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Eating Out for a vegetarian.

I travel a lot with my work and used to find eating on the hoof a challenge. After eliminating everything from Starbucks , I now travel with a tupperware of snacks such as cherry tomatoes, cheese, cold sausage etc in case I can't find a suitable meal on route. I also take a small flask in the car with fresh cream from the fridge at home so that I can always fill up with a take-away black coffee, adding my own cream.

In a couple of days time I shall be driving from one end of the country to the other, and taking a 4 hour ferry crossing which will include a hot meal on board - our first meal of the day. Previously I chose a chilli con carne and simply left the rice at the side of my plate. I may have imbibed a few grains of rice but they did me no harm.

On other occasions when eating out, I've always found staff very accommodating when I've asked for a side salad in place of any chips served with a dish. Other times I've chosen a burger and simply not eaten the bun or ordered a savoury pie and removed the crust.

In January I hosted a champagne afternoon tea for 12 guests at a large well--known hotel in London and when I arrived, ahead of my guests, I had a quiet word with the staff and asked if they had any low carb, diabetic options for one of us, without saying it was for me. They offered a plate of cold cuts, with various cheeses, meats and smoked salmon, with a small side salad, with a sugar-free compote of berries and plain yoghurt. I had some envious glances from my guests tucking into their sandwiches, cakes and scones!

I agree with the other posters who say we do have to be flexible and willing to bend slightly in situations like this, and we also have to be prepared with snacks to carry us through a tricky situation. I don't believe we should be precious about our condition or our lifestyle choice of eating. Eating out is a choice and being flexible is they key to making it an enjoyable experience
 
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I should add that I'm not a vegetarian but I do enjoy vegetarian food. Last weekend I had a vegetarian spinach, feta and pine-nut pie which didn't spike my blood sugars at all - because I cut off the pie crust before eating the pie contents. It was amply filling with the vegetables it was served with and absolutely delicious. Thinking outside the box is helpful in any dilemma
 
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