Eating for Health

I just wanted to eat healthier, lose a few pounds and get off my cholesterol lowering drugs.  Little did I know it would turn into a new way of eating with major attitude adjustments and doubts about how far to take this.  The first month, not so bad.  I read Dr. Joel Fuhrman's set of healthy eating guidelines,  Eat for Health books I and II.  I went 80% vegan cutting out most meat and dairy, greatly increased my intake of leafy greens, and greatly decreased my intake of sugar, fat and salt.  The hardest part to get used to is the extreme lack of oil, even the "good" oils I used to use for roasting veggies, sauteing veggies, and making salad dressings.  I take that back - the hardest part is eating with other people.  Whether I'm eating at someone's house or in a restaurant it seems impossible to adhere to the guidelines.  The Standard American Diet, aptly abbreviated SAD in the books, is made up of all the things I try to avoid.

I ordered a veggie wrap and a salad at a restaurant last night.  I asked for the dressing on the side and no onions (raw onions are one of the few foods I really don't like).  I forgot to ask for no cheese so the salad and wrap were both loaded with it.  The dressing was on the side for the wrap but the salad was drenched in oily dressing.    The waitress forgot about the no onions request.  So while my friends were munching on hot wings and fries I tried to pick raw onion and cheese off my food and eat the top of the salad where it wasn't swimming in oil.  Oh, and the wrap was made with white flour.  Failure.

I need someone to tell me how to order in a restaurant without sounding like the "difficult patron" and how to eat at a friend's house without looking like the friend who "went over the edge".