Ep 274 – How to Eat Out Without Ruining Your Progress

Eating out is inevitable, whether you’re traveling, meeting family, attending a work lunch, or simply not in the mood to cook. Dani and Alice break down how to navigate restaurants as a vegan while still building meals that work for your nutrition and physique goals.

They cover Mexican, Indian, Thai, pho, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Mediterranean, American, and pizza restaurants, including what to order, where protein is easiest to find, and which seemingly healthy options can come with a surprising amount of oil or other hidden calories.

They also share practical strategies like researching menus ahead of time, asking for light oil or sauces on the side, checking whether rice and beans contain animal products, bringing your own protein when necessary, and keeping a running list of reliable restaurants for travel.

Finally, they discuss some surprisingly useful chain options, including CAVA, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Burger King, and Taco Bell, proving that even when your choices aren’t ideal, you can usually find something workable.

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TRANSCRIPT

Dani Taylor (00:00.863)
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of Vegan Proteins Muscles by Brussels Radio. My name is Dani. And we are going to be talking about dining out today. So I know that’s a big topic of conversation for a lot of people. A lot of people struggle with this. So I’m excited to dive in and talk to you about this with somebody who I think is probably the best person at this, which is Alice. but before we dive into the topic, what have you been up to, Alice? You have a lot going on right now, lots of good stuff.

Coach Alice Robeson (00:06.542)
And I’m Alice.

Coach Alice Robeson (00:30.624)
lot going on. Yeah, I I I’m I’m in competition prep, but I’m not like far into it. So I almost feel not worthy of saying that. But it helps me to just reassure myself that I am in fact in competition prep because it has been well what I feel has been a very long like in between a very long off season. So it’s motivating me to just be like, yes, you are in real

Prep. It’s not that it’s any less real just because it’s further away. So feeling really, really good about that. Feeling like I have purpose, feeling like I have drive, feeling a lot more excited about the gym, which man, I really needed that. I have I am also about to be an aunt, and my sister is going to be delivering my niece sometime next week.

month, middle of next month. And so I am just like buying all kinds of gifts, going a little crazy and very, very excited. I love, I love newborns, I love infants, and I’m so excited selfishly that it’s a girl, but so is my sister. So it’s okay.

Dani Taylor (01:45.373)
It’s I I think you’re gonna have so much fun with it. Even if you don’t think you’re like a kid person, because I mean I didn’t think I was a kid person. I don’t know. I guess I still wouldn’t really call myself a kid person. There’s something about it when it’s your niece or nephew, when you’re like, I the second you see them, you’re like, I will protect you with my life. I would take a bullet for you immediately. Like it’s it’s such a strange feeling. I love it. You’re gonna have so much fun. I’m also excited about your contest prep.

Coach Alice Robeson (02:06.262)
Yeah.

Dani Taylor (02:13.98)
My last and probably the last contest prep that I will have done, I started it the same way where it was like, I’m ready to start prepping. I don’t want to pick out a show. I don’t want to even pick out the months I think I’ll be ready to do a show. Let’s just go. And as we get closer to when that look is achieved, then we’ll pick some shows. And it felt a little scary at first to not have like those really hard deadlines right out of the gate. And there was a part of me that was like, am I kind of just like

Be it a little easy on myself right now by not picking something in the beginning, but it worked out so much better that way because there was no pressure to look a certain way for a certain show until I got to the point. I mean, I was signing up for some shows like two weeks out, you know? where I was like, I’m I’m there, I got this now. So yeah, I’m pumped for you.

Coach Alice Robeson (03:04.654)
Especially because I don’t know for sure what category I’ll be competing in. My hope is women’s physique, but we gotta see how things look when I get closer. So it’s it’s kind of an adventure, kind of an a kind of a mystery. There’s good anxiety happening over it. So I’m just keeping it open.

Dani Taylor (03:15.241)
Yeah.

Dani Taylor (03:22.078)
You know what just occurred to me, and I probably could save this for Monday, but hey, why not throw it out there now? I know you’re like a little hesitant about the WNBF because of, you know, lie detector stuff that’s happened in the past with other people. But one of the cool things about WNBF, INBF, however you want to look at it, is you can compete in multiple categories in the same show, as long as they’re not all novice or all open. Like you could do like open bikini and

debut physique in the same show if you wanted to, you know, just to kind of get a sense for what that looks like. Just a thought. Just throw, just throw an idea out there for the future. That’s all. yeah. And if you do come up here and do one, we have we have a little bit of pull. Like we’ve had people struggle with the WNBF lie detector test and been like, hey, no. Like what do you mean? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. But

Coach Alice Robeson (04:01.154)
Yeah, yeah, that might be fun. How kinda how

Coach Alice Robeson (04:18.762)
Yeah. Yeah. So a little background for people who are sort of like, Why is Alice scared about the lie detector test? you know, each each natural bodybuilding organization is gonna have different just ways, different questions that they ask, different levels of intensity of their drug testing, right? and it’s a it’s a

Dani Taylor (04:19.278)
so this would probably be a good place to do it.

Coach Alice Robeson (04:42.466)
big point of contention for a lot of people is some people who are natural don’t want to compete in natural federations because there’s so much anxiety around the the the lie detector tests that you take before every competitor takes this before you step on stage. And WNBF is notorious for just being very, very stringent and having false positives often. we’ve we’ve experienced it in our circle.

Dani Taylor (05:09.736)
Which wasn’t true like many years ago. This only started a few years ago. It was very normal before that. But I remember the year clearly, because Giacomo failed a polygraph test, because he was thinking about coffee. They asked something about diuretics, and his brain started thinking about coffee, which is perfectly legal in natural bodybuilding. And I guess the numbers started going kind of weird, but I think it very much depends on who they hire to do the polygraph tests and like I mean, these people were

Coach Alice Robeson (05:35.318)
Yes.

Dani Taylor (05:37.55)
treating this like a first degree homicide lie detector test. And it’s like, dude, the question is, did you read the banned substance list? Did you take anything on the banned substance list? Like those are the only two that matter, right? Everything else is just designed to make you nervous. I hate the lie detector test. I’ve hated it from day one.

Coach Alice Robeson (05:54.509)
Yeah. Like Dan said you literally have at least one question there. It that is designed to make your heart like jump out of your throat. So it’s like a lot of people feel like criminals and it’s like I’m a natural athlete. Like, if you’re gonna make this pleasant if this if this is gonna be an unpleasant experience for me, why would I wanna come back to your federation? So that’s why I’m on the fence about WNBF. But I do wanna compete with them. so I’m

Dani Taylor (06:04.602)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Alice Robeson (06:22.784)
It’s it’s very much like top of mind.

Dani Taylor (06:25.16)
Yeah. I wish they kind of gave you the option to like, listen, I’ll pay the cost for the urinalysis to not have to do the polygraph test in advance out of pocket. Like that’s how stressful it is for me. Let me just take the pee test and not deal with that because they’re not even admissible in court for like real cases. So whatever. Anyway, Yeah. Well, I’m glad that things are going so well for you. And I’m very excited to see what comes down the pipeline for you.

Coach Alice Robeson (06:43.618)
Yeah. But anyway.

Coach Alice Robeson (06:51.95)
Me too. Originally in Kirsten, my sister was like, I I want pink and I want animal themes. And I’m like, All right, I’m gonna go with pink elephants. So I she’s gonna be shower with pink elephants. and I think the rest of the family now knows and is contributing to the the dedicated pink elephant theme.

Dani Taylor (07:04.702)
Hm.

Dani Taylor (07:14.942)
That’s awesome. We did elephants for Daisy also when she was born. Elephants and then eventually monkeys too. But I think we went with like a like a baby mint green kind of for her, just in case she wasn’t super girly, which is funny because she’s like super, super girly now. But it’s funny if she tells me, she’s like, Auntie, I’m a goth, but I like to wear rainbow colors. And I was like, you’re goth in your heart, kid. That’s all that matters. So funny. Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (07:33.752)
Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (07:38.07)
Yeah. she really is. That’s legitimate for anyone that’s listening.

Dani Taylor (07:43.713)
my god, when your niece starts talking and starts being like her own person, your mind’s just gonna be so blown. But I’m getting ahead of myself. all right. Well, let us. yes, yes, it is better. It’s still like if I really crimp it down here, I can still feel it all the way over in the joint, but I’m able to do everything with it that I need to do. So that’s fine. If I bang it, it kind of hurts. Yeah, I would say that I am.

Coach Alice Robeson (07:48.992)
Ha ha.

