How to order at a restaurant when you bloat easily

At home, you know exactly what went into dinner. At a restaurant, you don't control the recipe, the portion or how much butter and salt went into the pan. For a gut that bloats easily, that uncertainty can make eating out feel like more trouble than it's worth.

It doesn't have to. You can't control everything on the menu, but a few steps, taken in order, put the odds more in your favor.

Step 1: Look at the menu before you go

Most restaurants post their menus online. Choosing ahead of time means you're not deciding while hungry, rushed or tempted by the special. Pick a first choice and a backup, and note anything you'll want to ask about.

Step 2: Choose the cooking method, then the dish

Words like grilled, roasted, steamed and broiled usually mean less added fat than fried, crispy, creamy or smothered. For some people that makes a real difference. In a small lab study, people with functional dyspepsia had more nausea and pain after a high-fat meal than after a high-carbohydrate meal with the same calories (Pilichiewicz et al., 2008).

You don't need a fat-free meal. Aim for one rich element rather than three. If you want the fries, pair them with grilled fish instead of a creamy pasta.

Step 3: Ask for sauces and dressings on the side

Sauces, dressings, marinades and soups are where garlic and onion tend to hide. When researchers measured fructans, a type of fermentable carbohydrate, in 60 vegetables, garlic, artichoke, shallots, leek bulb and onions had the highest amounts (Muir et al., 2007). Getting the sauce on the side lets you use a little for flavor instead of eating however much the kitchen poured on.

Simple ways to ask:

• "Could I get the dressing on the side?"
• "Does the sauce have a lot of garlic or onion in it?"
• "Could the vegetables be done with just olive oil and salt?"

Step 4: Decide on bread or pasta, not both

If bread and pasta seem to bother you, gluten may not be the whole story. In a Norwegian trial, 59 people who avoided gluten because they believed it made them unwell, and who had tested negative for celiac disease, ate muesli bars containing gluten, fructans or neither for a week at a time without knowing which. Fructans led to higher overall symptom and bloating scores than gluten, while gluten didn't differ from placebo. As the researchers noted, foods with gluten often contain fructans too (Skodje et al., 2018).

So a gluten-free label doesn't settle the question, and you don't have to skip the bread basket entirely. Decide in advance whether you'd rather have a slice of bread or a serving of pasta, and enjoy the one you chose.

Step 5: Keep an eye on salt

Food prepared outside your kitchen is where most sodium comes from. In a study of 450 US adults, sodium added to food outside the home made up 70.9% of total sodium intake (Harnack et al., 2017). That's relevant to bloating: in a large feeding trial, a high-sodium diet made bloating 27% more likely, whatever the overall diet (Peng et al., 2019).

• Ask whether a dish can be made with less salt.
• Taste before you reach for the salt shaker.
• Be aware that soups, cured meats, soy-based sauces and brined dishes are often salty.

Step 6: Choose your drink with care

If fizzy drinks tend to leave you uncomfortable, order still water, unsweetened iced tea or a drink without soda. Ask for a glass of water alongside anything else you order, so you're not relying on a second soda or cocktail to quench thirst.

Step 7: Right-size the portion

Restaurant portions can be far larger than what you'd serve yourself at home. Ask for a to-go box when your food arrives, and set half aside before you start. If dessert is tempting, share it. Then, if you can, take a short walk on the way home. Here's what research shows about walking after meals.

Putting the steps together, an order might look like this: grilled salmon, roasted potatoes, a side salad with the vinaigrette on the side, and still water. One slice from the bread basket if you want it, and a few bites of a shared dessert. Nothing on that list is unusual or hard to ask for, and none of it requires explaining your digestion to the server.

And if a meal still goes wrong, don't write off eating out. Note what you ordered and compare it with the next time. If bloating is new and happens most days, or comes with blood in your stool, unexplained weight loss or symptoms that wake you at night, see a doctor rather than adjusting your order.

Sources

1. Pilichiewicz AN, Feltrin KL, Horowitz M, et al. Functional dyspepsia is associated with a greater symptomatic response to fat but not carbohydrate, increased fasting and postprandial CCK, and diminished PYY. Am J Gastroenterol. 2008;103(10):2613-23. PMID 18775003
2. Muir JG, Shepherd SJ, Rosella O, Rose R, Barrett JS, Gibson PR. Fructan and free fructose content of common Australian vegetables and fruit. J Agric Food Chem. 2007;55(16):6619-27. PMID 17625872
3. Skodje GI, Sarna VK, Minelle IH, et al. Fructan, rather than gluten, induces symptoms in patients with self-reported non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Gastroenterology. 2018;154(3):529-539.e2. PMID 29102613
4. Harnack LJ, Cogswell ME, Shikany JM, et al. Sources of sodium in US adults from 3 geographic regions. Circulation. 2017;135(19):1775-1783. PMID 28483828
5. Peng AW, Juraschek SP, Appel LJ, Miller ER 3rd, Mueller NT. Effects of the DASH diet and sodium intake on bloating: results from the DASH-Sodium trial. Am J Gastroenterol. 2019;114(7):1109-1115. PMID 31206400

This article is for general information and isn't medical advice. If you have food allergies, celiac disease or a medical condition that requires a specific diet, follow your healthcare provider's guidance and tell the restaurant.