So the husband and I are going to a convention in Galveston, Texas, tomorrow. It's a 7 hour drive from our town, and we're taking sandwiches for the road.
I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing. We have to feed ourselves tomorrow night, and judging from my research, there's NOTHING "safe" to eat anywhere close to the restaurant. We're not looking to get out and explore too much because of convention-necessary events and things. The places within a close distance aren't "diet friendly" according to online menus.
Then the rest of the time we're being fed at the convention, breakfast, lunch and dinner 100% out of our control, and with very few, if any options.
Best I can say is if you are calorie counting get items that aren't creamy, take off mayo or ask for none if it's a sandwhich, get garden salads with light dressings, grilled meats, etc.
Most restaurants can be accomodating as well, like on TBL where they asked for things to not be cooked in oil and so on.
Oh and if you are staying at a hotel hit their gym!
when I am out like that, I try to find somewhere to come close to ones I go to at home.... you know how you have your new favorites where you know you can get something healthy..... But, what I do is look for a tex/mex restaurant b/c you can always get fajitas or something like that. That is my suggestion, unless you find a grocery store nearby.... or take something like a slim-fast or protein shake. My DH and I did this when we went to Vegas.
Are you staying in a regular hotel room, or in a suite with a kitchenette? If you have a kitchenette, maybe you can get frozen entrees and eat those. Or maybe you can order something healthy through room service?
For the meals provided by the convention, can you request lo-cal, lo-fat, lo-carb or whatever? I can''t believe they wouldn't have some members who have special dietary needs that have to be met. And unless the restaurants are all chef-driven, like beerab says they can surely modify their dishes according to your request
I live in Galveston. There are a couple of great seafood restaurants that have healthier stuff and are very accomodating when asked for changes. One of my favorites is Casey's & it's much more expensive counterpart Guido's. There's also a healthier restaurant called The Mosquito Cafe. Food is awesome. If you like sushi, Yamato is a place to check out. I warn you, it's pricey. Have the chain restaurants like Chili's, Saltgrass, etc. I've heard great things about Olympia Pier 21, but I don't know how "healthy" it is. It's mainly Greek food.
If you go to Galveston.com and look under "what to do" there's a "Dining in Galveston" section. Oh, and if you love cool coffee shops, a great place to go is Mod & it's on Postoffice.
I bring food wherever I go, even if it is just Luna bars. Can you have a fridge in your hotel room? You might want to ask. If you go get stuff from the grocery store, you could even pack stuff to take with you to the convention.
Obviously it is your choice, but for me, I don't eat a food just because it is provided. I usually will pick out things that I want to eat out of available options but I will always have a backup plan.
Like nelie, I plan ahead and bring food with me. I also go to a grocery store when traveling or a Walgreens in a pinch even! I just got back from Las Vegas and San Francisco and was able to lose weight because I brought food, made the best choices when eating out and made eating healthy a priority. It wasn't fun eating nuts and fruit from Walgreens when others had restaurant food, but it's possible to be healthy and I'm worth it!
We're not seafood fans at ALL...our biggest nightmare is that all the food served at the convention will be seafood centered. We will be pretty hungry then...
We were able, with a LOT of research last night, to come up with some things we can do in the hotel restaurant, and found some places close by with acceptable stuff. I think it'll be fine...
I'm a huge dork, though, because I'm excited to see the workout center there. No pics online, but it's supposed to be a really big, nice hotel. Hopefully the "gym" is good too...I've never worked out in a big, nice workout center!!
The seafood restaurants do offer things other than seafood---salads, some sandwiches/burgers, steaks and they are good too.
Also, if you are at the convention center, there's a Kroger's right accross the street. They usually have a decent selection of fruits & veggies.
I wouldn't worry about meals being only seafood. There are so many people who are allergic to shellfish & just don't like it, I don't see it too often at conventions unless there are other choices.
When we went to conventions in the past I always found that they did chicken dishes. You can skin it, if need be. They also usually have great salads and a few veggie dishes. Pass up the bread and the desserts and you should be fine. My biggest threat was breakfast since they usually did it buffet style and had all the heavy, greasy foods included. Good news is most had fresh fruit and cereals. Some even have eggs cooked to order, so I could get egg white omelets. Pass up the pastries and you will be good!
Most of all...enjoy and yes, use the gym. (you will get lots of walking most likely anyway.)
We ended up with chicken parmesan for lunch yesterday, and I skipped the spaghetti and dessert and rolls. I was starving an hour later because of the tiny chicken portion, but had a fruit and nut bar. Dinner last night was filet mignon (pretty much raw) with a half a twice baked potato. I can't eat meat that's not 100 percent cooked through...just yuck. So after dinner I had a $14 grilled chicken sandwich from the hotel restaurant. Still over my calories for the day, even though I stayed hungry. Wanted to try a trip over to the store, but it's been too busy...Blah...
When I travel I don't eat the way I would at home. I have small bowls of soup, chef salad if it's available and putting aside the really nasty carbs I eat what's available really BUT we eat only at meal time and always with portion control.
Without making demands on the restaurant staff I have always found I lose weight when we travel. We have a food rule we've always lived by.....NO food in the car and NO food in the hotel room (unless we have a fridge and we are planning our breakfast in the room but we never never nibble in the evenings).
The NO food rule has really made a big difference and so without fussing I eat well and lose weight when we travel.
The no eating between meals and portion control seems to be the secret rather than worrying too much about what you're eating. (I do pass on sauces and desserts and dressings.........also fried foods)
Convention, restaurants, help!
