Paleo for the Parks!

[LaughingSphinx]

Hey all! I'm trying to improve my overall health and fitness for life, which of course encompasses time spent at Disney! I've recently tried a new diet, which I'm really pleased with, and am looking for other people who have tried it.

The Paleo diet is essentially fresh fruit, veggies, eggs, and good-quality meats, as much as you need to eat before you're satisfied. I'm also avoiding sugar, grains, dairy, legumes, and white potatoes.

I've had some really good success on the plan, but have only done it for a month; has anyone tried it for longer? I'd like to keep up a mostly-paleo diet for the foreseeable future, although I know it'll be difficult while actually in Disney!

Anyone have tips/advice/recipes to share?

 

[pjlla]

Well... I'm not familiar with your specific diet plan, but I do eat similarly to you.....except for the grains and legumes, both of which I eat.

My most recent attempt to eat healthy at Disney was last May. With some preplanning I was able to find salads and fruit almost everywhere, both at quick service counters, free-standing kiosks, and sit-down restaurants. Sometimes you need to look around a bit, but healthy options can be found at Disney.

If you are really concerned, you could attempt to bring in some of your own foods..... baby carrots, celery sticks, grapes, bananas, apples, boiled eggs. If you have refrigeration available in your hotel room, you could keep all of those things on hand and bring them along in a small cooler bag every day.


I believe allears.net has a large section of their website specifically dedicated to restaurant menues. You could definitely do some planning ahead with that. Good luck......................P

 

[LaughingSphinx]

Thanks Pjlla! I've been going through those for ages trying to compile options that will be safe for me and still provide some variety.

I will probably have to bring fruit & veggies into the parks with me, and also some olive oil & vinegar for salad dressing! (Bet security will love that!) And thanks for reminding me about the fridge in the room-I'd forgotten about that but I could probably bring carrots with me in my carryon and stash them, or get them from the resort dining area and chill them.

Eating paleo means no grains, legumes, or dairy (so soy is a no-no, too) so I was wondering if anyone else had experience in this.

 

[LiloH]

Hey there!

My husband and I are more "Primal" eaters (Paleo plus dairy and legumes) and we are just back from a trip at the end of January!
I actually find it very easy these days to do Primal (or even Paleo!) at Disney. We were staying club level at GF when we were there and pretty much every morning we ate fruit, turkey, ham and cheese from the breakfast spread.
When we did counter service we would usually get a salad and a double burger. We would ditch the bun, each take a patty and split the salad. (plus, it eliminates that pesky whole wheat bun issue everyone is always complaining about!)

Buffets are great (of course!) because you can take what you want and mix and match when you see fit. We also had good luck asking for them to sub extra veggies for things like potatoes or rice with entrees in TS restaurants. In fact, no one said no!

Most parks have at least one "healthy" snack stand around. One day in the Animal Kingdom we had oranges and pineapple for a snack. We had pickles another day. My husband also loves to get the turkey legs and eat those.

Having said that, I also think it's important to remember you are on vacation! We don't do it often so when we do go we cut ourselves a bit of slack and enjoy. We are no added/refined sugar and no "fake" sugar (artificial sweetener) in our real lives but on vacation we had one "treat" a day. I am very grain/wheat averse these days (It's amazing how much it irritates your stomach when you're not used to it anymore!) but I love, love, love ice cream... especially Dole Whips.

Oh! I almost forgot... for the purposes of vacation I decided that since they're covered in dark chocolate, the chocolate covered bananas were totally ok for Primal diets and didn't count as a treat. I just ignored the ingredient list entirely.

It also did my heart good on this trip to see the choices my 3 year old son makes when left to his own devices. I was always an overweight kid and ate nothing but junk but he willingly chooses frozen bananas over ice cream and fruit over chips. He does go for the fries still, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Have a wonderful trip and enjoy your Paleo-Disney experience!

Thanks Pjlla! I've been going through those for ages trying to compile options that will be safe for me and still provide some variety.

I will probably have to bring fruit & veggies into the parks with me, and also some olive oil & vinegar for salad dressing! (Bet security will love that!) And thanks for reminding me about the fridge in the room-I'd forgotten about that but I could probably bring carrots with me in my carryon and stash them, or get them from the resort dining area and chill them.

Eating paleo means no grains, legumes, or dairy (so soy is a no-no, too) so I was wondering if anyone else had experience in this.

