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THM On Plan Restaurant Guide by Cuisine

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Eating out can be stressful when you are trying to stick to a diet. But with Trim Healthy Mama it is about a lifestyle and food freedom. So you can eat out & hit your goals! 

This THM on plan restaurant guide by cuisine will help you find something to love at any restaurant that you go to! 

What to Eat on THM At ANy restaurant

When I first started THM I remember being afraid to eat out. Because I might mess up the fuels and it is hard not being in charge of the cooking. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love not being in charge of the cooking. Any THM mama could use a night off from cooking and dishes but not knowing exactly what is going into your food can be tough. 

But it is totally doable to eat out and stick to the Trim Healthy Mama plan. All it takes is familiarizing yourself with the plan and then having a good idea of what you can eat and what you should avoid.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information. 

THM On Plan Restaurant Guide by Cuisine

You can go out to eat and stay on plan! Enjoy your meal and meet your goals using this THM On Plan restaurant guide by cuisine. 

Tips For Eating Out on THM 

These are some general guidelines for eating out on Trim Healthy Mama. 

  • Avoid Fried Foods
  • Avoid Sugary Sauces (BBQ, Honey glazed, Sweet N Spicy etc) 
  • Enjoy Creamy Sauces with an S meal (Bernaise, Hollandaise, garlic herb butter) 
  • Steamed or Sauteed vegetables are on plan. 
  • Grilled meats or fish are on plan. 
  • It is pretty difficult to find any restaurants that will have an on plan dessert. You could get a bowl of berries for something sweet. Sometimes they might have a sugar free sorbet (which is likely off plan sweeteners but at least it isn’t sugar). Usually I just eat something sweet at home or keep a Lily’s chocolate  bar in my purse for the car ride home. 

Now that you understand the basics of eating out on THM, here are some tips by cuisine to make it easier to enjoy your night out. 

Italian

A lot of restaurants will allow you to sub out your pasta for a veggie that is on plan. Try chicken alfredo over broccoli or chicken parm with green beans. 

A side salad is a great side for your meal. 

What to Skip? Pasta and the bread basket. 

Pizza 

My husband believes pizza should be in a category of it’s own and not combined with Italian! Probably not necessary to say that we eat pizza a lot. These tortilla pizzas are a fave at home but if we go out to a pizza restaurant, there are a couple of options.

Many pizza restaurants will make you a pizza in a bowl. You might have to ask for it but many are making them a permanent menu choice. It is just pizza sauce, cheese and all the toppings that you want in an aluminum pie pan. 

A nice salad with Italian meats is also a great option. 

What to Skip? The pizza crust!

Steak House

Start with shrimp cocktail or just a simple salad with bacon and ranch. 

For dinner enjoy a yummy steak with mushrooms. As a side, have asparagus or creamed spinach. 

What to Skip? The baked potato (potatoes are no longer a bad thing on THM and most varieties are ok to eat in an E. However, the potatoes at the steak restaurant are likely Russet and those are not on plan. If you have a question about on plan potato options, check out the THM Analyzer App.

Japanese Hibachi/Chinese 

At the hibachi restaurants, you can ask them to prepare your chicken or steak without the sauce to avoid unwanted sugars. 

Some Trim Healthy Mamas have had success asking to sub brown rice for the white rice in a fried rice sub. If they can do this for you, your meal with be a XO.

What to Skip? White rice and sauces that are loaded with sugar. 

Burgers

At a burger joint, you can request a lettuce wrap at most spots (even fast food). Pile it high with lettuce, tomato, a few onion slices, bacon, mushrooms, pickles, mustard and mayo. 

Another option is to get a burger (no bun) & a side salad. Take your burger and the fixings, cut it up and top your salad with it. It is surprisingly delish. 

What to Skip? Ketchup & of course the bun for the burger. If the restaurant has sweet potato fries, you could likely have an on plan XO. They might fry the potatoes in an off plan oil but I tend to not worry about that (especially if it is a special dinner out vs. something at home).

BBQ

Start with a sausage, cheese and pickle plate.

Have the ribs with dry rub and possibly slaw (might have some sugar added). If they have deviled eggs, you can enjoy those as well. 

Pulled pork salad is another option that would be on plan.

What to Skip? BBQ sauce – it will be loaded with sugar. 

Mexican

Take your own Baked Tostitos (E) or Lavash chips to eat with the salsa. 

