Going to Ireland, What to Eat???
 

Am planning to go on a trip with my family in September to Ireland. My aim will not be to gain any weight while I'm there, but I am not familiar with the foods of Ireland. What sort of LC-friendly foods will I encounter? Thanks for your help.

Hi, This is my first post in this forum :)

1. What part of Ireland are you going to - city, country or both?

2. Are you staying in hotels or in bed and breakfasts (b&bs)?

3. Will your family be eating in restaurants mostly or in pubs (pub grub) or both?

I have been 11 or 12 times, so I think i can help you out with some tips. And I went for the first time In June/July on Atkins ... and I lost 6 lbs while I was there for 2 weeks!

:)

The key to eating in Ireland - for everyone - is PUBS. Always pick a pub over a restaurant, it doesn't matter if you drink or not. The food tends to be terrific. The exception is Dublin, which has many nice restaurants.

However pub grub can be pretty carby. It is the land of the potato after all.
You can always get salads. Most everyone will have fish - go for grilled if you can find it, instead of batter fried. Smoked salmon is on many menus - and you haven't had salmon until you've had wild Irish smoked salmon. You should also be able to get steaks and chops.
I'm jealous. Ireland is a dreamy country, the Irish are lovely and you are pretty much guaranteed a great time.

Hi TaDa! Welcome to this forum! It looks like we'll be going for nine days (accounting for the one day lost flying there). We will first stay one or two nights in Dublin, then my husband has relatives in Kildare. We will stay with his relatives for a few days. Then we are going to the west of the country. My husband wants to spend some time in Galway. I don't know if we'll be in hotels or b&bs out there (we have a four-year old daughter). My geography of the country is poor, I am going to have to go out and purchase a travel guide.


NYorker, that is what I was kind of concerned with. Thanks for your tips!

Sounds like a great time!

First for the airplane, obviously I would bring your own meal and decline the meal they offer you. I eat as a semi-vegetarian so I packed myself two hardboiled eggs, 2 oz cheese and 1/4 c. almonds. But I am sure you know what works for you as a "bring-along" meal.

If you are staying at B&Bs - which really is a good choice in my opinion - breakfast is part of the package and is usually an Irish Breakfast, also known as a "fry" This consists of a couple of fried eggs, Irish sausage and bacon, sometimes with the addition of half a grilled tomato or mushrooms. They usually also have cereal etc for the kiddos.

Now Irish sausage or pudding could not be sold as sausage in this country because of the quantity of cereal grains in it. So, I would ask them to skip the sausage and give you extra bacon (also known as "rasher").

When I was recently in Ireland I brought a couple of packages of morningstart bars with me and I would have those for breakfast with a cup of decaf or tea. I was staying with family the whole time and was acually the one doing the cooking since my MIL is ill. (we have traveled extensively there, tho, so not to worry, the advice should be good, lol!).

As far as restaurants and pubs - Pubs in the cities and tourist areas like Galway or Dublin would likely have the grilled meats and salmon and salads that NYorker Mentions and are probably a lot cheaper than the restaurants - which are very expensive in Ireland. However, in the country - I think Kildare would qualify :) Pub Grub generally means ham and cheese sandwiches with "chips" or french fries. So it can be very tough to LC on a steady diet of that! What I might suggest is stashing a loaf of LC bred in your suitcase, along with a supply of plastic baggies. I sometimes would carry a baggy with 2 slices in my purse for those occasions! LOL! If you are like me with supplies for your 4 year old, it won't be a problem to have an extra bag of food with you!

(p.s. I will continue in another post as this is getting very long)

Yes, TaDa!, sometimes I feel like a traveling food pantry for my daughter. Thank you for your tips too.

er.. being half-Irish my self and spending a lot of time over there I can tell you it is not exactly the third world.. Go to a supermarket and you will find pretty much the same stuff you do at home... The food is not as strongly regional as it would be in Spain for example.. You will probably be able to find what ever you want..

Note though... they have there own ideas about how well meat should be cooked (ie very well, preferably resembling leather)...

LOL, Bob_the_In. Since I'm a medium rare-kind of gal, it should be interesting.

Back again for the final installment :)


At a traditional restaurant you will have no problem getting meat or fish and veg - just decline the potatoes. There are also many ethnic restaurants. i suggest you go to atkinscenter.com and print out their guides to Chinese, Indian, Italian, and Mexican cuisine.