Coach Alice Robeson (07:54.723)
What about you? What is what’s going on with you? Is your thumb better?

Dani Taylor (08:12.646)
Injury free knocking on wood right now. I mean my hip gets a little cranky sometimes and the problem is I can’t figure out why. Like there is no particular thing that’s causing it. I’ll just wake up one day and step on the floor and I’m like, okay, today’s a weird hip day. I don’t know if that’s just getting older or what, but I do we have set up a physical therapist that hopefully I’m gonna meet with for the first time maybe next week, maybe two weeks from now. Cause I really just wanna figure out what’s causing it so I can stop it from happening. That’s all.

Coach Alice Robeson (08:41.058)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dani Taylor (08:42.166)
but my gym is moving. So the box we were at before closed and the new box isn’t open yet. So we’re like training in the owner’s garage right now, which is actually it’s a pretty nice garage, but we can only fit like six or so people in there before it starts to get a little sketchy. but I’ve been able to I was really stressed because I was like, what am I gonna do? That’s gonna be like a whole, you know, one to two months in the summer of

not having access to the training I’ve been doing, but they’ve she’s found a way to make it work. And allegedly the open grand opening is gonna be on the 15th of August. So I’m very excited about that. I will say, and I just said this to you before we started recording, the heat is kicking my ass. Like big time. I don’t mind training in the heat because my muscles get nice and warm and that kind of feels better. But it’s been so hot lately, like it’s in the 90s and it’s very humid.

And you’re working with these like two industrial fans, basically. And that’s it. And everyone’s fighting to get in front of the fans, basically. And you know, last night before we even started the actual like workout, I was already kind of seeing stars like on the perimeter, and I was just like, This sucks. Like, I this is there’s I don’t know what the cutoff temperature is, but there is a temperature when once we get above it, my performance just like flops. And I want to do a little bit more research on that because it’s pretty new to me. So yeah, that’s

Coach Alice Robeson (09:45.366)
Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (10:06.368)
Yeah, that’s that’s a little scary.

Dani Taylor (10:06.494)
That’s the that’s about the it. Yeah. Yep. It was like a big joke. We were doing these like box stepovers and barbell movements last night. And I think there were six of us, so all the boxes are like lined up in the gym, but they were pretty close. And I was like, I think this because somebody was like, should I move this so I’m not in the way? I was like, I think it’s gonna be fine. Nobody’s gonna be in anybody’s way. And then I was like, as long as nobody falls. If one person falls, this is gonna be like dominoes. But nobody fell, but it was rough. Like, whew.

You I’ve just learned so much about like when to take breaks in the middle of a workout for my body so that I don’t, you know, do something really stupid. Anyway. all right, let’s talk about what we’re talking about today, which is something that inevitably anybody interested in fitness, their physique, nutrition is gonna come up against, and that is the inevitability of going out to eat.

Whether that’s like just with your family or a work lunch or you’re traveling, like we’re all gonna be in situations where we don’t have access to our kitchen and our normal things, and we’re gonna have to make the best choices we can with the situation that we’re in. So we wanted to talk about different types of restaurants, what some good choices are at those, possibly some specific restaurants and really good choices at those that we know exist, and then just some other.

Tips in general. So I think I’ll start with one that I know you go to often, which is Mexican food, which I think is depending, like I think it’s one of the easier places to get healthy vegan options when you’re traveling. So ironically, we both I think we both go to the same restaurant, but yours is in Virginia, mine is in Massachusetts.

Coach Alice Robeson (11:41.422)
Yeah.

Dani Taylor (12:01.148)
It’s a very small chain, so it’s crazy that we both have one and it’s Plaza Azteca. That’s that’s so weird.

Coach Alice Robeson (12:06.86)
Yep, yep. It’s it’s like a big family, is my understanding. And and there are people that are like kind of also plazas, but they rename them. Like we have one in Newport News called salsa. There’s one by historic Yorktown that’s three amigos, but like you go in and you see the exact same menu and it ha and they all have a vegan mock meat as well that’s soy based.

and it’s just great. It’s just yeah, I I I go there almost weekly with my family actually. And the reason is because it’s it’s mostly whole food, you know, they’re just like you can easily get either tacos or a bowl, sometimes a burrito, although I don’t love the burritos as much. But yeah, and then that having a protein option that isn’t gonna break the calorie bank is huge.

Dani Taylor (13:03.122)
Yeah, so I think that’s the big I think that’s actually gonna be the biggest differentiating factor between all of the types of restaurants that we’re going to talk about. So maybe this is just a general tip we should lead with. Obviously, you should be doing a little research before you go to restaurants. I think that is tip number one. But one of the things you should be looking for is do they have a protein option? And Plaza Azteca does, right? But you know, a lot of Mexican restaurants don’t have any.

They don’t have tofu, they don’t have tempeh, they don’t have a mock meat. So I still think Mexican’s a good choice, even if they don’t have it. But I would say for all of the things we’re about to talk about, if you can do a little planning beforehand and try to pick an option that has one of those that I just mentioned, tofu, tempeh, seitan, mock meat, you’re gonna have a much better time kind of crafting an athletic vegan meal at the restaurant if they have that versus if they don’t.

Coach Alice Robeson (13:40.066)
Yes.

Coach Alice Robeson (14:03.246)
And before we go further, the the biggest takeaway I think from this whole podcast is I want to recommend number one, Happy Cow, and number two, a website that does it did have an app, but now they no longer have an app. It’s Veggl, V-E-G-G-L.com. and Veggl gonna be specifically for chain restaurants, airports.

and sports stadiums and they try to go through and maintain a list of like all vegan options and they do a pretty darn good job. so when you’re traveling those those three those things like are can can absolutely when your research go there. Go there.

Dani Taylor (14:51.326)
I’ve never even heard of this veggl.com. I mean, maybe I’ve seen it when I’m Googling around, but I don’t think I realized it was such a thing. So yeah, I’m gonna, I will definitely be checking that out. But I do use Happy Cow a lot, but it’s got its limitations, right? It’s not always kept super up to date. You’re relying on customer reviews sometimes to find out if something has changed, and because it’s not Yelp.

There’s not a billion reviews of everything. So sometimes you show up somewhere and it’s like, the hours were wrong or the menu has changed, but it didn’t say so on Happy Cow. So you have to be the one to update it on Happy Cow, you know? but those are great, great, great, great options. But sometimes stuff isn’t listed on either of those things and they do still have pretty decent options. So Yelp can be helpful to look at, but also just looking at the restaurant website and clicking the menu to see what’s available can be helpful also.

Coach Alice Robeson (15:28.11)
Correct.

Dani Taylor (15:47.155)
So all right, what what do we normally get at Mexican restaurants? So you said a bowl, taco salad, is that what you said also? Tacos. The fried bowl, yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (15:59.041)
just tacos. The taco salad ha comes in that giant chip thing. And that’s gonna be so much surprise, dietary fat that it’s almost the most

Dani Taylor (16:07.496)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes. And you don’t have to eat it, but it is right there, which makes it harder not to eat it. I don’t think I’ve gotten the taco salad. I get the vegan bowl every single time I go to Plaza Azteca. And basically, you know, most Mexican food is a combination of rice, beans, vegetables, cheese, guac. Like in in tortilla, possibly of some kind. Like it’s all sort of that.

Combination in different ways. So what I like to do is of course, if I’m going to a place that has the vegan mock meat like Plaza Azteca, that’s what I get. But if they didn’t have that, I would probably get double beans and then just eat significantly less rice, right? It’s almost like instead of having rice and beans, I’m having beans and beans. And is it going to be as much protein?

As a big serving of Saitan? No, it’s not. Is it gonna be enough to get you through a meal? Probably. You’re probably gonna be fine. and loads of veggies. What I do find at a lot of Mexican restaurants is that a lot of the stuff is like swimming in oil. So another tip that I would say works across the across all of the categories is to ask for light oil.

Coach Alice Robeson (17:12.066)
Loads of veggies.

Dani Taylor (17:28.728)
when my stepfather was alive, he had a bad heart condition, and it always embarrassed the heck out of me when I was younger. But he was trying to be whole food, plant-based, no oil. But then I’d like to catch him eating turkey at Thanksgiving. I was like, what’s happening? But anyway, in restaurants, he would pull the server aside and be very specific. Not light oil, no oil, no oil. Now, I don’t think most people need to ask for no oil, but they would do it for him.

