But there's more to eating out than finding a restaurant that will provide for your needs. Most of us buy food out regularly without even thinking about it - lunch from the local sandwich bar, takeaway food at the weekend with family, a quick bite at the pub with friends, grabbing something on the go when travelling, breakfast at a hotel or B&B while on holiday. These are some of the most challenging times for the low-carb and Paleo eater - they can also be equally challenging for those on a gluten free diet.
Living in a small town I've been learning how to deal with this, and have found a number of strategies that work for me. I hope that sharing my experiences can help you to realise that this way of eating does not have to be as restrictive as people believe, and will help you to work out how to eat well while still enjoying time out with friends and family.
I've decided to write this today because it's a topic that's been on my mind recently. I'm travelling with friends to London on the 5th July to see Robbie Williams at Wembley Stadium. We're a group of four girls making a four hour drive down and staying in a B&B overnight. One of our group is vegetarian, and I'm low-carb, Paleo style, eater. My vegetarian friend and I both say the same thing, we can find something on most menus that we can eat, but there are times when the menu provided is surprisingly limited in choice.
The thing that I've learnt is how important it is to plan ahead and check out the website of the restaurant/hotel/B&B to see if you can get a feel for their menu. If you can't then it's time to phone or email them. As I have wheat intolerance as well as being low-carb, I find it easier to simply start by explaining that I eat a gluten free diet which excludes not only gluten but the gluten free replacement foods. The people you are speaking to should be able to advise on the types of food they offer, and what would be suitable for you.
Many people are low-carb these days and food allergies are commonplace, in my experience this means that most places are quite accommodating if you explain that you don’t eat certain foods. Don’t feel embarrassed to ask! Hotels, restaurants, and takeaways are part of our service industries and are there to serve you. They should be able to meet your needs - or provide you with information on where you can eat if they can't accommodate you themselves. If they can't meet your needs or be helpful, then vote with your wallet and feet and go elsewhere.
As this article is quite long, I've broken it into the following sections:
Hotels and B&Bs
Restaurants and Pubs
Takeaway Food
Eating on the road
Many people are low-carb these days and food allergies are commonplace, in my experience this means that most places are quite accommodating if you explain that you don’t eat certain foods. Don’t feel embarrassed to ask! Hotels, restaurants, and takeaways are part of our service industries and are there to serve you. They should be able to meet your needs - or provide you with information on where you can eat if they can't accommodate you themselves. If they can't meet your needs or be helpful, then vote with your wallet and feet and go elsewhere.
Hotels and B&Bs
Restaurants and Pubs
Takeaway Food
Eating on the road
If you have any other suggestions on how to eat out while avoiding carbs, I'd love to hear them in the comments!
Hotels and B&Bs
If I'm contacting a hotel or B&B regarding breakfast I then proceed to ask what options they have for a cooked breakfast - you may be as shocked as I was to learn that even in London B&Bs may well offer a very limited line of cooked breakfasts, in fact the only food that the one I shall be staying at can offer me is scrambled eggs, baked beans and chips - only the eggs are suitable for me as the others are high-carb foods. But, with their local knowledge they have informed me that there is a cafe close by that does a wide range of breakfasts, and have even informed me of the starting cost of a Full English Breakfast. So with that knowledge I can plan ahead, I know I can either just have the eggs or I can go for a cooked breakfast at the cafe - or I can take some fruit and nuts with me and buy a pot of yogurt at the Co-Op store over the road. Don't forget that Google Streetview can help you find out what sort of food shopping you can do near your hotel! Remember, when you're ordering a Full English Breakfast you simply need to avoid baked beans, hash browns, fried bread and toast. Also, if you can opt for grilled tomato instead of canned ones do so - or maybe avoid the tomatoes all together.
When it comes to dining out for lunch or dinner, there are a surprisingly large number of options available without having to necessarily request gluten free food. There are a number of pub chains offering food these days, such as Sizzling Pubs, Ember Inns, and the Wetherspoons group. Personally I swear by Wetherspoons & Lloyds No 1 Bars, whether it's having lunch with my gym buddies at my local or getting a post-ski meal at Xscape, I have always been able to find good food and good service which caters to my nutritional needs. For lunch I almost always have the Club Salad - Chicken, Bacon and Cheese with lettuce and tomato topped with a Balsamic Vinagerette - high protein, medium fat, very low in carbs and incredibly filling and tasty. They also offer a Classic Caesar which would be perfect, but remember to ask them to serve without the croutons. When it comes to a more substantial meal the steak is fantastic and I've always found that if you explain that you don't eat potatoes of any type they simply double up on the salad. A wonderful, healthy, meal that provides more nutrients than the steak your friends and family are tucking into with their chips, breaded onion rings and peas! Clearly other pub chains are bound to offer the same sorts of food, and this is the kind of thing you're looking for. Something that's served with a variety of options so you can change out the items that you can't eat.
