— Mischa Desmond

So fitting a whole food plant-based lifestyle is kind of hard at restaurants because a lot of restaurants, uh, their crutch is using processed foods, right? So number one is what restaurants are you going to, if you're going to anything fast food, you're not gonna get a whole food plant-based, uh, diet because whole foods are kind of non-existent in fast food. That's the whole thing is it's fast and convenient, so it's overly processed. Now if you're going to, um, you know, it's, it's actually funny, like, uh, it really depends on the rest or in the restaurants you're going to to be able to make that happen. I hate to say salads are, you know, kind of one of those top things, but they are, um, look for foods that have the whole ingredient. So if it has something like an acorn squash with risotto or something in it, you know, um, that might be a good place to be able to start because they're starting you. You can see the whole, you know, uh, acorn squash and you can ask what's in the risotto to make that happen, or the quinoa mix or whatever's on the inside too. Most restaurants will actually have some sort of a vegan option, so I would kind of start there to be able to make that, uh, work for you. And, um, you know, one of my best tips that I can give to people, especially if you're being invited to dinner, is if you find out where you're going, um, call in advance and see what kind of options they have for whole food plant-based, um, to be able to make sure that you just get through all the hoops before you get there, right? So if you show up to a restaurant last minute and you're asking the chef to do something off menu, that can be a lot harder for some chefs compared to if you call the day in advance or the morning of and say, I'm coming with a group of four people, two of us are eating whole food, plant-based, and I would love to be able to have an option to be able to eat and not make it a big deal, you know, and just by doing that simple little thing you'll see goes a very long way with chefs. Um, and you'll find that a lot of chefs will really step up and make a meal for you that might be better than something they have on the menu already. So that would probably be my best recommendation is one call in advance, see if there's something on the menu that can kind of work for you, but there's definitely not going to be, uh, you know, something that every restaurant would have except for probably a salad, which is not always our best bet to, um, you know, depending on the salad as well. But, um, so that's what I would do is call in advance to see what kind of options they can help you with.