Primal at The Cheesecake Factory

Yesterday, our director sent the cast and crew of DOUBT out to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory on his bill. Everyone was like, "WOOOOOO!" and I was like (in my head, of course), "HMMMMMM." I was nervous that I would have a hard time finding something primal there. TCF is one of my favorite restaurants, but let's face it, they're trying very hard to keep the nation overweight. They have 1.3 million items on the menu and not even the salads are healthy. Also, the portion sizes are ENORMOUS. One plate could feed a family of 4! I was excited to go spend time with the cast and crew, but I was feeling unsure about how the evening would turn out... after all, we would be returning from dinner to do a full run-through of the show.

After reading the novel of a menu, I finally settled on Chicken Picatta. Yum! It was served in a light lemon butter sauce with capers. The menu said it came with angel hair pasta, which I should have swapped out for veggies, but I thought that it would be, like, a little pile that I could ignore. No, it took up half the plate. Luckily I did ignore it. Everyone else got enchiladas, hamburgers, pasta, and fried foods... most of it didn't look that good anyway. My chicken was delicious! The table did order dark chocolate cheesecake, and I did have to succumb to a few small bites. I mean, hello, I live the primal lifestyle so that I enjoy life, not so I can sit there miserably while other people devour cheesecake.

Well, we got back to the theatre and everyone immediately began complaining of feeling too full. The pre-dinner bread consumed (that I ignored) was expanding in the stomachs. I actually felt pretty good and did for the rest of the night! I was a little more full than normal, but not like I would have been if I had ordered CW food. I may not have "hunted" like Grok did, but I certainly had to hunt through TCF menu for something valuable. I can't believe how much I am enjoying this lifestyle. Food really does matter. It's an investment in my life. I want to do the best I can to live the healthiest, longest life possible. I cannot control every factor in the world but the things that I can, I will. It doesn't hurt that people are noticing I'm thinner now, too.