you, you can ditch it all together and just order The Veggie Delite as a salad. And once you omit or limit the salad dressing, you’re in decent shape. Think of it this way, if you HAD to eat at Subway at least it’s not completely hopeless.

And remember, if you’ve got an interesting Eating to Live on the Outside story we’d love to hear from you. Hey, we might even make a post out of it. Check out Subway’s menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Its spring and the weather is getting nicer, well, at least it supposed to. Right now it feels more like fall in fair New Jersey and who would eat at a sidewalk café on a gloomy fall day—I would! Because this week Eating to Live on the Outside is grabbing a bite to eat at Camille’s Sidewalk Café. Never heard of it? Neither did I. All the more reason to jump in head first!

Okay, after a quick inspection, Camille’s looks very similar to Panera Bread. And if you remember, that didn’t work out so well. Hopefully Camille’s can do better. Camille’s offers up some pretty typical menu selections: sandwiches, wraps, salads, grilled-wraps, smoothies, and various flatbread-type creations. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Sounds like a lot of bread.” Yup, I agree. Looks like some concessions are in order—surprise-surprise.

The first thing I’d consider eating would be the Bangkok Thai Wrap, but, I’ve got some finagling to do. It’s prepared with a spinach tortilla, grilled chicken breast, Provolone cheese, Romaine lettuce, sprouts, carrots, crunchy noodles, water chestnuts, and sesame Oriental dressing. For starters, the grilled chicken and the cheese are gone. No sense consuming that standard American junk! Also, the crunchy noodles are history and I’m going easy on the sesame dressing. So what am I left with? A spinach tortilla wrapped around a whole bunch of veggies and a little dressing. It’s a concession I’m willing to make, how about you?

The Sonoma Veggie Wrap also has some potential, but—and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out—you’ve got to make some of the same alterations for this one that we did for the Bangkok Thai Wrap. The Sonoma Veggie Wrap comes with a spinach tortilla, Pepperjack cheese, Romaine lettuce, carrots, black olives, sprouts, sunflower seeds, and honey-mustard dressing. So then, I’m ditching the salty olives, the nasty cheese, and limiting the dressing. And again, I’m left with a lot of phytonutrients encased in a tortilla. Not a bad concession, if you’re willing to make it.

Now, salads are a great choice for an Eat to Liver, but, at face-value they’re not always a slam-dunk. Why? Well, more often than not the salads at many standard American restaurants are loaded with all sorts of the junk. I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider cheese, croutons, and crunchy noodles healthy additions to my salad. Rather, they’re just extra crap to pick off or omit. Guess what? A lot of Camille’s salads are full of this kind of stuff. So, I’ve got some work to do.

Bangkok seems to be a good place for us, so, I’m going with the Bangkok Thai Salad, which is basically the Bangkok Thai Wrap minus the spinach tortilla. So after I make some familiar alterations, I’m left with a pile of Romaine lettuce, carrots, water chestnuts, sprouts, sunflower seeds, and a little sesame Oriental dressing. Clearly, this is a better choice than the wrap, especially if refined flour products make your skin crawl.

Alright, I wouldn’t write off the other salads either. If you chip away at their standard American exterior, each one would make a decent choice for an Eat to Liver. Although, I’m not so sure what we would do with all that leftover chicken, cheese, and croutons. I wonder if it can be grinded up into Astroturf?

So what’s left to order? Well, not much. The oily Paninis aren’t worth it, especially the vegan one that comes with Feta cheese—yeah, you might want to read about that one for yourself. Also, I’m not feeling the flatbreads or the pizza. Now, you might be able to make a sandwich work for you, but they don’t look all that exciting to me, besides, you got to deal with all that bread—phooey! Personally, I’ll just stick with one of the salads or maybe sit and sip on smoothie, provided I ditch the honey first.

So there you have it, Camille’s Sidewalk Café. Probably not as bad as Panera Bread, but still, a tough sell. It’s not exactly loaded with Fuhrman-friendly options. Sure, they make a valiant attempt with their salads and providing the nutrition information online, but, Camille’s doesn’t quite cut the mustard. But don’t take my word for it, check Camille’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Now that’s a pretty encouraging name if you ask me. It’s also a good marketing move. Unlike the original name for McDonald's, which was “Have You Looking for a Bathroom in a Hurry.” So, does Health in a Hurry live up to its moniker? Well there’s only one way to find out. Troops! Suit up, we’re going in.

Okay, I’m happy to report that Health in a Hurry is very similar to other health-conscious restaurants we’ve encountered in the past. Meaning, there are lots and lots of Fuhrman-friendly menu items to choose from, not unlike the menus of Pure Food and Wine and Mesob. So, instead of being a tyrant about the menu, I’m going to pick the dishes that look the most appealing to me; because as you’ll see, Health in a Hurry gives you plenty of options.

First up, check out the soups! Specifically the Greens, it’s prepared with collards, spinach, arugula, swiss chard, kale, parsley, onions, and celery. I think we can all agree—that’s a ton of phytonutrients! Dr. Fuhrman is a big advocate of soups. Why? Well, think about it. When you eat soup you eat, you consume the chunky stuff and the liquid, right? So you don’t really lose any nutrients in the cooking process, do you?

Next is the Crisp Green Salad, it looks mighty tasty! This salad comes with chickpeas, carrots, red cabbage, golden beets, mixed greens, blue cheese, and dressing. Obviously the blue cheese gets the heave-ho. Dr. Fuhrman considers cheese to be a downright horrible food. With the cheese gone, you’re left with a pretty decent salad. Personally, I’d go lightly on the salad dressing and simply relish the power of the beets, although, what they do to you after the fact can be funny.

Take a look at the Summer Slaw. An interesting dish that probably looks nothing like the standard American coleslaw they used to slop into those tiny plastic cups in school cafeterias—and that’s a good thing! The Summer Slaw is made with celery root, diakon, radish, red cabbage, green cabbage, carrot, celery, and jicama. What got me excited about this dish are all the vegetables I haven’t tried. I’d be hard-pressed to pass this one up. Has anyone ever tried diakon, jicama, or celery root? Tell me about. I’m sure they’re all very nutrient-rich.

Now, normally when I eat beans, my friends hit the bomb shelter. Well sorry guys, hope its cozy down there, because the Mexican Lentil Salad is looking good. It’s prepared with "chilpolte-lime" vinaigrette, green lentils, jicama, celery, carrots, red onion, and fresh cilantro. Again, there’s jicama in there, so this would be a great opportunity to give this veggie a whirl. And of course, I’d be sure to go easy on the dressing, especially since this one has a little heat.

Finally, I’m really digging the Roasted Veggie Wrap. What’s it come with? Let’s see. Red pepper, yams, carrot, fennel, parsnip, onion, olive oil, salt & pepper, and a spinach wrap. Pretty cool, right? I love roasted fennel! I’d probably drop the olive oil and the salt, but I’d keep the spinach wrap. That would be my concession. I don’t think it’s a particular big concession, like I say all the time, focus on the veggies. Repeat after me, “Focus on the veggies.”

So, I think Health in Hurry certainly lives up to its namesake. We just looked at five potential meals for an Eat to Liver and most of them required little or no concessions. Tell you what, take a look at the rest of Health in Hurry’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay, I’ve been on the fence about this restaurant for a month now. Why? Well, it smacks of fast food. I nasty stigma I know, but, one not without merit. McDonald’s junk, Burger King junk, Arby’s junk, Wendy’s junk—do you see where I’m going with this? Clearly, a fast food restaurant would never be on an Eat to Liver’s radar. Or would it?

Do remember Chipotle? What about Baja Fresh? Both of these eateries are basically fast food restaurants, but, each received a glowing recommendation by me. The reason why? Well, they’re not your typical Kentucky-fried, double-whoppered, extra-cheesed standard American fast food restaurants. And as you’ll see, Taco Del Mar isn’t either, at least not totally.

Taco Del Mar’s menu is pretty short. In fact, you’ve only got five selections to choose from; Mondo Burritos, Tacos, Platters, Taco Salads, and Quesadillas. Okay, I know what you’re thinking—QUESADILLAS! Relax, these cheesy monstrosities are hopeless. So we’ve only got four items to pick from.

Let’s start with the burritos. According to the menu they come with tortilla, beans, meat, cheese, and pico de gallo. The beans are good and so is the pico de gallo, but the problem is everything else. I don’t eat dairy, so the cheese has got to go and refined flour tortillas aren’t exactly nutrient-dense, but I’d be willing to make that concession. Now, onto the meat, the menu boasts a bunch of different options; Carne Asada Steak, Ground Beef, Shredded Beef, Seasoned Pork, Braised Chicken, and Fish. Honestly, I wouldn’t order any of them. Maybe the fish, but who knows what kind it is and what the level of mercury contamination might be. So what should I do?

Well, Taco Del Mar’s menu also gives you the option to order your food vegetarian or vegan style. A great option for me, but the burritos don’t really come with a lot of veggies, so what’s the point? If I walked into Taco Del Mar, I wouldn’t be eyeballing the burritos. Let’s move onto something else, shall we?

Next up are the tacos. They’re prepared with tortilla, meat, cheese, lettuce, and pico de gallo. Again, the cheese is out the window and so is the meat. If I do that, I’m left with a totally veggie taco. Then my only concession would be the tortilla. This isn't terrible, especially for a fast food restaurant.

Okay, I just spent a few minutes starring at the Platters, and, I didn’t like what I saw. The Platters are a basically a dish of enchiladas and after I make all my Eat to Live modifications, well, it’s just not worth it. So I’m skipping that one and moving right onto the Taco Salads.

Salad is a great word if you’re a responsible eater. To me, salad means phytonutrients. And if I were eating at Taco Del Mar the Taco Salads would be my bastion of refuge. They’re made with a tortilla shell, beans, lettuce, cheese, pico de gallo, and meat. Alright, if you haven’t caught on by now, I’m basically applying the same logic over and over again. So—WHAM!—after I ditched the cheese and meat, I’m left a bunch of lettuce, beans, and pico de gallo inside a giant corn chip. Provided I go easy on the dressing and not nibble the tortilla, its not a bad option for an Eat to Liver stranded in a fast food restaurant.

In the end, Taco Del Mar isn’t a slam dunk for an Eat to Liver, nor is it as good as Chipotle or Baja Fresh. But, if I had to eat there—let me rephrase that—if you HAD to eat there, a veggie-fied taco or taco salad wouldn’t leave me feeling too upset with myself. Although, I still hold out very little hope for typical standard American fast food places, which explains why I haven’t even set foot into a fast food restaurant in many-many years.

So, how’d I do? I think I took on a tough challenge this week, one that I won’t be quick to do again. Have you ever been brave enough to try tackling a fast food restaurant? If you have, spill the beans. Email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. Also, be sure to check out Taco Del Mar’s menu and tell us how do you Eat to Live on the outside?

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Hopefully the altitude doesn’t bother you, because Eating to Live on the Outside is heading to Colorado, Denver to be exact. What’s in Denver? Wholly Tomato! No, I’m not trying to sound like the old Batman television show. Wholly Tomato is actually the name of this week’s restaurant. So, if there’s a veggie in the name, it’s got to be good, right? Well, let’s see.

For starters, Wholly Tomato’s menu is pretty cool. It’s actually divided into two parts, Carnivore and Herbivore. Now, if you’re like me, you’re going straight for Herbivore. Why? Because the Carnivore section isn’t exactly loaded with foods Dr. Fuhrman considers health-promoting. Yeah, last time I checked bacon, cheese, and sausage don’t rank too highly on the Fuhrmometer. So let’s just pretend this portion of the menu doesn’t exist, shall we?

Okay, back to the Herbivore dishes. Honestly, they’re not perfect. Some of them need a little work, especially the ones with cheese, but, they’ve got potential. Alright, the first one I’d order would be the Nebuchadnezzar sandwich. And right off the bat there’s a concession. It’s a sandwich, so there’s bread, but let me cushion the blow. I’m going with the Agave whole wheat bread. Given the feel of this menu, I’d bet that this bread is very rustic and full of whole grains. So I don’t feel too bad about it. And, once you get past the bread you’ll see it comes with things like avocado, tomato, sprouts, roasted garlic hummus, and swiss cheese. Yeah, you guessed it—adios cheese! Now clearly I’m excited about the avocado, but, the hummus gives me pause. Why? Well I suspect that it’s made with at least some olive oil, again, according to Dr. Fuhrman not exactly a healthful food. Although I’ll stick with it, but I’m invoking my standby justification—I don’t eat out very often, so I can deal with a little olive oil. What do you think?

The other sandwich to catch my eye was the Barbar-Bella, although it also needs a little tweaking. First off, the melted swiss cheese is going out the window. I don’t do diary—no exceptions! So, once you’ve ditched the cheese and relaxed about the whole wheat bread, you’re left with roasted portabella mushrooms, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, and a light dijonaise. The portabellas look good, so do the tomatoes and romaine lettuce, but the dijonaise also has to hit the bricks. Why? Well, to the best of my knowledge dijonaise is a mix of mustard and mayonnaise—I could be wrong on this—if I am wrong, the dijoniase can stay, but if I’m right, I’ll repeat what I said last week. I’d rather lick a Manhattan sidewalk on a hot summer day than eat mayonnaise. If you know what dijoniase is made with, please give me a heads up.

Moving on, a couple of the Bowls are looking real good, in particular the Quin Kong and the Acropolis. Let’s start with the Quin Kong. It’s made with quinoa, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, green peppers, light olive oil, and tamari sauce. Quinoa! You don’t find that popping up on too many menus. Actually, I’ve never eaten it before, so this would be a great opportunity to give it a whirl. Clearly the veggies are great, but the tamari sauce and the olive oil give me pause. Since the tamari sauce is loaded with salt, I’m ditching it. And for the sake of adding a little more flavor, I’ll keep the olive oil, which will be my concession. Now the Acropolis, it comes with roasted vegetables, brown rice, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, cucumbers, capers, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and feta cheese. Okay, I’m tossing the capers, feta cheese, and the olive oil. Capers are salty, I don’t eat cheese, and since Acropolis includes balsamic vinegar, I don’t need the oil for added flavor. So with that being said, the brown rice would be my only major concession—I just have to make sure I run an extra mile at the gym to make up for it.

Wholly Tomato also offers up a variety of salads. Salads are usually a great safe haven for an Eat to Liver. Let’s see how Wholly Tomato’s salads stack up. Well, they look okay, but each requires some futzing with. Like a lot of restaurant salads they’re prepared with things that don’t look so good, like cheese and various bread or pasta strips. Take the Asian salad for example. It comes with Asian vegetables, mixed greens, fresh pineapple, a light sesame dressing, and rice noodles. I’m digging the veggies and of course I’m going easy on the dressing, but rice noodles? Why ruin a salad with refined pasta? Yup, you guessed it, sayonara rice noodles! The other salad to snatch my attention is the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is made with roasted vegetables, mixed greens, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, capers, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and pita slices. Okay, kiss the capers, olive oil, and pita slices good bye. Then you’re left with a good looking salad. Personally, I love artichoke hearts, so when I see them in a menu selection, I’m most likely going to order it. Do you eat artichoke hearts too?

Not bad, right? Wholly Tomato certainly has some potential. Sure, you’ve got to work around the cheese and other animal products, but if you give it a little thought you can make almost any dish work. So, while it’s not a home-run, Wholly Tomato is certainly on the right track. And hey, don’t forget to check out  Wholly Tomato’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Maybe I’m a masochist and I don’t realize it, but, for some reason I've picked another tough restaurant for this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside. Go ahead. Say it, “Dummy!” Maybe so—I've got a laundry list of ex-girlfriends that would second that dummy, and, follow it up with at least a few expletives. Anyway, that’s beside the point, what do you say we dig into this week’s restaurant? Gumbo Shop.

Now, I’m assuming the name didn’t stump you. Gumbo Shop, if you’re looking for New Orleans cuisine, this is the place. But, how does it stack up health-wise? Could an Eat to Liver find refuge here? Yes. No. Kind of. Not really. Told you, it’s going to be tough. At first glance I can already tell—they’ll be concessions! Hope you like fish. Alright, let’s have at it.

Luckily the menu isn’t huge, so narrowing it down should be pretty quick. Let’s start with the most Fuhrman-friendly menu items—mind you, I say that loosely. First up is the Vegetarian Dish of the Day. What’s in it? Well according to the menu it’s a creation of hearty beans or peas, plenty of seasonings and lots of local flavor, served with rice or pasta. Okay, if you can get that prepared with brown rice and no- or low-salt you’ve got a pretty good meal. Sure the rice isn't exactly the most nutritious thing on the planet, but as I say all the time—focus on the veggies!

Next up is the Veggie Po’Boy. If you’ve never had a Po’Boy, it’s basically a sandwich. And like all sandwiches, it’s not inherently Fuhrman-friendly. Besides the bread, you’ve got plenty of ingredients you might want to omit. For example, most Po’Boy’s are made with mayonnaise. Personally, I’d rather lick a Manhattan sidewalk on a hot summer day than eat mayonnaise. Clearly the veggies are good, but I’d interrogate the wait staff before I ordered this menu item. What do you think?

Okay, before we ponder the fish-based dishes, these two options are certainly worth a mention. The Seasonal Green Dinner Salad and the Fresh Fruit Plate, these are probably you’re best choices if you’re planning to walk away from Gumbo Shop concession-free. For me, it would depend on my mood. Sometimes I’m more willing to bend than others, but, if I was feeling particularly anal I’d simply order one of these and call it a day. Heck, I might even order both!

If you keep up with this series you know that when I eat out I am willing to deviate from Eat to Live a little. Why? Quite frankly, it’s because I don’t eat out that often and I watch my diet closely 99% percent of the time. So, going a little “crazy” on that rare occasion that I’m actually eating outside the house is fine with me. And with that being said, let’s check out the fish dishes.

Well, there’s only two I’d consider ordering and their loaded uncertainty. The Fresh Fish Florentine and the Fresh Fish Creole. And why do I say uncertainty? Well, who knows what the fish is? It could be good or it could be bad. According to Dr. Fuhrman, if its something like tilapia or flounder your risk of mercury contamination is low, but, if its tuna or mackerel—you’ve got problems! So it’s a tough call. Sure the veggies in both dishes are great, but if you’ve got a bad piece of fish, why bother? Now if I were to go with the fish, rest assured, it’d be a while before you'd catch me eating fish again. Oh, and one more thing, the hollandaise sauce on the Fresh Fish Florentine—got to go!

See, I told you, a little tough. If I wanted to play it totally safe it can be done, but, with a little tweaking and some tolerance for concessions, you can make Gumbo Shop work. Not too bad, right? And as always, we want your feedback! Scope out Gumbo Shop’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay, the past couple weeks have been up and down for Eating to Live on the Outside. Two weeks ago we all bore witness to the nightmare that is Indigo Joe's, an ooey-gooey super-cheesy standard American restaurant—certainly not for the faint of heart! But last week we redeemed ourselves with Thai Kitchen, a much healthier option for the discerning Eat to Liver. Not perfect, but miles ahead of other Eating to Live on the Outside flops like Denny’s, Friendly’s, and Houlihan’s. So, what does this week have in store for us?

What if I told you things like avocado and tofu regularly show up on this menu? Not mention, the word vegan is actually in the name of restaurant! Alright, I’ll stop trying to build suspense. This week Portland Oregon’s Veganopolis goes under the microscope. And as you’ll see, it’s a great place for an Eat to Liver to grab a quick bite to eat. So what do you say? Let’s crack this menu open!

I’ll start with the breakfast menu. First up, I’m really digging The Garden breakfast sandwich. It’s prepared with raw organic tahini, wheat toast, cucumber, tomato, spinach, and avocado. Obviously this dish appeals to me because of the avocado—I’m a total avocado mark—but the tahini also caught my eye. Tahini is made from sesame seeds and Dr. Fuhrman considers sesames seeds to be one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Of course the other veggies are great too. Okay, I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, “What about the bread?” You’ve just met the concession. Sure, eating bread isn’t exactly high up on Dr. Fuhrman’s list of smart things to do, but I’m okay with it. I’ll just have to make sure I don’t eat anymore bread for a while, besides, the sandwich comes with a side of fresh fruit. That should make you feel better about eating a little bread.

Now here’s an interesting dish, Red Flannel Hash. It’s made with yams, turnips, rutabagas, onions, kidney beans, dill, and spices. A very unique assortment, don’t you think? I’m sure most people—especially standard American dieters—would head for the hills if someone presented them with this, but not me. I’d give it a whirl! Would you?

It’s time to move onto the lunch menus. The Roasted Eggplant sandwich is looking mighty good. Again, the bread—in this case a ciabatta roll—is the concession. In addition to the bread it includes eggplant, tomatoes, spinach, roasted red pepper sauce, onions, and soy mozzarella or almond feta. Personally, I’m going with the almond feta instead of soy mozzarella. It sounds more interesting. I’d also ask the wait staff about the red pepper sauce. It might be prepared with some sort of oil, which might deter you. Although this wouldn’t bother me too much, as I’ve said a bunch of times, I don’t eat out very often, so that makes me more willing to bend a little. The Roasted Eggplant sandwich also comes with a side of potato chips or roasted potatoes. Between to the two, I’d obviously pick the roasted potatoes, but, since I’d be already be eating bread, I’d just skip the both of them. At the risk of sounding like a low-carb lemming, too many carbs!

And the last menu item to catch me eye is the Marinated Grilled Tofu salad. It comes with spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, peapods, rice vinegar, and organic tofu marinated with tamari. What’s tamari? Soy sauce, which brings me to an important side note, a few days ago I received an email from a concerned reader. He wanted to know why I selected dishes from Thai Kitchen’s menu that had a potentially high salt content, like ones made with soy sauce. Now my answer is pretty simple. I’m aware that soy sauce and a lot of the sauces used to prepare Asian-style cuisine can be very salty—then again most restaurant food is salty—so I just kind of deal with it. If you’re eating out, most of the time it’s unavoidable. Take me for example, I know if I’m eating outside my home I’m going to have to make some allowances, but, I try my best to limit them. And if I do eat something that might be on the salty side, I make sure that I’m vigilant not to do it again for a long while. Unfortunately the standard American dietary frontier is not easily conducive to an Eat to Live lifestyle, so you better be prepared to roll with the punches.

