Eating out when you’re on a diet can be a challenge. It’s one of the reasons why I find the low carb diet to be easier to follow than others that I’d tried in the past. I’m not going to pretend that I can control what I’m eating perfectly when I eat out, but when your main concern is avoiding carbs then it’s a lot easier than when you’re trying to get a balance of many other things.
One of the things I like about Los Angeles, where I’m currently spending a couple of days, is that it caters for pretty much any taste. I love burgers, but most places in Ireland and most of Europe insist on serving burgers in buns and serve them with a mound of fries.
In the US, however, you have chains like The Counter where you can easily choose burgers without buns.
I nearly always opt for their “build your own” burger menu, where you get to choose pretty much every single element that goes in to it. So you can make it as bland or as spicy as you want.
Yesterday evening after settling into my hotel I had a wonderful burger in The Counter in Downtown LA:
I opted for their bison meat with cheese and bacon to top it off, served with a garlic sauce on the side. Absolutely out of the world and very low carb overall.
Before I started this diet I’d have happily spent a couple of hours in The Counter working my way through their excellent selection of craft beers. Since beer is off the menu with this diet I had to opt for a glass of red wine instead. (Wine isn’t carb free, but it’s one of the only things I cheat with!)
Unfortunately I am yet to find a restaurant that clearly caters for low carb diners, though it’s hardly surprising. While the low carb diets are becoming more and more popular they’re still not as mainstream as others.