The other great restaurant option, which is really popular with everyone and allows you to pick and choose what you want without looking faddy, is the good old Carvery! If you think about it there's everything you could want on offer, lots of different meats, lots of vegetables, some dairy in the cauliflower cheese - and you don't have to have the Yorkshire pudding or any of the potatoes. Some Carvery restaurants also offer an alternative menu, so if you don't fancy the roast dinner you can always have a look for something like a Salmon fillet, or a salad - always remembering to ask for it without croutons. The only thing to watch for with salads is any glaze on the meats as these can be quite sugary.
There are, however, some chains and restaurant types that are more problematic for low-carb eaters. These are pretty obvious really. Pizza and Pasta restaurants are a big problem. You should usually find that they offer a salad, but there is usually quite a limited selection and you need to be careful with salad buffets in some Pizza restaurants - avoid the cous-cous, pasta salads, croutons and watch out for bacon bites and crispy onions as they tend to have hidden wheat content.
I've found the following guide serves me well:
- Caesar Salad without croutons
- Prawn Cocktail without bread
- Anything that isn't breaded - so no breaded mushrooms, but if they do garlic mushrooms without the breading then those are fine
- Avoid nachos and garlic bread
Main course
- Steak is usually one of the best options, but remember to ask for it to be served without chips and onion rings, preferably request salad instead of cooked veg
- Chargrilled fish and Chargrilled chicken are good options - again ask for it to be served with a salad, or at least without potatoes
- Salads are usually a really good bet, but if they state on the menu that it comes with croutons or bread and butter ask for those to be left off the order
- Grilled chicken and gammon are also great options - the same rules apply about the side dishes, opt for a salad if you can, definitely ask for them not to be served with chips and onion rings
- All Day Breakfasts are another good option, but again no chips or baked beans
- Avoid things like curry & chili as they are only served with rice or chips
- Avoid pies and anything served in batter or breadcrumbs
- Avoid burgers - not just for the obvious reason of them being served in a bun and with chips, unless you are 100% sure that the burger is made with 100% meat you will find that it contains rusk and other fillers
Desserts
This is where things get difficult, and you are likely to find that you have to consume something high-carb. You may think that eating Ice Cream or Sorbet is your best bet, but - unless you're wheat or gluten intolerant - this is not the best option on the menu for the low-carb and Paleo eater. Look for a baked cheesecake as the cheese in it will give you a protein boost and the carbs will be lower than the Ice Cream. Ideally you want to be looking for something like fruit, or cheese. If there is a cheeseboard on offer then this is ideal, just ask for it to be served without the biscuits - I did this at home over Christmas and enjoyed the cheese so much more! If there is no fruit, cheese or cheesecake option then the best bet will be Ice Cream rather than cake.
I was quite surprised to discover that eating low-carb takeaway food can be quite easy. Again, there are things that clearly need to be avoided, such as pizza and pasta. But there is a lot out there that does fit the bill for the low-carb eater.
Starting with the fast-food takeaways, most places now offer a salad option, make sure that you order the grilled chicken and do check the food before you leave the premises. I ordered the grilled chicken and bacon salad from one of my local McDonald's drive-thrus and discovered, when I was already on the road, that they had served me with the crispy chicken. As I was hungry, and had paid quite a bit of money for it, I ate it anyway and I ended up with a terrible upset stomach and wheat pain. From that day forwards I always insist on checking the salad as soon as it's handed to me.
If your friends are getting an Indian don't panic. Curries are quite primal anyway, lots of meat and spices and vegetables. Curries also tend to be gluten-free naturally, but you need to avoid anything with potatoes in, unless they use sweet potatoes. Opt for a lean meat and check the ingredients. Anything that the local Indian takeaway serves with salad should also be fine, for example Tandoori dishes are served with salad so they are a great option. Just remember to avoid anything served with rice, avoid the naan bread and anything that is served in pastry.
