Help with Healthy Quick service options

[Rikariko12]

So, I'm needing help with the best options for quick service (that is actually good) options for each park. I feel like Epcot would be the easiest because there are so many options. When we went this past May we did the meal plan with one table service, one quick service, with 2 snacks. This time we are doing all quick service, much to my chagrin, and I'm worried that with my health issues it could create problems. When I have too much gluten, dairy, sugar, or fried foods (or a combo of all of them) it causes inflammations in my muscles and joints. Add in the fact I have painful hyper-mobility issues with my joints, I could be having a rough day with all of the fried options. It seemed when we were there in May, there are a lot of fried options and not a lot of healthy options. Granted, we didn't do any research on quick service before we went b/c we were so focused on getting all of the table service restaurants we wanted.

So, what in your experience, are the best healthy options in each park?

Thank you.

 

[TiffanyA]

Epcot - Sunshine Seasons
AK - Satu'li Canteen
DHS - a salad somewhere like ABC Comissary? I don't eat in this park... better options on the Boardwalk
MK - Columbia Harbor House

 

[Cheyflan]

Just had the Broccoli Peppercorn Salad @ Columbia Harbor House! It was delicious.

 

[Rikariko12]

We will be there for 8 days, and trying to figure out healthy options for 16 meals(not including breakfast) seems a bit tedious. Maybe bring food....but that seems so lame.

 

[Lisa F]

There are TONS of healthy options nowadays.

In HS:
ABC Commissary has a Mediterranean salad with chicken that gets great reviews (skip pita chips if gluten is an issue)
backlot express: asian chicken salad or caprese sandwich, discard bread, side of carrots
Catalina Eddie's: caesar salad with chicken
Fairfax Fare: 7 layer rice bowl with pulled pork OR grilled chicken or southwest type salad with pulled pork OR fajitas, just skip tortillas (pretty sure rice and corn are gluten free)
PizzeRizzo: antipasto salad

in MK:
Columbia Harbor House has the broccoli peppercorn salad with chicken, veggie chili, salmon with steamed veggies and couscous (if that will be a gluten issue you can get double steamed veggies)
Cosmic Ray's has a half rotisserie chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes, Grilled chicken club (discard bread) with green beans, greek salad with chicken
Pecos Bills has fajitas (discard tortillas), southwest salad with chicken or spicy beef, veggie rice bowl
Pinocchio Village Haus has caesar salad with chicken and the tomato basil soup for a snack credit is supposed to be quite good there too
Casey's Corner: not really healthy but doesn't hit any of your issues you listed, featured bratwurst with caramelized onions and whole grain mustard, served with apple slices (discard roll)
Be our Guest (lunchtime ONLY): Braised pork, Nicoise salad, quinoa cakes
also consider BoG for great use of a breakfast credit and PPO positioning for 7DMT

in AK:
MANY things in Satu'li Canteen, with all the combos you can eat there many times and not eat the same thing
flame tree bbq: you can probably eat almost everything here too, it comes with baked beans and cole slaw... but they also have two kinds of salad as well if bbq sauce is too high sugar for you.
Harambe Market: grilled chicken skewer, chicken tikka masala (skip flatbread), Grilled vegetable stack
Pizzafari: caesar salad with shrimp or chicken (more an option if others in your party want to go there)

in Epcot:
Sunshine seasons, many options, all of the grill shop entrees are good, and there is a "soup and salad" shop as well
Katsura Grill (Japan): teriyaki various stuff or garlic shrimp with rice and veggies, sushi
La Cantina de San Angel (Mexico): Tacos (on homemade corn tortillas, they look soft in the pictures not fried), Pollo Cascabel (chicken, rice, beans etc)
Le Halles Boulangerie (France): nicoise salad
Tangierine Cafe (Morocco): Shawarma platters, skip the bread and couscous if you need to, the platters are huge and you won't miss them. Also chicken with saffron rice

if you can handle the sugar in it for a treat most of the hand scooped ice cream shops in the parks have non dairy icecream.

you don't have to bring food. If you can't find healthy options you just aren't looking! Also yes, planning takes time and can be "tedious" however your vacation and health are worth it. My son is picky so I have to deal with his stuff and my own, I pore over every menu and become familiar with what is everywhere and BOTH of us have a great time and eat great food when we are there even with vastly different tastes and needs.

