It can be hard to stay on your diet when you travel, but if you are prepared it will be way easier! I am on a paleo diet, and because of my disease I stay away from gluten. I did not want to arrive in Disney unprepared, and realized that there would be nothing for me to eat there. I went there last year, and I already knew what to expect over there. I also have to mention that I went there with my host family (I take care of children in a family with whom I live), so I do not get to decide where we shop, and where we eat. Before going to Disney I packed things like Epic bar, canned sardines, canned tuna, protein powder, wheatgrass powder, jerky sticks, Gomacro bar (not really SANE), vinaigrette, grapefruits, oranges, and I made my own beef jerkys. Once we got there we went shopping to Walmart where I bought baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers, and non-fat greek yogurt. If you want you can have your groceries delivered to you by this company.
I am going to be honest if you want to stay SANE in Disney without breaking the bank you will have to bring food over there because eating healthy food in Disney IS expensive. To give you an idea I went on a little mission at Epcot to find healthy options, and check the prices. It can cost from $10-50 to have a salad, or vegetables with a portion of protein. If you get the cheapest option I doubt you will have a lot to eat. If you do decide to eat at Disney you can check out those following places:
Epcot: Urban Farm Eats, Le Cellier (Canada), Rose and Crown (UK), Chef de France (France), Monsieur Paul (France), Florida Fresh (next to Morroco), Taste of Marrakesh (Morroco), Tangierine Café (Morroco), Spice Road Café (Morroco), Katsura Grill (Japan), Liberty Inn (The American Adventure), Fife and Drum Cavern for a turkey leg (The American Adventure), Via Napoli (Italy), Tutti Italia (Italy), Bauernmarkt (Germany), Biergarten (Germany), Royal Banquet Hall (Norway), La Hacienda (Mexico), and La Cantina (Mexico).
I personnaly ate the food I brought on my trip, and the food I bought I got there for lunch. Here is a sample of my menu during my trip:
Breakfast: non-fat greek yogurt mixed with protein powder, and wheatgrass powder with 1/2 an orange
Lunch: two Epic bar, or homemade beef jerkys, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and radishes.
Snacks: two jerky sticks.
For dinner we often went out to eat with my host family we went to Longhorn Steakhouse, Chuy’s, Cici’s pizza, and Splitsville. When we went to Chuy’s they did not have a gluten-free menu, so I ask what they had that did not have gluten, and they explained everything to me. If you have celiac disease they will do whatever is necessary to give you gluten-free food that has not been cross-contaminated. They offered me a lot of options with corn tortillas, but as conventional corn makes me bloated I prefer to avoid it, and it is inSane. I chose their plain grilled chicken salad, and they gave me some oil that look pretty pale, so I ate it without dressing. I advise you to bring your own dressing which is what I did, but I left it at the hotel since it was not planned.
At Longhorm Steakhouse they have a gluten-free menu but if you do not worry about gluten then you will find a bunch of SANE options. I got a sirloin steak with a salad, and steamed broccoli.
At Splitsville they had a menu with gluten-free options on it marked with GF next to them. I got a turkey BLT salad which was de-li-cious! The prices were a little expensive for a dinner, but it was worthy. My salad was $14, and last year when we went there I got a classic burger without the bun which was $14 too. The other options were the same price or higher.
At Cici’s pizza it will be a little more difficult to eat SANE because they have a salad bar but they do not have a lot of veggies in the bar, and they only have iceberg lettuce. It can also be tempting to eat pizza instead of getting a salad. They also did not have any protein option, so I had to eat my Epic bar once I got out of the restaurant, and I was glad I brought them with me.
While I was walking around in the other parcs (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Typhoon Lagoon, and Hollywood Studios) I tried to look for options that I could have made if I did not bring my own food. They have places where they serve burgers, burritos, or salad so you can ask them for a no-bun burger, or a no-tortilla burrito. They have cesar salad, so you can take off the croutons on it. Then you have restaurants such as Be Our Guest that has scrambled egg whites with roasted tomatoes, apple sausage, fruit, and pastries that you can skip. They also opened a new restaurant Jungle Navigation Co. Skipper Canteen that has SANE options too. Those will be less affordable than the other places where you will only find inSane foods. If you want to enjoy Disney without breaking the bank, and spending hours in line to get a seat then bringing your own food will be better. You can also download their app that has the list of restaurants, and places to eat, so you will be able to plan ahead. If you need to check out in advance gluten-free options at Disney you can go here, and check out places you can go to, or on the app they will mention if a restaurant has allergy-friendly offerings.
Eating SANE at Disney is possible, if you are willing to eat in restaurants that are more expensive than the fast food they have around the park, and you do not worry about your budget because it WILL be expensive. If you eat in cheaper place the quality of the healthy food you got might not be as good. My boss got a salad as a side, and told me that the salad was mushy, and it tasted like it has been sitting on the counter for several hours. The lettuce they had in their burgers also looked like it was pretty old. I personnaly prefer to bring my own food, and not worry about waiting hours in line to pay twenty bucks for a salad. It might seems unconvenient to bring your food because you have to carry it around the park, but once lunch time pass you won’t have your food in your bag anymore. I will also recommend you to bring your own bottle, and fill it up. To give you an idea a 16.9 fl.oz bottle of water costs $3, and I drink at least 5 of those while I was at the park, so that would have cost me at least $100 just to buy water over there.
You will also need to be organized, and prepare ahead of time. Check out my blog post to learn tips to prepare for a trip.