Is my point. Even though it makes cooking it a lot harder, they would still do it. So like don’t hesitate to ask for something with light oil. You’d be like very light oil. And most places are go unless it’s built into a sauce that’s already pre-existing, they’re gonna be able to do it. And it’s not gonna be a big problem. And it’s not gonna change the taste of your dish very much, if at all. In fact, it might make it more pleasant if it’s not swimming in oil. And it can s it can shave off hundreds of calories that like that are invisible.

Coach Alice Robeson (18:26.434)
But still rec you wanna recommend that we still log the oil, right? You usually recommend that to people.

Dani Taylor (18:31.176)
Yes. Yeah. And I would say you’re hard if you’re not asking for light oil, you’re gonna have a hard time finding a single meal. Probably anywhere that has less than two tablespoons of oil added to it, just because that’s how kitchens are. But if you ask for light oil, could get down to like a half a tablespoon or something, you know? And that’s assuming you know you’re eating the whole dish, which is a separate thing. you can also, if they don’t have a specific vegan dish.

You can order just off the sides and sort of make your own plate out of the sides, because it’s gonna be rice and beans and vegetables and you know, maybe guacamole. You do want to ask if there’s, you know, meat in the beans or chicken stock in the rice. That’s good to know. That’s something I’d say probably look up before you go, call and ask beforehand. Cause if you get there and that’s the case, you’re gonna be in the sad vegan situation of just having salad with.

Coach Alice Robeson (19:09.998)
Yeah.

Dani Taylor (19:26.898)
like dressing on the side. So yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (19:30.22)
A lot of the plazas around me, there is this different rice and you can eyeball it and see the difference because most of their rice comes out and it’s this nice little like orange color, right? They probably cook it with like tomatoes, but they also do cook it with chicken stock. So when you just order the vegan rice, and the and it comes out and it’s just it looks more like a regular rice color and that’s the that’s the difference.

Dani Taylor (19:56.619)
That’s so interesting because I’ve never been to Plaza Azteco with anybody that wasn’t ordering the vegan food. So I don’t think I’ve ever even seen the other stuff. yeah. At that at that particular restaurant, anyway. But there are other very authentic Mexican restaurants around me that don’t they don’t have anything there that’s vegan. The beans are not vegan, the rice is not vegan. It’s good to know before you go, because if you find that out once you’re there, it’s very disappointing. So

Coach Alice Robeson (20:03.874)
The the pink race. Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (20:21.954)
Yeah. No. the second category that I’d say is my second favorite is gonna be Indian food. once again, f figuring out whether or not they offer a protein is is gonna be like the main focus when you just check ahead. not every Indian restaurant, surprisingly, has tofu, but a lot of them do. So just calling ahead.

Dani Taylor (20:50.298)
See, I’ve never been to an Indian place that has tofu, ever. So yeah. And I love Indian food. So it’s on my list also. But I’ve I know they exist because I’ve heard of them in other cities and stuff, but I’ve never been to

Coach Alice Robeson (20:54.606)
Never.

Coach Alice Robeson (21:07.116)
I’d say about 50% of the Indian restaurants around here have tofu. and that’s probably because it’s mostly a chain called Nawab around here. And I think it’s pretty standard for them to to offer the the tofu. so and that and they’re usually very, very clearly marked menus. Indians they always know.

whether or not the menu items are vegan in my experience. I’ve never, I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant and they had no idea or had to ask. Right? you can get a vr I mean it’s it’s gonna be a lot of rice. So I think that’s the main thing. just be very cognizant of how much rice you’re eating, for the calories and otherwise it’s the oil thing. It’s gonna be I don’t know if they would respond too well.

Dani Taylor (21:43.082)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (22:02.774)
to asking for lighter oil because I think a lot of them are made in advance.

Dani Taylor (22:07.508)
So that and so Indian restaurants are pretty much one of the only places that I think can’t really do light oil. It because they the way that they get such flavor in their dishes is they’re frying those spices. And they’re using a good chunk of oil to do so. And but I do think a lot of the dishes are made in advance. Like if they tried to make them to order, it would take an hour, you know, because they’d have to stew for so long. So a lot of them they’re kind of pulling from pre-made vats and reheating it and dressing it up.

Coach Alice Robeson (22:29.358)
Exactly.

Dani Taylor (22:37.246)
But because I basically never have been to an Indian restaurant that has like tofu, tempeh, seitan, anything like that. I mean, maybe, maybe once or twice when traveling in other places, but I always get Chana Masala, like always. And I always end up eating like, I don’t know, probably 80% that and 20% rice. And somewhere I have a video where I was gonna do a series like this, and that’s the only one that I ever did was Indian restaurants and what I would get there.

sometimes there I mean there’s like some side dishes that I think can be okay. Like I always get mango pickle, which is so good. gosh, I have a jar of them in my fridge right now. They’re so freaking good, but very weird tasting to a lot of people. you know, we’ll do like a lot of the chutneys, like the onion chutneys, but a lot of the stuff that’s really, really delicious, like the samosas, obviously that’s deep fried, so we only do those once in a while.

and yes, I also have found that for the most part, everybody I’ve spoken to, if they speak English well enough, they know what vegan is. The only thing I usually double check for is ghee, because sometimes they don’t think of ghee as dairy, but it is dairy. And I’ve had a lot of clients who have traveled to India for work, and I always thought, because vegetarianism is so common.

I guess in India that it would very easy to be vegan there, but I have had my clients say they have never had such a hard time being vegan anywhere as they have in India because everything has ghee and nobody thinks about it at all. So it’s like very hard for them to steer clear of that when they’re in India. So because I heard that I started asking and found out a couple of things that I had been eating that I thought were vegan did have ghee in them.

So that was upsetting, but I don’t think anybody did it maliciously. I think they just again they just didn’t think of it, you know? but most of the places I’ve been to are like mom and pop chains, which I think is probably more common than Indian food chains like this no wob. I’ve never heard of it. I don’t know if I’ve seen it before, but yeah. Indian food is one of our favorites.

Coach Alice Robeson (24:33.133)
Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (24:51.896)
Usually have they usually have some kind of tofu with vegetables and a curry sauce. And then I’ll come out, you know, in the in the family size dish, and then you’ll have your plate of rice with it that they so nicely mold usually, right? And then usually naan is not vegan, but you can get another bread and it’s escaping my name my my word bank right now, but it’s like a whole wheat. Hm.

Dani Taylor (25:18.603)
Roti R O T I is it is that it roti? Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (25:21.592)
Roti. Yes, it’s roti. Mm-hmm. so order the roti with it if you if you don’t want to focus so much on the rice like I do. I’d I’d much rather have a piece of bread, honestly, with with mine. I don’t usually go for chana masala. if I I’m usually like calling a place in advance and it’s like if they don’t have a protein, I’m like, not going. Yeah.

Dani Taylor (25:43.75)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We

Coach Alice Robeson (25:47.129)
That’s my favorite. and if they if it’s a place that has vegan like chicken masala or something, a masala that is made with like a coconut milk, something like that, then I’m usually pretty excited about this place because it’s a lot harder to find a vegan masala sauce on like where I live.

Dani Taylor (26:12.506)
And I think this is a really important distinction because I think we might be talking about a couple of different things. And I this took me a long time to figure out. Indian restaurants, like it’s not like there’s one Indian food. Like there’s South Indian food, Southeast Indian food, North Indian food. there’s so many different kinds of Indian food that like I remember because I always ordered Chana Masala. And then I went to a different place and I ordered Chana Masala without like really looking at the menu, and it came and it was really creamy looking.

And I was like, what is this? And they were like, there’s milk in it. And I was like, what? Like, because I had never seen that before. And at least around here, the places that we go to, most chana most masalas do not have any sort of cream in them or anything, but I have been to places that do. So even if you think you know the dish, like just ask, because depending on what region that Indian restaurant is making food from, it could have the same name but be different. So definitely worth asking.

Coach Alice Robeson (26:43.918)
Let’s take that.

Coach Alice Robeson (27:10.242)
Yeah, it’s tika masala versus regular masala, I believe. So that’s that’s the one that I refer to, but I think the next category is gonna be like Thai and like pho places.

Dani Taylor (27:24.392)
Ooh, I didn’t have pho places on my list because I’ve never been to one. So I’ll let you talk about that one because I’m not sure. But a lot of my clients like it.

Coach Alice Robeson (27:27.65)
Yeah.

Yeah, I mean tie places we can talk about that first. you just wanna make sure that you ask for no egg and things. and you can go Yeah, that’s right, no fish.

