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Are you wondering how you are going to eat out at a "regular," or fine-dining restaurant now that you've decided to follow a vegan or raw-vegan diet? This can require some forethought, since going out to eat is definitely going to happen. Eating out happens to be on of the most popular social activities in any culture.

You can absolutely eat a delicious, nutritious, vegan, and even raw meal at any restaurant, whether it caters to your particular diet or not. The most important tip for maintaining this type of diet is thinking ahead and bringing type of supplemental snack with you!

Almost all restaurants have salads. You could order the chicken salad without the chicken, the gourmet salad without the cheese, or an order or even two of the simple side salad. And if the restaurant has an organic or local salad on the menu, it's a no-brainer!

By looking at the salads and entree side vegetables on the menu, you can actually put together your own salad. Don't be afraid to ask for a "customized" salad for your lunch or dinner. You can always ask for a large salad with spinach or mixed greens as the base, with a couple of different diced raw vegetables or fruits on it. And to step up your salad a notch, you can ask for as many different colored vegetables as possible. To determine if the restaurant has avocados in their kitchen or not, scan the menu for guacamole or avocado as an extra or a side. Now you can request avocado to be added to your salad to make it extra satiating.

Of course, try to be as polite and as discrete as you can and they will most likely do their best to help you. Your customized salad can lead to the most gorgeous and most colorful salad the restaurant has ever seen! Your salad might just have people turning their heads in your direction asking where was that on the menu? That looks amazing! For salad dressing you could choose the restaurants vinaigrette, lemon juice, or oil and vinegar on the side.

Now, you may not get enough protein, fat, carbohydrates, or calories from this salad and this is where a bit of planning comes in handy. In your purse or pocket, you might want to bring along a handful or two of nuts or seeds, dried fruit (can be your dessert!), a raw food bar, or a whole grain bar, in a small plastic baggie. You'll be glad that you did.

The most crucial thing for your dietary success is to do whatever it takes to be happy and satisfied with your dinner. You want to be totally in the present with your friends and family and one of the worst situations is to be missing out on all the fun because your stomach's still grumbling and you're still thinking about food!

Superfoods are another option to add to your customized salads. Of course, you would have to bring these with you from home. Hemp seeds, sea vegetables, and goji berries are easy to pack superfoods. This could raise the nutrition of the food from 10 fold, especially if eating out at a non-organic restaurant, which is usually the case. Just be sure to prepare yourself for some extra attention when putting these foods on your salad. It will definitely depend on how you're with if you do this or not.

Some additional tips for vegans and raw foodists eating out at a regular restaurant:

Nuts and seeds that come on salad are usually coated in sugar, or "candied" so be careful. Be sure to watch out for cheese or dairy-based salad dressings, like ranch, that come automatically on the salad and ask for it to be left out. It helps tremendously to pack some sort of sweet snack with you to eat after your meal--especially if you have a sweet tooth and will be tempted by others' desserts. If you're not entirely "raw," don't hesitate to ask your server for some steamed vegetables on the side of your salad or as an entree.

Stay comfortable, confident, and nonchalant about your requests and possible supplemental snacks, and others probably won't even know what you're doing. At the very most, they'll compliment your on how gorgeous your meal looks! But if you become uneasy and embarrassed about your diet and requests, you could get a lot more attention than you bargained for!

It's a great idea to have an easy-to-memorize line to give others when they ask about your new diet. This is especially handy when you don't want to draw extra attention to yourself. Decide on your definition of your diet or why you're doing it and tell the person in the most positive and to the point way. One of the easiest things to say is that you're trying something new out and enjoying the benefits so far.

If going out with a larger group of people, you can always eat beforehand as well. Telling others that you just ate due to a late lunch usually fares well. If you're going to be out and about for a while after the meal, you may want to bring some sort of snack or trail mix with you though just in case end up getting hungry later.

In time, you will definitely get used to how to eat out at any type of restaurant--whether or not it caters to vegetarians, vegans, or raw-foodists. Dining at fine restaurants may not be as fun as it used to be, but that's because you know you can eat a much healthier and more satisfying meal at home for pennies on the dollar now. Try proposing a night out for your non-vegan friends at your favorite restaurant. This is a great way to show them how much fun and creative gourmet healthy vegan or raw-vegan food can be.