Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Assuming you're going to have a rental car, stop at a grocery store and buy yourself some individual applesauces (Mott's Natural Applesauce is sold in little 6-packs); some plastic spoons; some pretzels; and some dry cereal - I do well with Rice Chex and Corn Pops. If you have a fridge in your room, you can add some rice or soy milk and some little paper bowls. The applesauce and the cereal can be breakfast. The pretzels are to snack on throughout the day. I also buy bottles of water.

For lunch, Pizza Hut is, oddly enough, a good choice. Get a Personal Pan Pizza with no cheese and only vegetable toppings. If you want to be super-safe, get just mushrooms. I can also eat their yummy soft breadsticks dipped in marinara sauce - supposedly they have no cheese and no butter, but I wouldn't swear to that.

For dinner you should be able to find some kind of grilled/baked chicken or grilled/baked fish in a lot of places. Most places will also serve you a plain baked potato, although I know they can be hard to find in some chains, like Chili's. I would think, though, that non-chain seafood restaurants would serve them. Also, a lot of places have bread baskets, so assuming the bread doesn't look whole-grain, that's a good choice, too.

Pasta places can be good, but the sauces can be tricky. Tomato sauces may have meat, some have cheese or cream built in, so be sure to ask.

I've gotten quite good at questioning waiters. If you simply explain you can't have dairy, so you need to know if a dish has butter, milk, cream, or cheese in it, they can usually find out for you. It's not uncommon for people to avoid dairy. And, if push comes to shove, you can eat a shrimp cocktail, baked potato, and bread basket every night.

If you find herbal teas help, you can carry your own teabags with you. Most places will happily sell you a cup of hot water. Even McDonald's usually sell tea and you get the bag and the water separately so you can toss their teabag and use your own.

Here are a couple of restaurant posts I know about, but if you do a Search on the Diet Board with no time limit for restaurant you'll get a lot of hits. Also, if there's a particular chain you like to eat at, you can Search for that chain's name, like Chilis or Olive Garden.

Summary on restaurants

Pizza!

HTH.

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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]

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