We ate twice in Chinese restaurants this time - for me, instead of rice, I order sauteed mung bean sprouts as a side dish (appears to be a common side dish at Chinese there) and ate my entree poured over that.

Definitely bring a carb counter for your purse. I had to whip one out in the Chinese to find out that water chestnut is high carb, bamboo shoots and mung bean sprouts are lower carb veggies.

The Irish also like cream sauces (corn starch or flour in those) and mayonnaise based salads.

One other tip, is to check out the supermarket there. You can find different flavored tuna fish in foil packets like they have here, prepared fresh mayonnaise salads. I also bought fresh almonds at a health food store and . . .

at both the health food and the regular supermarket are these incredible sugarfree diabetic chocolate bars - better than almost any chocolate I've had here. They come 5 or 6 bars in a little blue box called Cordialle Diabetic and cost about 6 euro for the box. 3 carb total after subtracting the maltitol. I brought a few home with me - I am addicted It was a really nice treat to look forward to in the afternoon when everyone else was drinking tea and biscuits . . .

Oh yeah, everywhere I went I was able to get decaf coffee!! If you are still off the caffeine like me.

At the pub I would order a glass with rum and 2 bottles of diet 7up (small glass bottles) that would last me through a few rounds with my prolific (ha!) Irish family. Also an occasional glass of Guiness (ask for a glass not a pint) which I believe is 15 carbs.

You seem to be close to maintenance so you should have no problem :) Feel free to ask any more q's you might have.

ps. you can rent a carseat from the car rental company for a per day charge if you want to for your daughter.

Thanks TaDa for the tip on Cordialle Diabetic bars! I, also am off caffeine, so finding decaf everywhere is good. I, maybe, will order a glass of Guinness here and there, but it's not important to me since I really didn't drink much alcohol pre-Atkins. Re: the car seat, my daughter is about out of her car seat, I'll be getting her a booster car seat in a few days. We'll probably check the booster seat with our luggage. I think we will end up avoiding Chinese food while there, I always retain lots of water, thus end up gaining weight. In fact, we visited my folks this past weekend and had a bit of Chinese food. I am up two lbs. from Friday. Grrrrr.

Hi

I agree with Bob

Ireland will have the same main foods as you have. What I do if I go out is have a meat main course, ask to hold the sause and replace potato with a salad.

breakfast will be pretty good if yo are in a B&B. Bacon ,eggs, mushrooms, tomato. Just be specific as to what you want.

Supermarkets - Generally the same foods too. I am a label reader but it sure helps. Maybe stick to fresh veg. Full fat greek yogurt and strawberries. Fresh meats and fish too.

There is also a Holland and barratt, a health food store which you might find useful over there. Good snacks like pepperami, nuts and mini cheeses are all great. (you can buy at any supermarket)

Hope this helps and have a wonderful time

Jenny

I know what you mean about the chinese as far as funny things in the sauces! But it never seemed to have that effect on me over there (I haven't had any over here since starting Atkins) - not sure why? I would order generally Shrimp in a szechuan sauce -

Anyway, I wanted to also let you know that the Cordialle Chocolate bars are not with the other chocolate in the store - They are with the diabetic and gluten-free (a lot of celiac disease over there) specialty food products / breads, etc. - usually on a supermarket endcap. (I got mine at Dunnes Stores - a big supermarket chain there - and could not find any at Tesco - another big supermarket chain).

Have a great time!!!

Thanks for all of your tips! UPDATE: Before I left for Ireland, I weighed 122.5 lbs. After coming back, I weighed 120.5 lbs. Had a wonderful trip, was actually VERY lucky with the weather (it only rained one out of ten days)! As I said before, weightloss while there was not a priority, I just did not want to gain weight. But I know I would have lost some pounds if I hadn't purchased macadamia nuts the first day there to snack on throughout the trip. I was able to avoid the ever-present potato at meals. They've gotten better at grilling meats. Not once did I get something resembling shoe leather. Sometimes for dessert, I would get a plate of Irish cheeses.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, pity I didn't see your posts until today. Maybe next time.
Nikki

Mmmm Haggis ( sp ? )

Black57