.png)
Taking a well-earned rest and going away for a week or two should be fun and not produce anxiety about what you are going to eat. With a bit of pre-planning and research it is perfectly possible to remain on your low-carb diet without it affecting your enjoyment of your holiday. Here are some tips to help you plan and prepare for staying low-carb on holiday...
1. Self-catering holiday in the UK.
Self-catering holidays in the UK are probably the easiest way to remain low-carb if you are prepared to take your food with you and cook in your accommodation. What you would like to cook and eat will be dependent on the season and weather, during hot summers you may prefer to eat a lot of salads with hot/cold meats or fish, which could be barbecued, whereas in less warm weather you may prefer traybakes, casseroles and stews.
Whatever you choose to cook the first rule on holiday is KEEP IT SIMPLE. You don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen on holiday!
In the week before you go away choose the recipes you are going to cook for your evening meals, keep these simple and quick but abide by the low-carb principles of protein and fat with above ground vegetables/salads and no starchy staples.
Photograph the recipes on your phone/tablet so you don’t need to take the recipe books with you.
Make a shopping list of all the ingredients you need to buy and a list of all the ingredients you already have but need to take such as dried herbs and spices.
Add breakfast foods to your list such as eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes, berries, yoghurt, nuts/seeds etc.
Remember to add things like milk, tea, coffee, butter and oil for cooking.
If you intend to take pack lunches out with you then you need to plan these too. You can take things like seedy crackers, cheese, cold meats, dark chocolate, olives and cherry tomatoes. Also, you could take some low-carb baked goods such as keto sausage rolls, egg muffins or savoury scones which you can make and freeze in advance.
For desserts you could consider making some low-carb home-made desserts, such as a low-carb cheesecake or a low-carb chocolate mousse.
Once you have your list sorted out you can go shopping a day or two before you go away or, if you don’t think you’ll have room in the car to take all the food AND your luggage, you can arrange a supermarket delivery to your accommodation for the day you arrive. Most supermarkets will do this now but check that they deliver to your holiday address if you are staying in a very remote rural location!
Make sure you have sufficient cool bags and ice packs to transport fridge/freezer food to your accommodation. Frozen food will stay frozen like this for up to 8-10 hours if packed well. Remember to put the ice-packs in the freezer the night before you go!
If you really don’t fancy doing too much cooking on holiday you could consider doing some batch cooking the week before and freezing the food ready cooked. That way you’ll only have to reheat it in your accommodation and add some veggies.
If you are camping or staying in a caravan or camper van then you may be limited by your cooking and fridge/freezer facilities. You may have to take food for 2-3 days and then shop for more things on your list whilst you are there.
The day before you go away work through your lists and pack all the non-perishable foods. Take all the herbs and spices, salt and pepper that you need for your recipes. Then pack the fridge/freezer stuff on the morning of departure.
It may seem like a lot of hard work to prepare and shop before you go but once you are on holiday you can just relax knowing that you have all the food you need, and you won’t spend time looking for shops and wondering what to eat from the poor choices available in local convenience stores or spending hours walking around supermarkets. Neither will you be tempted to eat all your meals out; you can just enjoy your holiday!
Of course, you may decide that you want to eat out a couple of evenings or at lunch times, it is a holiday after all. This will require a bit of research to find suitable restaurants/pubs/cafes, see our article on ‘Eating out as a low-carber’.
2. Self-catering abroad
Obviously you can’t take all your food with you when you go abroad! However, you can still plan your meals and make a shopping list. You’ll just need to do the shopping in a local supermarket when you get there. If you have booked a remote villa high up in the mountains (lucky you) then you might need to do the shop once you’ve picked up your hire car from the airport en-route to your accommodation. You may need to research where a local supermarket is before you go but as most airports are near cities it is likely that you will find one fairly easily.
However, you can still take a few things with you, baggage allowance willing. Still take your dried herbs/spices and other condiments, and possibly a small bottle of unopened cooking oil in secure bottle. You can always decant some cooking oil from a larger bottle into a secure smaller screw top bottle or jar. Pack these in your main luggage so you can get through airport security without bottles being confiscated!
You may find that you can get fresh fruit/veg, cheese and meat from local markets and food shopping may become an enjoyable part of the holiday with a chance to try some local (low-carb) delicacies.
3. Hotel holidays abroad.
Most holiday hotels abroad offer buffet style meals, so choosing low-carb options is fairly straightforward.
Breakfast. Most hotels will have a range of options for breakfast from cold meats, cheeses, salad or vegetables to bacon, sausage, eggs, or omelettes. You may want to take your own nut or seed mixture with you to sprinkle over yoghurt or add to salad. You just need to manage portion control, especially if you intend to have a lunch too. However, eat enough to satisfy yourself and ensure you won’t want a snack mid-morning.
