Wortham Theater

One of Houston's primary performing arts center in downtown.

Downtown Aquarium

A must see family-friendly restaurant and aquarium.

Healthy Meals on Wheels

The Green Seed Vegan offers healthy dishes and drinks at various locations around the city.

Children's Museum

The museum is a place where kids come to have fun and leave smarter. It is also one of the top Houston attractions

Things to Do In Houston

Antique Shopping visiting botanical gardens and the weather museum are fun activities for couples.

10 Foods Diabetics Should Limit or Avoid In Restaurants



During a short conversation about foods diabetics shouldn't eat in restaurants with one of my brothers, he mentioned he was sitting in a Chinese buffet. None of the specific food items would come to my memory. The information from a short class on nutrition I attended a few years ago seemd to evade me. What I did remember was that diabetics should avoid things whose ingredients end in -ol or -ose, sugar and other simple carbohydrates.

I couldn’t erase the technical talk out of my mind and name a few simple menu items that could help him find healthy dinning options in Houston. So I did some quick research and put together this blog post to help everyone understand that some restaurant foods present a threat to people with type 2 diabetes.

After struggling to come up with the names of specific foods, I wanted to compile a list with a bunch of foods that are safe for diabetics to eat when dinning out and those which could cause complications.


Most of us are familiar with the hazards of processed breads. White bread, bagels and whole grains when refined or ground into flour lose some of their health benefits. So this month I want to remind everyone about some common foods that and can adversely affect diabetics. Some of the items on the list may be surprising to you. Many are not.


Common Foods Diabetics Should Not Eat


jelly beans,
baked potatoes,
cereals made from refined grains
margarine
processed foods
poultry skin
refined rice products
cream sauces

It's important to always give both sides of a story. That means giving you the good and the bad so you can draw your own conclusions. So, let’s look at some of the foods that offer health benefits to diabetics. This are not the only foods that offer good nutritional value, just a short list of some of them to help us all eat healthier and live longer.


Brown rice
Dried beans
Fresh fruit
Okra
Cabbage
Cucumbers
Egg Plant
Yams
Carrots
Oranges


Many of the same foods that we suggest diabetics should avoid or limit are also listed by the experts at Diabetic Living. There are three very good reasons why these foods are getting such a bad rap.

Most of them have been linked to high blood pressure, diabetes and other debilitating diseases.
These foods are high in added sugar.
They provide an empty source of calories that can cause unwanted weight gain( code word for obesity).


The data we provided about the foods diabetics should avoid was not done haphazardly or with any malice. I don’t want you to think that we are picking on any one industry.

Some of the of the articles I read while researching facts for this piece seemed to be very biased and slanted. If you would like to do some further reading, here are a few links on food and diabetes.

10 Healthy Dishes Easy To Find In Houston Restaurants



Finding great tasting healthy food in Houston restaurants isn’t impossible, even if you are at an office party being held in a steakhouse or a networking luncheon. Vegetarian friendly food is becoming the only thing that more and more people dare put into their masterfully well sculpted bodies,
We have a few tips on how to go through any restaurant menu and pinpoint healthy dinning alternatives Houston Tx.
These are a few of the places serving cuisine that will keep you lean, healthy and wise when your appetite is craving vegetarian food and time doesn’t permit you to run home and prepare it.


Backstreet Cafe
Hugos
Block 7

Vegetarian and Vegan Dinning



There are plenty of Houston chefs who are cooking up delicious meals using organic foods and adding vegan meals to their repertoire. The local culinary artist at restaurants are becoming passionate about using garden fresh veggies, meat alternatives and great tasting natural foods.
Look for these terms on menus and reviews they are synonymous with food that was prepared by a health-smart chef.

Vegetarian Friendly restaurant
Alternative dinning
Organic food
All natural food
Green restaurants
Healthy Dining in Houston
Vegan restaurants
Houston Organic Restaurants -
Alternative menus
Meatless

The drink menus are following the lead too, by offering spring water, decaf green tea, and organic red wines. In addition to vegetarian options more people are requesting meals that are vegan and those prepared with gluten free food products.




