Eating a non-GMO diet is relatively easy at home: buy 100% certified organic foods, look for Project Non-GMO Verified brands and cook your own meals. But keeping this commitment when eating outside of your house, particularly in restaurants, can be a seemingly insurmountable feat. With the prevalence of corn-derivative food additives and GMO-based animal feed, mainstream restaurant menus are a Monsanto mad-scientist’s log book of experiments.
But there are ways to eat out, and enjoy your meal, while avoiding GMOs.
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Look for grass fed, free range meats
Because commercially raised animals are fed an unhealthy, nutritionally deficient diet primarily of GMO corn, you want to choose a vegetarian meal unless you see the words “grass fed” or “organic free range” printed on the menu.
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Avoid oils
Most oils used in commercial kitchens are “vegetable oil,” which is made from a blend of oils including cottonseed, corn, soy and canola – all of which are GMO crops. Unless you can get confirmation that the dish is prepared with olive oil, and only olive oil, skip anything that has been cooked with oil
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Salads can be your savior
As long as you choose a salad without corn or cheese, you can most likely enjoy any variety of delicious vegetable and fruit combinations. Just be sure to bring your own non-GMO salad dressing, as most restaurant dressings contain several GMO ingredients as preservatives, fillers, thickeners and flavoring.
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Skip the Sugar
Most white sugar available on your table in a restaurant is from genetically modified sugar beets. Yep, sad but true. If you can’t find raw sugar, skip it altogether. And you know artificial sweeteners are bad for you. They’re nothing more than science experiments in a little pink packet. So don’t even think about it.
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Steer clear of dairy
As noted above, the feed that commercially raised animals are given is heavy in GMO grain. From the milk going in your oatmeal to the butter on your roll to the ice cream in your dessert, unless it says “organic” you can bet it’s full of GMOs. Choose the sorbet instead, you’ll be happy you did.
Tip: the best place to buy non-GMO foods & snacks is at Vitacost.com!