top of page

Eating out as a low-carber

Updated: Jan 17

When it comes to succeeding on your low-carb diet, one of the biggest practical barriers to overcome is to work out what to eat when you’re away from home. Whether you’re heading off to a restaurant for a celebration, going to friends for dinner, or heading off for a walk with a packed lunch – it’s important to have low-carb options. By preparing well, you will feel confident in maintaining your low-carb way of life and avoid being tempted by foods you would normally avoid.


Here we give you tips to help you manage when you’re away from home, suggestions about how to deal in social situations and ideas about foods you can eat when you’re away from home.



1. Eating out at restaurants – the basics!


a) Plan ahead

Preparation is key to eating out, so make sure you plan well and stay in control when you decide to enjoy a meal out. First, choose the restaurant. Usually it pays to book ahead, so check out the restaurants in the area you want to eat online in advance of booking. Use TripAdvisor to find restaurants in the vicinity you’re going to be and work out which are likely to serve foods suited to a low-carb diet. Then check the menu of the restaurants you’re considering. Do they serve options, such as meat or fish that you could have with non-starchy vegetables? Make sure you can see a number of options on the menu that you could have before you book.


b) What type of restaurant to choose?


There really are a vast range of cuisines and types of restaurants to choose from nowadays, especially if you’re in a city centre. So what kind of restaurants accommodate low-carbers best?


a) Pub food

Eating out in a pub can be a good option – they usually have a good choice of meat or fish options, which are served with vegetables or salad. Avoid the high carb options such as pizza or curry and rice, and be careful of breaded foods, such as breaded fish or chicken. You may well have to ask for your meat or fish to come served with an extra portion of green vegetables or salad instead of chips or roast potatoes. Also, be careful of portion sizes, as portion sizes tend to be oversized in pubs.



c) Italian restaurants

Italian restaurants can be a good option if you avoid the more fast-food types – the ones that only do pasta and pizza. Good Italian restaurants will offer a good range of meat and fish dishes with salad or vegetables. Avoid pasta, pizza, and garlic bread!


d) Indian or Chinese restaurants

When you eat at an Indian or Chinese restaurant choose a vegetable dish to have with your main course instead of rice or noodles. There are often several vegetable side-dishes on the mentu. Make sure to avoid sweet or fruit-based sauces and don’t have a naan or poppadoms.

Desserts are also often very sweet, so best avoided.


e) French restaurants

French restaurants are usually a good bet – there are usually a good choice of salads, along with meat and fish options, often with delicious creamy sauces. Just pass on the breadbasket, avoid the croutons if you have soup, and swop out potatoes for extra vegetables.



Before you go out


Take the edge off your hunger - consider taking the edge off your hunger before you go by eating some nuts or cheese. Not arriving ravenous at the restaurant may help you avoid the temptation of eating a bread roll as you wait for your dinner!


Set your boundaries – before you go out, think about what you will eat at the restaurant and set your boundaries. For example, you might decide to avoid the bread rolls and starchy carbs during dinner but have a small dessert at the end of the meal. The key thing is to stay in control and decide what you want to do in advance.



When you’re at the restaurant


Customise your choice - many choices on the menu come with starchy foods such as chips, potatoes, or rice. Ask the waiter if you can swop out the starchy carbs for a salad or extra green vegetables. Asking for slight changes to your dinner this way is very common, and staff in restaurants are very obliging when it comes to making swaps like these nowadays.


Get used to saying ‘no’ - don’t let the carbs be put on your plate, that way you can’t be tempted. Before you go out rehearse saying ‘no’ to the breadbasket!


Avoid hidden carbs - think whether there are hidden sugars or carbs in the meal e.g sauce thickeners.


Don’t overfill your plate – put a reasonable amount of food on your plate, but don’t overdo it.


Eat slowly – enjoy your food and eat it slowly. Enjoy the ambience of the restaurant and the company and take pleasure in the whole experience of eating out


Choose cheese - instead of dessert select the cheeseboard, or maybe a coffee with cream.



Two starters instead of a main course – if you’re struggling to find a suitable main course, consider having two starters instead of a main – it’s a bit like eating tapas!


Don’t forget the fat – if you’re not eating carbs, making sure you have fat as well as protein in your meal helps you to fill up and feel satisfied after you’ve eaten. Add a dressing to salad to increase the fat content (consider carrying your own small bottle of olive oil for this purpose) or ask for a knob of butter to put on vegetables.



2. What to do when invited to dinner by friends or relatives


If you’re invited around to a friend or relatives to eat it’s generally a good idea to let them know beforehand that you are limiting carbohydrates. People are usually very understanding and they find it helpful to know in advance about any dietary habits. If you don’t want to explain about your low-carb diet for now, you could say something like ‘I’ve been having some digestive issues, so I’m cutting out sugar, bread and potatoes at the moment’.


If you’re preparing to go out to someone’s house for a meal and don’t know exactly what’s on the menu, consider taking the edge off your hunger before you leave home by eating a few nuts, olives or cheese.


As with going out to a restaurant, plan ahead and make some choices. If its a special celebration, you may want to relax your diet a bit and enjoy a little indulgence. Try to pick out something to have as a treat and avoid other indulgences.


