Photo Tour of my Orlando Low Carb Meals

Here is a fun quick photo tour of all the great low carb meals on my recent trip to Orlando.

Scroll through for easy ideas when you’re eating out yourself, and want to make healthy low carb choices. 🙂

This trip was a work conference I really enjoy, and a great opportunity to meet up with friends from all over the world.

The airport was crazy busy with spring break travelers! Nashville Airport is fairly small and usually a breeze, but it was packed at 5am that morning – and I almost missed my flight, even though I was there 2 hours early. 😛

I love to fly Southwest Airlines because you get 2 checked bags free. Plus I can often find nonstop flights, and their website is super easy for booking flights!

I still bring a carry-on, but that comes from years of traveling with a shoulder bag that always KILLS my shoulder and/or lower back. 😛 The small rolling carry-on is great for putting my purse in, along with my laptop, one outfit and some PJ’s, any medications or other things you would absolutely need when you arrive – just in the case your luggage doesn’t make it through on the other end.

That makes it super easy to tote everything without any strain on my shoulder. Plus my sweater is usually in the bag. You’ll notice I’m wearing a sweater. Sometimes it’s too warm to wear one, but I find I need one on the actual flight to use as a blanket while I sleep, because I always sleep on my flights. 🙂

I can also pack a few low carb snacks that way. By the time I put a small laptop, a few snacks, a sweater, a book, etc into a shoulder bag – well, it’s just easier to roll a small carry-on! Plus you may have noticed I always dress to match my bag (lol). That’s just something FUN I like to do…

I had to get up super early for this flight, and ended up having half a package of sunflower seeds before my morning flight. I was FAMISHED by the time I landed in Orlando (after my flight nap, lol) so I finished my sunflower seeds on the cab ride to my hotel.

The first order of business was COFFEE. 🙂 I bring my own creamer on trips (to cut down on carbs!). That’s what I love about the powdered Coffee-Mate Sugar Free Hazelnut Creamer (1 carb per TBSP). I do pull it out of my carry-on when I go through security, and I make sure to bring one that hasn’t been opened yet. But I love having my own super low carb creamer wherever I am!

I finally got settled in, and immediately went on the hunt for food. The hotel had a breakfast buffet set up. Bingo! 🙂 It was full of carbs, as most buffets are, but I found some great low carb options to choose from. And they even had a chef doing cook-to-order eggs & omelets!

I ordered a spinach omelet w/cheese, and also got some bacon:

Then I got a few other things off the buffet: raspberries, cream cheese, turkey & cheese slices:

That made for a beautiful keto breakfast. 🙂

I had lunch at the hotel pub that afternoon, and was impressed to discover a low carb option on their menu!

I ordered that bunless burger, without the onions. It was delicious!!

I ate at the hotel pub again later that night, but this time I ordered the Caesar Salad with grilled salmon (no croutons).

I’ve never seen lemon wrapped up like a little gift with a bow. 🙂 haha – and the Romaine Leave was big enough to fan myself with!

I had the breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant again the next morning, this time with: sausage links, turkey, raspberries & cream cheese.

For lunch I grabbed the bunless burger again because it was SO good! And I grabbed it to go because I had to be in the conference room quickly – as I was speaking on a panel shortly. So I just took it with me and ate it in my lap. 🙂

That night I met friends for dinner at the other end of the mall. They chose Buca di Peppo – an Italian place. Here’s me sporting my fun new green dress, thanks to the power of Spanx! 🙂

The menu was a bit challenging, so I asked if they had a gluten free or low carb menu. And they did! 🙂 It had some great low carb meal options on it. I ordered a “warm spinach salad” and also ordered grilled salmon & green beans too.

It was TONS of food. 😛

I put the salmon on the salad, and ate the green beans on the side. 🙂

Later that night I went up to the VIP Party for a bit, and admittedly… had a few too many drinks. A few too many being 3 small drinks (lol). I usually drink rum & diet coke (zero carbs) but the only rum they had was flavored (sugar!!!) so I think I had vodka & diet coke (ack!).

Anyway, fortunately room service was delivering until 1am… lol. I ordered the Chicken Piccata with green beans and broccoli, ate that in bed, and crashed. 🙂

For obvious reasons I was late getting started the next morning, so I got breakfast take-out from the buffet. Because those fresh berries & cream cheese were just too good to pass up!!

I love LOVE love berries & cream cheese!! A little bit of each tastes better than any cheesecake I’ve ever had. 🙂 YUM!

I had lunch in the hotel restaurant that day. I ordered a seafood salad that had crab, shrimp, avocado – and a baked parmesan wedge. Delicious! I ordered the dressing on the side. It turns out it didn’t need any… Very tasty salad!

Bill of DishonChefs.com joined us. 🙂

I had dinner in the hotel pub later that evening, and ordered the Chicken Picatta again. 🙂 This time with broccoli and green beans.

Then we had a private concert with Bret Michaels of Poison fame. 🙂 This is where I got TONS of FitBit steps dancing, and enjoyed Rum & Diet Coke drinks (zero carb). 🙂

I had a super early lunch the next day (I just had coffee for breakfast) and got it to-go from the pub so I could eat in the conference room. I ordered the bunless burger again (so good!!) with green beans this time instead of broccoli.

For dinner that night I met a couple of friends at La Madeleine in the Florida Mall – which was attached to the Florida Hotel & Convention Center where we were staying.

That was probably the worst meal I had the entire trip. I was tired, and just kind of picked something quickly off the menu. I ended up getting a weird spinach salad with strawberries, bacon & mushrooms. VERY ood combo. 😛

I just ate it anyway – blech. LOL. It definitely could have used some feta cheese or something – and no mushrooms with strawberries. 😛

My lunch the next day, take out again in the conference room – this time I got grilled salmon with broccoli & green beans… and pesto on the side. 🙂

This is me about to catch my flight back to Tennessee, matching my luggage again. 🙂

 

I ended my trip by meeting up with Kathy, a low carb friend I made on Instagram, and we had a delicious low carb lunch and GREAT conversation!! I’ll share that meal and all the fun things we talked about that day with you in a next post. 🙂

All of these meals were from the Florida Hotel & Conference Center in Orlando, and the attached Florida Mall. The pub was open more than the restaurant, and they were GREAT with special orders – very accommodating. 🙂 Most places are, you just have to ASK for what you want.

It’s a great place to stay, with a restaurant and pub AND a Starbucks right in the hotel and conference area. And of course the mall is attached with several other restaurant options too.

Anyway, I hope that quick photo tour gave you some meal ideas you can make at home, or order when you’re out & about! 🙂 *cheers*

Best,
Lynn Terry,
aka @LowCarbTraveler