During Houston Restaurant Week you can find dishes on menus all around town that are including legumes, beans, organic brown rice and quinoa, items that are mainstays of many vegetarian’s diet. Local Houston restaurants where you can find some healthy fare to eat any day of the week include:
Ruggles Green
Radical Eats
Ziggys Bar and Grill


Healthy dining is becoming a way of life for many people. At home family cooks are bolstering the health of their children by including one or more days of raw food in their weekly diets and preparing more vegetarian and gluten free meals.

Places to Eat Healthy In Houston

If you are looking for vegetarian friendly restaurants in Houston you already understand the impact healthy eating actually has on your overall well being. For those of you that are considering adding nutrition conscious meals to your diet you’ll find the dinning establishment in this list are a perfect fit for you too.


Our focus extended beyond Midtown Houston restaurants, and includes a few places in other parts of the city that offer healthy dinning choices.

The results of our search for healthy dinning options shows that eating smart doesn’t have to stop with the main course. For people trying to rein in a wayward sweet tooth, there are plenty of delicious vegetarians and vegans baked goods available in local restaurants and markets too.


Conscious Cafe


A Houston Restaurant serving some of the best bean pies, muffins, healthy coffees and teas on the Southside.






My Fit Foods


Healthy Dinning made to order. You can order custom meals for breakfast lunch and dinner. Available for pickup at various locations including several fitness center in Houston.





Field of Greens


Houston Press readers voted Field of Greens one of the city’s best vegetarian restaurants. They are recongnized for thier delicious creative meals and friendly staff.




Green Seed Vegan


Vegan fast food served from one of Houston’s famous food trucks. You can find them near the TSU campus on Wheeler.




Moveable Feast


Moveable Feast has a popular weekend brunch that features organic eggs, chicken or vegetarian sausage, fruit pancakes,bottomless coffee or tea.





Ruggles Greens


Ruggles Green is certified by
the Green Restaurant Association. They offer delicious food that incorporate organic,all-natural, hormone-free, preservative-free, products.




Souper Salads


Raw Veggies are a permanent fixture on their salad bar and don’t forget to sample some of the warm and hearty soups. Sign-up for their club and get discounts on their meals.




Tafia


Tafia is where you can experience an elevated level of sustainable dinning, locally sourced produce. Their Green Plum Cooking school will show the how-to’s of preparing delicious fresh dinning at home.




Vegan Cafe


Houston's African American vegans flock to this restaurant located inside of S.H.A.P.E Community Center. This has helped this small restaurant gain a loyal following and build a reputation for thier scrumptious Saturday morning breakfast featuring: Oatmeal, Vegan Biscuits, Pancakes, Sweet Potato Pancakes, Scrambled Tofu.




Whole Food Market

grilled veggies

Whole Foods is not only a place to buy organic food stuffs, they have healthy fare to go that you’ll enjoy whether you're just getting started on a healthy eating path or pursuing the road to wellness for years.



More On Healthy Dinning



Don’t forget to share this list of vegetarian friendly restaurants with your friends, family and neighbors. “Neighborhood Vegan Food Sharing Week” takes place June 18 to June 25. So share a vegetarian meal and this article with someone.

Thanks goes out to Lone Star Plate foe the ideas and lots of the places uncovered in this article. They are part of the growing network of outstanding vegan Texas blogs on the net.

5 Good Places To Eat In The Texas Medical Center





Here is a look at some Midtown Houston restaurants where you can eat good while in the Texas Medical Center. We wanted to share these places with you, so the next time, hunger strikes while visiting or working in the TMC you will have a handy guide to use.

Recently while visiting a sick relative I took time out to do a little snooping to see whats to eat near the Hermann hospital complex. I was really surprised to find eating places everywhere I turned. They are on just about every floor and they have some really expansive variety of cuisines for diners to choose from.



The restaurants in and around Hermann Hospital are obviously designed with convenience in mind. The first dinning opportunities are along the walk way as soon as you exit the elevators leading from the parking garage, A couple of the eateries in that area are: Briochee doree and au bon pain, however both are closed on Sunday.