Dani Taylor (27:42.323)
And fish sauce. Fish sauce is in a lot of things. Like, that’s the only thing I’ve ever been turned down for in certain times. Like, can you do blah blah blah without the fish sauce? And sometimes they’re like, no, because it’s already in there, like it’s already pre-put in the sauce, so then I have to get something different. but Thai places pretty much always have tofu, at least, and a lot of them have other kinds of mock meats too, but they always have tofu. So I like Thai restaurants.

Quite a bit for that reason.

Coach Alice Robeson (28:13.944)
Just doing a pad tie nice and easy with no egg. Usually usually I have not been to a place that has told me no about fish sauce and no about the skipping the egg. ‘Cause I do make it there usually. It’s not usually pre made.

Dani Taylor (28:23.826)
Mm-hmm. That’s good.

Dani Taylor (28:29.896)
Yeah, the egg, egg is usually pretty easy to skip. So I don’t usually get pad thai. I usually get some kind of a curry. And my advice on that would be to try to get a curry if you’re trying to be as healthy as you can be, that does not have a coconut base, because it’s so dangerously, deliciously awesome that you will have a hard time not eating all of it. And it just turns out to be like a lot of saturated fat by the end of the meal. So if you can find like a curry.

That is just I just ask, does this have a coconut base? and you know, if it doesn’t, that’s probably gonna be a healthier option for you. And still very delicious. It’s just not as delicious as a coconut base because that’s freaking delicious. but you can

Coach Alice Robeson (29:15.982)
You want really easy, you can do like a Thai basil sauce with just like tofu and veggies.

Dani Taylor (29:22.058)
Mm-hmm. And that’s probably like the healthiest option that you could get would be something like that. they also have a lot of salads on Thai menus that, you know, if you’re somebody that likes salads, or maybe it’s a thousand degrees like it is right now, you know, that have lots and lots of different vegetables and herbs and interesting flavors and sauces in them, those can be a good choice. Excuse me. sometimes even the spring rolls.

Like the fresh spring rolls will also have tofu in them. And those those can be a pretty decent choice. They usually come with some kind of a either like a clear sauce or a peanut sauce. And they’re a little tricky to track, I would say, because they’re all different sizes and use different amounts of like rice noodles and things in them. But in the grand scheme of things for like food that you would eat out in a restaurant, I think they’re definitely on the healthier side.

Coach Alice Robeson (30:17.986)
Yeah, for sure.

Dani Taylor (30:21.14)
Take it away on the fuse I got nothing.

Coach Alice Robeson (30:23.278)
Pho is really popular around here and it’s funny because they just all like assign themselves a different number. Pho number number. Pho number number. And Carson loves pho, and I was never really into it until until I met him. And he always takes me to the same location and hilltop in Virginia Beach. but yeah, they always have in my experience they always have tofu.

they always it’s it’s lots of vegetables, you know. Be ready for a noodle dish when you go there because that’s the main focus. but i I I’ve never had a problem, you know, asking for the fish sauce usually comes in like this, like they bring out this tray of all these different sauces and spices that you can add. And so you don’t usually have to ask for no fish sauce, but you can double check. It’s obviously gonna depend on the on the location, but it’s usually coming out.

as a fairly clear like broth, you know, lots of lots of spices and Thai basil in there and it’s it’s really, really good. and yeah, normally I’ve never I so far I’ve never had a problem finding a a vegan option there because tofu is just like, yeah, of course we’ve got tofu.

Dani Taylor (31:35.539)
Yeah, so that’s what I’ve always heard. My clients get tofu. I’ve I think I’ve only had it once and it was somebody that made it for me and I was like, This tastes like vegetables in water. Like I did not understand what made this good or special or anything, because I would have assumed the broth to be like super flavorful, but what I had was not that. And I was like, I don’t get it. So maybe I need to I a place just opened up in town. I haven’t checked it out at all.

Maybe I should check it out and see if they have anything for me so I can give it another fair shake. The other thing is, you know, the cilantro, they a lot of cilantro and stuff. And and that’s a that’s a hard pass for me. But I I you know, I’ve never met a place other than freaking Chipotle and their cilantro rice, I’ve never met a place that can’t take the cilantro, like skip the cilantro on something. So I’ll check it up. I’m gonna write it down.

Coach Alice Robeson (32:12.834)
There is a lot, yeah. That’s gonna be harder for you to avoid.

Coach Alice Robeson (32:29.998)
Chinese food’s usually pretty easy. This is another one that has a lot of lotta oil, but very rare do they not have tofu, at least around here.

Dani Taylor (32:41.256)
Yeah, I would say that’s usually true here also. so the sauces, I’ve had a lot of people be like, Can you tell me the macros on the brown sauce? Cause you know, most Chinese restaurants are gonna have something called either like a vegetable delight, a vegetarian delight, a Buddha’s delight. They’re all what I’ve seen the same thing. It’s just like a lot of vegetables in either a brown sauce or like a light brown sauce, like almost almost a almost a white sauce, but kind of clear.

And you can add tofu to any of those things. And I would say those are probably the healthiest options. But if you asked me the macros on those sauces, I could not tell you. Like I’ve looked it up. I’ve found so many different recipes that are so different that I genuinely couldn’t tell you. So I usually ask for light sauce. Or you can ask for it on the side also. And I’ve seen they they have no problem doing it. It’s just as easy for them to toss it in this little container as it is to toss it all together. so

I feel like when it’s in a cup, sometimes it’s easier to see how oily it is or isn’t because it separates a little bit versus when it’s like in broccoli, it’s in there. You’re not getting it out. So yeah, that’s that’s one of my favorites that we get here. If we’re gonna eat out here, that’s one of the things that we get regularly. Is that obviously we love the general Tso’s tofu so much, but it’s one that’s a sh that’s a straight-up sugar sauce, and it’s fried.

Coach Alice Robeson (34:02.008)
Mm-hmm. Heavily fried. Yeah, and fretted.

Dani Taylor (34:04.188)
So we yeah, so we we don’t do that too often. But it is good.

Coach Alice Robeson (34:08.622)
Yeah. That’s a that’s definitely an off season meal, but we have some amazing General Tso’s tofu at this place that my family likes to go to after after church on Sundays. So that’s a that’s a and and they give me, I swear, they give me like a block and a half of tofu. It’s like they bring this out, I’m like, I’m like, who do you think is gonna eat all this?

Dani Taylor (34:21.554)
Yeah. It’s very, very good.

Dani Taylor (34:29.651)
Yeah.

Dani Taylor (34:34.568)
Yep. It’s usually if if Giacomo and I order from so you’ve actually been there, it’s Wang’s table. So it’s a it’s a Chinese and Japanese restaurant. Like they have both kinds of food there. So sometimes we’ll get like the vegetarian sushi plate for ourselves, but then we’ll share a jet one general Tso’s tofu because we just like we want some of it so bad, but neither one of us actually wants to eat a whole order of it because it’s so much. so delicious.

I’m trying to think if there’s anything else that I usually get in a Chinese restaurant, but I feel like I’ve been getting some variation of the Buddha’s delight with tofu for like 20 years. Like that’s really the thing I get every time. It never disappoints. If I kind of don’t feel like cooking, but I also want to make sure that I’m eating healthy and getting a lot of vegetables. You’ll never get a dish with more vegetables than that. Like, yes, the sauce itself is like.

oily and salty, and I’m not calling the sauce a health food or anything like that, but tell me where else you’re gonna go order out and get that many vegetables that are like not iceberg lettuce. So it’s really quite satisfying, I find, when you kind of want a little bit of both worlds there.

Coach Alice Robeson (35:46.881)
A lot of Chinese restaurants will also have an option for people who don’t want something that’s like really, really cooked in oil. They’ll call it something like the steamed vegetables and tofu. A lot of times that will come with like a lemon ginger sauce, which I actually love, and that’s one of my staples that I’ll get, especially if I’m in prep, because it’s just so light, you know.

Simple the simplest plate there, you get some rice with it. you can tell it’s just like colorful, wonderful. I don’t know. So

Dani Taylor (36:23.112)
Yeah. Yeah. And it’s usually like a fifty cents or a dollar more to switch to brown rice if that’s something that you want. I go back and forth depending on how I’m feeling on any particular day. so yeah, tell me where else you can get like a whole grain, a ton of vegetables, tofu, usually for like ten bucks or less. Like it’s it’s ’cause they’re usually at least around here, they’re pretty inexpensive. Although I found out I didn’t know this, like New England Chinese food is like a thing.