 

[LaughingSphinx]

Thanks LiloH! I'm glad to know it is possible, do you know if the QS are as nice about substitutes as the TS?
I know I'll be on vacation, but I also know my stomach gets very indignant if I suddenly give it something it's not used to. I'm hoping to avoid as much gastrointestinal distress as possible while still getting plenty of good food. I sympathize with the wheat issue; I had a piece of bread for the first time in ages and was miserable! Good thing my biggest weakness is chocolate-those bananas sound like a perfect treat!

 

[LiloH]

Hello again!

I am pretty sure most TS restaurants let you sub carrots for fries. We never did that though because our kids are fry hounds and were happy to have them!

Definitely try the frozen bananas. They are a great way not to feel deprived when walking by the alluring little carts...

I have been primal for 11 months (right after my daughter was born) and I feel fantastic. When I take a day off and eat "regular" food I can't believe how bad I feel and that I ate that way every single day for 33 years. It's been life changing for sure. (I also lost all my baby weight AND 70lbs in that time frame which is nothing to sneeze at either! )

Enjoy your trip and have lots of yummy, healthy foods!

 

[wickey's friend]

Hi! My family has just recently tried to go Paleo-friendly (that means we eat most of our meals Paleo, with maybe a few non-Paleo things here and there). I hadn't heard of Primal -- will have to look that up!

I don't have any additional tips for Paleo at Disney (other than I do know AK, MK and I think DHS have the fruit at some of the stands around the parks -- not sure about Epcot).

But, I did want to ask if any of you had any favorite web sites for meal plans, recipes, etc. (Sorry to hijack the thread! - a pm will be okay too.)

 

[LaughingSphinx]

Oh, no worries about hijacking! I'd love to share some resources

This site has lots of great information, recipes, and I used it as a 'base' for my initial 30-day switch to Paleo: Whole9

These are some blogs which I check regularly, great recipes here!

30DaysofPaleo (Great blog with lots of recipes & photos of delicious food)

health-bent (Lots of recipes, some are questionably 'paleo' and may include controversial ingredients like sugar, flour, etc. But if you're doing a Paleo-ish diet, you should still be fine. Same for Primal, I'd imagine.

ClothesMakeTheGirl (I love her humorous writing style and her recipes; she share some really good insights)

Mark's Daily Apple (This is actually a Primal blog, but there is still a wealth of information for Paleo-friendly peeps!)

Jen's Gone Paleo (Some great recipes)

Hope these are helpful!

 

[wickey's friend]

Oh, no worries about hijacking! I'd love to share some resources

This site has lots of great information, recipes, and I used it as a 'base' for my initial 30-day switch to Paleo: Whole9

These are some blogs which I check regularly, great recipes here!

30DaysofPaleo (Great blog with lots of recipes & photos of delicious food)

health-bent (Lots of recipes, some are questionably 'paleo' and may include controversial ingredients like sugar, flour, etc. But if you're doing a Paleo-ish diet, you should still be fine. Same for Primal, I'd imagine.

ClothesMakeTheGirl (I love her humorous writing style and her recipes; she share some really good insights)

Mark's Daily Apple (This is actually a Primal blog, but there is still a wealth of information for Paleo-friendly peeps!)

Jen's Gone Paleo (Some great recipes)

Hope these are helpful!

Ooooh!! Thanks!! I will check all of them out. I need the recipes -- I know sort of what to eat, but putting it all together is tough sometimes. Thanks again!

 

[LaughingSphinx]

no problem! I actually find it a little easier with Paleo; no counting calories, points, or weighing anything! I do make it a point to make a quarter of each meal a lean protein source (except for breakfast which is usually a veggie omelette with carrot sticks) and get a wide variety of veggies & fruits, but I'm finding more and more go-to recipes that are replacing the old standby's of frozen pizza, mac & cheese, and such.

 

[LiloH]

Mark's daily apple is my favorite blog, but again, we do primal. Primal is basically Paleo plus dairy and legumes (beans, peanuts). It works better for me but I can see why others may struggle including dairy.
Almost a year in I will say the meal planning gets easier, mostly becuase your idea of what a meal is changes. I used to think "dinner is steak, broccoli and...what? Seems skimpy." Now I just think, "dinner is steak and broccoli." And that is totally cool with me!