Personally I would advise against eating Chinese, having helped out at a Chinese takeaway I can tell you that every single dish is loaded with MSG, salt and sugar. If you do have a Chinese then again avoid anything that is served in pastry or batter, avoid prawn crackers, avoid noodles (so no Chow Mein dishes) and avoid rice, and sadly I have to say avoid the Sesame Prawn Toast as tasty as it may be. On the very rare occasions that I eat Chinese I have the meat dishes only. I may have a single meat dish, like Chicken with Cashew, or I may share a number of meats with friends.
Having said to avoid pizza you should still be able to order something if your friends are getting a meal from the local pizza shop as most pizza shops also serve kebabs. Clearly you need to avoid a doner kebab as these are made from some mystery sourced lamb (no doubt mechanically reclaimed meat), and if you ever saw the fat catcher from under the kebab spit at the end of the night in a pizza shop you would never touch doner meat again! Also avoid chicken doner as just one look at the way the little pieces of meat are compressed into a doner spit makes me dubious of it's quality and what kind of meat it is. A good pizza/kebab should should offer a chicken kebab that is cooked on the griddle. These are usually made of chicken breast, marinated in spices, and served with salad - totally Paleo and low carb. And they tend to be generous on the meat too, the place I use serves 250g of chicken breast, that's an awful lot of good quality protein! Just remember to ask them to serve it without the pitta and without chips - but help yourself to garlic and/or chili sauce.
Eating on the road
Unless you can stop at one of the fast-food places that offers salads, eating on the road is the single biggest challenge facing a low-carb, Paleo, or gluten-free eater. Corner shops and petrol stations are pure hell. There is, quite literally, nothing that we can eat from there unless they sell blocks of cheese and slices of ham - or if you get very lucky they might have a salad that's not got pasta in it. Virtually everything you see on sale in these places that is ready to eat, or heat on premises, is crisps, chocolate, sandwiches, wraps, sweets, burgers, fizzy drinks. It's a minefield and a nightmare. I've now learnt to take a packed lunch with me when I know I'm going to be on the road. A small salad, some pistachio nuts and some mixed nuts will usually do for me.
Under this category I'd place sandwich shops, many of these offer salad trays or boxes and this is where you can get a really nice, and filling, meal. You should be able to pick which meat or fish you want and which salad items you want. I would recommend avoiding sweetcorn, partly because it's off limits for the Paleo diet anyway but also because it's a high-carb veg with quite a lot of sugar in it. If you happen to be near a Pret a Manger store, pop in and see what they have to offer in their No Bread range - they use lettuce to create a wrap, an idea I've taken on board when I fancy something different to a plate full of salad!
Personally I would advise against eating Chinese, having helped out at a Chinese takeaway I can tell you that every single dish is loaded with MSG, salt and sugar. If you do have a Chinese then again avoid anything that is served in pastry or batter, avoid prawn crackers, avoid noodles (so no Chow Mein dishes) and avoid rice, and sadly I have to say avoid the Sesame Prawn Toast as tasty as it may be. On the very rare occasions that I eat Chinese I have the meat dishes only. I may have a single meat dish, like Chicken with Cashew, or I may share a number of meats with friends.
Eating on the road
Unless you can stop at one of the fast-food places that offers salads, eating on the road is the single biggest challenge facing a low-carb, Paleo, or gluten-free eater. Corner shops and petrol stations are pure hell. There is, quite literally, nothing that we can eat from there unless they sell blocks of cheese and slices of ham - or if you get very lucky they might have a salad that's not got pasta in it. Virtually everything you see on sale in these places that is ready to eat, or heat on premises, is crisps, chocolate, sandwiches, wraps, sweets, burgers, fizzy drinks. It's a minefield and a nightmare. I've now learnt to take a packed lunch with me when I know I'm going to be on the road. A small salad, some pistachio nuts and some mixed nuts will usually do for me.
Under this category I'd place sandwich shops, many of these offer salad trays or boxes and this is where you can get a really nice, and filling, meal. You should be able to pick which meat or fish you want and which salad items you want. I would recommend avoiding sweetcorn, partly because it's off limits for the Paleo diet anyway but also because it's a high-carb veg with quite a lot of sugar in it. If you happen to be near a Pret a Manger store, pop in and see what they have to offer in their No Bread range - they use lettuce to create a wrap, an idea I've taken on board when I fancy something different to a plate full of salad!
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