I just found this out recently. I had no idea it was such a big deal. Like people move to other parts of the country and they’re like, no, I want New England Chinese food. And I’m like, what’s the difference? Because I guess I’ve only ever had it around here. If anybody knows, let us know because I don’t have a clue.

Coach Alice Robeson (37:05.922)
When you took me to that place it was really good. But I couldn’t tell you the difference between that and what I get here. Sorry.

Dani Taylor (37:12.124)
Yeah, uhhuh, yeah. I I I I don’t know. But I also like I don’t know, we eat the same three things, right? Maybe if you’re not vegan, maybe there’s a big difference. I don’t have a clue, but I know everybody here orders Chinese food on like Christmas Eve, everybody orders it on New Year’s Eve, like it’s a big it’s a big thing. I didn’t realize everybody in the country didn’t do that, but so let’s let’s move to China Japanese just because I have them kind of in this a similar place because of that restaurant I go to a lot. So

Coach Alice Robeson (37:32.541)
you mentioned Japanese.

Dani Taylor (37:40.081)
Obviously the edamame appetizer. Like you can get it usually with just plain sea salt on it. And sometimes they have one that has like a sauce. the sea salt one’s gonna be healthier. But I mean if you were if you were really trying to like keep it tight and keep it clean, like you can literally make a meal out of a couple orders of that if you wanted to. a lot of places will have an Agadashi tofu appetizer.

You want to check to make sure they don’t have fish flakes, bonito on them. and that’s usually fried but very lightly. So it’s not like hard, crispy. It’s usually kind of the soft tofu, which I think is true of a lot of Japanese and Chinese food, is it’s like a softer tofu than you would normally be buying in the store. So you do want to keep that in mind when you’re logging it, because the macros are probably that of a soft or medium tofu versus like an extra firm.

Coach Alice Robeson (38:34.166)
Which means a little bit less protein. But also a little bit less fat too. It’s just more voluminous.

Dani Taylor (38:36.422)
Yeah. Yeah, just yeah, it’s just got it’s got more water left in it, basically, that hasn’t been pressed out. you know, sushi I feel like really runs the gamut because there’s so many different kinds of sushi, like most little small towns, like I have. We have like a cucumber roll, an avocado roll, a cucumber avocado roll. we have a sweet potato roll that’s really good. Although I find out found out recently that they put eel sauce on that most of the time.

yeah, I had no idea. And sometimes they put fish eggs on it, like as a I don’t know, a decoration or something. So now I know to always ask for it without that. But I’ve been to other places where they have so many different kinds of vegetable sushi that are very different than what we have here, like like a daikon roll or different kind of radish roll, Oshinko, I think is what it’s called. Inari, we have Inari here, which I love. It’s like

The tofu skin, the Yuba skins, and they’re just kind of wrapped around a little roll of rice, and they’re a little tiny bit sweet. Those are so, so good. But I’ve also been to some places out west that have like vegan sushi that’s crazy. You know, like the huge the ones you can’t even pick up with chopsticks. You can’t fit the whole piece in your mouth. You gotta have to take bites of it. It’s got mayonnaise sauces on them and weird stuff like that. So I couldn’t speak to that, but I do think that.

You know, the more simple vegetable sushi rolls can be a really good addition to a meal, but there’s usually not much protein in them by themselves. So, you know, getting a few sushi rolls and like a bowl of edamame, that’s a that’s a good that’s a good little meal right there. It covers a lot of bases.

Coach Alice Robeson (40:27.662)
So I wanna make a plug to a specific, in my opinion, the best vegan sushi restaurant ever, hands down, period, full stop. If you guys are in San Francisco, go to Sheizen. my gosh. You talking about those fancy chef rolls that you can’t pick up with your chopsticks. I mean, they have rolls that come out on fire. they have they have their own amazing recipe for spicy tofuna.

which I’ve been so inspired that I actually made a homemade recipe so that I can have it because I live in Virginia normally but every time every time I go visit my brother in San Francisco we go there multiple times and it’s fully vegan in there and it’s one of those restaurants that nowhere does it say that everything is fully vegan. You just they’ll tell you if you ask. It’s so popular you usually need a reservation. so check out she’s in.

Dani Taylor (41:21.15)
Right.

Coach Alice Robeson (41:27.72)
yes, so what’s Daniel talking about? I find most Japanese restaurants to be a lot harder to eat at because I am one person who’s gonna be like, it better have protein. the besides the the edamame appetizer, the tofu that they have there is usually smaller portions, very fried, and it’s not as pr easy to find in Thai in in Chinese restaurants. Usually it’s like

Dani Taylor (41:39.527)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Alice Robeson (41:54.477)
You can like swap chicken for for tofu, but like Japanese restaurants, that’s not necessarily the case around here, at least. and a note about most sushi, and I learned this because I wanted to learn how to make, you know, the the spicy tofuna myself. when you get sushi rolls, they sprinkle sugar on the sushi rice. And

Dani Taylor (42:01.661)
Mm-hmm.

Dani Taylor (42:21.796)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Coach Alice Robeson (42:24.034)
They add oil to the sushi rice. So no wonder, you know, sushi is so delicious because it’s doctored up with all these invisorable calories, and most people don’t know that until you go to try to make your own and look up your own recipes. So there’s there’s lots of vegetable options, but careful about the sushi. It’s just gonna be a lot more calories than you expect. and be prepared most of the time to just kind of get lots of whole foods when you go to a Japanese.

Dani Taylor (42:25.896)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dani Taylor (42:39.646)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Alice Robeson (42:53.482)
Restaurant.

Dani Taylor (42:55.272)
Yeah, I’m trying to think if I’ve ever been to like a Japanese restaurant that was just a Japanese restaurant. And I don’t think so. Just because they’re like they’re mostly fusion restaurants here. so like you’ll get a big menu and like the first half will be Chinese food and the back half will be Japanese food or or sometimes some other Asian fusion. so I don’t know if I’ve actually been to a straight up Japanese restaurant ever.

I’ve had a lot of clients travel to Japan and I guess it’s fairly easy to be vegan like in Tokyo, but outside of Tokyo, it’s actually really hard because there’s so much fish in everything, like fish products and everything, which I also found to be very interesting. So, you know, but but like I said, friends that have gone to Tokyo didn’t have a super hard time. There are other problems they had in Tokyo, but that wasn’t one of them. But yeah.

Outside, like in more rural areas, they said it was like really hard, which again surprised me. That surprised me. India surprised me. Maybe someday I’ll get to go and I can have my own account, but right now I do not.

Coach Alice Robeson (44:03.022)
I’ve had a couple a couple of friends go and they’re like, I just lived off of gas station food when I went to Tokyo. I’m like, Apparently it’s really good.

Dani Taylor (44:09.097)
No.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, the gas stations. I have seen videos of like the maybe not gas stations, but like the convenience stores there, and they’re very different than they are here. Super different. let’s see. So Italian restaurants. I feel like you’re gonna have a hard time finding Italian restaurants that have tofu, tempeh, seitan, or mock meat, unless they specifically cater to a vegan crowd.

Which I guess we have one place in Boston that has like a secret, it’s like an in the north end, it’s like the Italian neighborhood of Boston. And I guess they have like a kind of secret vegan menu. I kind of want to take Giacomo there as like a surprise at some point. But most of the Italian restaurants I’ve been to are not catering to vegans at all. But there’s often a couple of things on the menu that are usually still pretty good. Again, you’re not gonna find much protein here, but you if they have pasta fagioli.

Which is like a pasta and bean soup, as long as they’re not cooking it with like a beef broth or anything like that. That’s usually pretty good and does have some protein in it. A lot of times they will have various kinds of bean soups or bean pastas, because that in in Italy that is it’s not like spaghetti and meatballs. Like we think of here, like they are actually mixing a lot of beans and vegetables in with their pasta. So you still get something that is you know.

fairly nutritious and and satisfying that way. They tend to have great vegetables, like really great vegetables. If you look at the side dish menu, you can craft something that comes out like it tastes a lot better than you are expecting it to taste based on what you’re ordering. So you know normally if you were if you were in an American restaurant and you ordered a side of broccoli, like you’re gonna get a side of steamed broccoli and it’s gonna be exactly what you picture. But if you

Coach Alice Robeson (45:59.287)
Mm.