One of the places that is open on Sunday’s, where they serve up plenty of goodies is the Cafe Hermann. Its layout was very customer-friendly. It is as excellent use of space, with multiple serving areas spread around the entire room, instead of an old-school cafeteria style line, moving pass a steam table.

There was a nook containing a sandwich bar and across the way from there another area full of fresh veggies and a well stocked salad and dessert bars beckon you as you head toward the checkout line.

5 Good Places To Eat In The Texas Medical Center


Rising Roll
au bon pain cafe
Cafe Hermann
Brioche Doree
Starbucks



I drifted through several floors of the facility while on the hunt for something to eat. I eventually wandered into ye old standby, a vending area. It held the traditional soft drink machine and a line of snack machines filled with enough snacks to make a healthy heart stop pumping.

Quality Restaurants

If you’re like my mother, you will be able get a good sense of the dinning experience from the outside of most restaurants. Trash on the floor and tables that are allowed to sit full of dirty dishes, says plenty about the quality of the overall experience at food establishments. Poor cleanliness habits are symbiotic with bad restaurants the world over.

These are just some of the good places to eat in the Texas Medical Center we plan to bring you more about the fine restaurants in the TMC area so you can always find something that will soothe your hunger when you’re in and around Midtown Houston.

You can find plenty of restaurants in and around Hermann and the other hospitals to tide one over during any visit or doctors appointment in the Texas Medical Center. Be ware of the confusing directional signs in the buildings. I was reluctant to venture very far from the elevator for fear of being lost in a time warp.

Where To Find Your Favorite Sandwich In Midtown Houston



We went in search of places where sandwiches rule in Midtown Houston. What we discovered is that there are plenty of businesses offering a decent pairing of bread and meat. An upside was that we did not have to limit our dining choices to delicatessens, burger joints and meat markets to get a sandwich made just the way we like them.

In Houston you can get gourmet sandwiches at steak houses, kolaches at donuts shops and a typical polish sausage to go at the convenience store across the street from the Greyhound bus station. Read on and see some of the other places that serve some awesome Texas-size sandwiches.

A Search For A Sandwich


Our tasty adventure started with some basic criteria, a search for something edible being served with bread. It was fueled by a 2 hour break between classes and a desire to be able find a few good places to enjoy a stomach warming bowl of soup and a sandwich after class at HCC-Central in Midtown.

With the abundance of yuppies and apartments for rent in Midtown Houston we were sure there were some healthier alternatives than eating deep fried fast food.

The biggest story has to be that a city with a reputation for taking the world to new heights has continued the tradition and elevated the humble sandwich to a new status.

Everywhere we looked we found them on menu after menu. It seems that every restaurant in Houston has a house sandwich, much like the Italians value there house vino.


Sandwich Shops And Delis In Houston’s Midtown




Houston families eat out more than people in any other U.S. city. We also seem to have a love affair with bread served with a heaping pile of all kinds of scrumptious goodies inside, Thanks to that fact, there is always something delightful to eat within walking distance from just about anywhere in Midtown, that will please the most highly discriminating taste buds. You can visit our restaurant guide to find restaurants in Midtown Houston that serve sandwiches. Here are a few more:

SubWay
Katz
Blimpie
Soup or Salad
Jason Deli
Quiznos
Which Which
The Vegan Cafe



What's In A Sandwich


Not since the days when John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich demanded to be served his favorite bread stuffed with a variety of meats, so he wouldn’t have to leave the gaming table to get a full course meal, have people paid so much attention to bread topped and stuffed with edible delicacies.

There were times during the Great Depression when just eating a jam sandwich, two pieces of homemade bread jammed together with nothing but air between them, was all some people would have to eat. We have even heard claims that when hungry trappers in the Louisiana swamps happened upon a snake it signaled time for a delicacy, snake on bread. Elvis Presley was renowned for eating peanut butter and banana sandwich with bacon

People shared with us how their comfort food during hard times, between paychecks and while attending college were sandwiches made from bread smothered with just ketchup, mayonnaise or syrup.

The Meat And Bread Makeover


The best way to describe a modern sandwich is bread filled with stuff. We tasted sandwiches with meat, without meat and with meat alternatives. An all time faux meat favorite is an fried eggplant sandwich discovered in Virginia, that’s next to impossible to find in Houston.