Now don’t forget to check out the Veganopolis menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Also, be sure to weigh in on the problem of salty restaurant food. How do you approach the whole situation? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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After a week of rest and relaxation the swelling on my forehead has finally gone down. If you forgot why I was repeatedly bashing my head against the wall, please, revisit last week’s Eating to Live on the Outside: Indigo Joe's. How people can eat that much cheese, bacon, and ranch dressing is beyond me. Good thing today’s restaurant is way more Fuhrman-friendly. I’m not sure I could take back to back standard American restaurants—ouch!

So, how do I know Thai Kitchen is Fuhrman-friendly? Well, I’ve eaten there! I’m a big fan of Thai food. And if you’ve ever eaten Thai, you know most dishes are loaded with a variety of vegetables. Which beats the pants off of salads topped with bacon or deep-fried green beans. Okay then, time for a little change in protocol. Usually I talk about what I might order if I found myself dining at one of these restaurants. But, since I’ve actually eaten at Thai Kitchen, I’ll tell you what I have ordered.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t eat out very often, once maybe twice a month. So when I do, I tend to stick with what works. In my case it’s the Pad Kra Tiem. This is pretty much my go-to dish. And I only order it veggie-style, which means it’s prepared with sautéed garlic, onions, baby corn, carrots, broccoli, tofu, and white pepper. It’s very tasty and they don’t over cook the vegetables. To be honest, most of the time the veggies are still a little raw, which is fine by me—veggies al dente! Okay, now I know what you’re saying to yourself, “What about what it’s cooked in? That stuff can't be good for you.” You know what? I’m not going to argue with you on that one and that’s why the cooking mixture or sauce is my concession—a concession I can live with.

That’s pretty much the way I approach Thai Kitchen. I know that it’s not perfect, but every dish—even the ones with noodles and meat—come with lots of vegetables, and, the portion sizes are perfect. So, as a person that doesn’t eat out a lot, I can live with this tiny shortcoming. In my opinion a big part of Eating to Live is allowing little moments where you can let yourself off the hook. And I hardly think a steaming plate of veggies with a little brown sauce is worth beating yourself up over, especially if you practice nutritional excellence 99% of the time.  What do you think?

Now before I pinpointed my standby dish, I used to graze the menu. In the past I’ve ordered the Pad Preow Wan, which comes with pineapple, bell peppers, baby corn, celery, cucumbers, and tomatoes. And it’s all sautéed in sweet & sour sauce. Not a bad meal, but, I’m not the biggest fan of sweet & sour, so that one didn’t last. I’ve also given the Pad See Eue a whirl. It’s a pretty basic dish, made with stir fried broad rice noodles, Chinese broccoli, and soy sauce. Again, I realize the concessions here. The rice noodles are nothing more than refined grains and the soy sauce is loaded with salt. Needless to say I only ordered this once.

The first dish I ever tried at Thai Kitchen was the Pad Thai. In fact, this was well before my DiseaseProof days, meaning I was still a standard American dieter. The Pad Thai is prepared with sautéed Thai noodles, shrimps, eggs, crushed peanuts, scallions, bean curd, and bean sprouts. Definitely a few concessions there! Don’t worry, I haven’t ordered the Pad Thai in years.

Okay, now I’m giving you a homework assignment. Check out Thai Kitchen’s menu and pick a dish you’d like me to order. Try to select one that I haven’t already tried and post it in the comments. Then next time I’m at Thai Kitchen I’ll give it whirl and I promise I’ll tell you all about it. Oh, please no spicy dishes. I’ve got a wimpy stomach and I don’t really feel like blogging from the fetal position. Well, what are you waiting for? Get to work on that menu!  And remember, you can always email us your Eating to Live on the Outside story at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Life is about winning and losing. Sometimes you win, and other times you find yourself banging your head against the wall while repeating, “Why, why, why!” This week’s Eating to Live on the Outside is certainly one of those why-why-why moments. That’s right my friends, on today’s menu is heaping helping of standard American restaurant with all the trimmings. I present, Indigo Joe’s Sports Pub & Restaurant. Okay, take a deep breath, and here we go.

No surprises here, the menu is loaded with standard American staples like cheese, bacon, red meat, and ranch dressing. So as far as the appetizers go, I’d go with the Fresh Vegetable Basket or the Fresh Fruit and Cheese Platter. Both of them obviously come with a variety of fruits and veggies, but they’re also served with crackers, cheese, and ranch dip. I’d promptly hurl these into the garbage can. So in the end, you’re left with a pile of fruit and vegetables—nothing bad about that!

Now like many standard American restaurants Indigo Joe’s offers up the almost obligatory token salads. But unlike most standard American restaurants, they actually have a pretty nice variety. You’ve got seven salads to choose from, but, since two are Caesar Salads you really only have five. Still, that’s a decent offering, although they all need modification before I’d eat any of them. For example this one really caught my eye. The Sesame Chicken Salad is prepared with chicken, wontons, sesame seeds, cucumbers, carrots, Mandarin oranges, scallions, and almonds. When ordering I’d ask the wait staff to omit the chicken and the wontons. And of course, I’d go easy on the dressing which would probably be the Lite Italian. Not bad right? Raw scallions in a salad sounds pretty interesting, don’t you think?

Okay, now we’ve come to a dead end. Why? Well, how do I put this—the rest of the menu stinks! There’s no hope for an Eat to Liver there. Maybe in the past when I was willing to eat a rubbery plastic looking piece of grilled chicken breast I might have had more to say, but sorry, I don’t go there anymore. Dishes like the Char-Grilled Chicken Sandwich, the Philly Steak Sandwich, the Patty Melt, or Chicken Fettucini, just aren’t Fuhrman-friendly, period. I’d rather order a glass of water with a side of ice than sit here and try to make this menu look good—like I said, bashing your head against the wall.

Rather than ponder the shortcomings of the rest of menu, let’s revisit the salads and see what other options you’ve got there. How about the BBQ Chicken Salad? It’s made with chopped lettuce, corn, jicama, cilantro, corn tortilla strips, shredded mozzarella cheese, chopped BBQ chicken breast, diced tomatoes, scallions, and olives. See what I mean about the menu going downhill, BBQ chicken, cheese, and tortilla strips in a salad? Nothing very healthy about that. But if you ditch them, you’re left with a nice variety of veggies—yippee! Same goes for the Mexican Chicken Salad, after you scrap the chicken and cheddar cheese. So if you like being limited to only salads Indigo Joe’s is for you.

To be honest, to me Indigo Joe’s belongs in the category of “I hope I never have to go there.” Sure, I love salads, but I’m not going to some standard American restaurant to order overpriced veggies. So if my friends asked me to meet them for dinner at this place, I’d just pretend to miss their call.

So there you have it. Hopefully you don’t have a headache from bashing your head against the wall, I do, and I may have a concussion. Great, I guess next week I’ll be doing Eating to Live on the Outside: Hospital Food. Don’t forget to check out the Indigo Joe’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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I’ve got to thank The King of All Media for the inspiration behind this week’s installment of Eating to Live on the Outside. Now, a lot of people don’t know this, but Howard Stern is a real health nut. Despite his constant self-deprecation, Howard, who turned 53 last month, manages to keep himself fit, trim, and youthful. He’s an avid work-out-aholic and keeps a close watch on what he consumes, in fact, check out the lambasting he gave trans-fat.

Earlier this week Howard talked about an amazing dinner he had at a New York City restaurant called Pure Food and Wine (We Like It Raw has more on that). So, as a card-carrying member of The Stern Nation, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Pure Food and Wine’s menu. As you’ll see, this place is a real winner; innovative, creative, and extremely Fuhrman-friendly!

Okay, now I know what you’re thinking, “Um, Pure Food and WINE? But Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t recommend alcohol as part of a healthy diet.” You’re right, just take a gander at Alcohol and Your Health, and you’ll see that Dr. Fuhrman believes that the detrimental effects of alcohol outweigh the supposed benefits. So, I’ve got an easy solution to this problem, no wine for me. There we go, issue resolved, now onto Pure Food and Wine’s all raw chewables.

If you’ve been following this series you know that every once and while a restaurant comes along that looks totally A-okay, take Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant for example. Alright, since Pure Food and Wine is far from a standard American restaurant, I won’t knit pick about finding the best food choices (they’re all good), instead, here are the dishes that really caught my eye.

First up, from the First Course section of the menu, is the Marinated Shiitake and Avocado Sushi Rolls, an obvious choice, given my love affair with avocados. The sushi rolls are served with pickled pink ginger, dulse, and sesame. Personally pickled ginger isn’t really my thing, so I’d leave that on my plate, but I’d devour everything else—me love avocado! I’m also digging the Napoleon of Black Trumpet Mushrooms and Bosc Pear; which comes with herbed cashew cheese, caramelized shallots, and apricot reisling sauce. So far so good, right? I can practically feel the phytonutrients surging through my body—tingly.

As for the Second Course, I really like the Zucchini and Heirloom Tomato Lasagna; prepared with basil-pistachio pesto, sun-dried tomato sauce, and pignoli ricotta. Now my Italian bones are leery about this creation being called lasagna, but Howard Stern is half Italian and he ordered and loved it, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. The Truffled Parsnip Pasta with Lemon Sage Cream also got my mojo going. It comes with black truffles, haricots vert (green beans), and arugula apricot salad. Okay, I’m sure the mention of pasta spooked you, but Howard talked about this on the air and explained that it’s called pasta, but it really isn’t. Of course it can’t hurt to ask the wait staff for further clarification. Again, can’t you just feel the phytonutrients?

Now the Third Course of the menu is all desserts. Desserts are a tricky thing for an Eat to Liver. More often than not I just skip over that section of the menu—it’s usually loaded with sugar and dairy products—Dr. Fuhrman would surely hit me over the head with a large melon if I suggested eating something like that. But, Pure Food and Wine states that refined sugar and dairy products are omitted from their food preparation. So, I’m eyeballing the Apple Napoleon. It’s made with spiced apple wafers, apple compote, lemon pineapple sauce, Asian pears, and yuzu (Asian citrus fruits). How about you, which dessert would you order?

What really intrigued me about Pure Food and Wine is when Howard mentioned that after eating there he didn’t have the heavy full feeling you often get at other restaurants. Anyone who’s ever eaten at a Friday’s or Houlihan's can relate. Speaking of heavy and full feeling, Howard really needs to get Artie eating better and exercising. Because continuous trips to the vending machine for Famous Amos cookies isn’t cutting it. Take a look at the sad state of Howard Stern’s sidekick Artie Lange—get help Artie, we don’t want you to die.

As always, you know the drill, we want your feedback! Scope out Pure Food and Wine’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Yeah, so with a name like Salad Creations, it’s got to be good, right? It is, well, sort of. At a glance, it’s about a zillion times better than typical standard American restaurants like IHOP and Boston Market, but believe it or not, it’s got issues. What kind? The standard American salad variety, not sure what I mean? Okay then, let’s just cut the chitter-chatter and get right down to it.

If the name didn’t give it away, I’ll enlighten you, Salad Creations is all about salads, so we’re definitely off to the right start. In fact, last time we examined a restaurant with the word salad in its name we discovered New York City’s own Just Salad—one of the best restaurants to date. Salad Creations and Just Salad have another thing in common too. As great as their offerings are, they still have some undesirable menu items; like bacon, cheese, and croutons for example. So, like Just Salad, in order to get the best out of Salad Creations I’ll have to be careful where I step. And not to behave like every fat American who claims to be on a diet, but yet loads their salad with bacon bits, croutons, shredded cheese, and then drowns it in “light” ranch dressing.

Okay, first up are Salad Creations’ Featured Salads and Chopped Salads. The Chopped “Boca” Veggie is by far my favorite; it’s prepared with lettuce, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, red onion, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, corn, chickpeas, vine-ripe tomatoes, and croutons—obviously the croutons are getting the boot and, you know me, I’m going easy on the dressing too. In the end, I think you’re left with an excellent veggie-based phytonutrientful meal, full of biodiversity. Oh, and as for the dressing, Salad Creation boasts a bunch of homemade dressings. In my opinion the basic Balsamic Vinaigrette probably does the least amount of damage, especially if you’re only using a little bit. What do you think?

Now the other salads on the menu are tougher and require more alterations if you plan on walking away from your meal with as few concessions as possible. So, if I had to pick, I’d probably say the Farmhouse Salad and the Santa Fe Chicken Salad have the most potential, but again, you’ve got to do some nitpicking. Together they come with garden fresh lettuce, vine-ripe tomatoes, red onions, carrots, cucumbers, corn, green bell peppers, and sunflower seeds. Not bad, right? Here’s the problem, they also come with croutons, cheddar cheese, and chicken. But, if you ditch these undesirables you can certainly resurrect either salad into decent meal. Sometimes a little hard work pays off. Actually, if you think placing a special order is hard work, you probably shouldn’t leave your house, ever.

What makes Salad Creations different from Just Salad is they offer more than just salads—look a pun—Salad Creations also serves wraps, soups, and smoothies. So, if you walk into a salad place, and you DON’T feel like salad—why the heck are you in there in the first place—uh, I mean, you have plenty of other options instead of a salad. The menu doesn’t tell you what type of soups they have, so you’ll have to ask on that one, but we can certainly take a look at the wraps and smoothies. The only wrap to catch my eye was the Boca Veggie; it’s loaded with green peppers, carrots, onions, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, corn, tomato, chickpeas, croutons, Romaine lettuce, and topped off with balsamic vinegar—now that’s a lot veggies. Again, the croutons are history. Once they’re gone you’re left with a good looking sandwich. And of course you’re concession will be the wrap, but given the amount of vegetables, I can live with it. Now if the wrap is too much for, I’d advise you lighten up—kidding—no, seriously, take a chill pill. And as for the smoothies, they all look good, but I’d definitely ask if they’re dairy-based because if they are, I’m staying far-far away from them.

Finally, if all else fails and I was in a serious panic about what to order—I’d just make my own salad. Salad Creations gives you that option, and believe me, it’s a luxury. For example, doesn’t a salad comprised of Romaine lettuce, red onion, carrots, beets, corn, cucumbers, artichokes, and sunflower seeds, sound good to you?

Let me know what you think. Check out Salad Creations’ menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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So a funny thing happened today. I sat down at my desk to start concocting this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside and while I perused the menu I realized—I’m not all that into meat anymore. I’m just not. When I first started doing this series I was okay with the occasional piece of chicken, but now I look at grilled chicken the same way I do a bloody steak, I don’t want it. Now I’m still okay with fish, like tilapia or flounder, but honestly, if I’m eating out, I’d prefer to keep it veggie-based. Isn’t it funny how things change?

Okay, enough of that, what about this week’s restaurant? Well, Samurai Sam’s is trying really hard to be healthy, and comparatively speaking it is. Compared to standard American restaurants like Friendly’s and Sizzler, Samurai Sam’s is a few rungs up the ladder, but, it’s not without its own set of problems. For starters, most of the dishes are meat-based and—perhaps the biggest issue of all—the food is very salty. Some menu items have as much as 2,050 milligrams of sodium—ouch! Alright, enough prognosticating, let’s see what we’ve got.

The specialty at Samurai Sam’s seems to be bowls, and there’s a bunch of them. Each one is some conglomeration of chicken or steak, miscellaneous stir-fried vegetables, and brown or white rice, topped off with either teriyaki or sweet & sour sauce—oh, and there’s these noodle thingies too. So, what to order? Well, you can pretty much take your pick. They’re all basically the same. As for me, the Teriyaki Bowl looks good. Of course I’m ditching the chicken and ordering it with brown rice instead of white. That’d make my only the concession the aforementioned salt and the rice. Also, you might want to ask the waiter what kind of veggies it’s prepared with because the menu doesn’t say, but from the picture it looks like broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and snow peas—although it can’t hurt to double-check.

If you’re not feeling the bowls, the salads have potential, but, they could use a little tweaking, especially if you’re not looking to eat meat. The Sesame Garden Toss is made with chicken, sliced cucumber, snap peas, fresh julienne carrots, Yaki Soba noodles, and a fresh lettuce blend. And the Oriental Chicken Salad is prepared with chicken, cucumbers, wonton strips, lettuce, and oriental or ginger dressing. Either one of these is cool with me. That’s after I drop the chicken, wonton strips, and noodles of course. Not to mention going easy on the salad dressing. So, what am I left with? Lots and lots of phytonutrients—behold the phyonutrients, kneel before they’re power!

Well if the bowls or the salads don’t suit your fancy, give this a whirl. It’s an all too familiar and all too basic approach to Eating to Live on the Outside—just order a Side Salad as your main dish. I would. And why would I do that? That’s an easy one. It kicks my meat eating problem and Samurai Sam’s salt predicament square in the butt. Judo-chop!

And remember, if you’ve got an interesting Eating to Live on the Outside story we’d love to hear from you. Hey, we might even make a post out of it. Check out Samurai Sam’s menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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“Roxanne! You don't have to put on the red light.” Okay, I don’t know anything about the red light, but this week Eating to Live on the Outside says hello to Green Light, a Pure Vegetarian Restaurant located in my home state of New Jersey. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “This place is a vegetarian, it’s got to be good, right?” Not totally. You’ll see that surprisingly, it has some issues. Here’s what I mean.

Take a gander at the lunch specials. Here’s a few of note: Chicken with Broccoli, Kara’s Rib Tip Wrap, and a Cheese Steak Hoagie? What the heck is vegetarian about them? Chill, obviously it’s all soy meat. And there in lies the problem. For starters, as I’ve said the past, I’m too fond of processed soy foods. Sorry, but faux-chicken doesn’t really do it for me. And remember, Dr. Fuhrman does warn against going overboard on these types of food. Check this out, from Too Much Soy:

This brings to mind my basic theme of nutritional biodiversity—eat a variety of plant foods, and do not eat a soy-based diet.


Most of the processed soy products can be tasty additions to a plant-based diet, but they are generally high in salt and are not nutrient-dense foods, so use them sparingly.

Oh man, what a fine pickle I’ve gotten myself into this week. What should I order? Let’s see. Well, the Avocado Wrap looks good. For starters, it comes with avocado and I’m a total mark for avocado! And, it’s served on a wheat wrap with tomato, greens, and onion. Not bad, the only concession I’d be making would be the wrap—I can live with it. The Veggie Sub also looks like a solid option. Sure the bread is a sacrifice, but come on! It’s prepared with grilled peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, and carrots. I don’t know about you, but all those veggies make me forget about the bread.

Okay, the rest of menu is pretty tough. There’re still plenty of menu items centered on processed soy foods. Again, stuff like soy mozzarella, soy shrimp, and soy salmon just don’t appeal to me. So that rules most of the second page, but I’m in luck! Green Light does have a salad that certainly appeals to my taste buds, the Tasty Avocado Salad. As an avocado fiend, this makes me smile—from ear to ear. Now it’s pretty basic, but intriguing none the less; its avocado on a bed of fresh greens and veggies. Can’t beat that, in fact, if places like Fazoli’s, Denny’s, and Lonestar Steakhouse offered something like this, I’m sure more Eat to Livers wouldn’t immediately vomit at the mention of their names.

Now if you’ve got an aching sweet tooth, Green Light is the place to go. They’ve got a bunch of fruit smoothies that’ll help set you right. Kai’s Carob Milk Shake really caught my eye—especially since anything chocolate flavored draws me in like a black hole. It’s prepared with soy milk, banana, carob powder, and honey. The honey would be my concession here. Rashads Pina Colada is also looking mighty tasty; coconut milk, pineapple chunks, and banana. I’m not a betting man, but I’d wager that the coconut milk is sweetened—there you have it, another concession. But overall, if I were craving something sweet, I wouldn’t feel too guilty about downing one of these smoothies. In the past it would have been an entire bag of peanut M&Ms. Which one sounds like the better idea to you?

Here’s another thing worth mentioning. If you’re like me and the processed soy foods aren’t really your thing, and none of the options I’ve mentioned suit your fancy, you can also take this familiar course of action. Make a meal out of sides. Green Light has four sides that could certainly make a nutrient-dense, concession-free meal; steamed cabbage, steamed vegetables, steamed broccoli, and a side salad. What would you choose? I know I can’t resist steamed broccoli.

So there you have it, that’s what I’d order if I found myself smack-dab in the middle of a place that sells a lot of processed soy food. What would you do? Check out Green Light’s menu and email me at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Yeah, we’ve got a toughie on our hands this week. In case you’ve never heard of Panera Bread—and the name didn’t tip you off—this place is very bread-centered. In fact, there’s more dough on this menu than in an entire mafia money-laundering operation—not that there’s such a thing as “The Mafia.” Hopefully we don’t end up sleeping with the fishes with this one. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s make like Sonny Corleone and hit it.

Now if you view the PDF version of the online menu you can pretty much ignore the first page. Unless of course, you think Artisan Bread, Four Cheese Egg Souffles, Brownies, and Caramel Lattes are Fuhrman-friendly. You don’t, right? Good, lets move on. So what does the second page have to offer? Well as far as Eat to Livers go, not much. There are a few things, but they all come with concessions and could certainly use some alterations. And even then, I’m not exactly confident about them, but, I’ll solider on.

Okay, let’s start with the Signature Sandwiches, more specifically the Tuscan Chicken Sandwich. And yes, right away we’ve encountered a major concession—sandwich bread! If this is too much for you, please look away. Aside from this refined grain concession, there are two other concessions to consider. First you’ve got the chicken. Now I admit. I don’t like ordering chicken at restaurants anymore. It always comes out looking like a piece of white rubber with black griddle marks on it—not exactly yummy. The other concession is the garlic aioli, which means garlic and oil. The garlic is great, but oil isn’t exactly health food. So if you were to order this sandwich, and even though it does come with field greens, tomatoes, and red onions, you’d still be embarking on a serious deviation from your Eat to Live lifestyle. But then again, it’s a heck of a lot better than the PepperBlue Steak, Bacon Turkey Bravo, and Asiago Roast Beef sandwiches. I told you this place was tough.

Personally, I think the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich is a safer option. It’s prepared with feta cheese, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro hummus, and Peppadew piquant peppers. Just like the Tuscan Chicken Sandwich you’ve got to deal with the bread, but if you throw the feta cheese out the window, than the bread is you’re only concession. After that, stay focused on the veggies and all their phytonutrient goodness.

