Business Dinners

[Reese 0]

I am two weeks post op and I returned to work to a long list of must attend business dinners for the holiday season. One of the places is a brazilian steakhouse, and if you have ever been to one of those you know they serve up to 9 different meats(lamb chops,steak, chicken, pork, baby backs) with every meal. The other is Benihanas which is my favorite unfortunately. Does anyone have suggestions as to how to order at these places without drawing attention and questions to how I am eating? I will be on solids at that point but I am still seriously worried?

[Tiffykins 673]

Order an appetizer or Soup, and explain it away very casually. Be breezy and non-chalant about it, like "I'm just not really all that hungry tonight, or I ate a snack before dinner, and knew I shouldn't have, but I ate a super light lunch." People are really simple minded about these types of things, and I realized when I didn't fret over it, people just took it with a grain of salt. I noticed the less I worried about it, the less people around me worried about it. Talk, laugh, focus on the experience and not the food. When you have pre-plated meals, I would eat tiny portions of everything, move food to the edge of the plate, and leave space in between so the bottom of the plate could be seen. I would even go so far to take a dinner roll, eat a couple of tiny bites, and then tear the bread up and leave little pieces around my plate. When the server comes around, and you're done, pass your plate off to them without making a scene about it. I honestly only had 1 server say anything to me and I was still on mushies at the time. She was convinced something was wrong with the chili I had ordered because I only ate 1/2 of it. I convinced her it was fabulous, but I had eaten a late brunch and wasn't all that hungry. End of conversation.

[Reese 0]

Great Ideas! Thank you for responding I will try all of those suggestions!

[TexasT 99]

That's also my standard line - "I ate a big lunch" if someone asks if I don't like my food because I didn't eat much. I've never had anyone question it so far. I've also said "I've been craving some nice, warm Soup all day!" when I was still on mushies and everyone else was getting sandwiches.

[thinoneday 445]

I am two weeks post op and I returned to work to a long list of must attend business dinners for the holiday season. One of the places is a brazilian steakhouse, and if you have ever been to one of those you know they serve up to 9 different meats(lamb chops,steak, chicken, pork, baby backs) with every meal. The other is Benihanas which is my favorite unfortunately. Does anyone have suggestions as to how to order at these places without drawing attention and questions to how I am eating? I will be on solids at that point but I am still seriously worried?

yeah, like Tiffy says just order a appetizer. Pick, pick, pick. push the food around poke it with the fork and do ALOT of talking, talk like you've never talked before. . go to the ladies room. . . excuse yourself to talk on the cell. . .just seem really busy! This works for me, and most people are very used to me now. . even at home, I sit down with my little bowl, pick a food, chew, swallow and yap my mouth off or get up and go do something else run around picking up stuff, starting a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, get others something to drink, pick up another food, good enough. . . throw it away and carry on. . . but that is just me. . good luck

[Marlena 0]

What I started doing pre-op is asking the server to bring me a take-home box at the BEGINNING of my meal. Most people won't notice when you start filling the box or how much food you are putting in. No one at the table even asked me why I did it. I was ready to respond with, "I'm eating light nowadays and I'm going to get another meal out of it." Asking for the box at the beginning of the meal will also keep the server from asking you if there was a problem with your meal.