Eating out on 5:2 and ADF - healthy breakfasts, lunches, dinners

[LauraStyles]

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and was having a browse through the different forums and this caught my eye. I'm a big ADF/5:2 advocate - I've been doing it over a year and have never felt better :)

I love eating out and so have made it my mission to find out where I can get a decent, healthy meal for around the 500kcals.

I thought it would be good to have a thread where we could all share our discoveries, too.

Looking forwards to chatting with you all!

Laura

I'm very fortunate in that one of my favourite local independent restaurants has introduced a 5:2 menu. Not very helpful unless you're in the vicinity but maybe the menu will inspire!

www.harrisonsbalham.co.uk

With this and a HIIT studio in beginning to think SW12 should be renamed Mosleyville.

Sam's in Chiswick, also owned by Sam Harrison, has done the same if that helps.

The main trick is to have two starters instead of a main course
cut the carbs
and to defer the fast day till one where you are not eating out !

Wether spoons have a selection of meals for under 500 cals- I had the 5 bean chilli today for lunch and it's lovely.

That's great that independent restaurants are catering. I'm not in the area but it would be worth a visit, just to be able to have choices!

For those of you that are London-based, has anyone tried Chop'd?

I spotted them on Google Maps and looked at their TripAdvisor reviews - I'm dying to give their infamous salads a try. Apparently the portions are really big and they have nutrition info for all of their dishes, so sounds promising :)

Melanie spoons is a great idea - I would have never thought they'd have healthy options.

do you happen to know whether the chilli is vegan? they used to make it with quorn but if they're doing a bean one instead that would be fab!

TalkinPeace - what would you typically order for a meal if you were getting starters? The side salads always seem to be about half the amount of a main course salad and about 1/5 of the size. A few pubs do corn on the cob which is okay - but not much nutrition for the cals. Can't think of what else would be on starter menu? Maybe soup?

Chicken satay, chilli prawns, squid or calamari but go easy on the dip.

Zizzi and Pizza express both do a lighter option pizza with a little side salad for around 500 cals.

I'm actually veggie so those wouldn't be much good to me, but PE and Zizzi could be good as a treat. :)

laurastyles
anything like a sharing plate, goats cheese thingies, hot salad

but I avoid chain restaurants like the plague so am not the best to advise on most places (and I'm an omnivore)

Thanks, sharing plates are always a nice way to eat out with others too.

Yeah I agree, I think generally it's good to avoid chains, though sometimes if they're local to an area they don't have that chain feel about them. Bill's have recently opened more outlets in London, they used to just be a cafe in Lewes and now I think they have 3 or 4 places. I haven't been to London ones but the Lewes one was nice so I wouldn't avoid them just because they're now a chain.