LCHF while travelling and NOT eating out

That’s a good idea (about requesting a fridge). I often end up in whatever hotel my admin assistant convinces the government to allow me to stay in…so that can range from ridiculous-$600-a-night hotels near the White House (which are almost universally not that nice, strangely) to $100-a-night off-the wall private hotels in strange cities. Consistency is something I’ve come not to expect haha.

Yeah, I also travel for work often and work for a government-funded program, so we stay in whichever hotels offer the “government rate” and they are not booked by me. Often my travel is to smaller towns rather than large cities, though I do end up flying to Toronto or similar large cities once or twice a year for conferences or volunteer boards I’m on. I am finding fridges in more and more of the hotels without having to request one lately, which is nice. I’m not sure if it’s becoming more common, or if I’ve just been lucky. Incidentally, part of my goal over the past six months has been to build up a sort of “portable kitchen” that will allow me to store and parepare foods in a hotel room with just a fridge and microwave (or even just a fridge) or to take advantage of a full kitchen if one is available (since usually those things don’t actually come with things like frying pans in my experience!). I figure if this is going to be a lifetime way of eating, and if I still have 25-30 years of being in the workforce ahead of me (and then retirement, which may involve even more travelling if my parents are any example!) I may as well invest in making the experience as easy as possible.

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So, my observation on this: the likelihood of having a fridge-in-room is directly inversely correlated with the age of the room. Older, “fancy” hotels are the least likely, in my experience, to have fridges in room. Newer, work-focused hotel chains (many of the Marriott-owned “Suite” or “Inn” chains) often have excellent fridges, wifi, and free breakfasts. They are, by far, my favorite place to stay for work (other than an apartment through AirBnB).

Hi @Jen how many carbs do you eat in a day? Is your doctor on board with a low carb diet?

At the moment I’m quite low, around 30 grams a day. I keep most meals at 15 grams or less. My doctor has Type 1 himself and was blown away at my control at our last appointment. He literally said, “Your blood sugar graphs are FLAT…what are you doing?! Teach me…!” when I walked in, and we spent much of the appointment talking about what I eat. He had nothing negative to say and said he’ll be very curious to see my progress (blood sugar control and weight loss) at our next appointment.

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@Jen that’s wonderful! I am really hoping I can find a way to enjoy the LCHF lifestyle, even though it’s not how I prefer to eat taste wise. I love the idea of the law of small numbers as I constantly worry about hypos. Have you experienced any weight loss? I’m hoping to loose around 15-25lbs. How long have you been eating around 30g carbs a day?

I found that cutting out carbs in exchange for fat calories was a good trade for me taste wise. As I ate fewer carbs, my appetite for them diminished. I found that the fats that I introduced provide a tasty and satisfying way to eat. I lost considerable weight when I adopted this way of eating five years ago, about 14% of my body weight. Beyond the first week or so, the effort I put into this “diet” was surprisingly small.

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That’s very encouraging to hear, @Terry4! I’m hoping my desire for carbs will diminish too… I’ve gotta get my act together as I’ve let my control slide the last couple years.

I’ve been eating low-carb (50 total grams per day or less) for the past five to six months. I’ve been eating 30 grams or below for two to three months. I’ve lost about 19 pounds over that period of time, but my weight loss has recently increased because I’ve added in exercise (which I was not putting concerted effort into previously). I have a lot more weight to lose, and initially planned to only eat such a low-carb diet while losing weight, but I’m not sure now. Once you get used to spending days on end with blood sugar that stays between 80-125 for more than 75% of the time, it’s hard to go back to the high-carb rollercoaster. (I’m on an internship away from home and when I first arrived I fell off the low-carb wagon and was eating perhaps 75 grams a day, but I quickly got sick of the rollercoaster and found ways to eat fewer carbs.)

I also find low-carb eating extremely satisfying. For me, I transitioned to a low-carb diet gradually. Years ago I decided that I wanted to eat under 200 grams of carbs per day, then at some point lowered that to 150 grams, then 100 grams, then 75 grams, then 50 grams, and now I’m at 30 grams. I don’t keep strict control of my carbs, I just try to limit meals to 15 grams, and frequently meals are much less than that. I’ll admit, though…I still crave carbs. Especially cereal. It takes an act of willpower to walk past the cereal aisle without buying anything almost every time I shop. Thankfully, I have food allergies that make most processed foods off-limits to me, so this helps a lot with my willpower, and recently the idea of disrupting my blood sugar control and weight loss have also been deterrents.

