Wait...how often are you sentenced to this meal? If only once in a while, don't sweat it. Just eat the eggs and bacon. A little canola oil isn't going to kill you. This is an example of freaking out over nothing. If there is any justification for the term orthorexia, getting upset over a deviation at one meal is pretty good case of it.

Poached eggs should be fine. Poaching an egg is just a matter of cracking it into a pot of boiling water and waiting a few minutes til it's cooked.

The bacon is iffy, as you said, but maybe you can ask them to be sure not to cook it in any oil, just let its own rendered oil do the work.

Uhh ...

Possible options:

• Eat before going, then refrain at the meal. Let them enjoy your company. There is no need to eat something you really don't want to.
• Eat a snack before-hand so that you won't be too hungry, thus minimizing the amount of non-paleo food that might enter your gut.
• Pick the most paleo options and go with it. Like Forgotten18 said .. cortisol = no good
• Just pick something you want to eat and eat it. While it might not be optimal nutrition, it doesn't seem like it is a daily/weekly event so- as a whole, it shouldn't do you any harm.
• I don't know why you wouldn't make a special request ... when you go out to eat you pay for the service (waiter/waitress paycheck, the cook's, manager's, etc), the place to dine (utilities, water, gas, etc), a good atmosphere ... it's the reason the menu consists of many things you could make yourself for far cheaper- you are the customer, ask for what you want. :)

Additionally, our bodies are quite amazing machines. While "neolithic" food additives are not good news, our bodies are surprisingly resilient (when not loading ourselves up with the stuff regularly ... SAD diet ...).

I know that they actually add pancake batter to their scrambled egg mix. Not too sure about poached eggs.

In general though, IMO I'd say either try to eat the paleo foods available there this one time or eat somewhere else. Seems like you're stressing. (Cortisol = no good)

Eggs fried hard, bacon and water goes a long way. But I will add that the Harvest nut pancakes with the pecan syrup has enough paleo words in it to make worth cheating, and its great too!

Yeah, IHOP does put pancake batter in their scrambled eggs/omelets, and they cook them in soy oil. The few times I ever have to go there, I tell them to lose the batter and to cook the eggs in butter only. All restaurants will cook your eggs in butter if you instruct them to do so. Not that big a deal.