Alright, if the bread is bumming you out—it’s bumming me out—what about a soup or salad? Well as far as soups goes, you’ve got one option. I’d go with the Low-Fat Vegetarian Garden Vegetable. Who knows exactly what’s in it, it doesn’t say. My guess, it’s probably pretty run-of-the-mill; carrots, peas, onions, celery, potatoes, and, it’s loaded with salt! Again, Panera Bread requires a lot of concessions. I’d order this soup, but I’d definitely be mindful of the salt content. Although, not like being mindful of it will lessen its impact. Might not be a bad idea to check out the nutrition facts for all the food.

But honestly, if I really found myself at Panera Bread, I would just go straight for the salads—better to be safe than sorry. And at least with the salads, I’d have some options. Here’s what I mean. Every salad on the menu has potential, most require ditching something like cheese, chicken, or wonton strips, but overall, there’re plenty of veggies in them to quell my worries. Take the Fandango Salad for example. It’s prepared with field greens, romaine lettuce, walnuts, Gorgonazola, Mandarian orange slices, and fat-free raspberry dressing. Obviously I’m dropping the Gorgonazola and going easy on the fat-free dressing. So, if I do that, I don’t exactly end up with a terrible meal. Same pretty much goes for the rest of the salads, like the Asian Sesame Chicken and the Greek Salad. The Classic Café Salad and the Fresh Fruit Cup appear to be the only ones that I’d order alteration-free. What do you think?

So, do you agree? Panera Bread, not so easy? I look forward to your reactions on this one. Check out Panera Bread’s menu and let us know how Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Now you might not have realized it but Eating to Live on the Outside is into it’s eighth month—that’s seven months longer than any relationship ever I’ve been in. During these eight months we’ve covered a lot of ground and put many standard American restaurants on notice.

So I figured this is a good time to look back at all we’ve done—in case you missed anything along the way. And for our new readers, well, consider this a good time to get caught up. Okay, so here you go, every post dating back to this past May in the order that they were published. Dig in:

Fridays
"The Friday’s menu is filled with good looking dishes, but most of them aren’t going to compute with Eat to Live. With every dish you’re probably going to have to make some concessions, but don’t fret, even Dr. Fuhrman acknowledges that there are adjustments to be made when eating away from the home."


IHOP
"You might be tempted by the Spinach salad. What could be more healthy than that? But check out what comes with it: "hickory smoked bacon pieces, tomatoes, shredded Parmesan cheese, Bleu cheese crumbles and diced, crispy-fried chicken. Tossed in a delicious honey mustard dressing and served with toasted garlic bread." That leaves you with a bowl of spinach and tomatoes--or the the vast majority of your calories from those things up at the top of Dr. Fuhrman's pyramid that are best eaten only "rarely.""

Chipotle
"Burrito bol with cilantro-lime rice, vegetarian black beans, and guacamole or fajita-style with sautéed vegetables, black beans, and guacamole. I could eat that, or a salad. The vegetarian salad comes with sautéed peppers, onions, vegetarian black beans, and guacamole. You can get fresh tomatoes as an extra. They even say they're happy to customize any dish as you wish, so I imagine you could get more fresh veggies piled on top. Think they have actual avocado back in that kitchen? That would be especially good."

P.F. Chang's
"The Ginger Chicken and Broccoli really caught my eye. Check out the picture, there’s a mound of broccoli there, and broccoli is a real nutritional heavy weight. I like the Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Steamed with Ginger too. Steaming is an oil-free way to cook and you get a nice dose of green vegetables with the bok choy and the asparagus. If you’re looking for greens Buddha’s Feast Steamed is also a solid choice."

Outback Steakhouse
"Now if you’re feeling fishy, the selections under the menu heading “Botany Bay Catches” are very intriguing. You get a side of fresh steamed veggies with the Atlantic Salmon and the Botany Bay Fish O’ The Day, very encouraging. And neither dish is prepared too unhealthfully. You might want to stay away from the Boomerang Shrimp, the words “battered” and “breaded” are red flags. I'd also consider the Hearts of Gold Fresh Catch: You get Bronzed fresh filet, sautéed artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and green onions. Although you might want to ditch the lemon Alfredo sauce."

Baja Fresh
"Hmm what to order? The majority of the dishes include some sort of tortilla and unless you go for a soup or salad, this is a concession you’re going to have to make. I like the Grilled Veggie Burrito a lot, there’s tons of good stuff in it: grilled peppers, Pico de Gallo, chilies, onions, black or pinto beans, and lettuce. I bet there’s plenty of nutrients in all that. It also comes with sour cream and a couple cheeses, I’d ditch those."

Friendly’s
"Okay, time to flex my powers of guess-timation. This week I’ll being taking a look at the ironically named Friendly’s menu. After a few minutes of perusing the menu sweat actually began to bead up on my forehead. This restaurant is a tough sell for an Eat to Liver—-just lots of good-old fried goo smothered with cheesey American goodness! But surprisingly, you do have some options."

Lonestar Steakhouse
"Like usual my eyes gravitate towards the salad section of the menu; it’s like the Alamo, a safe haven in the middle of hostile territory. The Cobb Salad has some promise, but I’m making a couple alterations—goodbye cheese and adios bacon! Now, I can deal with the chicken and egg, I only eat meat once a week anyway, so I don’t really mind this concession. Overall my favorite thing about this dish is the avocado. I have bit of an avocado fetish."

Sizzler
"The first part of Sizzler’s menu is loaded with burgers and sandwiches, I almost skipped it (since I don’t eat red meat), but the Grilled Chicken Club caught my eye; although it isn’t without its flaws. Now your level of concessions may vary, but as for me, I’m ditching the bacon, Swiss cheese, and mayonnaise. I’d probably swap the mayo for mustard."

Bennigan's
"If you are in the mood for chicken, the Rosemary Grilled Chicken and the Chicken Stir Fry are other intriguing options. Both dishes boast a nice amount of veggies, but I’m a little leery about the rosemary demi sauce and Tangy Asian sauce. I wonder if they are oil or cream based."

The Office
"As I’ve admitted numerous times I love avocado (I have a three 'cado a week habit), so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’m into the Turkey & Bacon Wrap. The sandwiched consists of roasted turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and avocado mayonnaise, all on warm flat bread. Obviously the bacon is out the window—look, pigs do fly! Now I’m torn, as El Presidente of The Avocado Fan Club I’m curious about the avocado mayonnaise, but my inner Eat to Live is telling me to veto it. What would you do?"

California Pizza Kitchen
"Generally I’m not much of a soup guy, but the Dakota Smashed Pea and Barley Soup could change my mind. It’s pretty basic and cheese-less, so I don’t think you’d be making a huge concession by ordering it. Besides, it’s made with some really savory ingredients: split peas, barley, carrots, onions, herbs, and chopped scallions. I think it could be a nice alternative for someone with dairy sensitivity; myself included."

Ground Round
"The Ground Round also has a couple of sandwich wraps that I’d feel comfortable ordering. I really like the Roasted Vegetable Wrap (given the amount of meat on this menu the word vegetable is a godsend in itself), its ingredients include roasted red peppers, zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and sun-dried tomato pesto mayonnaise. Sounds pretty interesting right? Other than the flour tortilla the only thing that really gives me pause is the mayonnaise, but I really like sun-dried tomatoes and pesto, so I would be willing to make this concession and keep it."

Just Salads
"The Immunity Bowl looks cool too. It’s made with Mesclun, wild salmon, diced roasted butternut squash, and pomegranate seeds. Actually this one sounds really tasty. I’m digging the pomegranate seeds (we all know how healthy pomegranates are) and the butternut squash, not to mention the salmon. If I were to stick with the salmon I’d make sure I didn’t eat fish again for a while. Even though salmon isn’t overly contaminated, I’d rather be safe than sorry."

Go Raw Café
"For starters I like the aforementioned Kale Salad, I like it more because there are avocados in it. In addition to the bestest fruit on the planet this salad also includes red bell peppers, onions, cucumbers, and is served with buckwheat bread. Buckwheat bread? Sounds interesting. You do have the option of house dressing with this salad, which I’m not totally against, I’d would just go easy on how much I used, but if you’re totally against oily dressing the Go Raw Café gives you the option of cilantro instead. Pretty cool hunh?"

Houlihan's
"After much consternation here’s what I’d order if I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun. Oops! I mean thumbing through the menu at Houlihan’s. No surprise here, a nice safe option might be to order a basic salad or a “Tossed Simple Greens” as the menu proclaims. I’m not sure what simple greens are maybe greens that scored poorly on their SATs, but in the world of Eat to Live, any green is good. I’d probably top these “greens” with a few drops of the balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing. Your other options are cheese and cream based. Egad!"

Paru's Indian Vegetarian Restaurant
"Okay the names of the dishes are tough to decipher, looks like someone blew up a scramble board (Paru’s glossary should help), but they still look pretty darn appetizing. Being that this place is already vegetarian, and in some cases vegan, I don’t think an Eat to Liver is going to have a hard time choosing a healthful meal. Personally, I the only things I would outright avoid are the few dairy selections and foods prepared with hot spices. That’s double trouble for me."

Perkins Restaurant & Bakery
"So if I were really hard up for breakfast, and in the mood for animal, I’d probably order a basic omelet. Perkin’s gives you the option to create your own omelet anyway, so I don’t think you’ll get a dirty look from the waitress. I’d probably order the omelet prepared with mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, celery, and green peppers—just trying to get some phytonutrients! Oh, and I’d ask to have it cooked with as little oil as possible."

Carrabba's Italian Grill
"After a few seconds of scanning the menu you’ll notice it’s primed with cheese, butter, olive oil, and prosciutto—Italian bacon! Damn you bacon! Is there no escaping your greasy stranglehold? Sorry, I had a moment. I’m better now, let’s continue. Personally I’m going to be especially vigilant about the cheese, butter, and obviously the prosciutto, a.k.a. bacon. I’m more lenient about the olive oil, but I’ll do my best to limit my exposure to it."

Denny's
"Now here’s one of Denny’s surprising redeeming qualities. If you check out the menu heading “Fit Fare” you’ll see they give you some nutritional information; carbohydrates, fat, calories, and fiber. I didn’t expect to see this from such a vilified restaurant. So, if you’re an egg-eating Eat to Liver, you might consider ordering the Veggie Omelette. “Might” is the important word here because, again, who knows what that griddle looks like, and it’s not exactly loaded with a lot of veggies any way; only mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes. But if you do order it, at least you’ll know what’s in it: 38 g Carbohydrates, 332 Calories, 8g Fat, and 5g Fiber."

Desert Moon Fresh Mexican Grille
"I’m going to start off easy—well easier—with the salads. At a glance the Tossed Green Salad looks like the best option (I say that loosely). It comes with tossed greens, pico de gallo, sliced olives, cheese, garlic croutons, and lime cilantro vinaigrette. Clearly the cheese and garlic croutons are getting the heave-ho, going easy on or ditching the vinaigrette is a good idea, the greens are cool, and I’m keeping the olives and the pico de gallo. In case you don’t know what pico de gallo is, check out this Wikipedia link; you’ll find it to be very veggie-friendly."

Lake Side Café
"Lake Side Café also offers up a couple interesting salads as well. Naturally they’ve got a Simple House salad that’s prepared with lettuce, carrot, peppers, tomato, onion, and sesame seeds—pretty cool right? But the one I really like is the Greek Islands. It’s not very fancy, but I’m a sucker for balsamic vinegar. In addition to the balsamic it comes with red onions, olives, peppers, tomato, cucumber, olive oil, and feta cheese. Now, I’m not sure if you can veganize the feta, if you can that’s great, but I take no chances with dairy so it’s gone. I’d also ditch the olive oil in this case because balsamic vinegar is all I need to top off a salad. It’s got more than enough flavor for me."

Luby's
"Now even though these fish sound tasty, what really caught my eye were the sides that come along with them. Unlike many of American restaurants, Luby’s actually lets you pick the sides that accompany your dish, this way you’re not at the mercy of the chef. Trust me, this is a good thing. Luby’s sides, for the most part, are pretty health conscious. Here are the ones I’d order: broccoli, carrots, cabbage, corn, spinach, pinto beans, pineapple, fresh green beans, black-eyed peas, mixed field greens, mixed melons, and marinated cucumbers. Compared to the sides of many standard American restaurants, Luby’s offerings kick butt!"

Boston Market
"At first glance there are other sides on the menu that grabbed my attention, but if you read the fine print, they’ve got problems—especially for me! Take the Sweet Corn and Greens Beans for example, I love them both, but they’re both seasoned in a garlic butter sauce, and butter is a major no-no! And the sides that aren’t prepared with butter have cream in them, this doesn’t bode well either. So despite the vast offerings, and Eat to Liver would find this list pretty limiting."

Ruby Tuesday
"Finally, and we’ve seen this come up before, Ruby Tuesday has a decent selection of side dishes. So I think another great option would be to construct a meal out of the healthier sides they have available. For example, the premium baby greens, sautéed Portobello mushroom slices, fresh steamed broccoli, and plain baked potato all look good—just think of all the phytonutrients in the broccoli and baby greens. The creamy mashed cauliflower also caught my eye, but before I’d order it, I’d want to ask the waiter if there’s really cream in it. If so, that would certainly ruin a good thing."

Tony Roma's
"Okay, back to the menu. I like the Chicken Club Salad and Tony’s Asian Salad, but both need significant tweaking. For the Chicken Club Salad I’m ditching the smoked ham, bacon, cheddar cheese, and croutons. I’ll also pass on the egg. I’m okay with the chicken, especially since after you remove all that stuff, you’re really not left with much. Now, for Tony’s Asian Salad I’m chucking the fried won-ton noodles, and I’ll probably top that with salmon—I’m a sucker for seafood! And of course, I’m going very easy on the dressing."

Bonefish Grill
"Let’s start off easy. I wonder what lurks under Soups and Salads—cool, check out the Bonefish House salad! It’s prepared with chopped greens, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, hearts of palm, pine nuts, and citrus herb vinaigrette—sounds pretty tasty to me. And since there’s no fish, you don’t have to worry about chemical contamination. Olives are oily and salty, but all in all, not bad. The Florida Cobb Salad is looking good too, but I’d probably make a couple alterations. For starters, the blue cheese is out—no dairy for me! And second, while I don’t mind occasionally eating chicken, spicy anything is a problem for me, so adios jerk chicken! The great thing about this salad is it comes with avocado, and as many of you know, I’m a total avocado mark!"

The French Laundry
"Now pour le final dish that caught my eye—did I just speak French again? Sacre bleu! I’ve never heard of Hen-of-the-Woods Mushrooms before, but I really like mushrooms and I’m willing to taste test almost anything, so what the heck! The mushrooms come with French Laundry garden heirloom carrots, Tokyo turnips, spring garlic, and “Jus de Legumes Rotis.” Which from my best estimation is juice from Rotis beans, but I could be wrong. Since this dish is entirely veggies, there’s got to be some phytonutrients in there. I’d ask the wait-staff for confirmation on the Rotis juice because as it stands right now I don’t see myself having to make any concessions—which is definitely a good thing! You won’t find that Denny’s."

Fazoli's
"Fazoli's? Actually, this place should be called Faux-zoli’s because the menu is loaded with faux-talian food. Yup, you guessed it, loads of cheese, meat, and rich sauces. Yum! Get ready for a heaping helping of standard American food—or should I say—standard American “Italian” food."

Don Pablo's
"Now I want everyone to know I tried really hard to come up with some more menu selections, but as I mentioned earlier, Don Pablo’s menu is no joke. Sure, it’s better than The Desert Moon, but it’s hardly a picnic. Now I could have opted for a couple of the chicken-based dishes, but after months of doing this I find myself less and less drawn to chicken. This shouldn’t be a shocker to regular DiseaseProof readers because as I’ve admitted, the older I get the less I desire meat. I’m sure a lot of you can relate."

Mesob
"Can I be honest for a second? I’ve never had Ethiopian food, and before I discovered Mesbo, I wouldn’t have had much to say about it. How lucky am I that Mesbo is only about an hour away from where I live? I think a visit is in order. I’ll keep you posted—that was a blogging pun in case you missed it. In the meantime if you have any Ethiopian cuisine stories, please let me know, and maybe I’ll blog about it."

Angelica Kitchen
"For starters, I like the Thai Mee Up—go ahead, get your giggles out. Raw fanatics will really like this one because according to the menu it’s all raw. Not to mention there’s a lot of good stuff in it too. Things like delicate strands of daikon radish, butternut squash, carrots, Thai Tahini sauce, and garlic-lemon marinated kale. Can you say phytonutrients? I can."

Happy Buddha
"A couple salads also caught my eye. The Papaya Salad includes shredded green papaya, peanuts, basil, and lime dressing. And the Watercress Salad is made with watercress, tomatoes, onions, and vinaigrette dressing. Now, I guess to play it safe I could order the dressing on the side and limit the amount I consume, but all those phytonutrients extinguish my worries about a little salad dressing. Also, I don’t eat out very often, so it’ll take more than some vegetable oil to make me uptight."

Sacred Chow
"Scared Chow has a lot of tapas options. So many that it looks like they actually encourage you to make a meal out of them. Three for twelve bucks is a pretty good deal if you ask me. So if I had to pick three, what would I order? Okay, first I’m going with the Dijon Marinated Raw Kale. As Dr. Fuhrman’s blogger, I think he would personally strangle me if I didn’t pick the kale—so that one’s a keeper. Next I’m going with the Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms with Toasted Sunflower Seeds. I like mushrooms and I like sunflower seeds, so I’m going out on a limb here, but I think this combination will be nothing but good times."

Alive Vegetarian Restaurant
"Soup is one of those foods that often goes overlooked in these series. Not due to any personal biases on my part, its just most menus don’t really have a lot of soups. Well, Alive offers four, and they all look pretty good. Two in particular caught my eye. Ever heard of astragulus? Me neither. But I’d be willing to try it. So I’d definitely check out the Astragulus Miso Yam Soup. It’s made with astragulus, miso, yam, seaweed, fresh vegetables, and shitake mushrooms. Sounds kind of interesting, right? The Seaweed Shitake Mushroom Soup also looks pretty cool. It’s prepared with wakame, sea palm, Atlantic dulse, and Shitake mushrooms. I hope you like Shitakes, they’re everywhere."

And let’s not forget the Eating to Live on the Outside extras:

Sara Eats to Live on the Outside
“Now, Sara and her husband are quite the travelers. Check this out. She also told me how the two of them managed to Eat to Live during a recent square dancing weekend at the Nevele Grand Resort & Country Club in the Catskill Mountains.”


Lost in Translation: The French Laundry
How’d I discover my lingual shortcomings? Well actually, I didn’t, and I probably never “would have because foreign languages aren’t exactly my strong suit. Put it to you this way, I’m full-blooded Italian, most of my family speaks fluent Italian, and in fact my mother was born in Italy, but I barely managed to eek by with a B- in Italian I & II. Did I mention my mother did all my homework too? So I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I received this email from Amy.”

Dr. Fuhrman: Eating to Live on the Outside
“Choose restaurants that have healthful options, and how the places that will cater to your needs. When possible, speak to the manager or chef in advance. When traveling, look for restaurants that have salad bars. This is not an all-or-nothing plan. Every person exposed to these ideas can improve over his or her current diet. People have a tendency to like best the foods to which they have become accustomed to. So, keep in mind that eventually you will lose the desire for some of the unhealthful foods you are eating now and you will enjoy the pleasures of healthy, natural foods more. (From Eat to Live.)”

Eating to Live on the Outside: Vegas Style
“Because last week I hit the strip, the Las Vegas Strip that is. When I wasn't beating my bank account into submission, I sat down for a bite to eat at a couple Eating to Live on the Outside’s favorite restaurants, P.F. Chang’s and The California Pizza Kitchen.”

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Alright, lately Eating to Live on the Outside has been on quite a roll. I’m starting to think that there is hope for the health conscious diner. Sure the American landscape is littered with woeful restaurants like Friday’s, IHOP, Ground Round, and Sizzler, but just this month we’ve seen that healthy restaurants do exist; Mesob, Angelica Kitchen, Happy Buddha, and Sacred Chow.

Now don’t worry. The streak isn’t dying this week. In fact, Alive Vegetarian Restaurant has some serious Eat to Live potential—I mean the place actually has gojiberries on the menu! You won’t find that at Sizzler, unless of course they could deep-fry and smother them with cheese. And gojiberries aren’t the only interesting thing Alive has going for it. So what do you say? Let’s take a look.

For starters, Alive’s appetizers have some serious mojo. Okay, you all know I love avocado, so you shouldn’t be too surprised by this selection. The Avocado Salad is prepared with diced avocado, tomato, olives, basil, and veggie crackers. Now, I’m skipping the veggie crackers, but I’m keeping everything else. Yes, I know the olives are probably a little salty, but I don’t eat them very often, so I can deal with it. The Shitake Mushrooms and Gojiberries is another nice option. So is the Sting Beans with Tahini and Miso. I don’t think you need me to explain what’s in them, their names kind of tell the tale. By the way, how many gojiberries eaters do we have out there?

Soup is one of those foods that often goes overlooked in these series. Not due to any personal biases on my part, its just most menus don’t really have a lot of soups. Well, Alive offers four, and they all look pretty good. Two in particular caught my eye. Ever heard of astragulus? Me neither. But I’d be willing to try it. So I’d definitely check out the Astragulus Miso Yam Soup. It’s made with astragulus, miso, yam, seaweed, fresh vegetables, and shitake mushrooms. Sounds kind of interesting, right? The Seaweed Shitake Mushroom Soup also looks pretty cool. It’s prepared with wakame, sea palm, Atlantic dulse, and Shitake mushrooms. I hope you like Shitakes, they’re everywhere.

Alive’s entrees are no slouches either. The three that snatched my attention seem to be Italian inspired creations—given my last name, that shouldn’t be too shocking. I like the Fettuccine Alfredo. Relax. This isn’t your typical Alfredo! Alive’s concoction is made with cashew cream sauce (Dr. Fuhrman would be proud), bell peppers, onions, and shitake mushrooms. And next, this isn’t your typical lasagna either. The Marinara Lasagna is prepared with zucchini, shitake mushrooms, marinated baby spinach leaves, sun-dried tomato marinara, macadamia cheese, and pinenuts. Man, this dish took all sorts of creativity! Although, my favorite has to be the Ravioli. Why? Well lately I’ve been on a beet kick. And the Ravioli is made with raw beet ravioli filled with macadamia nut cheese, cashew cream, and shitake mushrooms. Beety enough for you?