Dani Taylor (46:08.17)
Or in an Italian restaurant, like a good Italian restaurant, and you order like broccolini, like it’s gonna be roasted, it’s gonna have seasonings on it, it’s gonna be much more elevated than what you would expect it to be. And all of the vegetables that you were to pick off of that, they’re all a little bit different. It’s not all the exact same thing. Like they cook them all a little bit different, and certainly they’re using oil in them, but it’s something, so that you don’t end up having to sit there eating plain pasta.

with red sauce on it, which is like the default that you would see in a lot of places, or just a pasta primavera with no cheese on it. You do always want to say no cheese, because it’s like it’s like cilantro in an Indian restaurant. They just like put it on right at the end of every single meal. So you have to ask for it to not have it. But those are, you know, because of Giacomo’s family and visiting them in New York, we go to a lot of Italian restaurants at functions that are not, I mean, these are like.

True, everybody around you is speaking Italian. This is like real Italian, not like Olive Garden Italian. And it’s very different than the Italian menus that I was used to seeing growing up. But you can still have a satisfying meal there. Not not a protein heavy one, but a satisfying meal if you know what you’re looking for when you go into those places.

Coach Alice Robeson (47:25.39)
A lot of times I end up ordering a pasta primavera with a marinara sauce instead of because a lot of times they’ll come with like a a oil sauce. Uh-huh. And so I save some calories that way and then I get all those, like you said, delicious vegetables on top.

Dani Taylor (47:33.245)
Oil sauce. Mm-hmm.

Dani Taylor (47:37.513)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Alice Robeson (47:41.9)
Most of there’s usually not dairy in most like pasta that comes in the restaurants. I mean I guess you could do a little research in advance, of course, but that’s usually the the standard default. yeah.

Dani Taylor (47:56.745)
And I’ve heard some restaurants are, you know, because a lot of places are putting in like gluten free pasta options for their gluten free guests. I’ve heard some places are putting in like bean pasta options, like lentil or chickpea, not lentil, yeah, red lentil or chickpea pastas as options. I don’t think you’re ever gonna see that in Brooklyn. I don’t think it’s ever gonna happen in Brooklyn, but maybe in other types of Italian, like more more Americanized Italian restaurants, I think.

You might be seeing that in the near future, which that’ll be nice.

Coach Alice Robeson (48:28.92)
Parents love Olive Garden. Love it. and so I end up going there a fair amount. And besides not having protein, I’m usually not too upset about it because I love their minestrone soup and it is vegan. And the Olive Garden breadsticks, even you don’t have to do any modifications. They use oil. They don’t use or sorry, they use like an oil margarine.

Dani Taylor (48:44.522)
Okay, good to know.

Coach Alice Robeson (48:55.414)
So you don’t have to ask for that to be removed or anything from their breadsticks. So it’s it’s really, really nice.

Dani Taylor (49:00.712)
What about their dressing? So I know they have that soup and salad breadstick combo. I’ve actually never eaten at Olive Garden in my life, which is crazy because I worked like across the street from one for so long in a different restaurant. But I thought I had remembered hearing, and sounds like you will know, that their salad dressing does have cheese in it or something, like their regular salad dressing that comes with that combo.

Coach Alice Robeson (49:22.136)
They definitely add cheese onto the top of the salads and their croutons 1000% have cheese in them. I don’t think the dressing I would have to double check the dressing, but normally I’m focusing on the soup and the breadsticks. I’m just not I’m I’m a bad vegan. I don’t I’m never gonna order a a freaking salad. it’s just not worth it to me.

Dani Taylor (49:31.028)
Okay.

Dani Taylor (49:37.674)
Mm-hmm.

I really I really like salad, but I don’t usually order it in restaurants, but I know that people were obsessed with that particular item on the menu, the combo meal that was like endless of all of those things back in the day. And I remember looking it up and being like bummed that I couldn’t

have it at the time. But again, this was probably like 20 years ago. So I don’t know what’s changed or what hasn’t. Yeah. I’m not I’m not a hundred percent sure. So okay.

Coach Alice Robeson (50:17.388)
It just says grated cheese is typically put on the salad, doesn’t say it’s in the I would ask. I would ask when you get there.

Dani Taylor (50:26.344)
The the next one I have on my list would just be like an American style restaurant, or or a steakhouse. I guess those would kind of be in in similar veins, which you would think, why would a vegan go to a steakhouse? I can’t tell you how many times my clients have had a work lunch that’s at a steakhouse. Like it does happen a lot. And again, unlikely to find protein at a steakhouse, but I’ll veer off that in a second. But the vegetables at a steakhouse are also top-notch. Like

Coach Alice Robeson (50:35.694)
Okay.

Dani Taylor (50:55.058)
Very high quality vegetables. You can usually get a baked potato or a baked sweet potato. You’re not getting protein there, but you can usually piece together something so you’re not just sitting there eating nothing. but in a more just like regular American restaurant, there’s almost always a vegan burger now. There’s almost always a vegan burger on the menu, which is really cool and so crazy from where it was.

Freaking 10 years ago, like I think it was 10 years ago that TGI Fridays put the Beyond Burger on their menu. And Giacomo and I like went to TGI Fridays to have the bur like it was such a big deal at the time. and there were sometimes veggie burgers on menus before that, but they were usually like house made, which often meant they had egg in them, or they were just like quinoa and beans smushed together, which is still better than having nothing to eat for sure, but not

Coach Alice Robeson (51:29.731)
Yep.

Dani Taylor (51:52.647)
any sort of decent protein option. So I mean the the beyond burger or the impossible or whatever they have, like that’s that’s the move, honestly. And I usually would recommend somebody get that, depending on what their macros are. And you know, a lot of times we’re talking about making something lower calorie on this podcast. There’s people that have tons of macros to work with that don’t need to worry about it. A lot of the stuff we’re talking about. But if you don’t, you know, eating the burger open faced where you’re not eating the whole bun, you’re eating half the bun, and then just getting

a veggie as a side instead of french fries, like you can that’s actually a really decent option.

Coach Alice Robeson (52:28.526)
And don’t be afraid to be like, I want to order a salad and then I want you to tear up a beyond a beyond burger and sprinkle it on top. No, none of the kitchens are gonna be upset about that. Just make sure they’re not adding cheese to your salad. You know? TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays, Cheesecake Factory, Johnny Rockets, that’s all of those burger places that I have, like that are chains that offer an impossible or a beyond.

Denny’s actually just added a Dr. Prager’s burger. Interestingly enough, that’s fairly recent.

Dani Taylor (53:04.596)
Yeah. I think I remember hearing about that actually. it’s hard for me ’cause I don’t I’m not

Coach Alice Robeson (53:10.447)
And Denny’s is one of the few that has vegan pancakes, even though vegan pancakes are one of the easiest things to make in the world. It’s so stinking hard to find.

Dani Taylor (53:16.828)
Yeah. Yes, it is really hard. Giacomo and I, when we went, we went on like a or he went on a snowboarding trip this past winter and I went with him. I don’t snowboard, I literally just sat in the hotel the whole time. But when we were coming back, we stopped at a sugar shack, which is those are big things up in New England and southern Canada. They’re like maple ho maple syrup houses basically. But this one was also a restaurant and they made pancakes and they could make the pancakes vegan, and the way they did it I thought was really interesting.

instead of making them with milk, they just made them with orange juice instead. I could they didn’t taste like orange to me. They tasted totally fine and normal, but I was like, man, if it’s that easy, like, why can’t other places do this? yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (53:51.643)
Okay.

Coach Alice Robeson (54:02.636)
Yeah. They’re just they’re they’re just not trying at all. It’s just it just shows like how little people care because like some of these things so easy to omit and you would never even know. frustrating.

Dani Taylor (54:14.73)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. so yeah, that’s that’s if I was in an American restaurant, it’s funny, there’s not a lot of options in an American restaurant for vegans. Like it’s actually a very short list. But if they have a beyond or impossible burger on the list, like you’re good. You’re good. And that’s not my favorite. I don’t, I actually don’t really like Beyond or Impossible Burgers very much. But if that’s where I am and that’s what they have, that’s what I’ll get and it’ll be fine. and that’s often where people want to go.

Coach Alice Robeson (54:41.874)
Usually they’ll have some kind of veggie wrap too. Not not chains, but like mom and pop places that are American restaurants. They’ll have some kind of veggie wrap with a meat. they try to get creative with the dressings, at least around here for you. so that’s something too, if you’re more whole food interested when you’re going out to eat.

Dani Taylor (54:47.636)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dani Taylor (55:05.134)
the only other one that I had on my list was pizza. So, you know, well, obviously there’s pizza places everywhere, and a lot more places do carry vegan cheese now than they used to. If you look ahead, you can find out. Not as many places have some sort of protein y type topping. But, you know, in a pinch, Giacomo and I have absolutely ordered pizza with extra sauce, no cheese, all the veggies, and we just we just make it.

