Healthy food options

[kjbacon]

Isn’t this the worst topic ever on a cruise message board? Unfortunately, both my husband and I have recently developed health issues and we have no choice but to maintain healthy diets. We will splurge some, but we just cannot eat the way we used to for 22 days. I’ve looked at the menu pages on the website and it does look like there will be a good amount of healthy choices available for us. Since we are new to Regent, your experience can help us plan. For example, it looks like there is an ample salad bar in the buffet at lunch ... are there light or non fat dressings available? Are egg white omelets available? Are they willing or able to customize our orders, such as serving sauces on the side (or withholding them)? Any info is welcome and appreciated!

[DeepFreeze63]

No, it's a great topic - although "healthy" will probably stir some discussion. I'm planning a "meatless" menu for my January Explorer cruise; mostly because DW, while a terrific cook, is also a committed CARNIVORE. I'm always on a minimal salt diet so I always asked for no added salt, dressing on the side and only drink bottles water on the ship.

I look forward to other ideas on "non-dieting dieting"

Jim C

[MalbecWine]

That should not be an issue.  We are pretty much meatless but not strict vegans as we eat fish and chicken.  You should contact Regent and alert them of any dietary requirements.  Low sodium and vegetarian meals are always available on any luxury line.  Any special requests during the cruise should be addressed to the Maitre’D.  Sugar free desserts should be available as well.

 

We are shocked when we weigh ourselves when we get home that we have not gained any weight.  In fact we lost weight on our last cruise just moving around and taking the stairs and using the gym for a light workout.  The answer is you can eat healthy and cheat once in awhile without the guilt and you will not go hungry.

 

Enjoy!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

This is a great topic.  It's something that worries me since we booked the world cruise in 2021.  I gain weight just looking cross-eyed at food, and many of the dishes on Regent in the past I have found over-salted.  I admit my willpower is not good, but it will have to be on a 4-month cruise or they will have to roll me off.  

 

But there's the Canyon Ranch menu--you can do very well by judicious ordering.  Also bring up the salt issue early, or make it a strict dietary requirement, whatever you need.  The vegetarian options are usually interesting.

 

Yes, there's a decent salad bar, and you can order side dishes of cooked vegetables of various kinds at dinner.

 

(Just as a comparison, our recent Seabourn cruise had what I think was a more interesting salad bar than Regent.  But at dinner, their "healthy choices",  a la Canyon Ranch were lacking.)

[HotRoot]

We almost stopped cruising because of the large amount of salt added to food on all cruise lines.  We have now learned to make our first stop onboard the dining room where we can discuss our needs.  All cruise lines, not only luxury, are happy to have you preorder your meals.  Sometimes you order the day before, sometimes the morning of.  Then our meals are made with no added salt.  We used to swell so bad we could only wear flip flops after 7 days on a cruise.  Our last cruise was 45 days and we did not swell at all.  We used to gain weight on cruises.  It was all water held because of the salt.  Now we usually lose weight.  Tell them your required diet and they will make it happen.

[MalbecWine]

Wendy, you have to eat to live that’s a given but it’s up to you to choose what you eat.  I’m sure you will be fine.  

 

I have known people who gain 10-20 LBS on a cruise but you she see what they eat and how often.  Obesity is a huge problem in the US and the major reason is fast food and buffet restaurants.

 

You can always order half portions.  My weakness is bread so I cut that down while cruising.  Salt is another thing that can cause you to bloat with water retention but that goes away once you get home.  Maybe former World Cruisers can weigh in..no pun intended of their experiences.

[ronrick1943]

You really have a lot of choices.  Fish, chicken and a ton of salad.  You can always have sauces on the side or none at all.  You won't go hungry - and you don't have give up taste.  You'll have a great cruise.  

 

[JMARINER]

What do you mean by healthy?

 

There is a designated Head Waiter in  charge of special diets. Just go down to the main dining room when you board and ask for him (her). They will go over your meal plan every day for the next day and do whatever you want, with in reason. I know that they have an unpublished Vegan menu. They can do diabetic, kosher, low salt, low fat, keto, paleo, Indian vegetarian, Plant based, Starch based, Ornish, Esselstyn, McDougall, Pritikin, etc.

 

J

[kjbacon]

I am so glad that I asked!! This is great news and is so helpful. As an earlier poster said, there was a part of me that was dreading this vacation but not anymore. We will definitely make the head waiter our first stop upon boarding since salt is one of the issues for us too. We’ve been to restaurants of late , asked for light preparation, and ordered fish and grilled veggies but the fish is served swimming (excuse the pun) in butter and the veggies covered in salt. At that point, we may as well have ordered the cheeseburger and fries. We rarely go out anymore and we both miss that. I get it, I’m in the food business and know only too well that salt, fat, and sugar are cheap and they taste great even if they are anything but great for our weight.

