Is it possible to stick to the Wahls protocol while eating at your favorite restaurants? or any restaurant for that matter? Today, we're diving into the do's and don'ts of dining out while on the Wahls protocol. As a nutrition coach specializing in multiple sclerosis and a Wahls warrior myself, I'm helping you to break down your options on the menu, know any questions to ask your server, and even learn some tips of making any meal fit your dietary needs.

Brennan. Hello and welcome to today's episode. If you listen to season one of this podcast, then you know when I was diagnosed with MS, I was 36 and single. In other words, I was in a season of my life when I was going to restaurants a lot, whether it was on a date or for a girl's night out. And I wasn't always with my immediate family who knew about my diagnosis and the reason behind this new way of eating. I still wanted to go out with my friends or on a date. However, the ability to order a gluten-free meal off a menu seemed so far out of my league. I really didn't feel comfortable going out. And we all know it's easy to get in your head in moments like these. You're following this super strict diet in hopes that it can reduce your symptoms or better yet, slow down the progression of this disease. But honestly, it feels like you have to live in a bubble and eat kale and broccoli all day to make it happen. I mean, is it just me who felt this way? Am I the only one?

Now, for some of you, this may be bringing back memories of your early days on the protocol. For others, you may be in the thick of it right now. But in either case, I want to share some tips with you to make it a little bit easier to go out to a restaurant so that you can enjoy that experience and enjoy the time with the person that you're with. Now, my guess is that if you're listening to this podcast and heard any of the previous episodes, you're somewhat familiar with the Wahls protocol.

Primarily, it's focused on reducing inflammation and just supporting overall health. And it includes healthy fats. The Mediterranean diet is well known for its use of olive oil as the primary source of fat, but it also includes nuts and seeds. Whereas the Wahls protocol encourages more use of like coconut oil and animal-based omega-3 fatty acids, like the ones that you find in fish. But nonetheless, like the making sure that you're getting healthy fats because they really And then the other way that the Mediterranean and the WALS diet are similar in that they both limit processed foods and sugars. We know that those aren't good for us, so they really emphasize both of them. Now, on the paleo side of it, the WALS protocol is similar to the paleo diet because it focuses on, again, those whole foods like the veggies, the fruits, the meat, the fish, the nuts, the seeds. And both of those diets focus on eliminating gluten, dairy, sugar,

for rich and refined carbs. So it's very intentional with getting those specific categories of vegetables. It's not just kind of like a free-for-all in the whole veggie category. And then of course, the WALS Protocol also does emphasize some quote-unquote superfoods. Dr. Walsh really encourages things like organ meat and fermented vegetables. So again, it's similar in the foundational principles of the Mediterranean and the

to today's basis and have more confidence in your future, that's 100% worth it. I'll order a salad over fries all day, every day. Of course, I say this now as I'm sitting at my desk, having just had lunch and not surrounded by the smells of the amazing foods at restaurants, and especially the meals that my family and friends are ordering right in front of me. That's when things get real. That's when things get real. When you are in the restaurant and you have all the smells and all of the food that's passing by you and even right in front of you. And that is exactly why I am such a firm believer that the very best thing that you can do for setting yourself up for success at a restaurant is to review the menu in advance.

Do not show up at a restaurant having never looked at the menu prior. It's too stressful sitting at the table trying to decide what you're eating before the server comes on any given day, but it is a whole nother level of stress when you're trying to find a wall-friendly meal in that short period of time. So before you step foot in a restaurant, look up the menu online, even if it's on your phone in the parking lot of the restaurant. There's just less stress and more opportunity for you to scan through the menu,

and I have a couple of food allergies. I reviewed the menu and I just wanted to confirm if the meal that I had in mind could be made allergy-friendly. This is so much easier for them to accommodate you. The last thing that you want to do is to call and just rattle off a list of foods that you can't have and put the pressure on them to create the meal for you. Yes, they're a restaurant, but they are not familiar with the Wahls protocol. They may not be familiar with any of

if they could be made allergy friendly. So my allergies are gluten, dairy, soy, nut, and egg. So when I looked online, I saw that you have 'insert meal here', your chicken dish, your gluten-free pasta dish, your salmon dish, the bunless burger, whatever it is that you spotted that seems to be the most closely related to the Wahls protocol or most closely following the Wahls protocol. And then again, I identified these items or these meals

prior to you being there. So then they might go check some things in the kitchen just to confirm. But ideally, they're coming back and they're saying, 'Yep, absolutely, we can do that.' Or we can do this, but we would just have to tweak it a little bit. So that just starts the dialogue. And then once you go into the restaurant, then you're able to speak with the server and say, hey, I called and I spoke with Pat on Wednesday. And I mentioned that I was coming in. We discussed the menu.

ahead of time. And that in and of itself raises the level of importance that you're not just coming in and saying like, hey, I can't have these foods because you're on like some random diet or detox or whatever it is. It's taken more serious. The more seriously you take it, the more seriously they will take it. So if you're taking steps like calling in advance, reviewing the menu ahead of time, reiterating that I spoke with this person on this day, here's the menu item that we discussed.

