I'm going to Egypt for 3 weeks. Any suggestions?

#1

Hey, guys. Keto for 2+ years. Love it.

We’re going on vacation to Egypt towards the end of the month, and will be there for 3 weeks. I plant on sticking to keto as much as possible (they do a lot of grilled meats, so that’s great), but I’m sure that there will be times where that’s not possible. I’m mostly concerned with getting enough fat in and not getting into the starches/ sweets. I’ve been to Egypt before and the food is freaking incredible, but there’s lots of starch and sugar everywhere. Traditionally, when you go anywhere they offer you hibiscus tea laced with sugar. It’s not the best thing to refuse continually, though I will as much as possible.

I’m going to do my best, but not drive myself insane. After all, the point of a vacation like this is to relax and have fun, not to be stressing at every meal about what you’re going to eat. But, I am going to do my best to stay on track. I don’t want to come back having gained 20 pounds and feeling, physically, like crap.

Any suggestions from long time keto travellers?

#2

key being 2 + yrs you should be metabolically ok in the ol’ body so I would think you could have some of this or that as you need with a watchful eye and be ok. I doubt a 20 gain will happen unless ya go bat crazy ya know.

Sounds like a wonderful trip to enjoy and a big adventure to come for you.

From how I read your post, you got this truly. You sound confident and ‘smart’ on how to handle what meals you tackle. Key being your Keto Plan must be tops in your eating but I think it sounds like you are ok in 3 wks of manuevering to suit yourself.

I say go, have a friggin’ blast, you know as you posted you will ‘watch yourself’ and that is key here obviously and will come home more than ok thru it all with fab memories.

Very safe travels!!

(Jane) #3

I had the same challenges when I used to travel to China pre-COVID. Thery eat a lot of rice and bread, small amounts of meat and no dairy and not a lot of fat. Nor is refrigeration available in the hotel rooms.

Since you don’t have to refrigerate butter, I bought some foil candy wrappers from Amazon, sliced the butter up and individually wrapped in the foil wrappers. Then placed them all in a baggie and carried it on the plane. I added it to my coffee whenever I could get coffee (they don’t drink it but I usually could find a pot and coffee they kept for visitors).

I took sunflower seeds, peanuts and some homemade beef jerky. I make my own so I can have it w/o added sugars.

Good luck and have a wonderful time!

(Bob M) #4

Caveats: I know nothing about Egypt, Egyptian food, or where you’re staying.

My usual plan is to have breakfast (which I don’t normally eat), as that can be controlled if it’s in a hotel or at least often has low carb options. If there are stores and a fridge, I buy sliced meat or something similar. I basically run out of money before I can order enough to eat at restaurants (and it’s gotten much worse lately), so I like to have something to eat at the hotel/wherever I’m staying. Nuts could work, too.

When we went to Canada, we had a fridge, so we bought a lot of sliced meats and other low carb fare, there really as a back up. And if we wanted something to eat at any time, as a break from eating out or being out, that helped too.

If you’re walking, you can burn up a lot of carbs/calories doing that, and maybe not gain any weight or very little. If you’re not walking, then it’s harder.

And it’s fun to explore new food. We had some great meals in Canada: we went to a barbecue place that was fantastic, and had Chinese (in Chinatown) that was the best I’ve had.

(Robin) #5

I want to know about making your own jerky!

#6

google can tell ya that :scream_cat::wave::joy::joy::100::partying_face:

(Robin) #7

Yeah, I’ve googled. but I am such a fan of @Janie dishes…

#8

LOL I hear ya Robin, just ribbing ya on it !!!

(Robin) #9

I deserved a ribbing, so no worries!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #10

You deserve a ribeye, that’s for sure!

#11

Just eat whatever from the street vendors. Trust me, you will wind up losing a lot of weight. ;-}

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #12

LOL!

I once ate at a restaurant in Jerusalem that our tour guide swore was safe. It wasn’t, and the only thing that saved her from a serious complaint to her agency afterward was that she ate with us and suffered all the same effects.

(Bob M) #13

When I was in the Navy, I traveled to a lot of countries, and ate from a lot of street vendors. I don’t think I ever got sick. I was more afraid of the water than anything else. Or the rules.

