How to politely request healthier food choices when meeting clients?

[Lemonthyme]

How do you politely say to a company "please don't feed me beige food"?

I was with a client yesterday and they asked before I arrived if I had any allergies etc. Which I don't. But when food came it was chicken nuggets, chips and crisps. I kid you not. It was like being in a wacky warehouse.

I've now been on such a healthy diet for a while, I ate some and it was only because I was hungry that I did eat, if there had been a fruit bowl I'd have only eaten fruit. I just didn't want to be doing it and felt awful physically afterwards. I know one meal of crap like that isn't going to make a difference to my weight but I don't like feeling like I'm bloated with that rubbish afterwards. Calories you just don't enjoy aren't fun are they? And I want to get better at asking for something less crap in future.

Do you think it's rude to say "can I have something healthy?" or "please can we have some fruit or vegetables?"

While I've barely eaten any bread for months, I still would have preferred a sandwich to that pants stuff. I work from home a lot of the time so it's not a big issue but it's surely possible to try and get something a smidge healthier.

Tell them you've gone vegan and you might get something fresh?!

I get you completely.

Bizarrely the food industry. I know. You couldn't make it up. But food production sites are full of shift workers so it's pretty routine that the canteen is full of crap and when it's a meeting they just bring something from it normally and don't give you a choice.

When I'm away I take fruit with me for the evening and deliberately choose something healthy for dinner. I'll start taking the fruit into meetings with me in future though. Apples will be ok unrefrigerated. It's a start.

I'd probably get fake cheese. 😬

Please dint say things like I have allergic or need to be gluten free , it's obvious it's not true because you have eaten it in the recent past.
It undermines the genuine cases.

Ah, ok. So in the environment you’ve described, where the food is being served our necessity (ie its lunch time and people need to eat) rather than a ‘lunch meeting’ I would just be honest. Say, I’m on a diet so do you have something reasonably healthy for me? Jacket potatoes are often available in canteens and not a terrible option.

Yeah - I’d be wary of ‘going vegan’ because the vegan alternative type foods are often horrendous UPF

Thing is if it will put them to extra trouble it is likely not a goer. They can’t bring in special meals just for you, or won’t wish to and they are the client, you need to learn to make your diet work for your lifestyle.

so don’t go in hungry, only eat a small portion, and be healthy rest of the day,

I don't like eating UPFs, which rules out most of business buffet type spreads. I take my own lunch and just say from the outset I will be bringing my own food thanks. On the day I say 'oh I'm just funny about food, I try not to eat UPFs' and then change the subject. It's a balance between explaining yourself and making sure others don't feel you're being preachy about food (nothing worse).

I just take my own food, had a few days in London last month and was staying in a hotel so in the morning before heading to the meeting I went up the Tesco Local and picked up some fruit, a prepared salad, some carrot sticks and hummus and snack packs of nuts and when we had breaks and lunch I just had what I’d bought. It was fine, ended up sharing with one of the blokes who is also on a healthy eating plan but hadn’t thought about coming prepared.

“I’m fine thanks, you go ahead/I have my lunch with me”

this is all that’s needed? @ReprogramNeeded your “no upf” response is still unnecessarily rude to the people who have offered it? Criticising the food they are about to eat?

I hear you, op. 😁My work similarly often involves being at the mercy of corporate catering where it isn't as simple as bringing my own.

I always have protein/oat bars with me, and try and extract whatever I can from the offerings. Massive chunky white baguette sandwich platter? Seek out the proteiniest fillings like ham and egg and remove. In your situation, the nuggets would have had to do all the work. It's annoying though.

Anecdotally, I've noticed that the better fillings get allocated the worst bread. Roast beef. Egg. Always in cheap white bread. WHHHYYYYYY? 😕

Yeah go down the intolerances route rather than just preference

Is this an extreme case or are you often offered unremittingly unhealthy things?

I don’t think you can ask for healthier options, though it depends on the setup which i can’t quite picture. But as pp have said, take fruit and some sort of nutrient dense cereal bar (one of the less bad ones!) to keep you going in emergencies. If you’ve got a suitable backup you don’t have to worry about the food there.

No, you can’t, it’s rude.

Take your own food. I got fed up with the beige buffets this week and took a Grenade bar to an event instead.

Just say you’re on a restricted diet so thank you for the offer but you’ll bring your own food.

Could we do the same job? Not massively popular 🤣 I hate the beige. So day 1 I bring packed lunch, day two I will nip to the supermarket/ M&S and get a salad and bring lots of snacks. Ice packs are my friend. I bring my own snacks so I can eat in my own time frame as well. You get to know the sites that will literally feed you 1 sandwich for a 9 hour day or those that are pure beige. I just say I am trying to be good and I tell them before hand I am good for lunch. I never seen anyone offended. Yesterday I knew the site and they had staff microwaves. I heated pasta and had salad. Last night in hotel I had roasted veg, wedges, salad and chicken, stayed cold all day in cool bag. Heading to M&S beside hotel now and will get something. Takes organisation though!

I would just say you have dietary restrictions so will bring your own?

I'm amazed that any company, never mind a food one, is offering chicken nuggets to adults!

Just bring your own food and don’t mention it. I do this as can’t eat gluten and I’ve never been asked, I don’t bore anyone with my dietary requirement, it’s really never been an issue.

I bring my own food to things like this because I can’t eat ‘beige’ due to my digestive issues.
it is harder when you’re away for more than one night though unless you can pop out and get a salad or whatever.

I know what you mean, I have to attend lunch time presentations about once or twice a month. It’s either a beigefest or something heavy like curry and rice or chips.

It’s harder if you are away overnight but there are some shelf stable foods you can bring with you to make a healthy packed lunch in your hotel room to bring with you.

Precooked packs of rice, tinned mixed bean salads, tinned fish, chickpeas, fresh cherry tomatoes and crudités and fruit, oatcakes, nut butters, nuts and seeds are all good examples. Ask Chat GPT to create a plan for you based on the number of days you are away and whether or not your hotel room has a fridge

I just wouldn't eat it. If they actually ask you what you like you could say you're into salads, fruit etc.

But it would seem weird to say 'the nuggets and chips you served me are unacceptable'. Surely you can afford to buy your own food or bring in something from home?

Plenty of workplaces wouldn't even supply a biscuit.

We quite often get requests to order a salad when we ask for dietary requirements.