Coach Alice Robeson (55:08.15)
Mm.

Dani Taylor (55:34.911)
Work in that situation. But with a little planning and looking ahead, you can find places that do have vegan cheese. That said, this kind of brings me to my next area that is like my other sort of tips. Kind of covered a couple of them. Look for places in advance. light oil, looking at the side dishes. But BYOP, bring your own protein. You can do this.

In a lot of you know, you have to know where you’re going and kind of know what to expect. I have brought my own protein to so many restaurants. And as long as you’re ordering something off their menu, they don’t care, right? So I’ve ordered things like been been at Mexican restaurants that didn’t have a vegan option and brought my own, like it’s pre-cooked and it’s like vegan chicken, and I just order a veggie fajita bowl or something and I just dump it on top.

And make that work or in a pizza place, like you could bring your own little pizza topping and put that on top. Now, if you were to ask them, hey, can you cook this on my pizza? It’s gonna be a very mixed bag. occasionally somebody will not have a problem with it, but usually for liability reasons, they don’t wanna do it. Because if you give them something that is like spoiled or something’s wrong with it, and then you get sick eating at their restaurant, it’s on them. But if you bring stuff that you can put with your own meal.

I’ve never, the only time I’ve ever seen a problem with that is when someone just tried to bring in their own meal, not order anything off the menu. That’s not gonna fly very well. but if you’re adding something to what you’re ordering at the restaurant, that is that’s probably my biggest hack, actually. And I I don’t know, maybe once in a blue moon you’ll get a funny look from somebody, but I just am so past caring at this point that.

You know, take me somewhere I can eat and I won’t have to do this you know.

Coach Alice Robeson (57:31.384)
Bring a little Ziploc bag of my chicken seitan almost every every time. If I know, gosh, my parents love to go to this seafood restaurant. Seafood restaurants are some of the least fr vegan friendly, by the way, I’ve I’ve found. and so I end up getting some completely like custom pain in the butt thing that I’ve set up, and I just bring a little my little baggie of my chicken seitan and just whoop right on top of it.

But yeah, pizza places, some of the most friendly pizza places are gonna be why not pizza chain, mellow mushroom is my personal favorite. They usually have tempeh actually, at almost every location. what is it? Blaze pizza and mod pizza, which are almost the exact same thing.

Dani Taylor (58:23.826)
yeah. Yep. Yeah, those are pretty I actually really like those two. I’ve only been to one of them, but I know they’re the same thing. It’s kind of like Chipotle, where the they walk you down the line and you pick what’s on your pizza and they make it for you and then they pop it and it’s like fast food pizza, but you’re can you’re controlling basically what’s on it and they post their macros in places. I’d also say Otto’s pizza if you’re in the northeast, it’s like a Maine

chain, but it they’re branching out, but they don’t always have dining rooms. So sometimes that’s just takeout.

Coach Alice Robeson (58:56.801)
Do they have a protein there at Otto’s?

Dani Taylor (58:59.676)
They do sometimes. Their menu changes, but sometimes they do.

Coach Alice Robeson (59:04.769)
last major chain that has protein I’d say is Uno’s. one’s so the least vegan friendly pizza chain is Domino’s, I would say. but like a a lot of the places will have an accidentally vegan crust and maybe have maybe have a vegan cheese option. The ones with crusts I know are Marcos. I used to do that one a lot. Papa John’s is really popular.

Dani Taylor (59:09.777)
Mm.

Coach Alice Robeson (59:34.804)
for their for their crust little Caesars, Pizza Hut and Sbarro all have at least vegan crust options.

Dani Taylor (59:43.369)
Yeah. They’re y always check because sometimes it changes too. You know, I worked at Pizza Hut for many years when I was like my first job, I guess. I got it when I was fourteen and I was there till I was nineteen. So I was there for I was there for a long time and I was there when I went vegan. Like that’s where I was working. And I remember like

Coach Alice Robeson (01:00:00.247)
Mm-hmm.

Dani Taylor (01:00:03.572)
Their stuffed crust dough, not the cheese, obviously, the dough itself was vegan and then something changed and overnight it wasn’t vegan. And with a lot of these big corporations, sometimes they’ll like quietly change their supplier or something and not say anything. So checking in occasionally is not a bad idea. yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:00:26.839)
When I’m on road trips, did places that I’m looking for usually on road trips that are like easiest to find. The Blaze and the Maud Pizzas, Chipotle and Moe’s. Similarly, Cava. Cava’s like a Mediterranean version of Chipotle. You know, you build your own bowl and then yeah, they have they have falafel, interestingly enough.

Dani Taylor (01:00:52.894)
That was that that was the type of restaurant that I just realized was on my list that we skipped over was Mediterranean restaurants. Mm-hmm. Yeah, there’s usually there’s usually not a protein option. Occasionally you’ll find a place that does have like a a mock meat. We actually have an Israeli place near us that has a full vegan menu that has some sort of vegan mock meat. It’s the same one. They use it in every dish that has mock meat in it, but it’s really good. But most of the time you don’t find that at Mediterranean restaurants.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:00:57.549)
You wanna talk about that real quick before I finish this?

Dani Taylor (01:01:21.174)
The best option is gonna be they usually have a lentil soup of some kind. And if you get a big bowl of it, you know, you can easily hit 20 grams of protein with that. But, you know, the key I think with Mediterranean restaurants and what makes them so freaking hard is that they garnish everything in oil, but you can ask them to not do that. It’s even before I got into macro tracking or anything, I remember because my stepdad was Lebanese, so we had Mediterranean food everywhere.

And I remember just watching them at the end. Like, there’s this beautiful plate, and then they just like whoosh and just start throwing oil on it. I’m like, why would anybody do that? That doesn’t even taste good. I don’t understand. So if you just ask them not to garnish stuff in oil, they will skip it for you. There’s still oil in the food, but we don’t need to throw a punch on top of the food when it’s done. sometimes there’s like a fava bean appetizer.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:01:56.481)
Dani Taylor (01:02:18.654)
That’s like it’s kind of like a fava beans, it’s not quite a spread because it’s not all mashed up and pureed, but it’s also not quite a salad. It’s kind of something in between. that’s that’s very good if you’re able to get that too. So again, we’re looking at beans as the main source of protein, which is not my favorite way to do things. But if you’re in a situation where that is the best protein option that you have, that is something you should be taking advantage of. So yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:02:45.515)
falafel but it’s there’s so there’s falafel is heavily fried guys so be very careful with how much don’t just order falafel thinking this is a great protein not not trying to like trash it or anything but just keep that in mind. A little bit.

Dani Taylor (01:02:50.216)
Mm. Yeah.

Dani Taylor (01:02:58.888)
Yeah. Yeah. Falafel’s delicious, just like the general Tso’s tofu is delicious, but these are not great choices.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:03:05.229)
Yeah. Yeah. We have very few Mediterranean choices around here. So that’s definitely one that I did not think of. But Cava. Cava is is really a cool one if you can if you can find it. and I literally have a a list on my phone, guys, of like chain restaurants and then like

local mom and pop places that I know have options because a lot of times you’re gonna get like on the spot asked, Hey, you wanna go out? And if you i you I I think it’s really important to just be able to be like, yeah, but can we go to one of these places that I know is you don’t have to say it, but can we go to the specific place you know that you’re gonna have something that you can eat. My family’s really good about that at least. always making sure that I’m happy when we go out to eat.

Dani Taylor (01:03:57.556)
That’s good.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:03:57.644)
And not stuck having just a bowl of or a plate of pasta because I’m always like

Dani Taylor (01:04:03.741)
Mm.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:04:04.523)
disappointed. finishing up the the list for the road trips. Tropical Smoothie Cafe. They actually have vegan chicken at a lot of their locations. yeah.

Dani Taylor (01:04:14.772)
Huh. Really? We have one of those in town. Okay, this place just opened up in Haverhill. I looked at their menu online and I was like, meh, it doesn’t, it just didn’t look good to me. But my aunt was like, hey, I heard that this place has vegan chicken if you know what to ask for. And I just thought she was like being crazy because she’s crazy sometimes. And I was like, sure they do.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:04:31.531)
Isn’t it?

Coach Alice Robeson (01:04:37.505)
most locations do. Now I have found some locations in Florida just because there’s not enough demand, they don’t carry the vegan chicken. But even if they don’t carry the vegan chicken, they have pea protein that you can add to many of their smoothies. And many of their smoothies are vegan. They don’t put a lot of like yogurt or any of that crap into into their smoothies. so highly recommend. And and you can swap sugar for Splenda if you want something super low calorie there.