Make sure you avoid the sugary or starchy foods offered in the breakfast buffet such as fruit juices, toast, hash browns, cereals, sweetened yoghurts, croissants and other pastries, or dried fruit. Also be careful with tropical fruits such as mango or pineapple. Berries are not often served abroad so watermelon or apple may be the best option to try. Always eat fruit last as the protein and fibre you have eaten in the main breakfast course will slow down the absorption of sugar from the fruit.
Lunch. If you are on a half-board basis then you will be eating lunch away from the hotel. The tips for eating out will then apply – see our article on ‘Eating out as a low-carber’. If you are on a full-board basis (or all-inclusive) then you may have lunch at the hotel too. Just choose carefully from the buffet and stick to the low-carb principles
Dinner. It should be fairly straight forward choosing meat/fish and vegetables from the buffet and avoiding pasta, rice or potatoes. Have a small salad as a starter and put a vinegar-based dressing on it (this is something you can take with you from home and take down to dinner in your handbag). Research shows that eating a small salad before the main course suppresses glucose spikes from the food eaten afterwards, particularly if there is vinegar on it.
Say no to the bread roll if it is offered and be careful with alcohol. You are on holiday so you may want to treat yourself a little, so a small glass of wine is fine. You may also want to taste a little dessert from the buffet. Don’t feel guilty about this, choose a small piece, preferably fruit or chocolate based, or have some cheese. Again, as you are eating it at the end of the meal, you will absorb it more slowly.
It would be a good idea to go for a walk after dinner as this encourages your muscles to take up glucose from your blood much more quickly and suppresses blood glucose spikes.
All inclusive holidays.
These offer great value for money but are also a temptation to eat more food than you need! Some all-inclusive holidays provide morning and afternoon snacks as well as three meals, not to mention alcohol served all day. There may be a temptation to think that you’ve paid for all this so you should eat/drink it. Try not to have this mentality, just stick to 3 meals a day and no snacking, it will still be a good value holiday.
4. Hotel holidays in UK.
Hotels in the UK vary from budget overnight stops at a Premier Inn, to a weekend retreat in a Country House Hotel with fine dining. The quality of food also varies from carb-based ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’ options to Haute Cuisine dining. You may want to avoid the former hotel restaurants and find a better restaurant outside the hotel. The fine dining hotels generally offer better balanced meals with a more generous ‘protein’ offering and less carbs, however you will still need to follow the ‘rules’ for ‘Eating out as a low-carber’.
5. Other tips for maintaining health whilst on holiday.
If you are practicing intermittent fasting, then you can continue this on holiday. If you are self-catering, then you just need to stick to your normal eating routines. If you are in a hotel, then choose the latest time for going down for breakfast and the earliest time to have dinner.
It may be hard to resist carbs for the whole of your holiday so make a positive decision about whether you are going to have occasional treats rather than give in to cravings on autopilot. Consider following the 80:20 rule, i.e., you stick to low-carb eating 80% of the time. If you are diabetic or have uncontrollable food cravings, then you may need to be stricter with yourself.
Stay hydrated. People often confuse thirst for hunger so staying well hydrated can suppress food cravings. Carry some water around with you or a flask of tea so that you don’t keep calling into cafes or teashops where there will be temptations to eat cakes or other snacks.
Be active on holiday, it will distract you from wanting to eat. We can all feel hungry when we are bored so make sure you do the activities you enjoy such as walking, cycling, swimming, sightseeing, or golf. Take advantage of activities your hotel puts on such as yoga or group exercise classes. Make sure you spend lots of time outside in the fresh air and sunshine as this is good for both physical and mental health.
We rarely sleep well the first night of a holiday after all the travelling and excitement, and a strange bed! However, it is important to try and get good quality sleep on holiday so anticipate that your room may be warmer, lighter and noisier than you are used to. Use the air-conditioner (if provided) to cool the room and take an eye mask and ear plugs to cut out light and noise. Consider taking a sheet with you in your luggage in case your duvet is too warm, hotels don’t usually change from winter to summer weight duvets, so just sleeping under a sheet may be preferable. Try and go to bed and get up at your normal times if possible.
You are going on holiday to enjoy yourself, so don’t beat yourself up if you break the low-carb rules occasionally, you can get back on track when you get home.
Once you are home, go very low-carb for two to three days if you have had a carb splurge, and eat plenty of protein to fight hunger and the return of food cravings. Drink plenty of water and home-made bone broth and don’t do any extended fasting to atone for over-eating, just get back to your normal low-carb eating pattern. Above all – have some self-compassion.
Have a happy holiday!
Comments