#14

I am not particularly sensitive (never found a food item that made me feel unwell except in bigger amounts, especially sugary things) but I definitely wouldn’t feel great if I just ate any food willy-nilly… There is a reason I do very low-carb most of the time. I wouldn’t gain though.
Everyone should know themselves to some extent and eat accordingly.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #15

This had nothing to do with the food itself, which as I recall was delicious, and everything to do with poor sanitation. If you ever have the opportunity to contract food poisoning, don’t. It’s not fun.

#16

Yes, there’s that too, it wasn’t my point. I talked against the idea that eating whatever on holiday is fine. It’s not necessarily so, not even without sanitation problems.

BUT now I understand it wasn’t said so, I didn’t get the hint of problems there, sorry, @Fracmeister! :smiley: I never had such problems, maybe that’s why I didn’t connect the dots.

But I have read ZILLION times that oh, it’s stupid not to eat whatever on holiday and I think my sensitivity to it triggered my desire to talk about against caution even if the food is “good”.

I hope it’s clear now for everyone.

(Bob M) #17

The sickest I ever got was way back in the Military, when I was on a very low fat diet. I still used to use milk in my coffee (don’t think we had cream, and wouldn’t have used it if we did), and a bunch of us got sick from one of the containers. I don’t remember getting sick, just waking up in the infirmary on an IV.

I drank my coffee black for a long time after that.

But I hope the original posted comes back to update how the trip went and provide techniques used.

#18

We’re here in Egypt and just finished week 1 of 3. Here’s the bottom line: No. It’s not possible to do strict Keto here. At least not for me. Egyptian food is very carb centric. Bread is served it every meal, everything has tahini in it or on it, hummus, baba ganoush and falafel are always around. Yes, they have grilled meats but they are not the focus of the meal and it’s not possible to make them the focus of your meal. Desserts are everywhere and everyone drinks sweetened tea which is served at every shop that you walk into.

While I’m not going full out crazy, I am just doing my best to not eat too many sweets or too much bread. I already know that my inflammation is up and I’ve gotten significantly softer but it is a really amazing vacation and so I’m just walking the middle line. I’ll jump right back into Keto when I get home. I don’t think it be possible to do carnivore here. And it’s difficult to get in enough fat unless you’re going to eat tons of tahini which is relatively high in carbs. They do serve a garlic sauce which is basically mayonnaise with garlic in it and I’ve been trying to get that in but of course what do they serve with it? Homemade fresh bread and pita bread. I try my best to use cucumbers but avoiding the bread entirely is not possible for me.

I’m not feeling guilty and I’m not worried about getting right back on to Keto when I get home. I’m just trying not to go over to the deep end while here.

#19

I go often to Egypt. You can eat the protein served with the veggies. The veggies are usually drenched in vegetable oils. You can scrape the oil and pat them dry with paper tissues. There’s also the better possibility to order grilled veggies in many restaurants. Butter is easy to get and you can add butter to your food for extra fat if you think you need it. It is so inexpensive. If you don’t have a fridge in your room, you can ask at the reception to keep it in a fridge for you.

The sweets and breads, you’re not forced to eat. The tea, you’re not forced to drink. It is ok not to accept tea. If you feel you want to accept the tea, you can just bring the cup to your lips, but not actually drink it.

For snacks, you can have a small portion of nuts. It is easy to buy nuts in Egypt.

If you are staying in a resort, they’ll usually have a diabetics area in the buffet and plenty of boiled eggs and at least chicken dishes.

Enjoy your vacation!

(Jane) #20

Beef Jerky

2 pounds beef, thinly sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbl Wooster
1 Tbl liquid smoke
6 drops red chili sauce
1/4 tsp ancho chili pepper
1/8 tsp chipolte chili pepper
1/2 tsp Prague Powder #1
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoky paprika

Combine all ingredients and marinate overnight in ziplock baggie, turning several times to ensure good mixing and coating of marinade. Dry in dehydrator on meat setting for 4-6 hours.

eta: you can use whatever chili powder you have one hand - we just happened to have both of those the first time I made my own jerky and like them, so used them.