Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board

I just returned from a week long cruise in the Caribbean on a Royal Caribbean ship. I am happy to report that I remained very "compliant" to the McDougall diet the entire week. It was quite boring eating, as I really enjoy cooking my family's meals. However, I wasn't even remotely tempted to eat the junk offered for everyone else--how could I? It was all greasy and cheesy and gross.

Here's what I ate:

B: oatmeal or grits and fresh fruit.

L: salad with plain rice (if the rice was coated in oil, which it sometimes appeared to be, I just ate the salad. I couldn't eat any cooked vegetables at lunch because they were all sitting in oil or coated in butter.

Snack: fruit or plain rice with fruit

D: VERY small salad, plus 1 plain baked potato, steamed rice, steamed vegetables (usually broccoli asparagus and carrots). Small bowl of berries for dessert.

It took a while to convince the wait staff at dinner that I TRULY wanted to eat vegetables NOT coated in oil or butter. And, despite the fact that they delivered what I requested, they always followed up with a question of whether I wanted extra butter or sour cream. Ha!

I think I may have thrown them for a loop because they were quite flustered on the first night. Although I was a gracious tourist and told them to just bring me whatever vegetables they had which could be presented with no oil or butter. The dinner salad was about 1/6th the size of a salad I would normally eat, maybe 4 forks of lettuce.

So, today I went on a walk with one of my friends and she was curious about what I ate as she is aware of my diet. When I told her how I did, she said I wasted my money on that cruise! She said I should have eaten everything in sight because I needed to "get my money's worth". Ha! I told her my money's worth was exactly what I did get. I had amazing experiences with my family. I enjoyed 85 degree weather with no rain (or snow!). I came home not one ounce heavier than when I left. And I didn't have any inner pity parties in the process.

BroccoliForever wrote:I just returned from a week long cruise in the Caribbean on a Royal Caribbean ship. I am happy to report that I remained very "compliant" to the McDougall diet the entire week. It was quite boring eating, as I really enjoy cooking my family's meals. However, I wasn't even remotely tempted to eat the junk offered for everyone else--how could I? It was all greasy and cheesy and gross.

Here's what I ate:

B: oatmeal or grits and fresh fruit.

L: salad with plain rice (if the rice was coated in oil, which it sometimes appeared to be, I just ate the salad. I couldn't eat any cooked vegetables at lunch because they were all sitting in oil or coated in butter.

Snack: fruit or plain rice with fruit

D: VERY small salad, plus 1 plain baked potato, steamed rice, steamed vegetables (usually broccoli asparagus and carrots). Small bowl of berries for dessert.

It took a while to convince the wait staff at dinner that I TRULY wanted to eat vegetables NOT coated in oil or butter. And, despite the fact that they delivered what I requested, they always followed up with a question of whether I wanted extra butter or sour cream. Ha!

I think I may have thrown them for a loop because they were quite flustered on the first night. Although I was a gracious tourist and told them to just bring me whatever vegetables they had which could be presented with no oil or butter. The dinner salad was about 1/6th the size of a salad I would normally eat, maybe 4 forks of lettuce.

So, today I went on a walk with one of my friends and she was curious about what I ate as she is aware of my diet. When I told her how I did, she said I wasted my money on that cruise! She said I should have eaten everything in sight because I needed to "get my money's worth". Ha! I told her my money's worth was exactly what I did get. I had amazing experiences with my family. I enjoyed 85 degree weather with no rain (or snow!). I came home not one ounce heavier than when I left. And I didn't have any inner pity parties in the process.

GOOD FOR YOU!! I love the response that you gave your friend.

BroccoliForever wrote: Ha! I told her my money's worth was exactly what I did get.

The last cruise I went on (and I do emphasize LAST ), the rest of our party was intentionally repeating the old joke, "The food's not very good, but at least there's a lot of it!" This was on a very expensive cruise line, but the attitude was still

My wife and I mostly skipped the dining room, and went for the a la carte options in the food-court kind of areas. There was great veggie sushi (one of my go-to choices everywhere, including home -- I'm also a sucker for plain sticky rice), a massive salad bar that also featured plain balsamic vinegar (my favorite dressing even apart from TWOE), fruit everywhere, plenty of baked potatoes, and while the pasta was good ol' white wheat, it was easy to get 'em to dish it up plain, and augment it with steamed veggies or goodies from the salad bar.

I highly recommend this approach as at least an occasional break from well-intentioned but ultimately slightly annoying dining room staff.

Cruises are tough - I was vegan, but not eating this particular way the last time I went on one. I stopped even going to the formal dinner because I could see how much the waiter would stress out when I simply walked in. I opted for salad bar (and cheeseless pizza). Breakfast was often peanut butter and bananas.

It is tough to move from the mentality of going on vacation to eat versus going on vaction to make memories with loved ones.

I'm heading to an all inclusive in Mexico in June. This reminds me I should send the resort a note about what I eat!

Thanks for the info on the cruise Brocolli, we are hoping to go on one later this year.

Sue

Early last year we went on a cruise. I hadn't switched my eating yet, and although I tried for healthy I ended up overdoing it. Half way through the cruise I was so tired of eating and just not feeling good. Ever since I've been planning how I'll eat next time. Thanks for sharing!

Cruise ships have changed and are continually changing...for the better! We cruise at least once a year...usually, on Celebrity or Royal Car. Celebrity has a special kitchen to prepare meals for those with special dietary needs. It is away from the main kitchen so gluten free or nut free meals are not contaminated in any way. They have an entire vegan menu that changes nightly! After the 1st night, I am always given the correct menu, without having to ask. The main buffet where we usually get our breakfast and lunch is filled with fresh fruit, veggies, baked potatoes, rice, salads, whole grain breads, a dizzying array...I have even seen vegan pastries (full of fat, though). However, our next cruise, coming up in 5 weeks, will be a test. I have never eaten fat free vegan....so, I'm not sure how that will work. We'll see.