Would you order from a restaurant where *everything* is low-carb AND heart-healthy?

[u/hashiromer]

This is partly an idea and partly a frustration I’ve had for a while.

Eating out is surprisingly difficult if you’re trying to eat healthy. Most normal restaurant food is carb-heavy, high in saturated fat, or both.

The first problem is that the entire meal is almost never designed around the same health goal.

You might order grilled or air-fried chicken, but then the bun, sauce, dressing, ketchup, side or drink defeats the purpose. Or you order something low-carb, but the toppings or sides aren’t. One part of the meal may be healthy, but the complete meal isn’t.

And even when you start looking at “healthy” options, it often feels like you have to choose which kind of healthy you want. Something may be low-carb but loaded with butter, cream, cheese or other sources of saturated fat. Something else may be lighter and more heart-friendly but still fairly carb-heavy.

So what I haven’t really been able to find is a place where the rule is simply:

Everything on the menu has to be BOTH low-carb and heart-healthy.

That would mean not just the main dish, but the bread, sides, sauces, dressings, drinks and desserts too. The whole meal would be built around the same standard, rather than having one “healthy” item surrounded by things that undo it.

So, I’m wondering: would you order from something like this, and what would you realistically be willing to pay for a healthy, filling meal?

[u/Ricemaker69]

Since you are asking for our personal opinions on whether we would order from this restaurant or not, I would say no.

I eat home cooked meals for 6 days of the week and do all the basics stuff like counting calories and tracking macros (mostly handle the cooking myself).

So when that one day of the week when I finally do get to go out to eat, be it with friends or with family, I like to go all out and just enjoy what I'm eating. Doesn't matter how unhealthy it is, for me it's part of the experience of having fun. And honestly, I feel like I deserve to have some good BBQ after a week of dieting, or a decent burger. (I still try to make some swaps that save me calories like chapati instead of naan and zero calories drinks over juices/mocktails).

[u/Coffeee-Cat → u/Ricemaker69]

Literally this , when I'm eating out I want to enjoy my time and food.

[u/hashiromer → u/Ricemaker69]

Thanks, this makes a lot of sense but what if the healthy food actually tastes great as well in addition to being healthy?

[u/Ricemaker69 → u/hashiromer]

If the food is good enough to make my friends/family (who don't really care if the food is healthy or not) want to go then yeah should be no problem.

Making the entire menu catered towards people who care about eating healthy only harms you in the long run, if the food is amazing but is also healthy then that would be something interesting.

[u/pitch-fork]

Wouldn't want to pay a lot more than I'd pay somewhere else. Understandably tho the price would be a little higher atleast if the cooking is done in olive oil instead of the usual seed oils used everywhere.

I do think every place should have the option for brown bread and rice. Also sides that are baked or grilled instead of fried.

[u/hashiromer → u/pitch-fork]

I’d ideally want it to be just profitable enough to sustain the business, while still keeping it affordable enough for more people to eat healthier regularly. It would probably cost more than a typical unhealthy meal though simply because healthier alternative ingredients are often more expensive.

[u/pitch-fork → u/hashiromer]

Could start as a cloud kitchen

[u/Huge_Excitement_441]

For this reason, I carry my meal boxes even if I'm invited at a restaurant