Tuesday, October 8, 2019

The Restaurant Diet Eating Out Eating Easy

Every dieter dreads the suggestion "Let's eat out tonight." That means days , even weeks of sacrifice blown on one meal. Yet it doesn't have to be that way. You can eat out on a diet  and have both a low calorie and delicious meal. The Restaurant Diet: How To Eat Out Every Night and Still Lose Weight (Mango Publishing Group 2019) will shows you how.

This groundbreaking new book was written by Fred Bollaci, a weight loss coach and diet strategist, who struggled with his own weight issues. Like anyone else, Mr. Bollaci loved eating out and cooking, but didn't like the side effects - weight gain. He was morbidly obese and had to lose weight. He worked with his nutritionist along with his cardiologist and therapist to create a book that can help others with weight loss and diet maintenance. There is advice on how to eat out at such various ethnic restaurants , from Italian to Chinese  and from Indian to Mexican, along with dealing with those sabotaging factors that can ruin a diet. He compartmentalizes the diet into four sections, Phase One is the beginning,  where calories will be decreased and a weekly cleanse is strongly recommended. It also has dieters purge dairy, fried foods and sweets Phase Two is the Opportunity one where some of these foods are reintroduced back  but in limited qualities. Phase Three is the Challenge where foods with a higher calorie count are added while Phase Four is the Achievement Phase where all foods that are not on the Avoid list are allowed.

What is surprising is that this is also a recipe book. Mr. Bollaci includes recipes from restaurants in  most of the fifty states plus Italy. I was pleasantly surprised at this and am looking forward to creating some. He mostly has recipes from Floridian recipes; there are pages upon pages of recipes from some of the Sunshine State. He has some from New York eateries, namely a pepper and bagna caulda recipe from Barbetta's. This last is a restaurant that my family loved with a recipe that we made often. There are also places off the beaten path like Chantal's of Traverse City, Michigan, Their recipe,baby portabella mushroom caps with caramelized shallot and Fontina cheese, make for nice hors d'ouevres or a side. Atlanta has the Buckhead Diner and the eatery's recipe for butternut squash soup. It's a low calorie, yet savory melange of butternut squash, carrots , onions and a red Fresno pepper for heat.Famous restaurants such as Manhattan's Le Grenouille  and Sag Harbor's The American Hotel. There are also the recipes from famed Italian restaurants and even a cooking school. Try the Toscana Saporita Cooking school's recipe for Insalata di Farro, farro salad, packed with the ancient grain and graced with tomatoes and basil.

The Restaurant Diet: How To Eat Out Every Night and Still Lose Weight  is a restaurant lover's perfect companion.It offers advice and recipes. It definitely deserves a four star rating!