worried about trip with girlfriend's parents

[MattyMay]

hey everyone,

So i've been eating with no cheats for about 3 weeks (since april 20th), and it's been pretty easy. I've been cooking everything myself essentially everymeal.

However, on monday I am leaving for a trip to france/ireland with my girlfriend and her parents. Cooking will no longer be an option, as we will be eating almost entirely in restaurants/pubs etc.

Any advice or suggestions? I figure most places will have a salad I can get with dressing on the side or olive oil/vinegar...but there are bound to be some tricky spots.

I'm really preoccupied about all of this, and determined to stay on course.

please help!

-Matt

[joee5]

Only advice I can offer is to remain committed and stay strong. Stray away from temptations. You'll do fine so long as you adjust your mindset to staying true. If you worry about failing then chances are you will. God Bless, Joe

[ValidRouge]

Generally I can find Atkins friendly food in restaurants fairly easily. You just have to know how to navigate. Think of yourself like someone who has food allergies (you know, those people who are allergic to nuts, seafood, wheat). Those people certainly would NEVER hesitate to ask their waiter about ingredients in a particular dish. When in doubt....ASK...ALWAYS. Most places are extremely accommodating. In fact, the nicer the restaurant, the easier it is to get your needs met.

Okay, with that said. Any time I go to a restaurant, I start scanning the menu for the meats withOUT sauces. Grilled chicken, pork, steak, hamburger, etc. If you see something that has a sauce, ask if you can have the sauce on the side. I always check the menu for something more substantial first, but salads are ALWAYS my fall back plan. If you are at a burger place, ask for yours without the bun. At breakfast, most places are willing to give you a side of sliced tomatoes instead of the potatoes.

[MattyMay]

Thanks for the advice, those are a lot of great ideas.

I'm sure I'll be fine, but this is my first real 'test' - and it lasts over a week!

[quotidianlight]

Ireland has a lot more ethnic restaurants than it used to and between them and traditional irish food (meat, veggies minus the potatoes and beer) you should be fine. I find indian, french, greek, and african food the easiest to get veggie and meat dishes. Salads with oil and vinegar for dressing is usually available elsewhere.

[MattyMay]

quotidian,

What kind of foods do you usually get in an indian restaurant? Is a typical chicken curry pretty bad? I presume its full of stuff we can't have. Do you know of any other dishes in particular that would work?

Any ideas about french? We are going to france first, I figure omellettes will be my saving grace.

[quotidianlight]

Curry is just spices they usually add coconut milk so if you have time to get on to the seed rung for owl you will be fine. Meat or veggie Stews, Lamb dishes, any meat based traditional dish will be fine w/o the rice. Sugar isn't heavily used in most ethnic cooking cause sugar is expensive as H*ll in india. I would just get a meat and veggie dish, give the flat bread to your mum, leave the rice on the plate and not sweat it. The hardest thing will be avoiding legumes. Do the best you can and if something slips through accept it so you don't start the whole, "OMG, I blew it lets blow it some more". Getting onto owl will save you though.

Most french cooking is very atkins friendly IMO. Heavy cream sauces, cheese sauces etc on veggies, braised, poached and seared meat. Rattatouille, Soups, au gratins made with other veggies aside from potatoes, stuffed peppers, blossoms, summer squashes mushrooms, cheese, salads etc. Just push the bread to the side and avoid dessert.