{"id":6069,"date":"2026-02-09T16:03:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=6069"},"modified":"2026-02-09T16:03:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:03:52","slug":"get-to-know-your-food-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/get-to-know-your-food-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Get To Know Your Food"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recent conversations with people who have recurring digestive issues make me think it could be time for another installment of Get to Know Your Food. Today, let\u2019s talk about restaurant food.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Overhead<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s the general consensus that fast food may not be the healthiest for you. But we may believe that choosing the salad at a fast food restaurant is okay. The thing is, and this is true of food in your grocery store aisles as well, many packaged foods contain things you don\u2019t think about \u2013 coloring, flavoring, preservatives \u2013 that serve to enhance flavor and lengthen shelf life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your fast-food salad is topped with deli meat, it may contain more sodium than you bargained for. If it is topped with fried protein, the make up of the fat content could be problematic. And fried is generally less desirable than grilled. Plus, salad dressings may be filled with artificial flavors. Any or all of it may irritate your digestive system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if we avoid fast food, then restaurant food should be fine, right? Well, it depends. Restaurant profits are reliant on turning tables. That means getting you in and out quickly helps the bottom line (in general, bars may benefit from you staying longer if your table is drinking heavily). Key to the turn is how long it takes to prepare your order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you order an omelet, the eggs may come from a carton \u2013 even in a small local restaurant. Liquid, sugared eggs may also be found in local baked goods. Liquid eggs make perfect sense from an efficiency and speed standpoint but may contain preservatives and come with a prop 65 warning.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Spoonful<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Soups are a healthy-sounding restaurant option. It\u2019s easy to assume they\u2019re made from left-over fresh ingredients that the kitchen doesn\u2019t want to waste. They may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also may begin with a base that includes hydrolyzed soy protein, coloring, corn starch, corn syrup, autolyzed yeast extract, and disodium inosinate. Even if the restaurant adds fresh protein and vegetables, you\u2019re getting a dose of unexpected ingredients. Starting with a packaged base is faster and more efficient than slow-cooking stock from scratch. (The only ingredient in this list that will be tagged as an allergen is soy.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restaurant soups like chowder & potato, and even mac & cheese sometimes begin with a powdered cream soup base that gets mixed with warm water. This is another tool that saves prep time. Cream bases may contain palm oil, maltodextrin, modified food starch, modified whey, salt, soybean oil and fully hydrogenated soybean oil (with tbhq and citric acid for freshness and dimethyl polysiloxane [prevents foaming]), MSG, sodium caseinate, xanthan gum, dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, silicon dioxide (flow agent), natural flavor, sodium hexametaphosphate, and colorings. That\u2019s a whole lot of added ingredients that aren\u2019t required for a soup that can be made with water, potatoes, milk or cream, potatoes, salt, and pepper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gumbo you ordered may have begun with a packaged base as well. Ditto for mushroom soup and crab bisque. If a restaurant designates such soup as homemade on the menu, they could technically be considered correct if they\u2019re adding fresh ingredients, but they probably shouldn\u2019t claim from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve only covered soup and salad and it\u2019s easy to see how many unexpected things you may ingest in a single restaurant meal. I\u2019m not advocating for eating every meal at home or never using boxed chicken stock. The point is that having restaurant food in the mix when you\u2019re attempting to determine what\u2019s messing with your digestive system can be like going into the search blindfolded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attempting to keep your diet healthy when eating restaurant food can be more difficult than you think. You\u2019ll have the best luck by seeking out local, farm-to-table restaurants where questions are welcome and you can chat with the chef at less busy times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re frustrated by recurring digestive problems and can spare the time, try cooking all your meals from scratch (not prepared, packaged from the market) for a couple of weeks. Avoid any ingredients you think may be problematic. Write down how you feel each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep an open mind. Conventional wisdom can cause us to avoid the obvious because it goes against what most people believe. Go with your observations. A significant difference in how you feel can give you some insight into how restaurant food may be impacting your system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more you know, the easier it will be to increase the amount of time you feel good. That\u2019s why it\u2019s always helpful to get to know your food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recent conversations with people who have recurring digestive issues make me think it could be time for another installment of Get to Know Your Food. Today, let\u2019s talk about restaurant food. It\u2019s the general consensus that fast food may not be the healthiest for you. But we may believe that choosing the salad at a … Continue reading “Get To Know Your Food”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1324],"tags":[3978,3980,3714,3981,3979],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6069"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6073,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069\/revisions\/6073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}