You could also offer to take a low-carb dish with you – ring your host beforehand and offer to bring a contribution to the meal, e.g a low-carb dessert


3. What to drink on an evening out


When you’re out having a meal with friends or family, its good to have some low-carb drinks choices. Here are some options:

  • Sparkling water – with ice and a slice of lemon/lime

  • Sparkling or dry red or white wine - all have about 2 grams of carbs per typical glass

  • Light, lower-carb beer - avoid normal beers as these are usually high carb and instead choose light/lower carb options which are lower in carbs.

  • Spirits – vodka, whiskey etc. have zero carbs. Have with soda water, ice or diet tonic water and avoid other mixers including fruit juice.

  • Kombucha – a fermented tea drink, usually reasonably low in carbs, but be careful to check.


4. When you need to eat lunch out


Grabbing lunch on the go can be more difficult if you’re low-carb as many shops sell sandwiches, wraps, crisps, rolls, meal- deals etc. none of which work on a low-carb diet. Even salad options are often based on pasta, rice or couscous!


A lot of cafés only have high-carb options such as sell rolls, chips, baked potatoes, etc. However you can sometimes find a suitable option, e.g

  • Soup - without the roll. Meaty or chunky vegetable soups will be more filling.

  • A salad – without the roll

  • Frittata – if available is a good option.

  • Omelettes - can be a quick, convenient option if available.

  • Sandwich fillings - ask if they’ll roll a sandwich filling into a lettuce leaf instead of bread


If you are outside the house and don't have any lunch with you, often the best option is to nip into a supermarket and buy a little cheese or cold meat and a few tomatoes or olives.


Take a packed lunch


Rather than trying to find suitable foods to eat when you're out taking lunch with you when you’re going to work or out for the day is often the best option and usually cheaper. Here are some options for foods to include:


a) Last night’s dinner - cook an extra portion of dinner and take leftovers to work – especially if you have access to a microwave.


b) Low-carb bento boxBento boxes are lunch boxes with different compartments – you can fill the compartment with a variety of tasty low-carb options such as chopped up cheese, meat, olives, nuts, salad ingredients, berries, etc


c) Home-made bread rolls use one of the simple low-carb bread rolls recipes, such as Katie Caldesi’s low carb bread or her Caraway and Walnut Mountain rolls. Keep these in the freezer and take them out a few hours before needed. Fill with cold meats, cheeses, salads of your choice.


d) Frittatas or egg muffins - there are lots of recipes for frittatas and egg muffins available at Diet Doctor. Frittatas are like quiche without the pastry, and are essentially made of eggs, with whatever other fillings you fancy, including cheese, ham, bacon, salmon etc. They can be eaten hot or cold. Egg muffins are mini versions of frittatas which are cooked in muffin tins and are very portable.


e) Low-carb pies whilst a little more time-consuming to prepare, there are plenty of good recipes for extremely tasty pies available via Diet Doctor. The pastry is usually made from almond flour with psyllium husk.



5. Finally, be careful with cafes!


Cafes can be difficult places when you’re low-carb – they tend to be filled with pastries and cakes. But if you’re meeting friends in a café – here are some tips:

  • Drinking coffee - avoid hot milky coffees and syrups, they’re full of carbs as you can see from the picture below! Choose an Americano – take it black, or with cream, (or take cream with you), or ask for a little cold milk.

  • Drinking tea – tea is usually a good option, or you can choose a pot of herbal tea taken without milk.

  • Eat a good breakfast at home before you go out so you avoid the temptation of baked goods/ biscuits etc.

  • Avoid the biscuit on the side - ask staff not to put a coffee biscuit on your saucer or ask them to remove it


In conclusion

The key to eating out when you're low-carb is to think ahead and prepare! Think about where you will eat, and check there are suitable choices on the menu. Don't be afraid to ask for salad or extra vegetables instead of chips, restaurants are very adaptable, and after all, you're paying! Finally, its generally better to take your lunch with you - lunchtime options are often very high in carbs.



41 views2 comments

2 Comments

Rated 0 out of 5 stars.
No ratings yet

Add a rating
Unknown member
Sep 18, 2023
Rated 5 out of 5 stars.

V helpful and comprehensive article. And timely for me as had a pub meal with neighbours yesterday. Rang in advance to ask about substitutions. Opted for the Sunday roast without potatoes and Yorks pudding, with extra steamed veg instead. Forgot to ask for oil or butter for the veg, maybe next time. Resisted the dessert menu.


Like
Unknown member
Sep 18, 2023
Replying to

Glad to hear you found it useful Angela! Sounds like you managed your pub meal brilliantly!

Like
  • alt.text.label.Facebook
  • alt.text.label.Twitter

CINNAMON DAYS CIC

Company number: 14343512

Cinnamon Days CIC is a community interest company, which is a not-for-profit organisation. Cinnamon Days CIC provides benefit to those who are disadvantaged as a result of chronic metabolic health conditions, and provides support for people with ME/CFS, Long Covid and Fibromyalgia

bottom of page