 

[Elleshoodat]

There are TONS of healthy options nowadays.

In HS:
ABC Commissary has a Mediterranean salad with chicken that gets great reviews (skip pita chips if gluten is an issue)
backlot express: asian chicken salad or caprese sandwich, discard bread, side of carrots
Catalina Eddie's: caesar salad with chicken
Fairfax Fare: 7 layer rice bowl with pulled pork OR grilled chicken or southwest type salad with pulled pork OR fajitas, just skip tortillas (pretty sure rice and corn are gluten free)
PizzeRizzo: antipasto salad

in MK:
Columbia Harbor House has the broccoli peppercorn salad with chicken, veggie chili, salmon with steamed veggies and couscous (if that will be a gluten issue you can get double steamed veggies)
Cosmic Ray's has a half rotisserie chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes, Grilled chicken club (discard bread) with green beans, greek salad with chicken
Pecos Bills has fajitas (discard tortillas), southwest salad with chicken or spicy beef, veggie rice bowl
Pinocchio Village Haus has caesar salad with chicken and the tomato basil soup for a snack credit is supposed to be quite good there too
Casey's Corner: not really healthy but doesn't hit any of your issues you listed, featured bratwurst with caramelized onions and whole grain mustard, served with apple slices (discard roll)
Be our Guest (lunchtime ONLY): Braised pork, Nicoise salad, quinoa cakes
also consider BoG for great use of a breakfast credit and PPO positioning for 7DMT

in AK:
MANY things in Satu'li Canteen, with all the combos you can eat there many times and not eat the same thing
flame tree bbq: you can probably eat almost everything here too, it comes with baked beans and cole slaw... but they also have two kinds of salad as well if bbq sauce is too high sugar for you.
Harambe Market: grilled chicken skewer, chicken tikka masala (skip flatbread), Grilled vegetable stack
Pizzafari: caesar salad with shrimp or chicken (more an option if others in your party want to go there)

in Epcot:
Sunshine seasons, many options, all of the grill shop entrees are good, and there is a "soup and salad" shop as well
Katsura Grill (Japan): teriyaki various stuff or garlic shrimp with rice and veggies, sushi
La Cantina de San Angel (Mexico): Tacos (on homemade corn tortillas, they look soft in the pictures not fried), Pollo Cascabel (chicken, rice, beans etc)
Le Halles Boulangerie (France): nicoise salad
Tangierine Cafe (Morocco): Shawarma platters, skip the bread and couscous if you need to, the platters are huge and you won't miss them. Also chicken with saffron rice

if you can handle the sugar in it for a treat most of the hand scooped ice cream shops in the parks have non dairy icecream.

you don't have to bring food. If you can't find healthy options you just aren't looking! Also yes, planning takes time and can be "tedious" however your vacation and health are worth it. My son is picky so I have to deal with his stuff and my own, I pore over every menu and become familiar with what is everywhere and BOTH of us have a great time and eat great food when we are there even with vastly different tastes and needs.

This is great! I wish I could bookmark helpful posts like this one.

 

[stace1214]

When we went in August, my husband who is a healthy food only eater had no problems finding things he would eat in each park. In MK he like the chicken at Cosmic Rays, a couple things at Columbia Harbor House and a salad he really liked at Pecos Bills. In Epcot we ate at Sunshine Seasons and he had a salad at the QS in the America part of WS that he said was the best he'd had all week. At AK there were things at Flame Tree BBQ and at HS there was a salad at Backlot Express. He did end up with a lot of salads, but for him that was fine. We had the dining plan and the snacks were a bit of waste for him. He got fruit in each park, but we ended up have a ton left over and bought lots of treats to bring home.

 

[TiffanyA]

Just want to point out hidden sugars:
Most of the Japanese options besides sushi are made with sugar
BBQ sauce is loaded with sugar (as Lisa F said)
Make sure the salad dressing is full fat - low or reduced fat salad dressings usually replace the fat with sugar

I am also grain-free in addition to all you listed OP, so I can relate too. But Lisa F is right - you can find options!

 

[Rikariko12]

There are TONS of healthy options nowadays.