Good luck with everything. I hope it works for you as well as it's worked for me!

 

[LaughingSphinx]

LiloH, that sounds like a great dinner to me:

And yet when people find out about it, they have such funny reactions! "omigawd I would DIE without bread, or pasta, or cream in my coffee, or sugar, or what have you" I wish more people would try it for a while and see the difference it makes!

 

[wickey's friend]

Mark's daily apple is my favorite blog, but again, we do primal. Primal is basically Paleo plus dairy and legumes (beans, peanuts). It works better for me but I can see why others may struggle including dairy.
Almost a year in I will say the meal planning gets easier, mostly becuase your idea of what a meal is changes. I used to think "dinner is steak, broccoli and...what? Seems skimpy." Now I just think, "dinner is steak and broccoli." And that is totally cool with me!


Good luck with everything. I hope it works for you as well as it's worked for me!

Steak and broccoli sounds like a great dinner!!!

LiloH, that sounds like a great dinner to me:

And yet when people find out about it, they have such funny reactions! "omigawd I would DIE without bread, or pasta, or cream in my coffee, or sugar, or what have you" I wish more people would try it for a while and see the difference it makes!

I agree -- when I started eating paleo-friendly, I stopped feel as sluggish as I did before. My friend has stopped having a lot of joint pain because she's done the same thing (I'm hoping for the same). So . . .even though I have a small piece of sour dough bread at breakfast some days, I try mostly to have just meat, veggies and berries most days.

 

[LiloH]

I definitely less sluggish too! I also used to get really bad migraines at "that time of the month" and they are totally gone. It's made such a huge difference for both me and my husband. AND we lost weight and lowered our cholesterol so it's win-win-win.

And don't feel bad about cheating, wickey's friend. Another paleo/primal devotee, Tim Ferriss does a day off once every couple of weeks where he goes crazy and eats like 4000 calories. I do them too, but not to that extreme. Yesterday I was off and had a bagel, ice cream, a brownie, two cookies and half a muffin. It was all yummy but I am right back on track this morning.

Oh! And as for cream in coffee, I switched to putting unsweetened almond milk in my coffee. It comes in a couple of different flavors and is really yummy. I can't even drink regular dairy in my coffee anymore.

 

[LiloH]

Also! My husband has a blog where he posts recipes sometimes. It's http://zero-one-ten.posterous.com/ or he's zerooneten on twitter.
He definitely has recipes for almond crust quiche and coconut flour pancakes that were very tasty.

 

[wickey's friend]

Also! My husband has a blog where he posts recipes sometimes. It's http://zero-one-ten.posterous.com/ or he's zerooneten on twitter.
He definitely has recipes for almond crust quiche and coconut flour pancakes that were very tasty.

Cool! I'll have to check it out!

I had . . . . steak and broccoli for dinner last night!!! Reading this thread made me really want steak, so there you go! I also made a chicken breast for DH (he's not a big steak eater), so I had left over steak, chicken and broccoli for lunch -- YUM!

Tacos tonight -- no torillas (okay, maybe one!), but I'll have taco salad for lunch tomorrow.

I'm glad I found some Paleo Peeps!

 

[LiloH]

So, today is my "day off" and I have been eating all my old favorites. I've had Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, a caramel macchiato from Sbux and TWO bagels. I think I am done for the day. Also, I might barf. :-(

(these days are great for reminding me why I eat Primal in the first place!)

 

[wickey's friend]

I know what you mean. I went off Paleo for the most part yesterday. It didn't taste as good as I thought it would. Back at it today!

 

[LiloH]

I know what you mean. I went off Paleo for the most part yesterday. It didn't taste as good as I thought it would. Back at it today!

Yeah, it really isn't as good as I remember, ever.
My hubby has been at this about a year longer than me so he always really pushes me to pig out and eat like everything I've been thinking about indulging in. He's conviced the only way to really kill the cravings is to make myself sick AND realize it's just not as good in reality as I thunk it is in my head. He's usually right!

 

[LaughingSphinx]

Wickey's friend, I'm SUCH a taco fan! I've found that it's the seasonings & spices in the meat that I crave, not the cheese. So taco salad = perfect delish for me

I'm also excited, I'm making coconut milk ice cream for a friend tomorrow, I've only made it once before so I'm hoping it turns out well!