Finally, and this doesn’t happen very often, Alive offers up a some interesting desserts that I think even the strictest Eat to Liver would be hard-pressed to resist. The Chocolate Cheesecake with raw cacao looks pretty good to me, so does the Pear and Almond Cream Tart—which also has gojiberries in it. How about you? Would you be bold enough to order a dessert too? Drop me a line and let me know.

Oh, and don’t forget, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Alive’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Do you read DiseaseProof’s series Eating to Live on the Outside? That’s a trick question—of course you do! You do, right? Well, Sara does! And recently she emailed me to explain how she employed her Eat to Live know-how at Wong’s Gourmet in Philadelphia. I think she did a good job:

We went out to dinner on my mother's birthday at a Chinese restaurant in Northeast Philadelphia that was about as good as it gets in a restaurant. It was Wong's Gourmet. They have a "Create Your Own Dish", with a list of vegetables, tofu, and mushrooms. You get to choose four items and specify whether you want steamed or sauteed. They will serve the sauce on the side and have brown rice available. They also have a Japanese section on the menu (appetizers and sushi) which includes a green salad with ginger dressing as an appetizer. The salad was romaine with grape tomatoes, cucumber, onion, grated carrot and a carrot-based dressing. Salad in a Chinese restaurant is quite unusual. (Gerry - there's an avocado salad listed on the menu too.) We also had vegetarian wonton soup.

Avocado! Can I get an amen? Now avocado aside, Wong’s Gourmet looks like a nice choice for the discerning Eat to Liver dining in the birthplace of American independence. But too bad they don’t have a website, although you can check out the Wong’s Gourmet page on HappyCow’s Vegetarian Guide.

Now, Sara and her husband are quite the travelers. Check this out. She also told me how the two of them managed to Eat to Live during a recent square dancing weekend at the Nevele Grand Resort & Country Club in the Catskill Mountains. Here’s what she did:

I gave the organizer of the event a note describing what we eat. We were lucky this time because most of the meals were buffet. It was repetitious but they actually had something we could eat: vegetable medley (broccoli, string beans, pepper and yellow carrots), salad (lots of green leaf lettuce with so-so tomatoes) and fruit salad consisting of honeydew, grapes and citrus (the citrus likely from a jar). Breakfast was oatmeal and the same fruit mix. There usually was some kind of potato at each meal. We even got balsamic vinegar without too much trouble. For the served dinner we got a baked potato and vegetables, with a bowl of fruit for dessert (the same fruit mixture). There was plenty of salad since we got most of it to ourselves.


So that's how we've managed to eat to live on the outside. Now I think we will stick to our own cooking for quite a while.

Hey, she’s dedicated! But I don’t know about all the square dancing—just kidding Sara! Although this rootin’ tootin’ square dancin’ cowpoke did have some disagreeing words for my praise of Eating to Live on the Outside favorite Baja Fresh. Now I’ll just sit here and growl quietly, in the meantime take a look at what she said:

By the way, I can't understand why you consider Baja Fresh a particularly good choice. When we were on vacation we checked it out and found that if one didn't eat chicken it wasn't very good and we weren't that desperate.

Well Sara, if I ever see you on thoroughfare at high noon with the tumbleweeds blowing by, you better be a quicker draw than me—just fooling! Thanks Sara for your wonderful stories and feedback, its always appreciated.

If any of you have an Eating to Live on the Outside story you’d like to share please email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside is back in the Big Apple—New Yawk City! And our destination? Sullivan Street between West 3rd and Bleecker, the home of Sacred Chow Vegan Bistro. Right off the bat I can tell you Scared Chow is well above standard American restaurants like The Office and Houlihan's, but it’s still got some glitches that I’d be careful about. Okay, let’s take a look.

The first dish to snatch my attention was the Four Seasons Salad. Why? Well for starters it’s got beets in it, and Dr. Fuhrman speaks very highly of beets. So that’s a plus. It also comes with seasonal greens, carrots, apples, Dijon vinaigrette, and crunchy yuba strips. Of course I’ll go easy on the salad dressing, but the yuba strips also give me pause. Yuba is made from soy. Now I’ve got nothing against soy. I drink soy milk and I eat tofu on occasion, but it’s still processed food. Sure, it’s better than croutons, so unlike croutons I won’t omit them from the salad, but I won’t exactly feel bad about eating around most of them. I tend to be very discriminating about my soy. How about you?

The Grilled Western Tofu Hero is also looking mighty tasty. Its toasted whole wheat Italian bread stuffed with thickly sliced western tofu, dill soy-mayonnaise, baby greens, and cheese. Oh, it also comes with something called Chow slaw (I’m guessing its vegan coleslaw) and a pickle—I love pickles! Now I know I just said I’m picky about my tofu, I swear I am! But out of all the sandwiches on Sacred Chow’s menu, the Grilled Western most appeals to me. Granted, soy-mayonnaise and soy cheese aren’t exactly my favorite foods, but most of the other heroes are made with seitan, and seitan doesn’t really appeal to my taste buds. So for me, the Grilled Western is the best fit. I’m certain others will feel differently. And yes, I can live with the bread. I’ll just stay focused on all those baby greens!

Now this brings me to my next selection—or should I say—my next massive quandary. Tapas, what the heck is it? I don’t know! So I looked it up, and according to Wikipedia its olives. It’s also fried squid, flat bread, larded pork meat slices, sausage slowly cooked in wine, cured cheese with anchovies, and a whole host of other things. Again, I’m an Italian from Jersey, I didn’t exactly grow up on Tapas. Okay, since Wikipedia failed me, I turned to Webster—no not Emmanuel Lewis—the dictionary! According Merriam-Webster, tapas is an hors d'oeuvre. Oh! Well that makes Scared Chow’s tapas offerings a lot easier to comprehend. Alright, now that that’s out of the way, time to order a tapas or two.

Scared Chow has a lot of tapas options. So many that it looks like they actually encourage you to make a meal out of them. Three for twelve bucks is a pretty good deal if you ask me. So if I had to pick three, what would I order? Okay, first I’m going with the Dijon Marinated Raw Kale. As Dr. Fuhrman’s blogger, I think he would personally strangle me if I didn’t pick the kale—so that one’s a keeper. Next I’m going with the Sautéed Shiitake Mushrooms with Toasted Sunflower Seeds. I like mushrooms and I like sunflower seeds, so I’m going out on a limb here, but I think this combination will be nothing but good times. And finally, I’ll throw the Vegetable of the Day into the mix. Why? Because I like surprises—no, that’s not true, I’m too neurotic for surprises. So I’d just sit back and hope for a really good veggie, like zucchini or Chinese eggplant.

So there you have it, that’s how I’d pay homage to the Sacred Chow. How about you? Send us your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Sacred Chow’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Do you remember The French Laundry? No—it’s not like a French kiss! It’s a restaurant, located in Yountville California, voted one of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants of 2006, and, we examined it for Eating to Live on the Outside back in November. Okay, you’re probably saying to yourself, “And?” Well it seems my French needs a little—a lot of work. Because evidently this excerpt is a demonstration in translation futility:

And as always, nous voulons vos réactions! Nous dire que vous pourriez avoir fait différemment. Payer la note le menu français de la Lessive et savons comment que vous Mange pour Habiter sur l'Extérieur? Partir un commentaire ou nous envoie un e-mail à diseaseproof@gmail.com.

How’d I discover my lingual shortcomings? Well actually, I didn’t, and I probably never would have because foreign languages aren’t exactly my strong suit. Put it to you this way, I’m full-blooded Italian, most of my family speaks fluent Italian, and in fact my mother was born in Italy, but I barely managed to eek by with a B- in Italian I & II. Did I mention my mother did all my homework too? So I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I received this email from Amy:

I was delighted to come across "Eat to Live on the Outside" and was making notes of places to go when I was stumped by your notes at the bottom of your "French Laundry" commentary. It was so adorably badly written that I re-read it about a dozen times and consulted earlier entries to try to figure out what you were trying to say. Perhaps someone has already pointed it out to you but I thought you might be entertained by a translation of what you wrote:


"We want your reactions! Us tell that you could have done differently. Pay the bill the French menu of The Laundry and we know how you Eat in order to Dwell on top of the Exterior? Depart a comment or us send an email to..."

I'm sure that you hardly meant the French to be taken at all seriously I apologize for being such a smarty-pants but I used to edit French translations and I just couldn't help myself. Please continue to keep writing the helpful pieces and thanks for the laugh.

Well, if it’s “adorably badly written” then that must mean in a roundabout sort of way she’s calling me cute. I’m cute! I’m cute! I’m cute! Sorry, my apologies to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. And actually, I can’t assume total responsibility for this. I just used some random online translation tool. Hey, let’s see what happens when we try to translate some other popular DiseaseProof terminology into French. Keep your eyes peeled for errors, Amy—wink, wink:

• Low-carb loonies = Le bas-carb timbré
• Nutrient-dense = Nutritif-dense
• Vegetable-based = Légume-basé
• Standard American Diet = Le Régime américain standard
• The Misinformation of Barry Groves and Weston Price = La Désinformation de Bosquets de Barry et de Weston Evalue
• Cruciferous vegetables = Cruciferous legumes
• Phytonutrients = Phytonutrients
• Eat to Live = Manger pour Habiter
• Disease-Proof Your Child = La maladie-preuve Votre Enfant
• Sushi For Your Tootsie = Le sushi Pour Votre Tootsie
• Sweet Beet Carrot Bars = La Carotte douce de Betterave Barre
• Flaxseeds = Graines de lin
• Kale = Chou frisé

Now I’m not a betting man, but I’d venture to say that most of those are seriously wrong—or should I say, “sérieusement mauvais.” What do you think Amy? Oh, and thanks for the feedback! It’s always appreciated. Just email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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You know, the past two weeks of Eating to Live on the Outside have been a piece of cake—or should I say a piece of fruit. It all started with Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant, an extremely veggie-friendly dining establishment in Montclair New Jersey. And then last week we were wowed by the New York City based Angelica Kitchen and their organic vegan cooking. But what about this week, what does fate have in store for us?

Now I’ve never been to Boston, but if I ever make a trip to Bean Town I’ll be sure to stop by Happy Buddha. Come on, you’ve got to love a place named Happy Buddha! Everyone loves to rub those Buddha belly statues. And speaking of bellies, stuffing yourself at Happy Buddha will hardly leave you regretting it in the morning. Okay, let’s see what this Buddha has to offer.

When you look at Happy Buddha’s menu you’ll see it contains an entire section comprised of vegetarian dishes. You know what that means? A ton of phytonutrients! If you recall previous installments of Eating to Live on the Outside, you’ll see that I’m not against eating meat. In fact, I’ll eat chicken or fish from time to time, but in the presence of all these vegetable-based options, who needs the rest of menu? So even though I eat meat, I’m ditching all the non-vegetarian dishes and focusing exclusively on the veggie fare.

Okay, as far as the appetizers go, I like the Fresh Spring Rolls. They’re prepared with tofu, shredded lettuce, mint, vermicelli wrapped in rice paper, and peanut sauce. I really like tofu, so this is a great option for me. The only thing that gives me pause is the vermicelli, after all its pasta, and pasta is nothing more than refined grains. But, I can live with it. I’ll just distract myself with the other ingredients, not to mention the phytonutrients. I guess if I were really feeling guilty about the vermicelli, I could go ahead and order the Watercress Soup. It comes with fresh tofu, watercress, and vegetable broth. Nope, I don’t see any serious concessions here. Do you?

A couple salads also caught my eye. The Papaya Salad includes shredded green papaya, peanuts, basil, and lime dressing. And the Watercress Salad is made with watercress, tomatoes, onions, and vinaigrette dressing. Now, I guess to play it safe I could order the dressing on the side and limit the amount I consume, but all those phytonutrients extinguish my worries about a little salad dressing. Also, I don’t eat out very often, so it’ll take more than some vegetable oil to make me uptight.

Now here’s where it gets a little tricky. Apparently most of the vegetarian entrees are fried, and fried is hardly Eating to Live. I can deal with some oil olive on my salad, but food prepared in a boiling oil bath—not the best idea. Alright, for starters I’m avoiding all the veggie-meat, why? One, I don’t like the way they taste. And two, they’re probably loaded with salt. So I’ll pass. What’s left? The Broccoli with Tofu looks good. Although I’m not sure if this one is fried, I’d ask the wait staff about it. If it is, I guess there’s no harm in asking if they can steam it instead. The Medley Vegetables with Tofu is other solid option. Again, you might want to inquiry about how it’s cooked. Finally, the Happy Buddha’s Feast looks really good. It’s stir-fried, but given the amount of veggies, I’d have a hard time resisting. It’s prepared with broccoli, red peppers, green peppers, carrots, mushrooms, baby corn, peapods, string beans, Chinese broccoli, and bamboo shoots. Would you agree? That’s a lot of phytnutrients! So in this case I can deal with the oil. Let me know how you feel about it.

So even though it got a little hairy at the end, I still think Happy Buddha is a good place for an Eat to Liver to wind up eating. Granted, fried anything is a valid reason for concern, but remember Eating to Live on the Outside is usually an experiment in comparison. And compared to places like Fazoli’s, Denny’s, and Friendly’s, Happy Buddha is a heaven-sent—or more appropriately, a Nirvana-sent.

Don’t forget, we want your feedback! Check out Happy Buddha’s menu and let us know how Eat to Live on the outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Eating to Live on the Outside can be a chore. Not in general mind you, only when I’m amidst a string of standard American restaurants. You know them, places like Fazoli’s, Tony Roma’s, Houlihan's, Denny’s, Friday’s, and Don Pablo’s. Apparently ending in “‘s” is the calling card for junk food—with the exception of P.F. Chang’s and Luby’s of course. Don’t worry, this week’s restaurant doesn’t end in ‘s.

In fact, Angelica Kitchen is a Fuhrman-friendly masterpiece. Loads of veggie goodness smack-dab in the middle of the Big Apple—now that’s what I’m tawk’in about! And for all our vegans friends, you’ll love Angelica Kitchen because as their website proclaims, its “organic vegan cooking.” So onward, the menu awaits!

Now, in my opinion any of the meals Angelica Kitchen has to offer would make a great choice for Eat to Livers. The only concessions I see someone having to make would be for salad dressing or the various breads and noodles. Personally, I can live with all three. Okay, we’ve established that I’d order anything on the menu. So, I’ll just go ahead and give you the dishes that really caught my eye. Let me know what you think.

For starters, I like the Thai Mee Up—go ahead, get your giggles out. Raw fanatics will really like this one because according to the menu it’s all raw. Not to mention there’s a lot of good stuff in it too. Things like delicate strands of daikon radish, butternut squash, carrots, Thai Tahini sauce, and garlic-lemon marinated kale. Can you say phytonutrients? I can.

Now salads are always good. Take a look at this one. The Mixed Sprout is prepared with snow pea shoots, sunflower sprouts, mint, mixed cabbage, sunflower seeds, daikon, carrots, toasted peanuts, onion sprouts, watercress, and topped off with a cool mint vinaigrette. At the risk of sounding like a dork—this one is a real humdinger! The cool mint dressing would hardly stop me from gobbling up this creation.

If you remember from a previous post, I’m a sucker for sushi! So of course I dig the Normaki, not only does the name sound cool, but this dish could certainly quell my sushi-Jones, without the worry of contaminated fish. According to the menu the Norimaki is nine pieces of rolled vegetable sushi (the ingredients vary daily) served with wasabi, pickled ginger, and lemon-shoyu dipping sauce. The wasabi worries me—fickle stomach—but I’m cool with the pickled ginger and lemon dipping sauce. Anyone else a sushi fiend?

And finally—brace yourself—I’m actually going to order a dessert! Most restaurants, typically of the standard American variety, don’t offer any sweets an Eat to Liver would even remotely consider ordering. Not Angelica Kitchen. They’ve got a bunch. The one that most intrigues me is the Fruit Kanten Parfait with nut cream. Now nut cream is easy to figure out, but the heck is Kanten? Well, I googled it and it seems to be some kind of fruit-jello. Sounds good to me, and yes, I can live with the sugar. A guy’s got to have some fun from time to time.

So yeah, Angelica Kitchen is cool with me, next time I go into the city I’ll have to stop by. And I'll be sure to let you know. Now, as always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. What would you do different? Check out the Angelica Kitchen’s menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment.

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Okay Eat to Livers, the past two weeks have been a tough row to hoe. Let’s recap. Last week we found out that Don Pablo’s is a haven for the melted cheese connoisseur and the week before that, well, let’s just say you won’t find Fazoli’s faux-talian fast food on any Eat to Livers radar. But don’t fret, this week I’ve got a real winner—Mesob Ethiopian Restaurant!

Located in Montclair New Jersey, Mesob offers an array of Fuhrman-friendly dishes. In fact—get ready vegans—a large portion of the menu is comprised entirely of vegetable-based entrees prepared vegan style. And they all look great! I think healthy favorites like Just Salads, Go Raw Café, and Baja Fresh have some new competition. Well what are we waiting for? Let’s dive in!

You know its going to be good when even the appetizers are Fuhrman-friendly. At most standard American restaurants the word appetizer means deep-fried, triple-battered, or extra-cheesed. Not at Mesob. Three of their appetizers look really good: Azifa, Butcha, and Ingudai Tibs. Azifa is a lentil salad seasoned with red onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, herbs, and spices. The Butcha is pretty similar; prepared with pureed chickpeas, red onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and spices. Now the Ingudai Tibs is a little different; Portobello mushroom marinated and sautéed with red onions, garlic, jalapeno pepper, fresh tomato, herbs, and spices. All three sound great, but because my stomach doesn’t take kindly to spicy stuff, I’d ask the waiter to omit the jalapeno. Oh, and the olive, I can live with it—just look at all those veggies!

As for the entrees, they’re looking mighty good too. Three of the dishes appear to be dinner-sized versions of Azifa, Butcha, and the Ingudai Tibs, so I’ll skip them. Okay, onto the others. The Gomen definitely appeals to my taste; fresh collard greens simmered in mild sauce seasoned with spice and herbs. I just can’t say no to leafy greens—I’ll take a double order please! I like the Atkilt Wat too; made with fresh green beans, fresh carrots, and simmered in a flavorful mild sauce. I’d be interested in knowing exactly what’s in the sauce, but I doubt it’d stop me from ordering it. The Tikile Gomen is along the same lines; cabbage and potatoes simmered in a mild sauce—cabbage is another favorite of mine. I also like the Kik Aletcha, again, pretty similar too the Atkilt Wat and Tikile Gomen; yellow peas simmered in a flavorful onion and herb sauce. Can you really say anything bad about this food? Concessions might be a thing of the past!

Mesob also offers a couple of spicy vegetable entrees, now, just because I won’t order them doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be excellent options for someone else. Between them they have lentils, split peas, garlic, and red onions. If it wasn’t for the heat—I’d be all over them!

Can I be honest for a second? I’ve never had Ethiopian food, and before I discovered Mesbo, I wouldn’t have had much to say about it. How lucky am I that Mesbo is only about an hour away from where I live? I think a visit is in order. I’ll keep you posted—that was a blogging pun in case you missed it. In the meantime if you have any Ethiopian cuisine stories, please let me know, and maybe I’ll blog about it.

Oh, and you know the drill, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Mesob's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay, back in September I asked the question, “Ever wonder what a menu would look like if practically every dish had cheese in it?” Remember the answer? Here are a few hints: cheddar, Monterey Jack, and blue cheese. See, I knew it would come back to you—The Desert Moon Fresh Mexican Grille!

So, why would I bring up this old nemesis? Because this week’s restaurant looks like what would happen if The Desert Moon cut the cheese—now that’s a great pun!—well, not all the cheese. Don Pablo’s menu is still really tough, an Eat to Liver certainly has some work to do before ordering, but, it wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t a struggle, right? Okay, let’s take Don Pablo’s for a test drive.

The salad section of most menus is usually a sanctuary for Eat to Livers, you’ll find that to be true at Don Pablo’s too, but you’ve got to be very picky. That’s why I’m going with the Low-Carb Sizzling Fajita Salad. Low-carb? Yeah, I’d feel dirty ordering it too, but despite its namesake it’s pretty reasonable. This low-carb salad comes with fire-roasted squash, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, Loca sauce, and your choice of dressing. I’m digging the veggies and of course I’ll go easy on the dressing, but the “Loca sauce”? No way! Sounds spicy and I don’t do spicy. You can also order sirloin, chicken, or Mahi Mahi with the low-carb salad. I’ll go with the Mahi Mahi because according to OceansAlive.org it’s an Eco Best. Not bad right? No major concessions here.

The next item to snare my attention is the Portabella Mushroom and Vegetable Fajita. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking—flour tortillas? Congratulations, you just found the first concession. Get ready because here comes another one, the fajitas are served on a bed of saffron rice. Okay so right off the bat we’ve got two concessions—is it still worth ordering? I think so. This dish is prepared with refritos (refried beans), lettuce, Pico de Gallo, cheese, sour cream, guacamole (upon request), portabella mushrooms, corn, squash, zucchini, carrots, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and spinach. Wow! That’s a lot of veggies. So yeah, I think its worth ordering. But before I eat it, I’ve got a few alterations in mind—goodbye sour cream, cheese, and refritos! Now even though I love avocado, if the guacamole has any dairy in it, its gone too. I’d be sure to ask the wait staff about it. So despite the flour tortillas and the bed of rice, I’d feel pretty confident ordering this meal, after all, there are a lot of phytonutrients in those vegetables.

Now I want everyone to know I tried really hard to come up with some more menu selections, but as I mentioned earlier, Don Pablo’s menu is no joke. Sure, it’s better than The Desert Moon, but it’s hardly a picnic. Now I could have opted for a couple of the chicken-based dishes, but after months of doing this I find myself less and less drawn to chicken. This shouldn’t be a shocker to regular DiseaseProof readers because as I’ve admitted, the older I get the less I desire meat. I’m sure a lot of you can relate.

So the last menu selection I’d go for would be an amalgamation of Don Pablo’s side dishes. Actually, it’s not really an amalgamation, four out of the six sides I wouldn’t order. Sorry but sweet corn cake, refritos, Chile mashed potatoes, and Charra beans (beans cooked with bacon) don’t sound very appetizing. If I really wanted to play it safe a dish of black beans and garden vegetables would work, but if you ask me, it’s a little boring. I’d much prefer experimenting with one of the dishes I mentioned earlier. But hey, sometimes safer is better.