Rawfers, vegans and vegetarians who live in Midtown Houston apartments frequent The Vegan Cafe where they serve meatless sandwiches so full of delicious veggies that you’ll never miss the beef..

What's In Name
Today bread and meat has reached a regal status and very seldom will you find them simply being called a sandwich. They have acquired lively descriptive monikers like Natchitoche meat pies, Philly Cheese Steaks and Po’ Boys.

The love affair between the new generation of foodies and the delicious duo of meat and bread has prompted people to name them with the same care, fondness and fervor as they do their pets and children. Why settle for roast beef when you could have French dip it. Then there’s the American classic, a Hero/ Submarine, Dagwooda, Reubens and the names could go on for days.

Sandwiches From Around The World



In a handful of Midtown Houston restaurants you can experience food from just about any culture in the world. Many of the names used to refer to a sandwich differs by region and country. Gyros, Frankfurters and Baguettes were originally vital components of immigrant cuisine. Today you can find them listed on menus alongside mainstream dishes.
For authentic samplings of Bánh mì, Tacos or Cubans just drop into one of the Midtown bakeries, delis or food establishments owned by immigrants. A few of the well known eateries offering culturally oriented fare are:

Au Bon Pain-TMC
Rising Roll-Asian
Ga’s Restaurant-Vietnamese
Van Loc - Chinesse & Vietnamese
Hoang Son Sandwich Shop
Richi's Taqueria Las Americas


Our search for sandwiches in Midtown Houston resulted in us finding all kinds of delectable goodies being served between pieces of bread. It's your turn to get started on your tasty adventure.
The things that go into making a good sandwich run the gambit from all kinds of crunchy veggies to anything that can be chopped sliced, spread or dribbled on top of something. Buffalo wings and chicken nuggets reign on children’s menus, but when adults need a all in one meal, everyone prefers a big ol’ sandwich.

Places To Eat Near Reliant Stadium

woman holding a hotdog


People wander down Main street looking for places to eat near Reliant Stadium have asnsot had to good fortune of discovering this fantastic blog. It’s only natural for workers and visitors during the Livestock Show and Rodeo, RV shows or attending home and garden exhibitions at the Reliant Park complex to get burned out with the food and prices at the stadium.

Once you down one too many burgers or hot dogs your body will crave for some serious nutrition, good eats, the kind of food that sticks to your ribs.

One thing I can’t help but notice about the area is that every franchise in America seems to have set up shop close to the gates of Houston's largest stadium. They seem poised to attract all the people who are too famished to drive further than a few feet from the gate.

The places that are popular with local residents aren’t these fast food establishments and none of them are part of a corporate chain. They are small businesses with names like:

Mama’s Oven
Hanks Ice Cream
Guy’s Meat Market
Baytown Seafood
Frenchy’s Chicken
Ruchis

It’s easy to spot hungry visitors in Houston. They’re the people blocking the street trying to turn or cruising slowly down the South Main corridor trying to figure out the confusing lanes that curve across traffic, in an attempt to find a restaurant with good food close to Reliant Park.

Mama’s Oven

One of the few Soul Food restaurants in Houston that’s located inside of the 610 loop is Mama’s Oven. You have to learn the place really well before you can accurately judge the best time to get there and not have to wait in line to get your food.

The menu encompasses a selection of beans, greens, chicken and pork chops and other traditional Southern style dishes cooked with a thick gravy perfect for sopping up with a biscuit.

Hanks Ice Cream

A few steps from Mama’s is a Houston landmark Hank’s Ice Cream. It’s been in and around the same area on South Main street for close to 20 years. A lot of folks claim it’s Houston’s best homemade ice cream.

woamn buying hanks Ice cream
(image by A D Forman)

The Houston business has a reputation for rich ice cream, full of flavor. It may just be the best in the Southwest. The demand for frozen dollops of sweet cream has increased so much there are several places selling homemade ice cream in Houston.

