Eating Clean on DCL

[SayCheers]

My family (myself, DH, 3 kids ages 6,3, and 20 months) will be on the Jan 11 sailing of the Fantasy, and I'm wondering if anyone has any clean eating tips. We eat clean-ish, always avoiding GMOs, artificial colors, flavors, HFCS, etc. at home. We eat mostly organic fruits and veggies, pastured pork and eggs, hormone and antibiotic free dairy and beef from grass-fed cows, etc. We try to avoid processed food. We don't dine out often anymore because it's easier to prepare our own food at home than guess what is lurking in our food. We've been living this lifestyle for a year now, and we've never felt better!
So to continue eating like this on vacation would be ideal, but I also know that DCL wasn't the best choice for eating healthy. My biggest fear about the food is any of us getting sick after being chemical-free for so long. Does anyone have any pointers for making good choices on the cruise?

 

[Tooth Fairy]

There is a salad bar in cabanas at lunch. Flo's has some fresh choices. Ask the servers or call DCL and they should be able to tell you what to expect from the ship crew as far as being able to accommodate you. Have fun....it's a great ship!

 

[Started With a Mouse]

Drink lots of water because most of what you mentioned, if not all, is not available, due to costs.

 

[lexysdad04]

There is a salad bar in cabanas at lunch. Flo's has some fresh choices. Ask the servers or call DCL and they should be able to tell you what to expect from the ship crew as far as being able to accommodate you. Have fun....it's a great ship!

Great idea but unfortunately it's not organic and if they are used to only organic and non processed foods and no preservatives they will have a real hard time with the food on board

I would recommend that at the least you start eating out say 2 weeks b4 the cruise just to get your system ready and it's not a big shock to your body

Worst case scenario you'll loose A LOT of weight from just not eating

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[lexysdad04]

Drink lots of water because most of what you mentioned, if not all, is not available, due to costs.

Agree

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[Summerl30]

My family (myself, DH, 3 kids ages 6,3, and 20 months) will be on the Jan 11 sailing of the Fantasy, and I'm wondering if anyone has any clean eating tips. We eat clean-ish, always avoiding GMOs, artificial colors, flavors, HFCS, etc. at home. We eat mostly organic fruits and veggies, pastured pork and eggs, hormone and antibiotic free dairy and beef from grass-fed cows, etc. We try to avoid processed food. We don't dine out often anymore because it's easier to prepare our own food at home than guess what is lurking in our food. We've been living this lifestyle for a year now, and we've never felt better! So to continue eating like this on vacation would be ideal, but I also know that DCL wasn't the best choice for eating healthy. My biggest fear about the food is any of us getting sick after being chemical-free for so long. Does anyone have any pointers for making good choices on the cruise?

Organic and anti biotic free, probably not, but you can eat clean-ish easily staying away from heavily processed foods and little to no artificial colours and flavours.

And stay away from the whole kids menu.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Wow, I do not want to be a downer but I can't think of much that falls in line with the type of food you normally eat. I do recall eating a very plainly prepared piece of salmon one night along with a baked potato. Maybe some fruit from the buffets but I doubt it is organic. Wishing you all the best. Maybe you can call and ask for special meals, I hope it works out.

 

[bumbershoot]

Main thing I recommend is to avoid the desserts a probably the kid's Mac and cheese. I doubt if their suppliers are non-GMO. Heck if you've been on Living With the Land you know they modify stuff on their own. Ick. Look at the menus, ask how things are prepared. And remember that the US is the most insane country when it comes to food, so get off the ship at ports and eat locally. Their food is more likely to be cleaner than what we get in the States.

And avoid the Mickey bars and, from DS's reaction to it, the ice cream, because of corn syrup. (Not necessarily HFCS but lucky us we have to avoid cs and cs solids as well).

 

[MCC Retired]

Be as selective as you can be but your on vacation , 1 week of eating what is presented won't kill you .

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[Melissa S]

I have seen organic chicken on the menu a few times. Maybe try calling DCL to see what your options are. You can also bring packaged (factory sealed) snacks and drinks (i.e. Horizon Milk cartons for the kids) with you.

 

[woody73]

Avoid anything shaped like Mickey Mouse (such has ice cream bars, waffles, and rice krispy treats).

Woody

 

[MillauFr]

Disney is far behind the times when improving the sourcing of their foods. If they wanted to they could improve. Chipotle does a great job and their food is pretty cheap. When you order chicken there you are getting real chicken. When you order McNuggets at McDonalds calling them chicken is really false advertising. I think there is less than 50% chicken in them.

 

[lexysdad04]

Disney is far behind the times when improving the sourcing of their foods. If they wanted to they could improve. Chipotle does a great job and their food is pretty cheap. When you order chicken there you are getting real chicken. When you order McNuggets at McDonalds calling them chicken is really false advertising. I think there is less than 50% chicken in them.