And remember if you’ve got an interesting Eating to Live on the Outside story we’d love to hear from you. Hey, we might even make a post out of it. Check out Don Pablo’s menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com with your ideas and stories or just leave a comment. Let us know how you handle Eating to Live on the Outside?

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Fazoli's? Actually, this place should be called Faux-zoli’s because the menu is loaded with faux-talian food. Yup, you guessed it, loads of cheese, meat, and rich sauces. Yum! Get ready for a heaping helping of standard American food—or should I say—standard American “Italian” food.

I grew up eating a lot of Italian food and I can tell you, IT’S NOT ALL PIZZA AND PASTA! For example, my mother grew up in Italy and she’ll tell you, “We mostly ate vegetables with some pasta. Meat was special. We maybe had it once a week and it was usually fish.” So when I read “Fazoli’s serves premium quality Italian food” and all I see on the menu is pepperoni, hearty meat sauces, Caesar salad, and Italian Ice—my head nearly exploded! But despite this mounting pressure in my cranium, I’ll soldier on. So here’s what I would order if someone hit me over the head, threw me into a car, and dumped me off at Fazoli’s.

Okay concession number one—oops, I mean the first menu item I’d order is The Grilled Chicken Panini. And right away I see problems. The panini, it's bread, probably white bread and loaded with olive oil. I’ll stick with it, but it’s a decent-sized concession. Okay, clearly I’m ditching the provolone—I don’t do dairy. Now I’m cool with the chicken, but that would be my meat allotment for the week. Also I’d limit the Lite Italian dressing that comes with it, I have my suspicious as to how “lite” it really is. Hey, on the up side it comes with lettuce and tomato—the standard American source of phytonutrients.

My next two menu selections are pasta dishes. Okay, so I’m already admitting to that concession—hopefully I can run a tight ship from here on out. Fazoli’s gives you an option to make your own pasta dish and they have a couple decent selections to choose from. Personally, I’m going with the Whole Wheat Penne topped with Broccoli. Of course I’d ask if the chef could refrain from drowning it with olive oil. Maybe you could get the olive oil on the side or just season with garlic powder. Fazoli’s also sells pizza, so surely there’s got to be a garlic shaker somewhere. The Minestrone also looks good, but if you check the menu’s nutrition facts, you’ll see it pretty salty. So ordering it entails a pasta and salt concession. It’s a tough sell either way.

Finally—and this shouldn’t surprise anyone—the last item I’d order is a salad. Actually, Fazoli’s offers up six salads, all but two are loaded with standard American salad ruiners; ham, salami, pasta, cheese, and croutons. The Garden Side Salad is probably the best option it’s touted as, “The perfect size with mixed greens and grape tomatoes.” I’d ask the waiter about getting this dinner-sized. The Grilled Chicken salad would also work. It appears to be the same thing as the side salad, but with a piece of chicken on top—how creative. In the end both these options are pretty safe, provided you go easy on the dressing.

If you weren’t able to tell, my level of enthusiasm for Fazoli’s was pretty much nonexistent. Very lame food, drawing from the lowest common denominator of Italian cuisine, not very  nutritious, and very unappealing. To be frank, I wouldn’t eat at Fazoli’s. In fact, I’ll repeat what I told a commenter last week when she asked me to take a look at this abomination called the Heart Attack Grill, “If I was in a car headed to this place, I'd hit the driver in the head with my shoe.” Yeah, that just about sums it up.

Oh, and you know the drill, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Fazoli's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Okay, before I begin, let me point out that I’m not much of a world traveler or a restaurant connessieur for that matter. So when my friend suggested The French Laundry for this week’s Eating to Live on the Outside, I paused, and shot him a look like a dog watching television—head-cocked to the side, wide-eyed, and confused. That’s a restaurant? I asked. He assured me it was. I guess the stains on my shirt will have to wait.

The French Laundry boasts a bountiful menu—mostly of dishes I can’t pronounce—loaded with exotic entrees and fancy ingredients. Naturally, I can’t really picture myself eating at a place like this—my collar’s too blue. If I walked in they’d probably mistake me for the help. Okay, but for the purposes of this post let’s pretend I’m a Hollywood mogul with a young starlet at my side—nice! So, um, pardon me monsieur, but I am ready to order.

The first thing to grab my attention was the Salad of Sacramento. As we’ve learned from previous installments salad is usually a safe-haven for Eat to Livers. In this case, it’s a safe-haven for the guy who really doesn’t comprehend the rest of the menu. The Salad of Sacramento is prepared with delta green asparagus, spring garlic, sweet peppers, arugula, and yellow pepper “gastrique.” Ah yes, gastrique—what the heck is gastrique? According to Wikipedia gastrique is a thick sauce produced by a reduction of vinegar or wine, sugar and, usually, fruit. Well, given the amount of veggies here—i.e. phytonutrients—I’m okay with making the sugar my concession. Cool, I’m feeling Frenchier already!

This next item jumped up at me because Dr. Fuhrman lists beets as one of his ten super foods. The Slow-Roasted Heirloom Beets are prepared with grilled and shaved fennel bulb, cara cara orange “confit”, and “Vinaigrette a L’Estragon.” And how! Yup, I have no idea what confit is, and virtually brain-dead regarding Vinaigrette a L’Estragon—although it sounds cool. Help Wikipedia, help me! Confit, in this case anyway, is fruit infused with a sugar core. Estragon is the French word for tarragon. Once again I’m willing to make this sugary concession. Since beets are so good for you, I’m not about to let a little sugar rain on my parade—or should I say, pleuvoir sur ma parade. Hey I’m getting good at this. Just call me Gerry “L'Abattoir” Pugliese.

Now pour le final dish that caught my eye—did I just speak French again? Sacre bleu! I’ve never heard of Hen-of-the-Woods Mushrooms before, but I really like mushrooms and I’m willing to taste test almost anything, so what the heck! The mushrooms come with French Laundry garden heirloom carrots, Tokyo turnips, spring garlic, and “Jus de Legumes Rotis.” Which from my best estimation is juice from Rotis beans, but I could be wrong. Since this dish is entirely veggies, there’s got to be some phytonutrients in there. I’d ask the wait-staff for confirmation on the Rotis juice because as it stands right now I don’t see myself having to make any concessions—which is definitely a good thing! You won’t find that Denny’s.

So despite stumbling through the menu, I think The French Laundry is a great choice. They offer plenty of veggie-based dishes that would leave any Eat to Liver feeling pretty good about themselves. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why they were voted fourth on The World’s 50 Best Resturants of 2006.

And as always, nous voulons vos réactions! Nous dire que vous pourriez avoir fait différemment. Payer la note le menu français de la Lessive et savons comment que vous Mange pour Habiter sur l'Extérieur? Partir un commentaire ou nous envoie un e-mail à diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Bonefish Grill kind of sounds like the name of a salty fisherman you might meet down in the Florida Keys, but for today, the Bonefish Grill is the final destination of the S.S. Eating to Live on the Outside. So pull up the anchor, screw on your peg leg, and let’s shove off!

Okay, if the name didn’t give it away, the main staple of the Bonefish Grill is, well—fish! Now if you read DiseaseProof you’ll know Dr. Fuhrman has a love-hate relationship with fish. It’s healthier than other animal foods and contains healthy omega fats, but unfortunately a lot of fish is contaminated with things like mercury and PCBs. So, like a blind man walking through a minefield, today, I’ve got to be extra careful about what I select. But I’m up for the challenge!

Let’s start off easy. I wonder what lurks under Soups and Salads—cool, check out the Bonefish House salad! It’s prepared with chopped greens, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, hearts of palm, pine nuts, and citrus herb vinaigrette—sounds pretty tasty to me. And since there’s no fish, you don’t have to worry about chemical contamination. Olives are oily and salty, but all in all, not bad. The Florida Cobb Salad is looking good too, but I’d probably make a couple alterations. For starters, the blue cheese is out—no dairy for me! And second, while I don’t mind occasionally eating chicken, spicy anything is a problem for me, so adios jerk chicken! The great thing about this salad is it comes with avocado, and as many of you know, I’m a total avocado mark!

That was easy, now the waters are starting to get choppier. The Grilled Fish section of the menu has a lot to offer, but again, I’ve got to be mindful of contamination. Here are the types of fish you can choose from: Atlantic Salmon, Rainbow Trout, Snapper, Gulf Grouper, Ahi Tuna, Jumbo Sea Scallops, Atlantic Swordfish, Chilean Sea Bass, and Lobster Tails—time to confer with our old friend OceansAlive.org. Okay, we’ve got some serious problems here. The Atlantic Salmon, Snapper, Gulf Grouper, Ahi Tuna, Atlantic Swordfish, and Chilean Sea Bass all rank as an Eco Worst—so they’re all out. The Jumbo Sea Scallops are a little concerning too, looks like the safest bet is either the Lobster Tails or the Rainbow Trout. I’m not big on lobster, so I’ll stick with the trout. Who else finds this level of contamination very unsettling?

I’d top my grilled Rainbow Trout off with either the Warm Mango Salsa or the Pan Asian. The mango salsa is all good, but I’d skip the drizzle of wasabi cream that accompanies the Pan Asian—spicy and dairy? No way!

Now, if all this talk about contamination scared you, and you’re not really digging any of the salads, here’s another option. The Bone Fish Grill, like other restaurants I’ve examined, allows you to pick your side dishes. So, what does that mean? Go ahead and make your own entrée! For example, check out the Island Rice and the Steamed Vegetable Medley. The vegetable medley is exceptional—fresh broccoli, peppers, yellow squash, carrots, and asparagus—can you say phytonutrients! The Island Rice isn’t bad either. It’s made with wild rice, almonds, raisins, and red peppers. I don’t know about you, but I’m okay with my concession being the rice, especially if I pair it up with the steamed veggies.

You see, that wasn’t so bad. Sure, the going got rough when we encountered all the fish problems, but with a little research we found the buried treasure. And actually there’s a Bonefish Grill not to far from my house, so next time I’m in the mood for seafood—which won’t be for a while if you remember my sushi debacle from yesterday—I’ll stop in and report back to you!

Oh, and before you set sail back to your home port, remember, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out the Bonefish Grill’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Are you hungry? I am. Let’s take a ride over to Chipotle. No Chipotle nearby? Okay, let’s go to Baja Fresh. No Baja Fresh either? What about P.F. Chang’s? No? Well then, what is close by? Tony Roma’s? What’s that? I’ll tell you what it is—a tough sell for any Eat to Liver! Unless of course you Eat to Live with ribs, steaks, and burgers.

First off, Tony Roma’s is known for their ribs, steak, and seafood—uh, two out of three isn’t bad, right? With that being said, you know right off the bat this place is just another standard American restaurant. Oh goodie! Looks like I’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel again, but there’s got to be at least a few things a health conscious person might order. Don’t worry, there is—let’s take a look.

No surprise here, but my eyes are quickly drawn to the section of the menu entitled “Soups & Salads.” This isn’t always the case, sometimes restaurants have other menu items that I’d consider ordering—that should help some of you who had concerns about why I don’t always just go straight for the salad. Also, always picking salad seems like the easy way out. Sure salad or the salad bar is usually the best option, but how boring would it be if every week I just said, “I’d go with the salad.” I’m trying to dig a little deeper, and maybe unearth a diamond that maybe buried in a lot of rough—or should I say buried beneath melted cheese, bacon, and grease!

Okay, back to the menu. I like the Chicken Club Salad and Tony’s Asian Salad, but both need significant tweaking. For the Chicken Club Salad I’m ditching the smoked ham, bacon, cheddar cheese, and croutons. I’ll also pass on the egg. I’m okay with the chicken, especially since after you remove all that stuff, you’re really not left with much. Now, for Tony’s Asian Salad I’m chucking the fried won-ton noodles, and I’ll probably top that with salmon—I’m a sucker for seafood! And of course, I’m going very easy on the dressing.

The next couple of dishes I’d order are under “Chicken & Seafod.” Even though I’m fine with eating the occasional chicken, none of the selections sounded too appetizing. So I’m going strictly seafood here, which is a good thing because Tony Roma’s serves Mahi Mahi! Not only do I love Mahi Mahi, but according to OceansAlive.org, Mahi Mahi is an eco best for contamination—makes me feel a lot better about eating it. So, clearly I’m cool with the Grilled Mahi Mahi, the only thing I’m not cool with is the scampi butter. As I’ve said before, me and dairy, like oil and vinegar, so goodbye butter! I’m pretty excited about garlic seared green bananas. I wonder what they taste like? I’d also ask the wait staff if you can order brown rice with this dish, they might already give you that option, but hey, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Oh, oh, Mahi Mahi comes with a dinner salad too—think phytonutrients!

The other fishy dish I like is the Grilled Norwegian Salmon, especially since it comes with garlic seared green beans—I grew up snapping green beans with my grandparents—so I love them! And again, I’d ask the wait staff about the rice. I always go easy on the amount of rice I eat, and when I do eat it, it is almost always brown—no refined stuff for me! Clearly I’m also dropping that pesky scampi butter and I’m not fooling with the honey barbeque sauce, salmon takes good enough on its own. And for all you Eat to Livers keeping score, if I were to eat fish at Tony Roma’s I’d wait a few weeks before I ate it again.

So, despite Tony Roma’s menu being loaded with all that standard American food, there are still a few items an Eat to Liver can feel pretty good about. After months of doing this, I keep thinking, Dr. Fuhrman should open a restaurant: Fuhrman’s, a place to eat, and live!

And as always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. Any tips? Check out Tony Roma’s menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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I’m not so sure how “ruby” any day of the week would be for an Eat to Liver dining at Ruby Tuesday—it’s a tough one. Now, you’ve probably heard me say this a bunch of times, but if this weekly series has taught me anything, its that many standard American restaurants are nightmares when it comes to responsible eating. Ruby Tuesday isn’t much better—lots of burger, steak, and cheese-oriented food. Oh goody! I can feel my arteries hardening already.

No surprise here, but the safe-haven on the menu is the “Salads, Soups & Sandwiches” section—although not with out its problems. The first item I don’t have too many hang-ups about is the Garden Vegetable Soup. Now, it’s not perfect. After all it is prepared with chicken broth, so this may discourage some Eat to Livers. As for me, I eat meat once a week, so if my weekly meat intake was simply chicken broth, well, I’m not exactly going to beat myself up over it. Besides the chopped tomatoes, roasted corn, and green beans make me feel a whole lot better about. If this doesn’t suit your fancy, Ruby Tuesday does have a Fresh Garden Bar. This is a great fallback option, why take your chances with the chef’s creation? Grab a dish and pile-high the veggies!

Evidently Ruby Tuesday is known for their burgers—and there’re a lot of them! Most of them don’t interest me, especially the ones drowned in cheese and topped with bacon. But surprisingly a few did catch my eye. I like the Turkey Burger, the Portobello Swiss Turkey Burger, and the Veggie Burger. Okay, all three burgers come served on a bun with lettuce, tomato, and pickles. Not bad, the bun would be my biggest concession. The other thing is, each burger can come topped with cheese—now I don’t care if it’s Monterey Jack or Swiss cheese, I’m ditching both. Diary and I went through a nasty divorce, so I don’t go anywhere near cheese. Also, I guess I could just eat the burger without the bun, but I don’t want to be mistaken for a low-carber—dread the thought!

Finally, and we’ve seen this come up before, Ruby Tuesday has a decent selection of side dishes. So I think another great option would be to construct a meal out of the healthier sides they have available. For example, the premium baby greens, sautéed Portobello mushroom slices, fresh steamed broccoli, and plain baked potato all look good—just think of all the phytonutrients in the broccoli and baby greens. The creamy mashed cauliflower also caught my eye, but before I’d order it, I’d want to ask the waiter if there’s really cream in it. If so, that would certainly ruin a good thing.

Overall I’m not very impressed with Ruby Tuesday. So much of the menu is devoted to standard American urges: ribs, steak, cheese, fries, bacon, etc. They do provide the menu’s nutritional information online, but little good it does you when you’re seated at the restaurant. And, lets be honest, just because people know how unhealthy the food is, doesn’t mean they won’t eat it—after all McDonald's is still selling burgers!

Okay, you know the drill—we want your feedback! Check out Ruby Tuesday’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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If I had to equate Eating to Live on the Outside to an amusement park ride, it’d be a rollercoaster. Why? Because there are the ups, health conscious restaurants like Just Salads, Chipotle, and P.F. Chang’s, and the downs, like Denny’s, IHOP, and Sizzler. After months of doing this series I can honestly say this rollercoaster is more often than not, barreling downward—which makes sense when you consider the state of obesity in this country.

The U.S. landscape is littered with standard American restaurants—menus teeming with bacon cheese fries, deep-fried green beans, and full-slab spare ribs—and this week’s restaurant certainly falls in line with all that. Say hello to Boston Market. While not as bad as other eateries I’ve examined, it’ll definitely make an Eat to Liver cringe. Tighten your boot straps, we’re going in.

The first section of the menu entitled “Individual Meals” won’t appeal to non-meat eating Eat to Livers; lots of turkey, chicken, and beef. To be honest, even though I eat meat, I’m not exactly ecstatic about it either. The All Beef Meatloaf and Roasted Sirloin are history because I don’t eat red meat, under any circumstances. I don’t trust the Chicken Pot Pie because the menu says it includes a touch of cream—that touch of cream is enough to give me a touch of gastritis! So what’s left? Basically just the rotisserie chicken, rotisserie turkey, and roasted turkey—I’ll take the roasted turkey. For both the rotisserie chicken and turkey the portion sizes are too big for me, I’ll eat chicken or turkey, but I don’t want ¼ of a bird. I’d probably also go easy on the poultry gravy too.

Now, if meat isn’t your fancy, and it isn’t always mine, Boston Market does have a couple salads you can choose from—I say a couple because there are only two. Just the kind of health variety you’d expect from a standard American restaurant (tongue in cheek). The first option is a Caesar Salad, not for me, too much cheese and dairy—not worth the risk! The Market Chopped Salad would be my safest bet. It doesn’t tell you exactly which vegetables are in it, all the menu reads is, “More fresh veggies than a farmers market! A wondrous collection of crispy vegetables, mixed green lettuce, and flavors mixed with Craisins [dried cranberries], and crumbled blue cheese. Tossed with our signature champagne vinaigrette.” If you want you can add chicken, turkey breast, or hot sirloin—I’ll pass! I’m also ditching the blue cheese and of course I’d go easy on the dressing, no sense sabotaging my salad.

Okay, Boston Market’s problems really become evident when you take a look at the “Soups & Sides” section of the menu. In total there are eighteen offerings, I only flagged four as potential candidates, but I can only order one of them with a somewhat straight face. The Seasonal Fresh Fruit Salad is the most Fuhrman-friendly out of them all; a fresh mix of melon and seedless grapes. Remember this one because everything else is iffy, at best. The Fresh Steamed Vegetables sound like a good idea, but they’re tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper—this kind of compromises the broccoli, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, and green beans. I’d still order it, but it’d be so much better without the toss-job. I might also consider the Cinnamon Apples, but they come with brown sugar. Also, the Cranberry Walnut Relish could be a nice alternative to gravy, if I decided to order meat.

At first glance there are other sides on the menu that grabbed my attention, but if you read the fine print, they’ve got problems—especially for me! Take the Sweet Corn and Greens Beans for example, I love them both, but they’re both seasoned in a garlic butter sauce, and butter is a major no-no! And the sides that aren’t prepared with butter have cream in them, this doesn’t bode well either. So despite the vast offerings, and Eat to Liver would find this list pretty limiting.

So, if you were to ask me if Boston Market has any redeeming characteristics, I’d probably point to the nutrition facts. Every item on the menu has them, so at the very least you can maintain damage control because you’ll know exactly how many calories, sodium, fat, etc. are in what you’re eating. A small consolation I know.

Don’t forget, we want your feedback! Check out the Boston Market menu and let us know how Eat to Live on the outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside takes a look at Luby’s. Now, prior to today I’d never heard of Luby’s, so I didn’t know what expect. When I first visited their website it seemed to me that Luby’s was just another restaurant along the same lines as Friday’s, Perkins, The Office, Bennigan’s, etc., but, a closer examination revealed something different.

Something better? Well Luby’s is no Baja Fresh or Just Salads, but it certainly doesn’t deserve to be lumped into the same category as Sizzler, Friendly’s, or Denny’s. So if standard American restaurants are on one side and healthy eateries like the Go Raw Café are on the other, I’d put Luby’s a few clicks down from the healthy. Luby’s looks like what would happen if a typical America restaurant were to ratchet up the healthiness of their food. The best way to explain what I mean is to take a look at menu, so, let’s check it out.

The first two menu items that snagged my attention were the Pan Grilled Tilapia and the Lemon Basil Salmon, under the “Classic Combos” section. Now if you’ve been keeping up with this series you know that I am not hardcore anti-meat. I eat meat once, occasionally twice a week, and it’s usually fish, but when fish isn’t around I’ll substitute chicken or turkey. I’m sure some Eat to Livers might not agree with this, but it works for me. In this case salmon and tilapia certainly work for me because, as I’ve mentioned many times before, Dr. Fuhrman regards salmon and tilapia as a low risk for mercury contamination.

Now even though these fish sound tasty, what really caught my eye were the sides that come along with them. Unlike many of American restaurants, Luby’s actually lets you pick the sides that accompany your dish, this way you’re not at the mercy of the chef. Trust me, this is a good thing. Luby’s sides, for the most part, are pretty health conscious. Here are the ones I’d order: broccoli, carrots, cabbage, corn, spinach, pinto beans, pineapple, fresh green beans, black-eyed peas, mixed field greens, mixed melons, and marinated cucumbers. Compared to the sides of many standard American restaurants, Luby’s offerings kick butt!

In fact, if you didn’t feel comfortable ordering an entrée, you could easily put together a nutrient-rich meal from just the sides. And guess what? Luby’s encourages this! If you flip over to the “Salads & More” section of the menu you’ll see special prices if you order three or four sides as your meal. Pretty cool right? As much as I like fish I think this is the way to go. So if I were piecing together a four-side meal I think I’d go with broccoli, spinach, fresh green beans, and pineapple. What would you do?