Order fajitas and take your own low carb tortillas (or just eat the meat & veggies with a fork). Feel free to eat sour cream, cheese and guac. (THM S)

A taco salad without the shell is another tasty option. You could also order most of the chicken/steak based entrees but might have to make a modification for the sides. 

What to Skip? Chips, tortilla or taco shells. 

Sandwich Shops / Deli

Your best bet is a salad. Get all the veggies that you want. Add cheese, eggs and bacon for an S. Or keep it light with veggies, lean deli meat and a low fat dressing for a FP.

The sisters gave their approval for a personal choice E meal at Subway (but I would say this principle would apply to any sub shop). Here is what you do: order a small sub on wheat. You can ask them to hollow out the roll (remove some of the inner bread leaving just a “shell”) or you can just do it yourself after if that makes you feel weird. 

Get the sandwich with lean deli meat, veggies and mustard (no mayo since you are trying to keep this in E territory). 

What to Skip? White Bread and chips. 

Wings 

Get the plain/naked wings to avoid breading. You can choose dry rub, wing sauce or even a garlic parm sauce will work in an S. Dip those and the celery in ranch and have a salad to round things out if you want. 

What to Skip? Breaded wings and any sweet wing sauce (BBQ/Asian Sweet Chili Sauce etc)

Seafood

Grilled fish with grilled veggies is a great meal to have at a seafood restaurant. They will likely saute this in butter and/or oil so it will be an S. 

What to Skip? Breaded or fried fish. 

Cracker Barrel for a Trim Healthy Mama

For the entree you have lots of choices! Grilled chicken tenderloins, hamburger steak, lemon pepper trout or grilled catfish are great protein options. 

For sides you can get the green beans, broccoli, turnip greens or a salad. They also have baked sweet potato, corn or pinto beans for an E side. 

Just be cautious that a lot of their veggies/meats are cooked in oil or butter so you may have end up with an on plan XO if you eat the potato or other E vegetable. I totally swear by eating a XO every once in a while because sometimes it actually helps me LOSE not gain so don’t be afraid of a XO every once in a while. 

You can also always choose to have breakfast! Eggs and bacon or an omelette. 

What is your favorite thing to eat when on the go? Looking for more fast food options, check out this THM guide to fast food. 

THM Snacks That Don’t Require Refrigeration

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Need THM snacks that don’t require refrigeration while you travel, work or camp? Here is a big list of Trim Healthy Mama on plan items to use. 

Trim Healthy Mama Snacks No Refrigeration Needed for People on the go

Trim Healthy Mama On the Go Snacks from Amazon

As moms, professionals, or students we are always on the go. I know that lots of us eat in our car or at the ball field waiting on the kid’s practice to finish a lot. I’m really guilty of eating in front of my computer while running reports for work. 

Whatever the reason, easy on the go snacks are important to have in your back pocket to keep you on plan. In particular if you don’t have a way to keep your food cool or to warm it up before you eat it. 

These THM snacks that don’t require refrigeration are great for travel. You can throw some of these options in your bag for a road trip or your carry on, take them to the theme park or the zoo.

Wherever you are going, you can stay full of healthy and on plan snacks.  

Pin this list of Store Bought THM on Plan Bread and this list of THM on Plan wraps/tortillas to save for your next grocery trip.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

THM Snacks That Don’t Require Refrigeration

You can come up with quite a few meal or THM snacks that don’t require refrigeration or cooking pretty easily. Of course you can always pack a small cooler to take other fresh foods but this list is going to assume that you can’t do that in the situation that you are in. 

I see lots of teachers, truck drivers, hikers, campers and business travelers on the THM forums that need options for food choices that don’t need to be kept cool and that don’t need a microwave to heat.

Essentially something you can throw in your briefcase before a trip or you handbag before a soccer game for the kids. 

Some of the items on this list are great just to eat on their own. Other items will have serving suggestions to make it easier to figure out how to serve and eat these foods. 

If you have read the 5 THM things I don’t do, you know I occasionally do things a little differently and have still lost 60 lbs since my last baby!

But if you want to follow the plan perfectly, make sure you evaluate each of the suggestions and adapt so that it works for you. For example, just popcorn is not a traditionally well rounded THM meal. You would need to add in some protein and maybe a fruit or veggie if you could.

