Healthy eating at the parks?

[Veronica Hodel]

Spending 5 days at the parks and I'm wondering where the healthy places to eat are. I have an auto-immune disease and trying to keep a clean diet.
Thanks

 

[hsmamato2]

what do you mean by healthy? lots of different opinions on what that is.... do you mean organic? paleo? low carb? low cal? low fat? low salt? vegan? all of those? none of those?
I eat a healthy diet at home (high protein,low sugar,low carb, OG,GF,DF) and I find plenty to eat in the parks.... I don't worry overmuch about organics while traveling for a week, but Disney has so many food options.....

 

[LJSquishy]

It depends on what you mean by a clean diet -- to me, that means more of a paleo diet, but it may mean something different to you.

Almost all counter service and table service restaurants offer a salad of some sort -- I'd skip the dressing completely if I were the one ordering it. There are a lot of different types at various places, even quinoa salads.

If you happen to eat rice, Pecos Bill's at Magic Kingdom just implemented an entirely new menu with rice bowls (and burritos, etc) and a salad.

Columbia Harbour House has a salmon entrée with broccoli and couscous (you can sub extra broccoli for the couscous).

Some places offer hunks of meat like ribs, rotisserie chicken, or turkey legs & pork shanks.

If you're just wanting more "balanced meals", some of the kids meals are Mickey Check meals and are usually something like a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread, yogurt, and carrots...or something like that.

I would stay away from dressings, sauces, breads, fries, and desserts and limit the amount of rice if any.

Pretty much anywhere you order food if it comes with fries, you can sub for a different side if they offer it with another meal...like broccoli might be a choice, or a little pack of carrots or grapes.

 

[Veronica Hodel]

Thanks for your help...
I do eat organic at home and I'm debating packing my own food. I'm a gluten-free vegan and this usually limits me to salads hoping I can find a bit more variety. Thanks again for helping!

 

[LJSquishy]

Thanks for your help...
I do eat organic at home and I'm debating packing my own food. I'm a gluten-free vegan and this usually limits me to salads hoping I can find a bit more variety. Thanks again for helping!

Don't give up! We eat gluten free organic at home (and try not to eat much of the empty starchy gluten free items; We also eat a lot of vegan meals but aren't vegan) as well. Table service restaurants will definitely be your best friend -- I've done a lot of research on eating gluten free (and a while back on vegan eating at Disney) and essentially every table service restaurant will accommodate you including creating a dish not even on the menu if necessary. Counter service places are slightly more tricky, but you'll still be able to find a lot of things with or without substitutions.

If you haven't seen this website before, check it out:

http://www.glutenfreedairyfreewdw.com/

They have a bunch of dedicated gluten free and other allergy menus posted which are what many counter service & table service restaurants are rolling out over time. Not every restaurant is listed (not even close), but take a look and see if you can find any items that also fit the vegan restriction. If not, don't worry -- they'll try to accommodate you as best as they can, even at counter service restaurants.

If you do have the option to pack at least some food, I would. I am packing trail mix, gluten free oatmeal (premeasured to make in our room), and a few gluten free vegan muffins I made and store in the freezer that are our favorite (they have grated carrot, apple, raisins, nuts, etc in them). I figure this will help us not worry so much about finding things to eat or will make for good snacks in between meals since there's no way our bodies would do well on Disney World snacks/desserts. LOL Disney World does sell hummus, cut up veggies, cut up fruit, etc in the parks & resorts so look for that!

Also, I mentioned Pecos Bill's in my other post...the rice bowl they offer is gluten free and you can get a veggie rice bowl (they also offer chicken or beef) and it's probably vegan as well.

 

[GoldenLulu13]

Does anyone know...are the Mickey Check meals part of the kids menus or can adults order the Check meals without a hassle?? I've also heard you can order an adult sized verison of kids meals, is this true??

 

[LJSquishy]

Does anyone know...are the Mickey Check meals part of the kids menus or can adults order the Check meals without a hassle?? I've also heard you can order an adult sized verison of kids meals, is this true??

Mickey Check meals are for kids. If you're at a counter service location you can order a kid's meal if you want, but you can't get an adult version of it. If you're at a table service restaurant, many will make you an adult-sized portion with an adult-sized price if that's what you really want.

 

[hsmamato2]

well it seems that Disney has easy to read new menus at qs places which detail gf foods.... from there it's less of a process to find vegan offerings within that.... you will likely be eating a lot of salad, since (I think) being vegan means no butter,honey,or anything from an animal source....Is that correct? I think TS is a good choice since you can mark your needs when booking an adr,and speak to a chef if needed.

 

[SaraJR]

im not a huge health person but because im vegan a lot of park eating blogs and such iv read do tend to be health focused I have a bunch saved on pinterest pinterest.com/sarajenivieve