Perhaps the best thing about Luby’s is the section of the menu entitled “Healthy Eating.” Here they give you suggestions to make your meal even healthier, like “Choose poultry and remove the skin” and “Ask for sauces and gravies on the side.” This is really wonderful, it tells me Luby’s is a place that cares about their patrons’ health, and they don’t just want you to gorge yourself silly on Potato Skinny Dippers, Fried Green Beans, Fried Macaroni & Cheese or whatever else most standard American restaurants spend time concocting—hats off to you Luby’s!

And don’t forget the feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Luby's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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“My kind of town, Chicago is…” Old Blue Eyes was onto something when he sang these lyrics because this week Eating to Live on the Outside takes a look at Chicago’s own Lake Side Café—and it’s a good one! No way is this place a standard American restaurant; healthy eateries like P.F. Chang’s, Just Salads, and California Pizza Kitchen just gained a new ally. So let’s see what’s cooking!

First off, their fruit smoothies caught my eye. All three flavors sound good to me: Banana Cinnamon, Blueberry Banana, and Strawberry Banana. Now, you have the option of ordering any of them with soy milk, rice milk, or regular milk. For me dairy is not an option and I prefer soy milk over rice milk, so if I had to pick, a Banana Cinnamon smoothie with soy milk sounds good to me. There are also a few interesting juice creations on the menu too, but I’m not that into juice, I prefer my fruit with a little more substance—and fiber!

Okay, onto the munchies. I really like the Italiano Toasted Sandwich—and no it’s not because I’m Italian—it’s because I love artichoke hearts! In addition to artichoke hearts this dish comes with pesto, cucumber, tomato, and mozzarella. Mozzarella! Relax, Lake Side Café gives you the option to veganize the cheese and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Also, since this is a sandwich, I’d ask the wait staff if you can get whole-wheat bread. No sense spoiling all these veggies in between two slices of white bread. So if you do all this, you’re left with a pretty Fuhrman-friendly meal, your only concessions would be the bread and the olive oil used to make the pesto, but the side salad should quell your apprehension.

Lake Side Café also offers up a couple interesting salads as well. Naturally they’ve got a Simple House salad that’s prepared with lettuce, carrot, peppers, tomato, onion, and sesame seeds—pretty cool right? But the one I really like is the Greek Islands. It’s not very fancy, but I’m a sucker for balsamic vinegar. In addition to the balsamic it comes with red onions, olives, peppers, tomato, cucumber, olive oil, and feta cheese. Now, I’m not sure if you can veganize the feta, if you can that’s great, but I take no chances with dairy so it’s gone. I’d also ditch the olive oil in this case because balsamic vinegar is all I need to top off a salad. It’s got more than enough flavor for me.

If you’re an Eat to Liver with a lust for pizza, check out Lake Side Café’s Thin Crust Pizzas. Both of them look great to me. For starters you can order both of them on a wheat-free spelt crust, so that should calm your refined grain worries a little. And you can pretty much veganize both dishes if you so choose. The Organic Garden Pizza is prepared with broccoli, mushroom, green pepper, red onion, mozzarella, and red sauce. Once you’ve swapped out the dairy cheese, this is a pretty good line up of veggies. The Mediterranean Pizza is nice looking too; red onion, artichoke hearts (yes!), feta, mozzarella, and pesto sauce. Clearly I’d skip the feta and once again veganize the mozzarella, even after these alterations I still like what’s left. Probably even tastes good cold the next morning—oh you’ve done it too!

All and all there’s lots of neat stuff on Lake Side Café’s menu, these were just the ones that caught my eye, check out their menu and let us know what got your mouth watering. And give us your feedback too! Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com. Let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside!

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Ever wonder what a menu would look like if practically every dish had cheese in it? You’re in luck! The Desert Moon is a Mecca of cheddar, Monterey Jack, and blue cheese. And we all know how Dr. Fuhrman feels about cheese, it's on his list of the seven worst foods for health and longevity. So guess what that means amigo? We’ve got so some work to do before this place is Fuhrman-friendly.

Let’s start with the dishes without cheese? Excluding the Kids Menu, the Sides, and the Soup of the Day, there is a whooping ONE, yep one dish. And this lone cheese-less creation isn’t without its own problems. The shrimp in the Acapulco Shrimp Taco is a major no-no for an Eat to Liver. Not sure what I mean? Check out what OceansAlive.org has to say about shrimp. You’ll see that most of them are rated an eco worst. So you probably want to skip it, but without the shrimp there’s really no reason to order it all. So like it or not, we’ve got to monkey with the cheese fare.

I’m going to start off easy—well easier—with the salads. At a glance the Tossed Green Salad looks like the best option (I say that loosely). It comes with tossed greens, pico de gallo, sliced olives, cheese, garlic croutons, and lime cilantro vinaigrette. Clearly the cheese and garlic croutons are getting the heave-ho, going easy on or ditching the vinaigrette is a good idea, the greens are cool, and I’m keeping the olives and the pico de gallo. In case you don’t know what pico de gallo is, check out this Wikipedia link; you’ll find it to be very veggie-friendly.

The other salad I might order would be the Taco Salad, but it needs some major renovations. If left alone it comes with shredded lettuce, chili, sour cream, pico de gallo, Monterey Jack & cheddar cheese, and chicken or fire roasted vegetables. Obviously I’m throwing the sour cream and both cheeses out the window (don’t try this at the restaurant, they won’t appreciate it), but I’ll stick with everything else. Now, I’m not against eating chicken, but given the choice between fowl and roasted vegetables, veggies usually win. All and all these two salads aren’t too different from the usual standard American salads we've seen at other restaurants.

So what if you’re not in the mood for salad? To be honest I’d be surprised to hear an Eat to Liver say that, but just in case you are. Here’s what I’d order. For starters I like the Harvest Wrap; it comes with fresh guacamole, lettuce, more of that pico de gallo, olives, and Monterey Jack & cheddar cheese—not to mention the tortilla holding it all together. Okay, I’m dropping the cheeses again, but should I drop the guacamole? I’m an avocado fiend (Ambassador to the Republic of Avocado), but guacamole is sometimes made dairy or salt. I’d have to ask the staff before I ordered it, a little salt I can deal with, but dairy—no way!

If you make similar omissions to the Black Bean Burrito, Adobe Burrito, or the Fajita Taco, you’re in good shape too. Although because of the tortilla and rice, you’d definitely be making a refined grain concession. But remember you can always order any burrito or taco with fire roasted vegetables; those phytonutrients should put your mind at ease.

I got to be honest, given the success we had with Baja Fresh and Chipotle, I had my hopes up for Desert Moon, but it let me down. While I wouldn’t consider it as bad as restaurants like Denny's, Sizzler, or Houlihan's, it pretty much just joins the ranks of your typical standard American restaurants—diner beware!

As always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. Any tips? Check out the Desert Moon's menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. How do you Eat to Live on the outside?

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Alright, alright I know what you’re thinking, Denny’s? Denny’s! Why bother? Yes, I’ve heard all the stories about it too. Comedians all over the country make jokes about how unhealthy and terrible the food is. And its true, the food is by and large, not all that healthy, but surprisingly no worse than other standard American restaurants, like IHOP, Sizzler, Ground Round, and Houlihan’s; although it does have a couple redeeming qualities among all the bacon, cheese, and deep-fried crud. Let’s take a look.

Apparently Denny’s is known for breakfast, but certainly not any breakfast an Eat to Liver would make at home. The menu is a tough one; lots of meat, refined grains, dairy, and grease. So if you’re really hard up for breakfast, you’re going to have to lower your expectations. If it were me, I might order a few scrambled eggs, but the griddle would have to be free of oil, lard, butter, or what ever else they cook with. Another option would be to comprise a meal from the sides menu; applesauce, cinnamon apples, or just plain fruit might make do in a pinch.

To be honest, I’d just skip breakfast entirely. I’m not really thrilled with any of the offerings.

Now here’s one of Denny’s surprising redeeming qualities. If you check out the menu heading “Fit Fare” you’ll see they give you some nutritional information; carbohydrates, fat, calories, and fiber. I didn’t expect to see this from such a vilified restaurant. So, if you’re an egg-eating Eat to Liver, you might consider ordering the Veggie Omelette. “Might” is the important word here because, again, who knows what that griddle looks like, and it’s not exactly loaded with a lot of veggies any way; only mushrooms, green peppers, onions, and tomatoes. But if you do order it, at least you’ll know what’s in it: 38 g Carbohydrates, 332 Calories, 8g Fat, and 5g Fiber.

Okay, remember this week’s post Not All Salads are Health Foods, where I talked about how many restaurant salad offerings are totally sabotaged, and barely healthy dining alternatives? All four of Denny’s salads suffer from the same problem—prepare to punch the computer screen—you’ve got the Chef Salad (with turkey, ham, egg, and cheddar cheese), the Taco Salad (with beef, cheddar cheese, tortilla chips, and sour cream), the Fried Chicken Strips Salad (with fried chicken and cheddar cheese), and finally the Grilled Chicken Breast Salad (with grilled chicken and cheddar cheese). If I were to order any of these as they are, I’d be making major concessions. I think they’re all salvageable if you remove the undesirable ingredients. The only one I might make a case for (and of course you’d have to be into eating meat) would be the grilled chicken. Although the Chef’s Salad seems the easiest to augment, but in the end between them there really isn’t a vast array of veggies, only mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions—might not be worth the trouble.

Outside of these makeshift salads the only other dishes I’d order are on the Fit Fare menu; the Boca Burger, the Grilled Tilapia, or Grilled Chicken. The Boca Burger is a solid option, especially for non-meat eating Eat to Livers, and it comes with fruit—nice! I’m not a cheese-eater, so I’m ditching that, making the bun my only concession. The Grilled Tilapia is cool too (click here for Dr. Fuhrman’s take on fish), it comes with green beans, tomato slices, and vegetable pilaf; clearly the pilaf would be the concession. The Grilled Chicken also comes with green beans and tomato slices—no refined grain concessions here, only animal ones. All and all these three dishes aren’t that different from comparable ones offered at other standard American eateries.

Finally, the other good quality about Denny’s is the nutrition information isn’t limited only to its Fit Fare, click here and you’ll see the nutrition facts for the entire menu. Does it make up for the extremely unhealthy food? No, of course not, but at least people can’t blame the restaurant. You have the opportunity to see just how fatty that food really is. (I’m not sure if the nutritional information is actually available at the restaurant.) But one thing is for sure, Denny’s is no Just Salads, Go Raw Café, Chipotle, or Baja Fresh!

As always we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Denny’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside hops on the first gondola back to the old country—well the commercialized Americanized version of it anyhow. Now, if you’ve been keeping up with this series you know for every Go Raw Café, Baja Fresh, and Just Salads there is an armada of unhealthy eateries, i.e. the Outback Steakhouses, Ground Rounds, Friendly’s, IHOPs, and Sizzlers of the world. Carrabba’s Italian Grill certainly leans towards the latter.

After a few seconds of scanning the menu you’ll notice it’s primed with cheese, butter, olive oil, and prosciutto—Italian bacon! Damn you bacon! Is there no escaping your greasy stranglehold? Sorry, I had a moment. I’m better now, let’s continue. Personally I’m going to be especially vigilant about the cheese, butter, and obviously the prosciutto, a.k.a. bacon. I’m more lenient about the olive oil, but I’ll do my best to limit my exposure to it.

Okay the first item I’d order would be the Minestrone. Being a full-blooded Italian I can honestly say I love Minestrone. There are lots of veggies in there and it fills you up, but there’s a catch. Minestrone also contains pasta, usually the refined grain unhealthy stuff. Personally, I’m okay with this concession, but if I were to order it, it’d be awhile before I ate pasta again—no sense making a habit out of it!

No surprise here, but the next dishes I’d consider ordering are salads. First you’ve got your basic house salad, which is usually a safe option (provided you limit or omit the oily dressing), but I’m also intrigued by the Insalata Fiorucci and the Insalata Carrabba. Are they perfect? Oh no, there’s some nit-picking to do. Sure, between the both of them you’ve got field greens, artichoke hearts, roasted red bell peppers, grilled eggplant, tomatoes, black olives, carrots, celery, and red onions. But there’s also plenty of stuff to make an Eat to Liver head for the hills; a hazelnut goat cheese medallion, and mozzarella and romano cheese, not to mention the vinaigrette. For me the solution is pretty clear, I’m cutting out the cheese, I can go either way with the chicken (of course some of you might prefer to ditch it), and I’d use just a teeny tiny bit of vinaigrette. See with a few alternations you’ve got a decent meal, take a moment and ponder all the phytonutrients.

Next in line is the Grilled Salmon. Many of you already know that Dr. Fuhrman classifies salmon as a smart choice if you like fish and are worried about mercury. Although I think it’s wise not to go over board with the fish (pun intended), I try not to eat it more than a few times a month and its almost always salmon, tilapia, or some other variety of low contamination fish. Carrabba’s Grilled Salmon is prepared with the “chef’s sauce of the day”, unless you know the chef personally you might want to ask the wait staff about it. This dish also comes with your choice of garlic mashed potatoes, spaghetti pomodoro, cavatappi amatriciana, or the vegetable of the day. I’d go with the vegetable of the day. I know what you’re thinking. What the hell is the cavatappi amatriciana? I asked my Italian speaking mother and here’s what she said, “Cavatappi is a corkscrew. Amatriciana sounds like a name or type.” Clearly that doesn’t shed much light on the mystery. Forget about it, and move on with your life.

I wish I had more positive things to say about my paisan Carrabba’s Italian Grill, but despite its Mediterranean namesake, it’s just another standard American restaurant teeming with the dregs of the standard American diet. How SAD.

Oh, and don’t forget, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Carrabba’s Italian Grill’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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If you’ve been keeping up with this series you know it can be downright scary; the Friendly’s, Houlihan's, and Sizzlers of the world making finding a healthy place to eat a tall order.

This week’s restaurant of choice follows that trend. It seems to me any eatery that positions itself along the lines of “good ol’ American” cooking, is hardly good-for-you American cooking. Perkins Restaurant & Bakery definitely fits this bill.

Perkins menu is loaded with the usual suspects of the standard American diet, lots of bacon, fried things, melted cheese, white breads, and mysterious sauces. So to make a long story short, finding things an Eat to Liver might order is going to be a rough mission. Well, let’s have at it.

Breakfast is a pretty big deal at Perkins, lots of dishes, mostly hearty American favorites—so this menu section is pretty much useless. I’m not ordering any breakfast meats, pancakes and waffles are a no-no, the hash browns look full of grease, and I’m not an Eggs Benedict kind of guy.

So if I were really hard up for breakfast, and in the mood for animal, I’d probably order a basic omelet. Perkin’s gives you the option to create your own omelet anyway, so I don’t think you’ll get a dirty look from the waitress. I’d probably order the omelet prepared with mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, celery, and green peppers—just trying to get some phytonutrients! Oh, and I’d ask to have it cooked with as little oil as possible.

Now, usually the salad is a bastion of hope in standard American restaurants, but Perkins managed to compromise this old standby. All five of their options are served in “bread bowls”—whoopee! I’d still order a salad, but I’d hold off on the bread bowl, it’d be better utilized as a sombrero.

Even without the bread bowl these salads still concern me. As I’ve said before I have no problem eating meat once or twice a week, but other Eat to Livers aren’t so willing to compromise. The problem is all the salad options have some sort of animal product; eggs, cheese, chicken, ham, or godforsaken bacon. Of all the choices I’d probably go with the Chicken Fiesta (with or without the chicken) because it has the most veggies; black olives, red onions, red and green peppers, salad greens, and green onions. As far as the salad dressing, I’d ditch the ranch it comes with and opt for a little oil and vinegar or nothing at all.

Other than a basic omelet and the Chicken Fiesta salad, the only other dishes I’d consider ordering are the Grilled Apricot Teriyaki Salmon and the Grilled Lemon Pepper Tilapia. I’m not worried about contamination because Dr. Fuhrman considers salmon and tilapia to be safer varieties of sea fare. Both dishes come with your choice of two sides, so that means I could have a side salad, baked potato, glazed carrots, butter-steamed broccoli, or buttered corn. Now I’m not pleased with buttered anything, but on this menu, this is as good as it gets—concessions ‘a plenty!

Well there you have it, this is the best I can do with this menu—a real nightmare. So help me out, send us your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Perkin’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Phew! Over the past few weeks I feel like quite the cross-country enthusiast. It started with a New York subway ride to Just Salads, then I rolled into Sin City to check out The Go Raw Café (sorry I didn’t have time to check it out during my recent real-life trip to Las Vegas), and now I’m back on the west coast for some exotic dining at Paru’s Indian Vegetarian Restaurant.

Now, I’m really into eating, I love good food, but in twenty-five years of stuffing my face, I’ve never had Indian food. I’ve done Chinese, Japanese, grew up on Italian food, Korean, Portugese, Brazilian, Irish, Greek, German, crappy American food, and yes, I even like the occasional serving of Sushi, but no Indian. So let me check out Paru’s online menu and see what I might order if I found myself seated in its Hollywood California location.

Okay the names of the dishes are tough to decipher, looks like someone blew up a scramble board (Paru’s glossary should help), but they still look pretty darn appetizing. Being that this place is already vegetarian, and in some cases vegan, I don’t think an Eat to Liver is going to have a hard time choosing a healthful meal. Personally, I the only things I would outright avoid are the few dairy selections and foods prepared with hot spices. That’s double trouble for me.

I really like Punjab’s Glory, it comes with Poori, vegetable curry, peas, rice, Papad, and Raitha. Raitha, Poori, and Papad, you don’t say? Yeah I didn’t know what they are either. According to the glossary Poori is stuffed round bread, Papad is crisp lentil cracker, and Raitha is a yogurt salad. I’ll have to ditch it because dairy does not do my body good, but I am digging the lentil cracker, sounds interesting, vegetable curry sounds cool and peas, peas, who doesn’t like peas! I also hope the rice is brown rice and not nutrient devoid white rice, but given the healthy vibe of this place it probably is. I’m cool with eating the round bread (there’s my concession), but I’m curious to know what it’s stuffed with; a good question for the wait staff.

The Bengal Bahadur is also looking mighty tasty. It’s prepared basmati rice, vegetable curry, Sambar, and Raitha. Well first off I have to ditch the Raitha again, but Sambar, what’s Sambar? The glossary defines it as vegetable gravy used for dipping that can double as a soup. Sounds good to me! Another cool dish is Yogi’s Delight (smarter than the average bear), it’s made with chickpeas, curry, beans, sprouts, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, Paratha, and other vegetables. Now this is a nice array of vegetables, we’ve got a virtual garden of phytonutrients here—very cool! Oh, and Paratha is a chewy Indian flat bread (hello concession), I’ll keep it, sounds interesting. To be honest, Yogi’s Delight would be my most logical choice, I always get nervous trying new food, so my first time I like to play it safe and with all Yogi’s veggies I don’t think I can go wrong.

Paru’s Indian Vegetarian Restaurant has definitely inspired me to give my local Indian restaurant a try. If I do I’ll try and get a follow up Eating to Live on the Outside as soon as possible.

And as always we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Paru’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Hey, it’s not Friday. Why the heck am I doing Eating to Live on the Outside today? Let me explain. Out of all the restaurants I’ve written about, I think I’ve only eaten at a handful of them, and they weren’t exactly any of the healthy ones like Baja Fresh or Chipotle. Until now.

Because last week I hit the strip, the Las Vegas Strip that is. When I wasn't beating my bank account into submission, I sat down for a bite to eat at a couple Eating to Live on the Outside’s favorite restaurants, P.F. Chang’s and The California Pizza Kitchen.

And I have to be honest I had no idea either one of these restaurants had Vegas locations, so I was very pleasantly surprised to see them. So rather than tell you what I would order if I found myself planted at P.F. Chang’s or The California Pizza Kitchen, here’s what I actually ate.

In the P.F. Chang’s edition of Eating to Live on the Outside I said I would order the Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Steamed with Ginger, well guess what folks? That’s exactly what I ordered, and it was good. The salmon was a great piece of fish and the veggies were out of this world! To refresh your memory the dish comes with ginger root, green onions, dried shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, roma tomatoes, and asparagus spears. The shiitake mushrooms really make the dish. And, holding true to my word, since I had the salmon on Wednesday night I’ll be waiting a few weeks before I having fish again. Dr. Fuhrman would be proud.

Now the food at P.F. Chang’s was good, but the salad I had at The California Pizza Kitchen was amazing. The first thing I thought of when I first walked pas the restaurant was “Grilled Vegetable Salad,” I remember writing the California Pizza Kitchen edition of Eating to Live on the Outside and thinking how about how good it sounded. So I was primed to make my fantasy a reality. In case you don’t remember the is prepared with grilled asparagus, Japanese eggplant, zucchini, scallions, roasted corn, Romaine lettuce, fresh avocado, and sun-dried tomatoes. Instead of getting the Dijon balsamic vinaigrette the salad comes with I asked the waiter for regular balsamic vinaigrette on the side and I used it sparingly. The flavor combinations were overwhelmingly good, and of course the avocado really kicked it up a notch. This was dish was a welcomed whack of phytonutrients.

So next time you’re reading Eating to Live on the Outside and wondering if this Gerald Pugliese isn’t just some whacko rattling off menu suggestions from a halfcocked mind, you’ll know that when I say Eating to Live on the Outside, I mean it.

Oh, how could I forget? The P.F. Chang’s is in the Aladdin (soon to be the Plant Hollywood Casino) and The California Pizza Kitchen is in The Mirage. Be sure to check them out and let me know what you ordered. Send me an email at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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If you’ve been keeping up with this series you’ve probably realized many mainstream restaurants have abysmal menus; mostly loaded with melted cheese, bacon, deep fried this, and chicken-fried that. These restaurants are so greasy, even the pages of the online menu are stuck together!

Where are the healthy restaurants? It seems like for every Baja Fresh and P.F. Chang’s there is a blockade of Sizzlers, IHOPs, Fridays, and Friendly's. No wonder Americans are so fat, we’re a nation that loves to dine out, we crave crappy food, and all our restaurants are happy to serve it to us. (And apparently we have an unrelenting desire for bacon, its everywhere!)

You’ll find Houlihan’s to be no different; sporting ten bacon-including dishes of its own (if you count adding it to a burger as one). Well for better and in this case for worse Houlihan’s is this week’s contestant for Eating to Live on the Outside. So just pretend you’ve been kidnapped from your nutrient dense lifestyle and left for dead at your friendly neighborhood chain restaurant.

