Travel/Restaurant Foods

Hey all. I just got back from a little San Antonio getaway and realized eating on the road and at so many restaurants can be difficult! I took some cheese and crackers and lots of bottled water with me on the way there and that was fine for the 3 1/2 hour trip there. Dinner was easy at a Tex-Mex restaurant: ate only beans and a little fajita chicken meat. But for the rest of the trip, eating seemed like a chore! What do you eat when your family wants to grab fast food?? I'm not eating salads yet so that's not an option. I've tried eating the insides of a burgery once long ago and it just seemed so greasy to me that it made me nauseous. I couldn't think of other snacks to take with me that were portable....jerky is way too tough. I did manage to ask for milk when there was nothing to eat. My husband was more than willing to eat somewhere else but they rarely eat fastfood and I did not want to take that away from my family...they are all skinny ones too. Now that the trip is over I wanted to know what the rest of you have done in cases like mine when your traveling. I know I did not get all of my protein in for those days but I got 3/4's which is better than none at all. Other than that, I had a great trip!!! Oh, I did have one sweet treat...this place made a low carb (onlyl 3 gr) shake. Hubby had one and I had about 5 sips...I was so scared it would make me sick but it didn't! NIce little treat for me. Yipee. Thanks for listening. Ana 221-171.5-125

We don't do much fast food anymore, but when we do, I eat a lot of Wendy's chili, Taco Bell pintos and cheese, grilled chicken sandwich (throw the bun). Also, Subway will put any of their sandwiches in a bowl on spinach. I'm not really doing salads yet, either but have had a couple of subs in a bowl and eaten 2-3 spinach leaves with my grilled chicken or whatever I get.

I carry a shaker cup and measured out protein powder with me. I can always find bottled water and ice. Throw that in and shake it up and I have protein on-the-go. You can always run into a local market and go to the deli counter and get 1/8 of a lb of sliced ham/turkey and cheese. I find that thinly sliced deli meat is indispensible to me. It chews easily and easy to eat on the go. Kathy

Hi Ana. I just got back from Hawaii for a week. I took protein powder in a baggie and a shaker- and had a protein shake first thing every morning- then I brought beef jerkey, string cheese, soy crisps to the beach will me every day. For dinners I would usually get an appetizer, like crab cakes or chicken skewers. I try to avoid fast food completly. I can't wait to be able to eat salads!

I have to agree with the others. Plan ahead and pack some protien pwder in a ziplock (some soy chips help too). I have tried eating out a few times and it just doesn't work, not to mention that I feel I am wasting money on stuff I can't eat. Breakfast is another story. I can usually get just scrambled egg(s) and that's all I need.

Thanks for all your great ideas. I mainly posted so others can maybe learnfrom me not planning ahead as I should have and I figured they could benefit from your wonderful ideas. I didn't do too bad considering. As for fast food, we do not consume it....my 4 year old hasn't had McD's since before my surgery so when they asked for it this weekend I surely wasn't going to take that away from her on a mini-vacation. I feel I shouldn't punish my family for my old junk food habits, especially when they are not even overweight. I wanted to know what you ate in case you had a situation at a fast food place. At regular restaurants I ordered soups and shared a steak and a few bites of potato with my little one. I've never been much of a protein drinker and my surgeon wants all of my protein to come from foods I eat. I use a shake when for whatever reason I couldn't get the grams in that day. When in the future I do have another road trip I will use your wonderful advice. I try to use my mistakes and post when I can because we go through so many similar things. This board is a wonderful tool. Thanks again for all your responses! It's nice to be back home and close to my fridge! Have a great week all.

When my family wants fast food, it is very difficult because that was my biggest trouble pre-op. It was nothing for me to go to McD's and get a double quarter pounder with cheese, McChicken, XL fries, 5 piece chicken tenders (or 9 or 20 pc chicken nuggets with honey), a coke, and a cherry and apple pie and eat all of this (yes, seriously) on my way home so that my family wouldn't know that I'd eaten it. Wendys would be a Double Big Classic, Chicken sand, Biggie fries...well, you get the idea. So going to fast food restaurants are HARD for me. Saying all of that, when we DO go (which has only been once since I told my husband how hard it was - and the time we went was on a day that I felt particularly strong) I have had at Wendys, a baked potato with chili and cheese, BK, a garden burger without the bun, Arby's, a chicken/bacon wrap but only ate the insides (and only 1/2 of one 1/2). That's really been the extent of my ff experience and, like I said, it was VEEEEERY hard for me. I kept wanting to eat some fries but scared to but wanting to....ya know what I mean?? So, I try to avoid them anymore, too much temptation to me. And, if I give into it and find out I CAN eat that stuff again - I'm in bigggggg trouble. Michelle

Hi Ana, I agrre with everyone else on this one. Fast food... I've only done wendy's chili. When we are out and looking for a place to grab a bite we end up at cracker barrel then split a dinner. Its great atmosphere and usually very quick service... and yummy too. Your shake sounds yummy... I took a sip of hubby's the other night (not low carb tho) and was too scared to swallow it after I got it in my mouth so I spit it in the trash...lol... they must've operated on my brain AND my tummy! Glad you're home safe and sound... Barb

We were at Disney in February and even though I was pre-op I kept looking at the menus for friendly food as if I was post-op. They have lots of great restaurants there. They also have grab and go kind of food but I'd stay away from there. The resorts have lots of yogurts, cheese trays, etc. if you can do milk products.

Hi Ana, Let me start of a little off topic......why can't you eat Salads? I started Salads at 6 weeks out and let me tell you....heaven in a bowl. Lol. I eat a lot of salad now. Kraft has a vinegrette parmasean Dressing that's only 5gms of fat per 2 tablespoons and less than 1 gram of sugar...the best thing is it tastes like Olive garden dressing....ironic because they---Kraft makes OG dressing. Point being everyone serves salad at their restraunt. When out to eat I also like to get the chicken taco sald from Taco Bueno with extra chicken for the protein. Today I just tried a wrap from Subway it was wonderful. I couldn't eat the wrap tortilla however. The turkey Bacon wrap has 31 grms of protein -14 for me because of the wrap. Basically when I go out I go one of two routes I go soup and salad or I go baked, broiled , grilled or steamed, and its worked out pretty ok, the few times i've eaten out. Morgan 295/255/160