What Do I Eat While on Vacation?

What Do I Eat While on Vacation?

At home, you do not have to limit yourself to certain food choices since just about anything can be made low-carb using the right ingredients. However, it can get a little bit tricky when you are away from home. Restaurants, themeparks and hotels are full of sugar and carbs. You may ask why not just eat whatever you want on vacation? A few days of eating sugar and carbs is fine, right? Let me explain what happens when I eat carbs, my sugar spikes high after a meal no matter what insulin dose I would take to cover those carbs. So even if I would eat a meal with so-called "good carbs" like whole grains, my 1-hour post prandial reading would go to 200 or higher, because insulin that is injected through a pump or syringe does not work the same as a human pancreas. Dr. Bernstein explains this in his book, but essentially what happens is your blood sugar spikes after eating until the dose of insulin hits you, then it goes lower. This would put me on a rollercoaster ride with my blood sugars, making me feel extremely tired, thirsty, and irritable. I want to be full of energy on vacation, so I chose not to eat the carbs. I can eat at just about any restaurant, I just have to make the right food choices. Sometimes I bring some of my own food or condiments from home to help out. Here's a guide of what I ate for a day while away on vacation to help you make the right food choices for optimal blood sugars and feeling your best while away from home.

Breakfast

You can't go wrong with bacon, eggs, and sausage! Any breakfast place would have these options, like the buffet breakfast at our hotel. Omelets are a good choice too with vegetables and cheese. This plate was delicious and keep me full of energy all morning.

Lunch

Salads are always a safe choice, just be careful of a few things. Of course, you want to leave out any fries or croutons. Go easy on the tomatoes as well since their carbohydrate count is higher. A few baby tomatoes doesn't spike my blood sugar, but too many will. Another important thing is to watch the dressing. The safest option for salad dressing is red wine vinegar and olive oil. Many places offer this option. However, some offer balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar. Stay away from balsamic vinegar! It contains 5 grams of carbohydate per 1 teaspoon, and if you put lots on your salad, you easily just added 30 carbs to your salad just with dressing. If a restaurant doesn't have red wine vinegar and olive oil, I order blue cheese or ranch, full-fat versions of course. Sure, these processed dressings have man-made fats which are not good for you, but they only have 1-2 grams of carbohydrate per serving. If I have to chose between carbs and man-made fats, I will choose the man-made fats and have normal blood sugars for the day and eat natural good fats at home. This chicken salad with blue cheese dressing was delicious and kept my blood sugars steady all afternoon. 

Dinner

Meats such as chicken, steak, pork, or fish are always great choices. Restaurants always want to serve these dishes with high-carb side dishes. I always substitute a vegetable and put lots of butter on them. One thing to be careful about is the sauce or marinade the meat is covered with. Lots of traditional sauces and marinades are packed with sugar. I love ordering ribs without the barbecue sauce and bring my own little plastic container of Walden Farms barbecue sauce to add. I always carry a mini-backpack with my blood meter and supplies, so an extra small container is nothing to carry! You could also ask to hold the sauce and add butter or sour cream to your meat if you don't carry barbeque sauce with you like I do! This meal was delicious and like the others, kept my continuous glucose monitor at a flat line of stable blood sugars. 

For snacks, I usually pack my own almonds, sessme seeds, or pumpkin seeds. You could also prepare some low-carb treats at home and bring them along. It does take some planning, but maintaining a low-carb diet is something completely possible while on vacation.  Thanks for reading this and hope it will help to guide you into the right food choices while away from home!