Ramona’s Road: Low Carbing on the Road with Ramona Denton

from the May 2013 issue of CarbSmart Magazine.

Dana’s Note: I met Ramona Denton and her sister Christina the night before my first Low Carb Cruise – they sat across the table from That Nice Boy I Married and me at the night-before-sailing dinner. We hit it off immediately.

In the past couple of years, Ramona has taken to traveling full-time – first driving and motorcycling all around the United States, then cruising all over the world. I have followed her many adventures via Facebook, having a great time living her adventures vicariously – and seeing her progressive weight loss in her photos from the road and seas. Given her full-time travels and diet success, I couldn’t think of anyone more qualified to speak to this topic!

Many friends ask me how I keep on my low-carb diet while traveling. There are so many temptations out there on the highways and byways of America. How do I resist the oh-so-convenient burgers and fries that beckon at every gas station?

Eat satisfying meals I really like

My main strategy is to eat satisfying meals I really like. When I’m hungry, I eat real food that satisfies me — Usually a serving of meat and any available non-starchy vegetables I feel like eating.

I use every available resource to manage my travel food supply: supermarkets, convenience stores, and restaurants. I buy both prepared foods and basic groceries. As much as possible, I stay in hotel rooms with refrigerators and microwaves, or even full kitchens.

I like to prepare my own food whenever it’s convenient.

When I travel by car, I carry an ice chest for groceries and leftovers and an electric skillet for cooking and reheating meals. When I travel by motorcycle, I carry enough food for one day in a thermal lunchbox.

In places where the culinary culture is a big attraction, I might eat dinner at a nice restaurant in the evening, eating about half a steak or meat dish with a salad or hot vegetable, and taking the other half back to my hotel room refrigerator. Then I skip the hotel’s free continental breakfast and have my leftover steak. To reheat the meat without overcooking it, I usually cut it up into bite-sized pieces, place it in a zip-top freezer bag, then place the bag in hot water in my bathroom sink. This dinner/breakfast plan works very well for me and helps me avoid overeating when confronted with those huge restaurant portions.

If cuisine is not one of the main attractions of a place, and particularly if I’m staying for more than a few days, I try to cook at least half my dinners. When I cook for myself, I can get high-quality food. In the United States, it is usually easy to find grass-fed steak or ground beef, or free-range chicken. I also love to try locally made sausages without a lot of added sugar when I can find them.

Have lunch at local sidewalk cafés and coffee shops

When I’m staying in a town for a few days, I like to have lunch at local sidewalk cafés and coffee shops. This can be a little tricky, because it may involve peeling the bread off of sandwiches and picking bites of meat out of mixed dishes. It also depends on what I’m doing there. In places where I do a lot of touring, I tend to eat out at midday. In places where I enjoy a little downtime, I lean more toward cooking for myself. Another lunch option I often choose is deli meat or cold cuts from the grocery store, with fancy cream cheese spread, and maybe pickles and olives. These make great picnic lunches that can be eaten almost anywhere.

When I’m actually on the road between destinations at lunchtime, I like to stop and take a break from driving. This is especially important on a motorcycle since riding takes my full attention. On travel days, I prepare a lunch or take some food that I can prepare and eat on the way. With the economy being what it is these days, I have arrived in many towns expecting to stop for lunch, only to find the whole place shut down and all but abandoned.

Always Keep Low-Carb Foods Handy

My second big strategy for keeping low carb on the road: I always have some kind of food with me to eat for lunch when low carb food is unavailable.

Having good food available between breakfast and dinner is critical to keeping low carb on the road. It is very easy to get so hungry just looking for lunch that I want to eat the first junk food I find along the way. Even carrying a can of olives or a bag of pepperoni can prevent from a slip up. Lunch is the most unpredictable meal on the road. I always try to plan for unexpected delays.

It is not my usual habit to snack between meals, but I do so occasionally. For those days, I make sure to have something suitable to eat in the car along the way. There is definitely something about car snacks that are just part of car travel in America. There’s no real need to deprive myself of a good munch, so I don’t resist the occasional urge to snack; but I do make sure I eat low carb snacks that don’t sabatoge my health. Nuts, olives, cheese, stuffed celery and pork rinds are a few of my favorite car snacks.

There are times when even the best laid plans go awry. That’s when I just have to make do with what I can get in local restaurants and convenience stores. In National Parks and wilderness areas you can rack up a lot of miles looking for a grocery store. I’ve certainly had days where it’s fast food or no food for me.

Convenience Store Low-Carb Options

Many convenience stores have a few low carb choices: meat sticks, jerky, cheese, nuts, hard_boiled eggs. Some have canned foods like chicken, tuna and olives. On more than one occasion I have had to make do with cream cheese or some flavor of sour cream dip with pork rinds for lunch.

If I can find a restaurant, I can almost always find something good to eat. Here are my top five tips for getting a good low carb meal in an unfamiliar restaurant:

Ask for what you really want. Many restaurants welcome off_menu orders, and will make customized dishes if they have the ingredients.
Ask for a simple substitution in one of the menu items. Even restaurants that won’t make a complicated custom meal for you should be ok with substituting cottage cheese or tomato slices for french fries.
Order simple foods rather than casserole_style or mixed dishes. It is much easier to stay low carb if you order a steak plate than if you get lasagna or turkey divan.
Avoid hidden carbs by asking about breading and sauces. If you are in an unfamiliar place, it is likely that they prepare dishes differently than you would in your home region. Any meat dish may contain breading or wheat flour or sugar in the sauce. Many restaurants use spice mixes that contain sugar or gluten. If you don’t want to eat these thickeners and additives, ask for your meat to be prepared with plain salt and pepper, or however you like it.
If all else fails, don’t be embarrassed to pick and choose your bites carefully, and leave most of the plate uneaten. Everything you eat has an impact on your body and your health. It is up to you to eat foods that nourish your body rather than making it sick.

One of the things I love about eating low carb is that I can skip a meal any time I want to without starving or feeling ill. Since I am usually pretty well keto adapted, it’s usually no big deal to skip a meal here or there. If I can’t find real food to nourish my body, I just hold off eating until I can. Being keto adapted, I can live off my stored fuel – and isn’t that what it’s all about?

More Low Carb Recipes & Articles by Ramona Denton.