The allergies. I will just ask for a garden salad with baked chicken or grilled shrimp or whatever protein that I can get on top of it. And then I'll ask for a side of olive oil as the dressing. And it's not going to be fancy. It's certainly not going to be decadent. It might not even be flavorful, but it gets some veggies in me and I don't have to worry about them messing up my order. Of course, we don't always want a salad every time we go out though. So sometimes we want something more substantial or we just want a hot dish. And I don't really crave salads in the middle of winter. So there's different times that you're gonna want something other than a salad. And that's totally understandable. You shouldn't be eating salads all day, every day. You do wanna have a variety of foods and cooked versus raw foods and just all the different things and some different flavors. So when I'm looking at a menu, I start by identifying the protein. What chicken or salmon dish do they have on the menu that I would like?

Start with the protein because that's going to be like the base of your meal. Identify a protein that you would like, whether it's chicken, fish, you know, the beef. There's so many different examples of protein or meat or fish, again, that you can look at. And then how can you build it with some sides around it? And you may be looking at some of the existing meals there for ideas, or you just look at the side dishes that they have. You can even look at appetizers. Like they may have shrimp cocktail as an appetizer.

Are offering gluten-free menus, which are super helpful. But either way, always specify with the server that you are gluten and dairy free or that you have a gluten and dairy allergy. Because gluten and dairy can be in dressings, in marinades, in soups, like it's tucked into so many different things. They may even like sprinkle some cheese in a marinara sauce that you're like, 'it's just a tomato-based sauce.' Maybe, but maybe there is some,

and just say like, 'hey, I just want to let you know that I have an allergy to gluten and dairy.' This whole world is honestly a little new to me. So if you can just kind of like help me through this process, I would greatly appreciate it. That's a very disarming way to approach it. And it takes the pressure off you. Like you've now built a relationship with the server. And just a side note, I always ask or kind of like position myself to have the server like come next to me.

bit new to this so if you can just kind of help guide me through this process I'd really appreciate it. start a conversation. That is what it's about. Now, when you're placing the order, they may say something like they can't guarantee cross-contamination, which basically means that they are preparing other foods in the kitchen that have gluten and dairy. So they can't guarantee that your chicken's not going to be on the same cutting board where cheese was, or if you order anything that's in the fryer, it may be in the same

where you feel like you're really sensitive to a lot of different triggers or there's just a lot of triggers that are in your life right now. Maybe it's a high stress time or maybe it's the middle of summer and you're affected by heat or the complete opposite. It's the middle of winter and you're affected by the cold. If you know that you're in a time when you're more vulnerable to triggers or just have more triggers around you, that's not really the ideal time to experiment with something like that. But if you're in a time where you've been feeling really well for a while;

And then the other thing that you want to be mindful of in terms of hidden ingredients or allergens or unsuspecting things in the kitchen are the oils that they cook with. Now, again, not everyone's going to have a sensitivity to this, but if you feel like you're doing all the right things with what you're ordering, but you're still feeling like crap afterwards, you might be affected by oils because restaurants are notorious for having poor quality oils.

It can never hurt to ask. Always ask what the options are. So if there's anything that you wanted that would traditionally be fried, ask if they can bake it. Or sometimes restaurants do have like gluten-free fryers, so there's no cross-contamination, but the oil is still going to be the same. And the servers aren't always as familiar with oils because that's not like a super common thing that people typically ask for, but it can be really valuable to ask.

So we can actually order some pretty good food here. Now, what happens if you have a meal on the menu that's your absolute favorite and it doesn't look gluten-compliant? There's a couple of things that you can do. One, you can, again, ask them to see if they can make any modifications. I mean, if you're talking about something like chicken parm, that's going to be pretty stinking hard because it's breaded, it's fried, it has an egg wash to it.

swaps that they can make. So sometimes it's as simple as having a gluten-free pasta instead of a wheat-based pasta. Or sometimes you may have something that if you just removed the cheese from it or just remove, you know, they did a grilled chicken instead of a chicken, breaded chicken cutlet. Again, just have the conversation, see if they can get creative with it. In some cases, you may create a whole new meal that's just as good.

Social and a communal and like there's just there's a whole experience to it that is wonderful. but nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels. Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels. So remember that, that you are doing this not to punish yourself, not to deprive yourself, not to separate yourself from all the social things here. You're doing this because you are healing your body. You're doing this because you wanna fuel your body with the best foods to have the best outcome with your health right now.

What do you order when you're out at a restaurant? Have you found some creative things? Are there things that you're listening to this podcast and you're like, 'Alene, this was fantastic.' However, you totally left this one really important thing out. Share it because those are the things that I so appreciate. And the more that you share, the more I'm able to provide different ideas, suggestions, answer your questions and all of the things on future episodes.

Placing an order is going to be far more motivating to order something different. Whereas if you ordered something and felt great afterwards, well, then that's fantastic. That's super motivating to say, I am 100% ordering that next time. And that also arms you with a restaurant that you know has some meals that support you in following the Whole30 protocol. So next time you're trying to find a restaurant that you can meet up with, with some friends, you can toss that out as a suggestion. The more that you can get involved in that planning process,

my own coconut aminos instead of soy sauce. So again, it just positions you well to be able to toss out different ideas or restaurants or cuisines that you know that you can do better with. So please drop me a note either via email or a DM over on Instagram. I love hearing from you. How are you doing with navigating the restaurants? And I sure hope again that you've taken at least one thing away.

Well, my friend, we've reached the end of this episode. Pick one lesson from today's discussion and put it into action now. It's time to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis. And for more resources, events and programs, head over to Alenebrennan. com. See you on the next episode of my MS podcast.