Let me start by saying sorry for going off topic

Ok so unless "one" raises and farms our own food unfortunately we can't believe what is on the labels any more I have seen it many MANY times. When I used to be a driver I would go do pick-ups at farms and I would see them doing fly overs spraying insecticides on the crops now I'm no expert but how does one keep those chemicals from spreading to the other "organic" crops that are planted side by side. I actually asked the plant manager regarding that situation, he got a smirk on his face and said "it is what it is"

Another situation I ran into and this one I was glad because I got my self a pallet of almost free juice. I went to do a pick-up at the the bottling plant for a big apple juice company we'll the shipper already knew me since I went often so they asked if I wanted to buy plastic gallon size jugs with "free" juice for $0.50 each so I bought a whole pallet but not with out asking why. Long story short they could not sell the juice because it had been "accidentally" labelled organic but they could give it away for free BUT they could sell the jugs so that's why they sold me "jugs" and apparently this had been going on for a while at that plant the workers told me and that was the agreed upon "punishment" instead of doing a recall

As far as chipotle using "real" chicken I'm sure it's more real then mc Donald's but I doubt it's free of chemicals and hormones

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[SayCheers]

Be as selective as you can be but your on vacation , 1 week of eating what is presented won't kill you . Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

I'm not so much worried about long term damage to my body as a result of going back onto the Standard American Diet for one week, I simply don't want for any of us to miss out on any of our vacation because we're stuck in the bathroom

 

[Julz226]

I typically eat clean at home but this past thankrsgiving I stayed with my mother who loves to cook like Paula Dean. I decided to enjoy myself and eat her food (for two days) and I've definitely been feeling the pain of her more butter-based diet.

While true clean eating is probably not possible on the ships, I imagine there will be sensible choices and I'll remember to chose them next time around.

 

[Meghatron]

We eat clean at home and do fine when we stop doing so on the ship. Went from clean food to DCL food for two weeks this May and did not get noticeably ill. You'll be fine.

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[danfromca]

My family (myself, DH, 3 kids ages 6,3, and 20 months) will be on the Jan 11 sailing of the Fantasy, and I'm wondering if anyone has any clean eating tips. We eat clean-ish, always avoiding GMOs, artificial colors, flavors, HFCS, etc. at home. We eat mostly organic fruits and veggies, pastured pork and eggs, hormone and antibiotic free dairy and beef from grass-fed cows, etc. We try to avoid processed food. We don't dine out often anymore because it's easier to prepare our own food at home than guess what is lurking in our food. We've been living this lifestyle for a year now, and we've never felt better!
So to continue eating like this on vacation would be ideal, but I also know that DCL wasn't the best choice for eating healthy. My biggest fear about the food is any of us getting sick after being chemical-free for so long. Does anyone have any pointers for making good choices on the cruise?

While far from meeting what you are looking for, I do want to point out that overall the food on the ship will tend to be less processed than you would find at many restaurants and markets.

The reason is economics - almost everything possible on the ship is made from scratch. For example: baked goods are made fresh from basic ingredients - flour, eggs, sugar, etc. So there is no need for the preservatives you would find used for baked goods intended to last through transportation and days on a supermarket shelf.

They do this because the bulk raw ingredients are cheaper than processed foods, and on a ship, labor is cheaper than ingredients.

Of course, they generally won't spend extra for organic or specially sourced foods. But it's not the factory processed mix of food and chemicals you'll find in most supermarkets either.

Hope that helps

 

[gr8vthsfam]

We too completely changed our diet to vegetarian, GMO free, organic, locally sourced etc. It was incredibly difficult, frustrating and even enraging for 6 months as we learned what is truly in our food. Ie Dextrose in some salt! The dextrose is genetically modified! We almost drove ourselves insane with the process. HOWEVER, we are MUCH healthier and our daughters skin problems cleared up. The first trip we took (not Disney) most all of us had upset tummies and dd was very ill the first night, so I know what you are fearful of and while not everyone experiences such a shock, it is possible. But after that first experience we started taking pro-biotics prior to traveling and then just did our best to make the healthiest decisions with what choices we had. We were pretty much able to avoid corn and soy as those are the big two GMO's that seem to be everywhere unless they specifically state they are organic. Oh and anything with coloring, esp red 40 was out too. Our servers went out of their way to do their best to accommodate our requests and we were very appreciative. I think that the more people who request organic products (and don't throw a hissy fit when it's not available) the better chance for change. I can't fight Monsanto on my own, but I can control where I spend my money. Is Disney GMO free? Heck no and their partnership with Monsanto can get my blood boiling. But DCL was one of the best vacations we have had as a family. Healthier choices are available if you are careful and take the time to look and ask questions. We are about to embark on cruise number two and from all the reviews, we would not choose any other cruise line. Good luck! You might also find more tips online or from a local ND for transitioning and strengthening the immune system before eating less than ideal foods.

 

[gumbypee]

Edited: joke would be lost oh well

 

[aprilchem]

OP, I feel your pain. We eat natural, organic simple food, and I got really sick on our 7-night Fantasy Cruise in August. We're doing a BTB in January, and I was just talking to DH the other day about how to solve this issue. I think we'll probably stick with the simplest food we can, like raw fruits, salads, plain shrimp in Cabanas, etc. - generally going from organic to non-organic food doesn't make me sick, but eating the cooked food on the ship did. I'd imagine that it was a combination of HFCS, artificial flavors/colors, fatty ingredients, and white flour (we grind our own wheat at home, and since we started doing that we've all found that bleached flour gives us stomach problems).

We also may bring on a few boxes of Kind bars or some freeze-dried organic fruits or veggies for snacks.