Olive Garden doesn't have to suck.

Melting Mama's blog today mentions Olive Garden as a place to avoid, and I understand the need if being in the same place with pasta and bread is a trigger. 

But it reminded me that my last meal before surgery was at Olive Garden. Not only did I not have pasta or bread, but my meal was so delicious I promised myself I'd go back post-surgery and still haven't. 

This wasn't a "last splurge" meal before the preop diet.  My preop diet included one meal a day with 5 oz of lean protein and two 1/2 cup servings of non-starchy veg.  So the day before my surgery when my sons wanted to take me to lunch and I said, "You choose," because I figured part of my lifestyle change was being able to deal... plus, I figure any place around these days has a grilled chicken salad... and they chose Olive Garden, I said, "Sure!"

Here is the nutrition page for the Olive Garden.  Check out their "Lighter Italian Fare." When you consider that it can be two meals, it's really a great deal.  I'm impressed.

That day I got Venetian Apricot Chicken and it was delicious.  It comes with grilled asparagus and (I think) broccoli? Anyway, no pasta.  I had my choice of soup or salad with it.  I had absolutely no feeling that I was giving up anything, and now that I'm reminded of it, I'm ready to go back for more.

There is no doubt that Olive Garden has a menu that caters to the gorge-yourself-in-an-unhealthy-way desires of our American society, but it also has real choices for healthy eating, which is different from many restaurants.  Again, if being in a place where pasta is on the menu is going to be excruciating, then skip it totally.  But otherwise, don't strike Olive Garden from your list.

I usually have soup and salad for lunch at the Olive Garden.  No breadsticks.  I really like their soups.  I like the salad particularly when they are having seasonal salads; they had a spring mix with berries a few months ago.

Most restaurants will try to accommodate special requests from diners. 

When It's cool I love soup, too.  And salads can be great.  I didn't realize Olive Garden had seasonal salads because I don't eat there much, so that's good to know!

You can get the lunch portion of Venetian Apricot Chicken any time of day--it only has the one piece of chicken instead of two.  I scrape off most of the sweet sauce, just leaving enough for taste, and order extra broccoli instead of the asparagus because I don't like asparagus.  I've been ordering it for years--my weight loss journey, while slow, began years before VSG. Skip the salad and breadsticks completely, and you're good to go.

That's good to know. I only had it for lunch so had never tried to order it in the evening.

I had to give up Olive Garden because of the "pasta was my worst enemy factor" but my family enjoys it so I may soon give it a try again. Not pasta (I have that on my short "never, ever again" list) but maybe a salad or something similar.

At 14 months out and having travelled to 8 countries in that time, i have yet to find a restaurant where i couldn't get something sleeve friendly.  I guess if you can be tempted bbut i look at bread and pasta and know that i will never get my protein requirement in if i touch them so it makes it easy.  A glass of wine now, that's a horse of a diffeent color but i'd never eat out if i was to avoid places that serve it.  Ultimately we all have to make sleeve choces and i can't imagine being able to fit in bread and pasta and protein in one meal but i guess there are those who can.