My adventures of travelling with multiple food allergies while eating low-carb continue.

Today I set off on a four-day business trip and brought all my own food. It’s a good thing, too, because the hotel is in the middle of nowhere. While I’m relaxing in my hotel room eating dinner, my colleagues are running around trying to find somewhere to eat other than Tim Hortons (and I think a few settled on that as the best option).

Tonight’s meal is a salad with lettuce, cucumbers, homemade croutons, bacon bits, homemade chicken, and olive oil. Coconut yogurt and raspberries for dessert. Decaf Earl Grey tea with almond milk and stevia to drink. Delicious, and all dairy, egg, wheat, soy, potato, tomato, and banana free as well as being low carb and safe from cross-contamination.

I’ll be getting some new tools to make preparing food while travelling easier. In the meantime, I wanted to update this thread because I think of it every now and then when I’m eating a meal I’ve brought and prepared. I continue to refine my meal planning and packing for each trip and am excited to share my results, in case others are feeling like travelling with multiple dietary restrictions is impossible without a car and a full kitchen (I flew in today and my hotel room has only a fridge and a Keurig).

If you travel with your own food, I’d be interested in strategies and tips you may have for this thread.

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Wow! Your dinner looks appetizing. I think your BG numbers will reflect your efforts.

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Yup!

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Breakfast this morning was toasted homemade low-carb bread (pre-sliced and toasted at home) with peanut butter. I also had some pre-cooked bacon and homemade “oatmeal” (hemp hearts, coconut shreds, slivered almonds, chia seeds), but I didn’t feel like eating them.

Drank decaf Earl Grey tea with almond milk and stevia throughout the morning.

Lunch was tuna salad (tuna, mayo, avocado was omitted because they exploded during transit) and cucumbers and roasted garlic dip.

From what I’ve gathered of the food offered to attendees so far, it’s basically pure carbohydrates with little to no other choices. So glad I brought my own food on this trip!

Tonight’s low-carb dinner from a hotel room: chicken thighs and cauliflower rice with coconut aminos, veggies and dairy-free roasted garlic dip, Earl Grey tea with unsweetened almond milk, and some safe dark chocolate for dessert. I’ll go to a restaurant for the board dinner tonight to enjoy the company, but I’ll eat this when I get back.

Here is the Pack-It cooler bag I use to transport food and the Hot Logic Mini I use to warm it up:

And for this short three-day trip, all my clothes, food, technology, and medication fit into this luggage:

I checked one bag (put all liquid food in it) and brought one as carry-on (with all medical supplies in it).

Food I brought on this trip to cover all my meals plus a little extra in case of delays includes:

  • Smoked salmon
  • Chicken thighs (pre-cooked)
  • Cauliflower rice (pre-cooked)
  • Celery
  • Cucumber
  • Dairy-free dip
  • Unsweetened coconut yogurt
  • Unsweetened almond milk
  • Chia seeds
  • Earl Grey tea
  • Stevia
  • Sunflower seeds
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Safe dark chocolate
  • Homemade snack bites
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Coconut aminos
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This ^^^ is determination. Bon appetite!

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This is how we travel as a celiac family. Fortunately, it is easier via ground as we have a small RV and can cook anything. Flying requires more work. We dine via grocery stores mostly as finding safe GF restaurants is difficult not to mention addressing my need for a LCHF diet and food allergies/intolerances.

Good for you! Keep it up! :blush:

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I don’t have celiac, but have a combination of anaphylaxis, eosinophilic esophagitis, and oral allergy syndrome that motivates this way of eating. And of course eating low-carb as well.

I find air travel pretty easy within Canada. Crossing borders is another issue. When I travel to the US, typically I bring very limited staples and will get a cab to a store for fresh produce. This can get iffy, though, like when I got standed for over an hour at a closed grocery store at 11:00 at night and seemingly no cabs responding to requests to come… But usually it works out.

This particular trip was refreshing because people were so accepting of my need to bring my own food. There was another person there with food intolerances and she was very interested in the strategies I use for flying with all my food food. And everyone else just took it in stride: no awkward questions like, “What DO you eat?!” (just genuine questions with responses like, “Wow, that’s a great idea!”), no asking me if I was SURE I didn’t want to order something, no constnatly saying they felt bad for me. At the restaurant people at my table even asked which foods caused anaphylaxis for me so that they could order something else because they didn’t want to put me at risk. If only all social encounters were this accepting and understanding.