Type 2 Holiday In Usa - Advice Please

Burgers without the bun and fries of course.. steaks are everywhere although pricey.. seafood maybe?
Diners will always have eggs and bacon probably all day and are more likely to be flexible with adjusting menus (plus its always fun to sit at the "bar"). There is a low carb bread called Fox Hills I think but I tend to avoid anything bread like anyway.

Hehe - I'm off to Texas in two weeks' time. But I'm giving myself leeway, as I used to live there and hence have my favourite restaurants to visit - I haven't been back in 10 years. But I do feel your pain, as without leeway it'd be extraordinarily difficult.

I was just in NY and the temptation there was ridiculous. But yes... hotels do generally have eggs, bacon, okay things on menus for breakfast (and pancakes, and waffles, and amazingly sweet cinammon buns, which oddly enough aren't on standard hotel menus here ).

And it's America - certainly in Texas, you can always ask restaurants to substitute one food for another. The menu is more of a guide than set in stone. Which always flummoxed me and I never dared order anything off menu, and then watched as friends basically customised their plates to their liking! Plus you can generally ask for salad dressing on the side, so they don't douse it all over your salad. US salads are amazing. And big. Have courage - ask the wait staff to help/not put the carbs on the plate!

I went to an amazing breakfast place in NY that was a chain, and it had a whole variety of very low carb breakfasts, except they marketed it as healthy or some other inspiring, hip word. But they had the nutritional info printed too, so it was easy to pick out. I had an amazing spinach, chicken, avocado, mozzarella cheese wrap there, that was wrapped in something that wasn't bread. Sorry - I can't remember the name of the place.

I think it must be US policy now (for chain restaurants at least) to put calories on their menus. That was a disarming sight. I think I'm going to be in for a shock faced with Texas-sized portions again.

I have always found restaurant /diner staff are always really helpful in US. As a veggie and low carber I generally have to juggle menu items when eating out.

Have a look at Diet doctor website - lots on eating out in US, many chain restaurants have nutritional info on line too

https://www.dietdoctor.com/new-guide-low-carb-fast-food-options-in-the-us

Hi, I will be in the states in October and then on a cruise, neither of which I am too worried about food wise. Having experienced both before I am confident that I will be OK, there is so much to choose from, as already mentioned salads are huge and always plenty of burger joints, just avoid the buns and fries, likewise steer clear of dunkin donuts Tagging @Goonergal as she has recently come back from her USA holiday, 3 different areas if I remember correctly so she should be very up to date with advice. I know she found good dark chocolate

Flora123 said:

Going to the US next week and worried about food. Been many times before and eating out well on a budget is REALLY difficult as so much **** food and more so with my fairly recent diagnosis. My endocrinologist actually wished me good luck with that one!! We will have a small kitchen part of the time but mostly in hotels and eating out. Help! Can anyone recommend any low carb bread (I rarely eat it but good for sandwiches) or any restaurants/eateries that cater for low carb? Dreading the potential spikes due to sugar added to meat etc. Thanks x

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You could check the mrskinnypants site. It's a guide to how to order lchf/keto in American fast food restaurants... Usually applies to regular restaurants too though. (Comes down to skip the bread, fries and corn, keep ketchup to a minimum. Mayo and mustard are usually okay, eggy breakfast options too). Chains have their nutrientlists readily available online, so that might make it a little easier... If they use added sugars in meats and such, that's where it's show up. Enjoy your holiday!

Hi @Flora123 just seeing this.

I’m not long back from San Francisco, San Diego and New York City. I found eating low carb - Keto - to be pretty easy.

Burgers without buns, restaurant staff very helpful - to the extent that in one place where I hadn’t checked what was in a salad and they saw me picking the enormous amount of grated carrot out of it, they came by and offered to bring a new one minus the carrot!

Editing to give another example: ordered some short rib, which turned up coated in barbecue sauce which wasn’t listed on the menu. Spoke to the waitress about why I couldn’t eat it. Having checked with the chef she advised that even without the extra sauce, the marinade would likely cause a problem, so she worked with me to find the best option on the menu. Guess I’m saying don’t be afraid to ask for what you want and don’t feel pressured into eating something you’re not happy with: a conscious decision to experiment is one thing, but it needs to be your choice!

If you’re anywhere near a Wholefoods supermarket, they’re great for a low cost meal option - rotisserie (they have a plain salt and pepper chicken with zero carbs that didn’t impact my blood sugars at all), hot bar and salad bar which are great.

And there are some great snacks around - see attached pics for chocolate and baked cheese recommendations. Walgreens (the larger ones) and some of the supermarkets have a range of to-go items which are extremely low carb. One of my favourites was Volpi Roltinis - cigar sized stick of mozzarella wrapped in Parma ham.

Have a great trip!

Flora123 said:

Going to the US next week and worried about food. Been many times before and eating out well on a budget is REALLY difficult as so much **** food and more so with my fairly recent diagnosis. My endocrinologist actually wished me good luck with that one!! We will have a small kitchen part of the time but mostly in hotels and eating out. Help! Can anyone recommend any low carb bread (I rarely eat it but good for sandwiches) or any restaurants/eateries that cater for low carb? Dreading the potential spikes due to sugar added to meat etc. Thanks x

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If you're on Facebook there is a group called The Low Carb Life which has a lot of American members. I suggest you join that group and ask the same question but be prepared for hundreds of answers. The main thing is to just enjoy your trip.

I didn't have a problem in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Detroit, and New York earlier this year. I tend to order meat with green veggies as a substitute for the inevitable french fries. Breakfasts are pretty good at hotels with egg and bacon being my go to. Funnily enough I finished up having egg and bacon at a Bob Evans for dinner!!

Lots of the family diners have salad bars too.

I'm just about to head to the US for three weeks and am pretty relaxed about the food choices.

Sorry you’re having problems - I’m in Texas at the moment and I’ve been pleasantly surprised what has been available for me but I am a meat eater, and Texas and meat do go together far more than Texas and veggies.

I did have the horrible experience of staying at a Holiday Inn in NY where I was surrounded with an amazing array of breakfast offerings all containing huge amounts of carbs and all I could eat was the very weird egg and processed cheese omelette. I’d had the Heathrow Holiday Inn experience the day before where breakfast was much more limited but had different types of eggs, and bacon and mushrooms. Luckily it was NY so I could just walk out and find something with better choices for breakfast close by.