Typically these are meals that are going to be supplemented by more vegetable/protein intense later in the day. For example, if I’m travelling on an airplane I am ok with doing the best I can while in the air and then catching up on fruits and veggies once I arrive. 

And when we are on the go and in a rush, remember to grant yourself grace. If you avoid the candy aisle of the gas station and have some jerky and nuts instead, I call that a win.

Eat that salad when you can but don’t worry about missing your greens or protein once in a while.

On the Go E Snacks 

Baked Tostitos Scoops and Salsa To Go Cups (Currently due to COVID-19, the production of Baked Tostitos has slowed so you may temporarily have trouble finding them.) If you can’t find the scoops, break up 2 of these tostada shells to dip with. 

Skinny Pop Individual Bags 

Sprouted Pretzels  and Single Serve Shelf Stable Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Brown Rice Cakes and powdered peanut butter (keep a 4 oz tupperware container with a serving of powder. Then just add the water when needed)

Unsweetened Applesauce Pouches

Dole Fruit Cups – Discard the extra juice

Veggie Go’s Fruit & Veggie Strips – Since Ingredient’s trump numbers, I put this as an E but it is really right on the line of a FP. You would definitely need to add an additional carb source to get this to E territory.

Salmas Baked Corn Crackers

Baked Sea Salt Chickpeas

Bare Cinnamon Apple Chips

On the Go S Snacks

Moon Cheese

Bake Believe Chocolate Chips mixed with Cashews

Mission Low Carb Tortilla with Peanut Butter Pouch and 1 Oz No Sugar Added Travel Jelly (similar to Polaner’s)

Fat Snax Cookies

Whisps Cheese 

Beef Sticks 

Nuts

Beef Jerky

Pork Rinds

1 Light Rye Wasa with Peanut Butter Pouch

Olives To Go 

Go Raw Sprouted Snacking Seeds

High Key Mini Cookies

Just the Cheese Bars

Keto Trail Mix

On the Go FP Snacks 

These healthy, low fat and low carb snacks are great to eat alone as a Fuel Pull snack or add to something from either the E or S lists to bulk up your snack without adding loads of calories, fats or carbs. 

Light Tuna Pouches

 Pickles To Go

Turkey Chomp Sticks

Dry Roasted Edamame 

Off Plan But Healthier Choices (Personal Choice)

These items are off plan for one reason or another but still decent choices if you are on the go. 

We all know how easy it is to end up in the drive thru if we are hungry and pressed for times. Although these are not officially on the THM plan, you are making a better choice eating this than say a candy bar or a regular granola bar. 

That’s It Bars (E)- Dried fruit is not highly recommended on plan because it can spike blood sugar. I eat these on occasion and not had weight gain. Fruit pressed in a bar is much better than a bag of chips!  

Zaffi Taffy – These are delicious! They have some off plan ingredients but they don’t add sugar. 

Smart Sweets – Same as above, no sugar added and they are yummy. 

Veggie Go’s Fruit & Veggie Strips – Fruit purees would in general make this off plan but it is a really healthy option that gives you fruits and veggies without added sugars. 

Oatmeal and Fruit Squeeze Packs – The juice concentrate makes these off plan and the sugars higher than desired. However, these might work for some in a pinch (in particular kids or people at goal weight). Better than a drive thru sausage and egg biscuit or pancakes! 

Water Lily Seeds – Off plan oil but would otherwise be a FP. 

Sour Raisins – I love these things! These overall are pretty good from my non-purist perspective. They have <2% of an off plan oil but overall don’t look bad to me. Dried fruit is not highly recommended for weight loss on plan and I agree but on occasion, these are ok in my opinion. They fill my craving for chewy and fruity candy /fruit snacks. 

Quest Protein Bars – These are used fairly often by THMers as a personal choice. Off plan items but low carb and filled with protein. Trim Healthy Mama has created their own protein bars but at this time inventory is limited. 

Quest Protein Chips – Not on plan but they are used often in the Low Carb community. These could be used in an S setting. 

THM Budgeting

I just had to throw this in here after making this list. Lots of these items listed are convenience items. That means you may spend more money in order to save time. 

Some of these items you could buy in a larger container and portion them out yourself to save money. 

If you want to read more about doing Trim Healthy Mama on a budget, check out these 7 Frugal Family THM meals. 

You can also find a budgeting segment in the THM A to Z series. 

Need Trim Healthy Mama Meal Plans? Click here for free plans with photos of every meal.