In HS:
ABC Commissary has a Mediterranean salad with chicken that gets great reviews (skip pita chips if gluten is an issue)
backlot express: asian chicken salad or caprese sandwich, discard bread, side of carrots
Catalina Eddie's: caesar salad with chicken
Fairfax Fare: 7 layer rice bowl with pulled pork OR grilled chicken or southwest type salad with pulled pork OR fajitas, just skip tortillas (pretty sure rice and corn are gluten free)
PizzeRizzo: antipasto salad

in MK:
Columbia Harbor House has the broccoli peppercorn salad with chicken, veggie chili, salmon with steamed veggies and couscous (if that will be a gluten issue you can get double steamed veggies)
Cosmic Ray's has a half rotisserie chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes, Grilled chicken club (discard bread) with green beans, greek salad with chicken
Pecos Bills has fajitas (discard tortillas), southwest salad with chicken or spicy beef, veggie rice bowl
Pinocchio Village Haus has caesar salad with chicken and the tomato basil soup for a snack credit is supposed to be quite good there too
Casey's Corner: not really healthy but doesn't hit any of your issues you listed, featured bratwurst with caramelized onions and whole grain mustard, served with apple slices (discard roll)
Be our Guest (lunchtime ONLY): Braised pork, Nicoise salad, quinoa cakes
also consider BoG for great use of a breakfast credit and PPO positioning for 7DMT

in AK:
MANY things in Satu'li Canteen, with all the combos you can eat there many times and not eat the same thing
flame tree bbq: you can probably eat almost everything here too, it comes with baked beans and cole slaw... but they also have two kinds of salad as well if bbq sauce is too high sugar for you.
Harambe Market: grilled chicken skewer, chicken tikka masala (skip flatbread), Grilled vegetable stack
Pizzafari: caesar salad with shrimp or chicken (more an option if others in your party want to go there)

in Epcot:
Sunshine seasons, many options, all of the grill shop entrees are good, and there is a "soup and salad" shop as well
Katsura Grill (Japan): teriyaki various stuff or garlic shrimp with rice and veggies, sushi
La Cantina de San Angel (Mexico): Tacos (on homemade corn tortillas, they look soft in the pictures not fried), Pollo Cascabel (chicken, rice, beans etc)
Le Halles Boulangerie (France): nicoise salad
Tangierine Cafe (Morocco): Shawarma platters, skip the bread and couscous if you need to, the platters are huge and you won't miss them. Also chicken with saffron rice

if you can handle the sugar in it for a treat most of the hand scooped ice cream shops in the parks have non dairy icecream.

you don't have to bring food. If you can't find healthy options you just aren't looking! Also yes, planning takes time and can be "tedious" however your vacation and health are worth it. My son is picky so I have to deal with his stuff and my own, I pore over every menu and become familiar with what is everywhere and BOTH of us have a great time and eat great food when we are there even with vastly different tastes and needs.

Lisa F a very wise woman.....name checks out.

Thank you so much. I'm going to copy, paste, and print this.

Thanks to everyone who posted.

 

[Lisa F]

Lisa F a very wise woman.....name checks out.

Thank you so much. I'm going to copy, paste, and print this.

Thanks to everyone who posted.

You're welcome. I have a picky kid but i am picky myself in that I like good food, so I pretty much know where i can get everything that i like plus everything my son will eat in the same spot. Tangierine has chicken breast nuggets for instance.

I had bariatric surgery so do not eat very big portions and was told by my nutritionist not to worry about the sugars in sauces because I can only eat a few oz at a time anyway so I did include some things like teriyaki and bbq because I'd eat them. Sushi rice does have sugar mixed into it so if you are super sensitive be wary (included that because it is GF, not fried and doesn't have dairy, I tend to stay away from the carbs myself). Nothing bothers me (thank goodness) but I do try to make better choices and put healthy, high quality food in my tiny tummy.. there's no room in there for a lot of heavy breading and fries and stuff even though it won't make me sick, I won't have much energy.

 

[danikoski]

I love Sunshine Seasons in Epcot. Great selection and really yummy salads. It's one of my favorite places to get some healthier options.
I also have enjoyed Yak and Yeti QS in AK. They have a good selection, and the food doesn't seem overly heavy.
My mom is diabetic, so we watched what she ate when we went in February. We split a lot of QS meals because we didn't, individually, need the whole serving. That worked out really well to not feel overly full.

 

[caribbeandream]

I am so glad I ran into this thread! I copied and pasted and taking the info with me to Disney. I am glad that I can eat healthy AND stay in the budget at WDW.