Hanks has the distinction of being the only one that can be found in about a half a dozen of places besides their original store. A few of their top flavors are

* Butter Pecan
* Strawberry
* Banana Pudding
* Orange Chocolate Chip
* Cookies 'N Cream

Hank’s ice cream is much more than just a Texas version of Ben and Jerry’s. The family owned ice cream parlor could easily become Houston’s first African American business to sell its homemade ice cream nationwide.


Guy’s Meat Market

East of Reliant Stadium is Old Spanish Trail (OST), a section of highway that was once marketed has a romantic link to the State’s Spanish past and historic expedition routes used by De Soto, De Vaca and De Navarez,
Today hungry people who appreciate having a butcher trim their meat and the taste of great barbecue for lunch can be seen crowding into a small storefront business there named Guy’s Meat Market.

You’ll see folks trying to keep a spot in the front of the line while their eyes dart from cooler to cooler as smokey wafts of frozen meat, stuffed pork chops and chickens prepared with special seasonings escape into the room each time someone opens the doors on one of the glass coolers.

Their menu includes some of best smoked sausage, brisket and beans in town. The size and diversity of the lunchtime crowd hints at why this places is so popular from 11:am to 3:pm each day..
Men in suits, office workers and people who just left the Texas Medical Center find themselves being lured into the meat market unable to resist the smell of burning hickory wood used to cook the barbecue that permeates the air around the business located just off Almeda and OST.

Baytown Seafood

You can always find fresh seafood in Houston restaurants. It’s one of the privileges of living along the Gulf Coast that we value and deserve because we have to put up with Hurricanes every year.

You won’t find wild Alaskan Salmon or King Crabs on most of the menus at small restaurants near Reliant Park that sell seafood. What they do have is plenty of delicious blue crabs and Gulf shrimp two-fingers wide served in gumbo, fried or stuffed.

When local anglers are too busy to catch their own supper they favor eating at the well known Baytown Seafood. It’s a place where they can find some of the same fish they would catch on their reel on the menu. The flaky white meat is served fried in a light golden brown cornmeal batter and occasionally a tempura. Trout, catfish, snappers and red fish are hands down good fish we love to catch and eat in Houston.

Frenchy’s Chicken

Once you visit Frenchy’s on South Main and Kirby you’ll realize that all chicken isn’t fried equally. Nobody can season chicken the way they do at this local chicken shack. They are known to handle up on cooking a mean pot of greens, red beans and rice too.

Over the past few decades Frenchy’s has garnered a reputation for being able to serve non-greasy, flavorful and juicy (white meat) wings and breast. Although the business has been able to grow out of the mold of being a family-owned business it still maintains that sameness in its recipes.

It doesn’t matter if you visit their store inside of H.E.B, in Mo City or the Frenchy’s location near Reliant Stadium, the taste of the chicken is really close to the original blend. Each store’s chicken has a similar flavor to it and it is never fried until it’s dry or tough.
Even though I’m believe it. It’s hard to convince others, my mother and most college students from the U of H and Texas Southern University that the Frenchy’s store near their campus doesn’t have a monopoly on Southern fried chicken.

Ruchi’s

When you’re craving real Tex Mex burritos, tacos and freshly chopped pico de gallo go to the corner of Main St. at 610. In the shopping center on the west-side of the street sits Ruchi's Taqueria Rincon De Mexican . A restaurant that everybody in Houston knows it’s name.

The small company has several locations and they all stay open late enough to catch the crowd leaving the clubs and people headed to work on the night shift. They serve creamy re-fried beans that are not dry and the best smelling, well roasted, mouth-watering chicken and beef fajitas that are only matched by the fact that they are never stringy.

Their platters aren’t over priced, yet full of meat. They have some decent re-fried beans or cooked au jus. Best of all they use a full size tortilla and not those puny little things that you’ll find at some of the local Taco trucks.

To discover these and other unique places to eat near Reliant Stadium a visitor has to be fortunate enough to get befriended by a resident and invited out to eat. Then they can learn both how to navigate the maze of traffic and where the little holes are that have been carved into the franchise food fabric.

Thank God It’s Food (TGIF) still being served by a few small Mom and Pop style restaurants where heart warming meals like the kind you get at home are lovingly prepared. They are always served-up with a friendly smile and in hefty portions worthy of the working man/woman’s hard earned dollars.