After much consternation here’s what I’d order if I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun. Oops! I mean thumbing through the menu at Houlihan’s. No surprise here, a nice safe option might be to order a basic salad or a “Tossed Simple Greens” as the menu proclaims. I’m not sure what simple greens are maybe greens that scored poorly on their SATs, but in the world of Eat to Live, any green is good. I’d probably top these “greens” with a few drops of the balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing. Your other options are cheese and cream based. Egad!

Houlihan’s also has some original salad creations: Ahi Tuna Salad, BBQ Salmon Salad, Chicken Asian Chop Chop, and Mandarin Grilled Chicken. There’s a lot of vegetation variety between them: napa cabbage, cilantro, bananas, cashews, chilled greens, mandarin oranges, spiced pecans, jicama, snow peas, bell peppers, red onions, peanuts, black sesame seeds, and white sesame seeds. But these salads aren’t without their problems. If you’re a non-meat eating Eat to Liver you’ll probably want to drop the chicken and fish, personally I’m okay with eating meat once a week, it’s a concession I’m willing to make. You also have to contend with tortilla strips, I’d ditch these—these damn things are everywhere! And as always, it’s probably a good idea to limit or omit the salad dressing.

If it were me I wouldn’t venture beyond the salad section of the menu. The rest of the entrees require major concessions of the aforementioned ooey-gooey deep-fried variety. But if I were forced to choose, I’d say there are two non-salad options worth taking a look at: Pan-Seared Tilapia and the Grilled Vegetable Panini. Are they perfect? Hell no!

The Pan-Seared Tilapia caught my eye mainly because Dr. Fuhrman regards tilapia as one of the safer sea fares, so it gets points for that, but the dish still has its worries. The first and foremost being BACON, which I am promptly ditching; you watch, next it’ll be in bacon energy drinks! Although this meal does have some redeeming qualities like leeks, tomatoes, white beans, and garlic. So if I don’t allow my mind to wonder about the contents of the mysterious “fragrant broth” I wouldn’t feel to bad about ordering this.

And lastly I’d consider giving the Grilled Vegetable Panini a whirl. To be honest I was hoping it had more vegetables (hence its namesake), but it's not too plant matter deprived. It comes with white beans, grilled zucchini, roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and caramelized onions. It also comes with provolone cheese, now despite my Italian blood I think its more health conscious to skip it (my mother would kill me). There’s also a walnut basil-pesto creation that accompanies the panini, I’d probably go easy on it since pesto as this version is almost certainly loaded with unhealthy fats.

To be honest, Houlihan’s is probably the last place I’d want to eat at, I think only Paco’s House of Atomic Deep Fried Bacon Tacos would rank lower. Too much greasy, cheesy food for my liking, but I think if I were to stick to these dishes I’d have a decent chance of feeling OK in the morning.

And you know the drill, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Houlihan’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Last week I took a look a New York City’s own Just Salads, and what a refreshing break from the typical oh so greasy American restaurant fare. Unlike standard artery busting foods of places like the Ground Round, Outback Steakhouse, and Friendly’s, Just Salads is a hearty plot of green in them middle of the big apple. So would you be surprised if I told you I found the same thing in notorious Sin City?

Las Vegas, the land of high hopes and high-rollers, and also home to this week’s restaurant of choice the Go Raw Café. Now I thought Just Salads was a phytonutrient heavy hitter—this place is the David Ortiz of healthy eating! With choices like Kale Salad, Cream of Carrot & Avocado Soup, and Caro-bana smoothies, well quite frankly, you can close your eyes and throw a stone in this place, and you’re still bound to hit something that’d make Dr. Fuhrman smile. Although I’m not sure the staff would appreciate that level of enthusiasm.

At the Go Raw Café “making concessions” is a thing of the past. I don’t see any item on the menu that’d make me think twice about ordering it. Good food is everywhere! So here are a few dishes that jumped out at me.

For starters I like the aforementioned Kale Salad, I like it more because there are avocados in it. In addition to the bestest fruit on the planet this salad also includes red bell peppers, onions, cucumbers, and is served with buckwheat bread. Buckwheat bread? Sounds interesting. You do have the option of house dressing with this salad, which I’m not totally against, I’d would just go easy on how much I used, but if you’re totally against oily dressing the Go Raw Café gives you the option of cilantro instead. Pretty cool hunh?

The Gimme the Beet – “Cheese” Burger w/Fries is looking mighty tasty too, although I do have some questions. I’d ask the wait staff to clarify the fry situation because if they are actual deep-fried potato fries I’m not interested. But given the attitude of this place there’s a good chance “Fries” is just a play on words for something healthier. The burger itself is very interesting; it’s made with beets, carrots, sunflower seeds, and parsley—can’t go wrong there! You can dress your burger with hand prepared ketchup, mustard, mayo (I’ll pass), onion, tomato, lettuce, sprouts, avocado (score!), and almond cheese (yet another creation I’d ask about). After you’re done compiling this anti-burger they sandwich it between “living bread.” I have no idea! Ask before you bite into it, it could bite back. Either way this burger still beets (spelling mistake intended) the pants of the traditional burger, and especially this abominable creation: Baseball’s Worst Burger.

Finally I really like a bunch of the smoothies and juices the Go Raw Café offers—and yes I know eating the actual fruit is considerably better than just drinking the juice. Let me indulge damn it! As far as the juices go, I like the All Good (carrots, apples, and beets), Sweet Greens (kale, parsley, celery, cucumbers, spinach, and collard greens), and Popeye’s Favorite (carrot, spinach, and apple). Now that’s some nutrient dense juice! As for the smoothies, I’m digging the Berry Good (apple, banana, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, and date), Pina Cool-ada (pineapple, banana, macadamia, date, coconut water, and coconut meat), and the Young Blood (wheatgrass, beet juice, and coconut water). These all sound great, but if I’m loosing my shirt at the poker table, well, I’m going to need something a little stronger.

Once again, and much like last week, the only negative I see about the Go Raw Café is its location, Vegas is the only place you’ll find one. So next time your doubling-down at the blackjack table or getting fleeced by the slot machines don’t forget to save some money for a very raw experience.

And as always we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out the Go Raw Café’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside is taking the next E train through midtown New York City, or more indigenously New Yawk City. Right across from the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel is this week’s dinning destination Just Salads, a bountiful harvest in the middle of the concrete jungle.

With a name like “Just Salads” you’re correct to assume the menu is veggie-based (uh, duh!), salad is the absolute cornerstone of this restaurant, a meat-lovers nightmare! Healthy options abound, you’ve got lots to choose from and only a few items that might give you pause. Let’s take a look.

The left side of the menu lists the “Chef Designed Salads & Salad Wraps,” to be honest all these dishes have likable characteristics. The recurring challenge is whether or not to use salad dressing. Personally I wouldn’t get too hung up on this, I’d just order it on the side and dispense it in small increments.

So let’s see, which salads might I order, well for starters I like the Just Salad Signature. It comes with baby spinach, apples, bacon, red onions, walnuts, and shredded cheddar cheese. Clearly I’m not keeping the bacon or the cheese; I know what you’re thinking, “Why bother ordering this one?” I’m lured by the combination of red onion, walnut, and apple.

The Immunity Bowl looks cool too. It’s made with Mesclun, wild salmon, diced roasted butternut squash, and pomegranate seeds. Actually this one sounds really tasty. I’m digging the pomegranate seeds (we all know how healthy pomegranates are) and the butternut squash, not to mention the salmon. If I were to stick with the salmon I’d make sure I didn’t eat fish again for a while. Even though salmon isn’t overly contaminated, I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Fans of Eating to Live on the Outside know about my fetishistic relationship with avocado. So naturally I’m down with The California. This left coast creation comes with iceberg lettuce, grilled chicken, avocado, egg whites, cherry tomatoes, and sliced almonds. The flavor combo of avocado, tomato, and almond sounds very mouthwatering, but I’m not really keen on both grilled chicken and egg whites. I’ll make a concession for one meat, but not two, so I’m dropping the grilled chicken and keeping the egg whites. Still sounds pretty tasty if you ask me.

The Far East is also tempting my taste buds, this is some salad, you’ve got iceberg lettuce, Chinese cabbage, shrimp, carrots, edamame, Chinese noodles, and mandarin oranges. This is the first time I’ve ever seen edamame beans on a menu. This alone makes it worthy of ordering, although I’m giving the shrimp the heave-ho, shrimp has contamination issues. Oh, and I’m sure the Chinese noodles are made with refined flour, but it’s a concession I’m willing to make.

I could go on for hours about all these wonderful salads, but there’s another fantastic element to the menu I’d like to address. YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN CUSTOM SALAD! If you’re feeling stubborn and don’t want to deviate from Eat to Live at all, well, this might be your best option. With all the choices on this menu you can have a field day creating your very own meal. For the base lettuce you can choose mesclun, an arugula-mesclun mix, baby spinach, iceberg, or Romaine lettuce. And on top of that you can pile up things like asparagus, beets, chickpeas, golden raisins, my favorite avocado, shallots, lentils, broccoli, corn, string beans, and even tofu! Not to shabby, right? The bottom line, this is a fantastic place for health conscious dining, hands down.

In my opinion the only real negative is that Just Salads is only in Manhattan. Sadly they’re not a national restaurant chain, they’ve only one location. But for out of state Eat to Livers, next time you’re visiting the big apple you might want to pencil in a stop.

And as always we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Just Salad's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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By now it’s a familiar story, you’re out having a good time with friends and someone suggests grabbing a bite to eat. Now you’re an Eat to Liver, but your buddies aren’t, so chances are healthy food isn’t on the agenda. Yup, you suddenly find yourself on a one-way train to deep-fried-double-battered-triple-cheese-extra-bacon hell. What do you do?

Instead of fisticuffs try rolling with the punches, at least that’s what I do. I’m down with Eat to Live, but I also live in the real world and occasionally that requires some deviations from Eat to Live, or concessions as I all call them. Hey I’m not proud of them, I do my best cushion the blow, but unfortunately the mainstream restaurant world isn’t exactly Eat to Live friendly. So usually I just try to make the best out of an otherwise crumby situation.

And that’s my goal. Find healthy menu selections from popular restaurants, such as Sizzler, Chipotle, California Pizza Kitchen, and Bennigan’s. Sometimes its easy, sometimes it’s hard, but if you really look, there’s bound to be something healthy on almost any menu. Hopefully this holds true for this week’s contestant the Ground Round.

It doesn’t take long to realize that the Ground Round is a meat-centric dining establishment. In fact even many of the “salads” are piled high with animal products, but let’s take a look anyway. My first choice would be the House Salad, but I’m not really sure what’s in it (the ingredients aren’t listed on the menu, only a little photo), if I had to guess it looks pretty standard: lettuce, tomato, onions, etc. Although I do see some croutons, I’d ditch those and limit the oily dressing. The Shrimp & Artichoke Salad also looks pretty tasty, but according to OceansAlive.org shrimp has some contamination issues, so I’d probably omit it from the salad. Oh, the basic Caesar Salad looks okay too.

The Ground Round also has a couple of sandwich wraps that I’d feel comfortable ordering. I really like the Roasted Vegetable Wrap (given the amount of meat on this menu the word vegetable is a godsend in itself), its ingredients include roasted red peppers, zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and sun-dried tomato pesto mayonnaise. Sounds pretty interesting right? Other than the flour tortilla the only thing that really gives me pause is the mayonnaise, but I really like sun-dried tomatoes and pesto, so I would be willing to make this concession and keep it. What do you think? Another option to consider (if you’re in the mood for animal) is the Turkey Club Wrap. It’s not a very complicated dish, it’s made with turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cholesterol-free mayonnaise. Now, I have no problem with the turkey so I’m staying with it, but the bacon is history, and “cholesterol-free mayonnaise” is not enticing enough for me to consider, so adios to it too! Since both these wraps come with French fries I’d ask the wait staff if they have a healthier side available or just skip the side altogether.

The last thing to intrigue my taste buds is the Orange Grilled Salmon. Worried about the fish? Remember according to Dr. Fuhrman salmon is one of the better sea fares you can eat. So breathe a sigh of relief! This dish includes fresh stir-fried Asian vegetables, rice pilaf, and garlic bread sticks. I’m okay with everything, but the garlic bread sticks, don’t get me wrong I love garlic, but the bread is probably made with white flour and since I’ll be eating the rice pilaf I feel compelled to ditch something. All the seafood on the menu comes served with a variety of sides including broccoli or a vegetable of the day. Hey maybe you can ask the wait staff if you can make a main dish out of these healthy sides. That would be a great solution to this meaty Ground Round debacle.

Oh, and don’t forget, we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out the Ground Round’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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This week’s edition of Eating to Live on the Outside heads for the left coast. I’m off to get myself a big ole slice of California Pizza Kitchen. I know what you’re thinking, PIZZA! What about all the cheese? Don’t you know Dr. Fuhrman considers cheese a coagulated nightmare?

He does? Just kidding. To be honest, having never heard of the California Pizza Kitchen (or CPK as all the cool kids call it) I was skeptical about its offerings too. I mean a pizza joint doesn’t exactly scream healthy dining. But I was pleasantly surprised by its bounty of health-conscious grub. Granted they’re not perfect, but on face value alone they easily trounce Friendly’s, Sizzler, and IHOP. Let’s take a look…

The first few dishes to grab my attention are salads: The Grilled Vegetable Salad, Field Greens, and a Tricolore Salad Pizza. One thing that I like about CPK is the generous inclusion of avocado in their dishes. The mighty avocado: Eat to Live soul food. Now, the Grilled Vegetable Salad is jam-packed with veggies: Grilled asparagus, Japanese eggplant, zucchini, scallions, roasted corn, Romaine lettuce, fresh avocado, and sun-dried tomatoes. Go easy on the dressing and you’ve got a fine meal. The Field Greens looks good too, but less vegetables, and the candied walnuts and pears might scare some people away. The Tricolore Salad Pizza holds its own on the veggie-front too: chilled arugula, baby red leaf lettuce, radicchio, and diced tomatoes. Although I’d ditch the Parmesan cheese and, once again, I’d probably only use a teeny tiny bit of dressing.

Since this is a pizza place, you might be tempted to actually order pizza (I know I would), so here are the pies that caught my eyes. Thai Chicken and the Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant. The Thai Chicken sports some pretty cool plant matter combinations: green onions, bean sprouts, julienne carrots, cilantro, and roasted peanuts. It also comes topped with Mozzarella cheese and a spicy peanut-ginger and sesame sauce; I’d probably skip the cheese. The Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant is intriguing too. It’s prepared with Mozzarella or Goat cheese, baby broccoli, grilled Japanese eggplant, roasted corn, sliced red onions, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and tomato sauce, on honeywheat dough. Since I really like the types of veggies on this pizza I might be willing to put up with some cheese (which is risky for me), I’d probably tell the waiter to make it with half the amount of cheese they normally do; of course skipping it altogether is probably the best idea.

Generally I’m not much of a soup guy, but the Dakota Smashed Pea and Barley Soup could change my mind. It’s pretty basic and cheese-less, so I don’t think you’d be making a huge concession by ordering it. Besides, it’s made with some really savory ingredients: split peas, barley, carrots, onions, herbs, and chopped scallions. I think it could be a nice alternative for someone with dairy sensitivity; myself included.

I think the California Pizza Kitchen is a step in the right direction. A lot of the foods are made with fresh ingredients and seem to be more vegetable-based than animal product-based. Maybe these are early signs of a new trend in American dining. And remember we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out California Pizza Kitchen menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside heads to The Office—and not to punch the clock! Instead I’ll look to punch some healthy holes in The Office’s menu; it’s a little dicey, but there’s got to be at least a few healthy dishes. If not I’ll get them as close to healthy as possible, when in doubt—damage control!

Alright, what would I order? The first foods to catch my eye are burgers (shocking). Burgers are usually very scary, but the veggie and turkey variety seem reasonable. I’m accustomed to eating turkey burgers because I never eat red meat; if you ever see me eating a burger rest assured it’s of the gobble-gobble persuasion. Veggie burgers are cool too, but I worry about the sodium used in processing them. I’d try to get my burger on a whole-wheat roll and I’d surely pile up the lettuce, tomato, and pickles (I love pickles); eighty-six the fries too, maybe order a salad instead.

As I’ve admitted numerous times I love avocado (I have a three 'cado a week habit), so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’m into the Turkey & Bacon Wrap. The sandwiched consists of roasted turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and avocado mayonnaise, all on warm flat bread. Obviously the bacon is out the window—look, pigs do fly! Now I’m torn, as El Presidente of The Avocado Fan Club I’m curious about the avocado mayonnaise, but my inner Eat to Live is telling me to veto it. What would you do?

Like most restaurants The Office does have a few salad options. Nothing too exciting, but they’ll do in a pinch. First they’ve got your run-of-the-mill House Salad bustling with mixed greens, mushrooms, carrots, onion, and fresh plum tomatoes. The House Salad also comes with Cheddar cheese and croutons, tell the wait-staff no thanks. Another interesting salad is the Thai Sesame Salad it comes with chicken, almonds, tortilla strips, snow peas, red peppers, mandarin oranges, and mixed greens. I’m sure you can get it without the chicken, but either way I’d nix the refined-wheat tortilla strips. Oh, and go easy on the dressing!

Now we all know refined carbs are bad, but if I were in the mood to make broader concessions I think the next three dishes have potential. The Balsamic Chicken comes served with rice and roasted veggies. Maybe you stick with the rice or maybe you don’t, the roasted vegetables soothe my worries about the rice. The Chicken Quill Penne is interesting too: roasted vegetables over fountain shaped penne. The Rigatoni Primavera also looks mighty tasty: sautéed fresh garden vegetables, rigatoni, creamy parmesan sauce, and Roma Tomatoes (nice for’a big’a Italian boy like’a me). Since I don’t eat dairy I might see if they can offer it up with an alternate sauce..

The last dish I might order is the Pan Roasted Salmon, or as I call it the Return of the Pesky Lemon Butter Sauce. If you recall from last week’s Eating to Live on the Outside lemon butter sauce was drizzled on a couple dishes—damn you butter! So clearly this week I will again vanquish the lemon butter scourge. Other than that the Pan Roasted Salmon comes with roasted vegetables and rice, not too bad. I really like salmon and thankfully it’s not overly contaminated.

Okay my shift is up, time to get out of The Office. And remember we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out The Office’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Adapted from Dr. Fuhrman’s book Eat to Live:

I eat out frequently, which makes sticking with this plan very difficult. How can I make the transition easier?

Choose restaurants that have healthful options, and how the places that will cater to your needs. When possible, speak to the manager or chef in advance. When traveling, look for restaurants that have salad bars. This is not an all-or-nothing plan. Every person exposed to these ideas can improve over his or her current diet. People have a tendency to like best the foods to which they have become accustomed to. So, keep in mind that eventually you will lose the desire for some of the unhealthful foods you are eating now and you will enjoy the pleasures of healthy, natural foods more. I actually enjoy eating healthy food more than injurious food because it takes good and I also feel good. Most of my patients report the same sensation. Food preferences are learned; you can learn to enjoy healthy foods, just as you learned to like unhealthy ones.

You can follow this diet on the road if you are committed to your own success—it just takes more diligence to plan where to go and to make sure in advance that these is something available for you. Get in the habit of ordering a double-size green salad, with dressing on the side, and use only a tiny amount of dressing or squeeze a lemon on the salad.

Remember that this is not a temporary diet, it is your life plan. We must consider how our health is affected by what we choose to eat. We all have to make wise choices to get the most out of life. That doesn’t mean you must be perfect. It does mean that however you eat, whether you adopt all my recommendations or just a part of them, your health will certainly be better off as a result of those improvements. After a while, it becomes habit. If you give it a good try, you may find, as others have, that it is not as difficult as you though, and you will likely grow to enjoy it.

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This week Eating to Live on the Outside gets it’s Irish on at Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern. After weeks of doing these mini-investigations I’ve found some restaurants are easier than others. P.F. Chang’s and Chipotle are loaded with Eat to Live options, restaurants like IHOP and Friendly’s not so much. Now, must be the luck of the Irish, but surprisingly Bennigan’s has some real potential. Sure, we’ve got work to do, the menu isn’t perfect, but it’s already leaning in the right direction.

If you’ve been reading previous installments you know I tend to order chicken or fish dishes, after all I’m not a vegan or a vegetarian. On the average I only eat animal products once a week and it’s either chicken, turkey, or low contamination fish. I’m sure every Eat to Liver approaches this issue differently.

Okay, the first menu item to peak my interest is the Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich. Why? For two reasons, first it comes with guacamole (as I’ve mentioned in the past I have an avocado fetish) and second you can order it on a wheat bun (certainly better than a refined white bun). Unfortunately the sandwich isn’t all smiles. I’m ditching the mayonnaise, bacon, and Swiss cheese. Much better!

If you are in the mood for chicken, the Rosemary Grilled Chicken and the Chicken Stir Fry are other intriguing options. Both dishes boast a nice amount of veggies, but I’m a little leery about the rosemary demi sauce and Tangy Asian sauce. I wonder if they are oil or cream based.

I also like the Grilled Salmon and Flaherty’s Fish. Both salmon and tilapia are on Dr. Fuhrman’s list of lowest mercury levels. So I’m not too worried about the contamination risk. Both dishes come with some great veggies like green beans and broccoli. Fantastic because when I hear the word green I know that means high nutrient content. Oh, and I would definitely hold off the on the lemon butter sauce for Flaherty’s Fish. The dairy would ravage my system for sure.

Now, if chicken and fish don’t suit your fancy, Bennigan’s does have some nice vegetable-only selections. Of course you’ve got the Bennigan’s Garden Salad with an impressive bounty of vegetation: mixed salad greens, cucumber, tomato, and red onion. Although the croutons have got to go and I’d limit the oily dressing; maybe ask the wait staff for just vinegar instead. The Roasted Vegetable Primavera also looks good, but again I’d avoid that pesky lemon butter sauce.

If none of these dishes turn you on, try this. Over the weeks I’ve found myself compelled to compile various vegetable-based sides into a main dish. This certainly works for Bennigan’s too, they’ve got a bunch of interesting choices: black beans, steamed broccoli, fresh green beans, and roasted vegetables. I don’t know about you, but black beans with roasted vegetables sounds pretty tasty to me.