So check that out.

Dani Taylor (01:05:08.762)
that’s that’s cool. I didn’t know that. Yeah, I’ve never been there. So I’m definitely gonna check it out. I just pulled the website up so I remember to look at it later. I’m gonna throw one out that say it again.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:05:17.495)
My favorite my favorite drink there is the Tropa Colada and it’s not on the menu anymore. Basically a non alcoholic pina colada. So there is gonna be coconut in there, but so good, so good.

Dani Taylor (01:05:24.967)
Okay.

Dani Taylor (01:05:28.934)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don’t mind it once in a while. I just I know how much I love coconut, so I have to not have it too much because it’ll add up fast. I’m gonna mention two places that people are probably gonna think is like blasphemous. I don’t know. It’s I it’s I I think I love it and hate it at the same time, the the things that pop up on my screen. so one is Burger King, okay.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:05:42.893)
What in the world?

Coach Alice Robeson (01:05:50.561)
Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:05:57.175)
Perfect. Yep.

Dani Taylor (01:05:57.833)
The Burger King Impossible Whopper, you gotta ask for it to be cooked separately without, I don’t know, the accoutrements they normally put on it. I don’t get this very often. I’ve probably had it twice ever, but I think most people would just write it off immediately as trash and a terrible option. But the fact of the matter is, like an impossible Whopper is almost the same nutritionally as like a Lenny and Larry’s cookie. Like

Think about that. Like most people think when they get a Lenny and Larry’s cookie, I’m getting a protein cookie. This is a good option. It’s like a nice middle ground, but they would think of an impossible whopper like trash. And it’s like they’re actually kind of equal, but I think one would probably satisfy you a little bit more. so I’m not suggesting this should be your first choice, but it does exist if you’re stuck somewhere. I’ve the one of the times I had it, I was stuck in an airport.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:06:50.605)
Airports.

Dani Taylor (01:06:50.686)
Like in the middle of the night, and ever like we got stuck there, and everything else was closed, but Burger King. So I had it there. That that was a decent choice. My other one is Taco Bell, and I will die on the hill that Taco Bell is great. I don’t care what anybody else says. I stand Taco Bell. And I get their bean burrito with no cheese on it. Like I haven’t gotten it in a while, but I went through a phase where I was having it pretty often. And

The it’s it’s like under 300 calories, about 13 to 15 grams of protein. You can also order it with extra beans, which would make that ratio even better. It’s just reconstituted beans, onions, and red sauce. The the worst part about it is the tortilla itself. And it costs two dollars. Like, and it comes in paper, like there’s not even plastic that you have to deal with afterwards. So

I’m a I’m a big fan. I think Taco Bell has been one of those places that’s been very easy to find vegan friendly food at since the day I went vegan, 24. I I I what is time? I don’t know. 2002, 24 years ago. Yeah. So, you know, you can get something there that’s really unhealthy for sure, but you can also get something that is not very unhealthy and is cheap, and you can find it in the middle of nowhere.

In the United States, which is fantastic.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:08:14.375)
Mm-hmm. I like to add to that, I like to add extra red sauce when I when I have to rely on Taco Bell. There was a phase where I was having Taco Bell pretty regularly because we were going to go visit my

grandfather in nursing home like every Saturday night we were like having dinner there and they did not understand what vegan was and I was after I got fed a veggie burger that I realized had egg in it, I never trusted them again. and I started bringing Taco Bell. And so yeah, I was doing that and I would order extra red sauce. I liked it a lot. but

Dani Taylor (01:08:48.458)
Yeah.

Dani Taylor (01:08:52.808)
You can add other stuff. You can add tomatoes, you can add lettuce, you can add jalapenos, like you can add veggies and stuff to it and make it probably even healthier. I’m just very fast. I mean, if I was gonna add something to it, I usually add potatoes, which are those are those are not the healthiest choice, but you know, you can make a pretty you know, it’s got fiber in it. You’re not gonna find fiber at Burger King. You’re not gonna find fiber at a lot of these chains. Like I

Coach Alice Robeson (01:08:56.182)
Avocado.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:09:06.197)
More carbs. Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:09:10.753)
Okay.

Dani Taylor (01:09:19.73)
I think that it gets like kind of poo pooed as this garbage choice, but depending on where you’re at and what you have access to, I think it can be a really good choice. So

Coach Alice Robeson (01:09:29.227)
Yeah, and look at veggl because it’s not just the bean burrito. There’s a lot of varieties of bean things that you can order on the Taco Bell menu. that and some of them are not the refried beans. Some of them you can just get a black bean something with it. So that some someone might be happier with that, right?

Dani Taylor (01:09:34.431)
Yeah.

Dani Taylor (01:09:41.781)
Black beans. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I I think refried beans is like a bad name for what it is because they’re actually not fried at all. it’s a powder. If you guys actually want to know, again, Pizza Hut where I worked is was connected to Taco Bell because they’re the same company, at least they were at the time. It’s a powder. They’re reconstituting a powder. and there’s actually not a lot of fat in it at all. Like when I when I think of something that’s fried, I think of it like

dunked in hot oil until it’s like crispy or whatever and then mashed up. But the the refried beans at Taco Bell are just dehydrated beans that are rehydrated. So yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:10:22.797)
More like boxed mashed potatoes. Right. More similar to that. I think the last two places that I have on my list for for travel is if you can find a yard house. They actually have garden products there and several vegan options, so they have protein. And last but not least, PF Chang’s. And we usually go there with the plant built team.

Dani Taylor (01:10:25.906)
Yes, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dani Taylor (01:10:45.93)
Mm.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:10:49.901)
when we go to Mr America in Atlantic City ’cause surprisingly there are not a lot of vegan options in Atlantic City, guys. So thankfully there’s a PF Chang’s in the Tropicana and we like to go there. We’re all ordering the Buddha’s Delight pretty much.

Dani Taylor (01:11:05.66)
Yep. And there’s, you know, the it’s the if if I remember correctly, the the menu is fairly well labeled. Like there is stuff that is labeled vegan on the menu, but there’s also other stuff on the menu that can be easily made vegan if you know what to ask for. So it’s probably on that website that you mentioned, veggl. So but yeah, I’ve had some really good meals there. You are correct.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:11:23.127)
Mm-hmm.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:11:27.233)
Yeah, all these places that I have on this list, none of these are fully vegan. So these are all places that you could take your friends and family and people would not be complaining. People wouldn’t know like any different, you know, every there’s options for everyone. So keep a running list so that

Dani Taylor (01:11:42.345)
Yeah. We could have a whole separate episode if we were talking about actually vegan places. Those I think are the harder places to order healthily because you want to eat everything on that menu because it’s all vegan. So yeah. All right. Well, hopefully this was informative to you guys. Maybe at some point we can turn this episode. I bet you it wouldn’t even be that hard to turn this episode into a nice PDF guide that people could

Coach Alice Robeson (01:11:47.809)
Mm.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:11:54.711)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dani Taylor (01:12:10.632)
Get, but we don’t have it yet. So don’t go looking for it in the show notes. Okay. We’ll we’ll say it somewhere when we actually do have one. yeah, if you have other places that you thought of that we didn’t mention or other tips, like please do let us know. We love to hear that kind of stuff from you. And if you have any requests for podcast topics, also let us know. You can shoot us an email, coach at vegan proteins. You’ll hear back from one of us. You always will. If you’re looking for any kind of one-on-one coaching, that is the main thing that we do here at Vegan Proteins.

Alice, Sawyer, and Ben all have openings right now. So if you fill out an assessment and that is in the show notes or down below if you’re watching this on YouTube, you will hear back from Giacomo probably within a business day. We’d love to help you get in the best shape of your life, whatever that means to you. If you want to follow people on social media, Alice is at vegan proteins Alice, Ben is at Ben A. Mitchell.

Sawyer is at Soy Boy Fitness Coaching. Giacomo is at Muscles by Brussels, and I am at Vegan Proteins. Although to be honest, I haven’t been on there very much lately. So if you sent me something and I haven’t answered, I’m not ignoring you, I promise. I think that’s everything. I think that’s everything. All right. Thank you so much for tuning in, guys. Once again, my name’s Dani. And we’ll talk to you soon. Bye.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:13:17.389)
Yeah.

Coach Alice Robeson (01:13:21.131)
I’m Alice.