So that does it for our Irish adventure. And we didn’t even need a four leaf clover! Remember we want your feedback! Tell us what you might have done differently or what you agree with. Check out Bennigan’s menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the Outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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It feels like we’ve literally spanned the globe for Eat to Live solutions at popular restaurants. It started with Fridays and then came the shootout at the Lonestar Steakhouse, oh, and who could forget our showdown with P.F. Chang’s. Yup, we’ve been on quite a journey—and it’s not over yet!

This week I’m strapping Sizzler into the Eating to Live on the Outside hot seat. And this place is a toughie, the menu is teeming with cow, but I think I can make it work. If not, as you’ll soon see, Sizzler offers a nice fallback plan for health conscious restaurateurs.

And remember this isn’t Dr. Fuhrman talking, nope just me, and as always I’m the right guinea pig for the job. Oink!

The first part of Sizzler’s menu is loaded with burgers and sandwiches, I almost skipped it (since I don’t eat red meat), but the Grilled Chicken Club caught my eye; although it isn’t without its flaws. Now your level of concessions may vary, but as for me, I’m ditching the bacon, Swiss cheese, and mayonnaise. I’d probably swap the mayo for mustard.

I also like the Grilled Salmon. As I’ve pointed out in previous installments I’m very vigilant about mercury contamination, but according to Dr. Fuhrman salmon checks out so I’m not too worried (but I’d still wait a week or two before I ate it again). What worries me is the crud they serve with it, tartar sauce, I’m tossing it!

Over the weeks of doing this series I’ve noticed salad has become the old standby—in case of emergency grab lettuce! Sizzler certainly gives you that option. In fact out of all the restaurants I’ve explored so far Sizzler, despite its steak heavy menu, gives you the impressive option of the “all-you-care-to-eat salad bar.” Not bad right? So if all else fails, grab a bowl and lay siege to the veggies.

Oh, and more thing, even though the menu isn’t clear, it looks like a lot of these dishes come with French fries or a baked potato. I’d pass on the fries, insist that the baked potato be plain with no sour cream, and it can’t hurt to ask if you can get steamed vegetables instead. What’s the worst that could happen? They throw you out? It might be for the better.

Remember, we want your feedback! Check out Sizzler's menu and let us know how you Eat to Live on the outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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Its Friday pard’ners and his week Eating to Live on the Outside goes wild—Wild West! Yee-hah! Saddle up because we’re taking a broken trail towards the Lonestar Steakhouse. Relax, I know the word steakhouse is frightening, but remember that a few weeks ago we survived our Outback adventure just fine. So no worries mate!

The first thing I noticed about Lonestar’s menu is the amount of meat, as far as the eye can see, meat, not too surprising considering this is a steakhouse, although there are a few healthy options consider. I admit it’s still going to be tough, but good thing I have my trusty six-shooter by my side—although a head of lettuce might be more useful. Also, for what it's worth, Lonestar does provide nutritional information online, so that earns them a couple bonus points.

And just to recap: this is about what I would order, having read Dr. Fuhrman's book. These, my friends, are not recommendations from Dr. Fuhrman. Thoughts on what you would order are more than welcome in the comments.

Like usual my eyes gravitate towards the salad section of the menu; it’s like the Alamo, a safe haven in the middle of hostile territory. The Cobb Salad has some promise, but I’m making a couple alterations—goodbye cheese and adios bacon! Now, I can deal with the chicken and egg, I only eat meat once a week anyway, so I don’t really mind this concession. Overall my favorite thing about this dish is the avocado. I have bit of an avocado fetish.

The El Paso Salad isn’t too bad either, but again, I’d drop the bacon, cheese, and in this case, the croutons have got to go! This salad also comes with your choice of meat, if I had to choose, I’d probably order chicken or salmon because I don’t eat red meat and shrimp doesn't rank very well on the contamination scale according to OceansAlive.org. Be sensible about the salad dressing and I think you’ve got a decent meal. Oh, and the standard Dinner Salad looks cool too.

The Fresh Catch of the Day intrigues me, but there’s a catch (tasteless pun I know). I’d ask the wait staff exactly what the Catch of the Day is, if it’s something like salmon or tilapia, I’m all smiles. If not, I’m heading for the hills, or I’d probably just order the Grilled Chicken instead and couple it with a few healthy sides; a baked sweet potato and steamed veggies sounds good.

Other than these few dishes there really isn’t anything else I’d order. The soups scare me because they all seem to be cream-based and the last thing I need in my system is dairy. I might experiment with the crab legs or the lobster, but again the contamination worries me. In a pinch another good idea is to combine a bunch of sides into a main dish; this worked well during our Outback experience.

Don’t forget, we want your feedback! Check out the Lonestar Steakhouse menu and let us know how Eat to Live on the outside? Leave a comment or email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com.

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One minute you're at home checking out DiseaseProof (shameless plug) and the next you're at a restaurant with friends---totally dumbfounded by the menu! It may be Friendly's, bit it's not looking very Fuhrman-friendly! You're scared. Your initial reaction is, "Oh man! I gotta get out of here. I can already feel myself getting fatter." Don't worry, you're not alone. We'll stare down this menu together. Although feel free to curl up into the fetal position if you need to.

For more than a month we've examined menus of many national restaurants, trying to figure out what an Eat to Liver might eat there. Some eateries have lots of potential like Chipotle, P.F. Chang's, and Baja Fresh. Others like Outback Steakhouse, Friday's, and IHOP, require a lot more creativity and concessions. As I've said in the past, this isn't perfect science. More like informed guess work. It may shock you to learn this, but I am not a doctor. I am a blogger.

Okay, time to flex my powers of guess-timation. This week I'll being taking a look at the ironically named Friendly's menu. After a few minutes of perusing the menu sweat actually began to bead up on my forehead. This restaurant is a tough sell for an Eat to Liver---just lots of good-old fried goo smothered with cheesey American goodness! But surprisingly, you do have some options.

At first I was thinking I might order the Tuna Roll, but given the amount of mercury in tuna, I'd avoid it. A basic soup and a salad is a decent choice, although stay away from the cream based soups and definitely not choose the oily or creamy salad dressings. Speaking of salad, the Oriental Chicken Salad and the Chicken Caesar Salad look good. I like the Oriental Chicken salad a lot because you get a nice array of plant matter: mandarin oranges, roasted almonds, and mixed greens. Just remember to go easy on the dressing. I'd easily take this over the Chicken Caesar Salad.

In this bleak setting, the Grilled Chicken Deluxe Sandwich gets honorable mention just for not being fried, and including shredded lettuce, tomato, red pepper, garlic, and red onion.

Another dish that is certainly worth a try is the Vegetable Fajita Quesadillas. You Eat to Livers know what I mean, you see the word vegetable on a menu and your eyes snap to attention. Now, it's not perfect, but you can work with it. The flour tortillas are a problem, but an acceptable concession if you skip the Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese. Then you're left with baby portabella mushrooms, sautéed onions, and red peppers and green peppers---I'm a sucker for portabella. Yes, I realize cheese is high on Dr. Fuhrman's list of evil foods.

Finally, if you're in the mood for fish give the Grilled Flounder a whirl. Calm down! According to OceansAlive.org flounder isn't too riddled with mercury, so if you have it, just wait a few weeks before you eat it again. The rest of the dish seems pretty tame, white rice and garden vegetables, but I'd kindly ask the waiter not to even show me the garlic bread.

And as always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. What would you do different? Check out the Friendly's menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. How do you Eat to Live on the outside?

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You're an Eat to Liver, you love your veggies, greens, beans, and quite frankly, just saying the word cruciferous... CRUCIFEROUS! But you're out with friends and next thing you know you're at local eatery having serious doubts about how Fuhrman-friendly it is. Nervous yet?

Fear not! This blogger is more than willing to be your crash test dummy. I've read Eat to Live, I blog about it all the time, and follow many of Dr. Fuhrman's recommendations. So here's what I'd order if I found myself gazing longingly at Baja Fresh's menu. Yup, that's right, this week we'll examine Wendy's sister restaurant (pun intended) Baja Fresh Mexican Gill.

You're in luck. Baja Fresh shows a lot of promise, very similar to Chipotle.

The first thing I noticed about the online menu is the inclusion of nutrition facts next to each menu item; just like P.F. Chang's. This is a great start. I don't know about you, but I like to know what's in my food. I've never been to a Baja Fresh, so does anyone know if the menu in the restaurants also has nutrition facts?

Hmm what to order? The majority of the dishes include some sort of tortilla and unless you go for a soup or salad, this is a concession you're going to have to make. I like the Grilled Veggie Burrito a lot, there's tons of good stuff in it: grilled peppers, Pico de Gallo, chilies, onions, black or pinto beans, and lettuce. I bet there's plenty of nutrients in all that. It also comes with sour cream and a couple cheeses, I'd ditch those.

Another good option might be a Grilled Mahi Mahi Taco. It's got some really mouth watering ingredients: sliced avocado, cabbage, Pico de Gallo, Mahi Mahi, and a zesty avocado dressing. Some people might be inclined to skip the avocado dressing, but I have a bit of an avocado fetish, so I'm keeping it. Now I know what you're thinking: "Mahi Mahi. Fish! No-no! Mercury!" Don't worry, according to OceansAlive.org Mahi Mahi is among the Eco Best for low mercury contamination. Nice!

Now if you're not in the mood for tacos or burritos, try getting a little creative. Baja Fresh has got a bunch of interesting side-dishes, and if you piece them together you've got a pretty good meal. Here's an idea, order a side salad, some guacamole, and some rice and beans. It might seem a little bland, but you're getting a nice array of veggies, loaded with nutrients.

Remember if you've got an interesting Eat to Live on the Outside story we'd love to hear from you. Hey, we might even make a post out of it. Check out the Baja Fresh menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com with your ideas and stories or just leave a comment. Let us know how you Eat to Live on the outside?

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Okay another work week in the books. It's Friday and you know what that means? Time to take a look at "Eating to Live on the Outside." If you've been reading DiseaseProof over the past month you know once a week we peruse the menu of a popular restaurant and see what an "Eat to Liver" might order. Sound crazy?

Well it's not. Sure, it's best to prepare nutritious meals at home and avoid the risk of restaurants all together. But we all live in the real world (at least I hope so) and sooner or later you'll find yourself seated at a not-so Fuhrman-friendly dining establishment. Then what do you do?

That's why we started this feature, to help. We've read Eat to Live and how we'll tell you what we would eat, if we found ourselves in various restaurants. An important thing to remember is this isn't a perfect science. In most cases it's impossible to find a 100% Fuhrman-friendly selection, and I'm not a doctor anyway. Rather think of this as damage control because you're going to have to make some concessions.

Over the past month we've looked at Friday's, IHOP, Chipotle, and P.F. Chang's. This week we're going down-under, into the Outback...steakhouse. "Too right mate! Let's see what we can find."

The fact that the Outback is a steakhouse should have alerted you to the need for concessions.

The menu item to jump at me was the Brisbane Caesar Salad. Salad is always seems to be a great choice, if you've got veggies, in particular green vegetables you're good. The Brisbane also comes with your choice of meat, either grilled chicken, shrimp, or an "Aussie-sized chicken breast" (I assume that means bigger). I might get the grilled chicken, the shrimp might be okay too for a special occasion.

Further down on the menu are "Outback Grillers," there's some promise here. If you decide to order the Chicken Griller it'll come on a bed of seasoned rice, grilled vegetables, and pineapple. You also get a salad with it too. Grilling isn't the healthiest cooking technique, but those are actual vegetables with healthy phytochemicals, and the pineapple is cool too, and best of all you get a salad. Skip the dressing and you're sure get a nutrient dense mound of greens.

Now if you're feeling fishy, the selections under the menu heading "Botany Bay Catches" are very intriguing. You get a side of fresh steamed veggies with the Atlantic Salmon and the Botany Bay Fish O' The Day, very encouraging. And neither dish is prepared too unhealthfully. You might want to stay away from the Boomerang Shrimp, the words "battered" and "breaded" are red flags. I'd also consider the Hearts of Gold Fresh Catch: You get Bronzed fresh filet, sautéed artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and green onions. Although you might want to ditch the lemon Alfredo sauce.

Here's another option to consider. Instead of modifying one of the main dishes, try ordering a combination of the healthier sides. You can choose from fresh steamed veggies, fresh steamed broccoli, grilled onions, sautéed shrooms (mushrooms), or a House or Caesar salad. If you were to order half a plate of broccoli, half a plate of veggies, and a House salad with none or limited dressing, you'll have survived you're Outback adventure fairly well.

And as always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. What would you do different? Check out the Outback Steakhouse menu and email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. How do you Eat to Live on the outside?

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At long last, Friday has returned! And that means its time to take another look at "Eating to Live on the Outside." Over the past few weeks DiseaseProof has taken on menus from Friday's, IHOP, and Chipotle, this week we take a look at P.F. Chang's China Bistro.

By now you all know the drill. You're on the Eat to Live plan, but your buddies aren't. One night you're all hanging out, someone suggests getting a bite to eat, and before you can say "cruciferous" a waitress is awaiting your order. Holy broccolini! What do you do?

Well fear not, because if you've landed at P.F. Chang's you'll walk away from dinner feeling pretty good about yourself. The menu shows a lot of promise, not bad for a restaurant I didn't even know existed. I honestly thought P.F. Chang was a pro-wrestler.

Now this doesn't do you a lot of good if you're already at the restaurant, but if you can plan ahead of time, check out the menu online. Next to every dish they actually have the nutrition information listed, pretty cool huh? Definitely a sign of a progressive dining establishment, I wonder if hardcopies of the menu list this info too. Anyone know?

Okay, so you've got a lot of options here. I'll point out some that look delicious to me, but no doubt you'll see plenty more. So scream and holler in the comments if you find something else.

The first menu item to jump up at me was Harvest Spring Rolls. They've got some pretty hearty vegetables in them: bamboo shoot strips, black mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, and celery. The sauces, salt, and sesame oil make them a little suspect, but not too bad. An even better choice might be the Steamed Vegetable Dumplings. The tofu, bamboo shoot strips, bean thread noodle, black mushrooms, cabbage, ginger, green onions, Mi Chiu rice wine, and red bell pepper sound pretty tasty. Given the breadth of vegetables in these two selections, you're bound to ingest some nutrients.

The Ginger Chicken and Broccoli really caught my eye. Check out the picture, there's a mound of broccoli there, and broccoli is a real nutritional heavy weight. I like the Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon Steamed with Ginger too. Steaming is an oil-free way to cook and you get a nice dose of green vegetables with the bok choy and the asparagus. If you're looking for greens Buddha's Feast Steamed is also a solid choice.

If it were me, I'd also consider P.F. Chang's Fried Rice Vegetable or Chicken. I'd order either with brown rice, although you're making a huge concession by going with something fried, but you'd be hard-pressed not to find something with oil on this menu. If you're totally oil adverse I'd pick a dish that isn't fried (like the Vegetarian Ma Po Tofu) and ask the waiter to hold the oil they use for seasoning.

Overall you've got a lot of options at P.F. Chang's. It isn't perfect, but you've got a fighting chance. Unlike a trip to McDonalds or Burger King that'll knock you out in the first round with a rabbit punches of cholesterol and the refined wheat and sugar pile-driver.

As always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. Any tips? Check out the P.F. Chang's menu and Email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. How do you Eat to Live on the outside?

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It's Friday! And you know what that means? Time for another installment of "Eating to Live on the Outside." Over the past two weeks we've examined what Eat to Livers might order at Fridays and IHOP, this week Chipotle, the fast food chain (owned by McDonalds's) that bills itself as healthy draws the shortest straw.

Let's see what Chipotle's menu has to offer:

The first thing you'll notice: no appetizers, and no desserts. A solid start if you're trying to keep the calories, oils, dairy, refined sugars, and flours to a minimum. Makes it seem like this isn't just a place where you can scratch out a healthy meal or two, but your health concerns might even seem welcome.

There are five main menu items: burritos, fajitas, burrito bols, tacos, and salads. Here's where you start thinking about where the calories come from. Any of those with grilled meat, cheese, and sour cream at the center of the party are not going to have the nutrition density that you're after. Tacos and fajitas with fried meat are the lure to avoid. But hark! Choose carefully, and here we have fast food with the magic of greens and beans!

A vegetarian burrito or (fajita burrito) with guacamole and salsa could hit the spot. If you're anti-tortilla (that's refined wheat, after all) they'll stick all that stuff in a bowl for you, and they'll give you everything just the same, except for the "w." They call it a "bol."

Burrito bol with cilantro-lime rice, vegetarian black beans, and guacamole or fajita-style with sautéed vegetables, black beans, and guacamole. I could eat that, or a salad. The vegetarian salad comes with sautéed peppers, onions, vegetarian black beans, and guacamole. You can get fresh tomatoes as an extra. They even say they're happy to customize any dish as you wish, so I imagine you could get more fresh veggies piled on top. Think they have actual avocado back in that kitchen? That would be especially good.

As always we want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. Any tips? Check out the Chipolte menu and Email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. How do you Eat to Live on the outside?

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Last week DiseaseProof looked at what "Eat to Livers" might order from the Friday's menu. This week we're serving up IHOP's menu.

Here's the question: You follow the Eat to Live plan, but your buddies are grabbing a bite to eat at the local IHOP. What do you do? This is a real trip to the dark side of nutrition. Without refined sugar, flour, and meat, it's not clear there'd be much to eat at IHOP at all!

There is hardly a meal on the menu at IHOP that's going help your jeans fit better, so your options are about the only thing that's likely to be slim at this place. (You might even consider smuggling in a head of romaine.) But we are intrepid souls, and will do our best to make a reasonably healthy meal...

Appetizer
If cheese and fried food were part of the Eat to Live plan, you'd be in nirvana. There's tons of oily gooey goodness here---skip these menu items entirely. If you really want an appetizer order a house salad with no croutons and get the dressing on the side. It's your safest bet.

Main Course
The menu is dominated by refined sugar and flour based breakfast food (pancakes, French toast, waffles, etc.), but there are non-breakfast foods as well. If you're hell-bent on breakfast try the Harvest Grain 'N Nut Pancakes ("hearty grains, wholesome oats, almonds and English walnuts") and beg for some fresh fruit to go on top instead of those sugary fruit toppings and whipped cream.

If you're not in a breakfast mood give the Grilled Chicken Cesar Salad a whirl (with or without the chicken). Ditch the croutons and you have a nice pile of greens, granted you have the Parmesan cheese to contend with, but since you've decided to stay and eat, be prepared to make concessions.

You might be tempted by the Spinach salad. What could be more healthy than that? But check out what comes with it: "hickory smoked bacon pieces, tomatoes, shredded Parmesan cheese, Bleu cheese crumbles and diced, crispy-fried chicken. Tossed in a delicious honey mustard dressing and served with toasted garlic bread." That leaves you with a bowl of spinach and tomatoes--or the the vast majority of your calories from those things up at the top of Dr. Fuhrman's pyramid that are best eaten only "rarely."

Another option is the Grilled Cod Hollandaise. Tell the waiter to hold off on the sauce and order it with salad, vegetable and potato. That's not too painful.

Dessert
You've got problems here. Like Friday's menu, you can forget finding any Fuhrman-friendly selections. The three choices all include ice cream. Resist the urge and treat yourself to some fresh fruit later.

Yup, maintaining nutritional excellence can be tough and not every situation is conducive to the plan, but do your best to be smart about it. That's what I do.

We want to hear about how you handle eating away from home. Any tips? Check out the IHOP menu and Email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. How do you Eat to Live on the outside?

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This blog is all about the wonders of incredibly healthy food. When you eat fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds account for the majority of your diet, there are marvelous health benefits.

But what do you do when someone invites you to dinner in a restaurant? After all, we live in the real world. What to order?

Most restaurants aren't exactly Fuhrman-friendly. Some are better than others, but you'd be hard-pressed to find Squash Fantasia or Vindaloo Vegetables on most menus. So the question still remains: When you're out with friends, what do you eat?

There are lots of popular eateries out there. In the weeks to come, just for fun, we're going to look at the menus of many of them, and try to figure out some choices. Again, this is Gerry speaking, I'm not a doctor, and these are not medical recommendations. But I am someone who does his best to follow the Eat to Live recommendations, and I know that I am not the only one to have been mystified by menus. It seems like it could be helpful to all of us to muddle through some menus and see what we can come up with.

Today, our task is to imagine we're slipping into a booth at T.G.I. Friday's.

The Friday's menu is filled with good looking dishes, but most of them aren't going to compute with Eat to Live. With every dish you're probably going to have to make some concessions, but don't fret, even Dr. Fuhrman acknowledges that there are adjustments to be made when eating away from the home.

Using my Eat to Live knowledge, here's what I'd order:

Appetizer
There's a part of me that is drawn to the Zen Chicken Pot Stickers. They're not full of cheese, fried, or topped with bacon, which in this lineup counts as health food. Other options: pray the Soup of the Day is tomato, bean, or something that is vegetable-based or trans-fat (margarine) and butter-free. Or, of course, there's really nothing wrong with a house salad with the dressing on the side.

Entrée
Me? I'd go with the Shanghai Chicken Salad, even though the Santa Fe seems healthier. The spiciness might be an issue for some people, myself included. If you skipped the appetizer or ordered a house salad, you might want to keep the chicken on this dish, if not ask the waiter for no chicken. Just remember to go easy on the Cilantro-Lime dressing.

Another good option is on the low-fat menu: "A roasted mild whitefish topped with a roma tomato-basil salsa and drizzled with balsamic glaze. Served with steamed herbed rice and broccoli." I'm suspicious of any and all "glazes," but no doubt you could get a little balsamic vinegar instead.

Pasta is not on Dr. Fuhrman's favored foods list, but as long as we're talking about compromises, you could also consider the Vegetable Grill: "Portobello mushroom marinated and grilled with asparagus, red pepper, zucchini and squash. Served with angel hair pasta, tomato-basil salsa and Balsamic Vinaigrette."

Dessert
Your best bet here is not even to look at that page of the menu. Nothing on the menu is going earn you a gold star from Dr. Fuhrman.

So there you have it, that's what I'd do if I found myself in a Friday's with no fresh fruits and vegetables in sight. I'd try to pick dishes with as many vegetables as possible (especially greens), but what would you do? Email us at diseaseproof@gmail.com or leave a comment. What restaurant tips are you willing to share? We'd love to hear from you.

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