[HotRoot]

I did some research reading Regent reviews and it appears to me special diet needs work the same on Regent as on Oceania.  Our travel agent advised Oceania about a month prior to our cruise that we would require a no added salt diet.  When we boarded we met with someone in the dining room and verified they did have our request.  They did.  He did inform us they would obviously not be able to serve us no added salt for that night but could do low salt.  Each night when we returned to our cabin, we had a menu for the next evening.  We would indicate our choices and turn in the menu when we went to breakfast.  We stressed no added salt so they didn't take away our bacon, anchovies, olives, etc.  We have no problem with foods that are naturally salty.  It is the added salt that messes us up.  Hope this helps.    

[Travelcat2]

Captain Serena taught us a trick to help digest the extra food that we are eating on the ship........ follow your meal (especially at night) with a cup of peppermint tea.  While I did not gorge on the ship, I ate pretty much what I wanted (that included two chocolate cake desserts).  I weighed myself when we got home and I gained 5 pounds which is pretty good for the amount of food I consumed.  There are definitely healthy options but do keep in mind that you are on vacation and deserve a bit of a splurge.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

9 minutes ago, Travelcat2 said:

Captain Serena taught us a trick to help digest the extra food that we are eating on the ship........ follow your meal (especially at night) with a cup of peppermint tea.  While I did not gorge on the ship, I ate pretty much what I wanted (that included two chocolate cake desserts).  I weighed myself when we got home and I gained 5 pounds which is pretty good for the amount of food I consumed.  There are definitely healthy options but do keep in mind that you are on vacation and deserve a bit of a splurge.

 

Good tip about the tea.  But health trumps splurging, especially on a long cruise--you can't splurge for four months, eh?  My ankles swelled up on our Miami - Lima cruise, and I was pretty careful.  That swelling was gone 24 hours after disembarkation despite eating great comfort food in Lima.

 

Water retention can be a serious health issue, especially if you have heart disease or high blood pressure, something that can't be ignored.

 

I like the idea of consulting with the dietary head waiter, just not sure I can get my head around choosing exactly what I want to eat 24 hours before I eat it.  It might work.

[HotRoot]

Not 24 hours.  More like 12 hours.  I plan my menus at home weekly so 12 hours is pretty easy for me.

[JMARINER]

6 hours ago, HotRoot said:

Not 24 hours.  More like 12 hours.  I plan my menus at home weekly so 12 hours is pretty easy for me.

They give you the menu options the night before, usually sent you your suite about 9:00pm. You need to mark up what you want and return it to the MDR by 10:00am. You can give you marked up menu to any headwaiter at breakfast or drop it off at the front desk.

 

If you want something that is really out of the ordinary, you need to give them 24 hours advanced notice. You can also have standing food orders that can be served at every dinner and/or lunch.

 

Lastly asked to assigned to the same section in the Compass Rose every night. Staying with the same waiter and asst waiter really cut down on the confusion of special diets. This doesn't always work out 100%, particularly if you want to sit in a large group or show up to eat at really busy times.

 

J

[Pinksunset]

I am a vegetarian and mostly eat “healthy “,  but do splurge on special chocolate deserts. And sometimes multiple deserts!   I had plenty of vegetarian options on the Mariner.  On our one (so far!) wonderful Alaska cruise I walked a lot on excursions, always took the stairs and worked out in the gym whenever  I could.  I also walked around the ship a lot.  Surprisingly I came home a couple pounds lighter. It is possible to be health conscious and completely enjoy your cruise!

[MalbecWine]

Totally agree.

[kjbacon]

Thank you all for so much good information. It is very helpful and much appreciated!

[travelwell]

My husbands feet used to swell on our cruises until a doctor friend of ours suggested drinking bottled water, either sparkling or flat instead of the ships water to see if it made a difference. We figured we would give it a try, for  him it must have been part of the problem. He had no leg edema the last 2 cruises. We still get some of the ships water in our coffee and what the ship cooks with but we were really chugging the ships water prior. Just a thought.

[Travelcat2]

Don't forget the Canyon Ranch options - healthy and low calorie (even their desserts).

[kjbacon]

Thank you all for so much help!

[tripperva]

They will make dairy free desserts if you ask ahead.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Funny, I almost never drink regular tap water onboard ship, but still get the edema

 

I have a question about the "dietary" head waiter and asking for a low salt diet.  What can they do, and what does "no added salt" mean?  Surely they don't shake salt over our meals before they serve them.   I presume they don't, but if a soup is made and salted, then there's nothing that can be done then and there, obviously. Do you think they shake salt over a steak when they're broiling it?  If you arrange for a low salt diet, and choose the menu items, does this mean that your food items are cooked separately and salted less, or does it mean you're restricted to certain items?  I'm trying to think of a single soup I've had on Regent that has NOT been oversalted.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Wendy The Wanderer

[gnomie1]

48 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Funny, I almost never drink regular tap water onboard ship, but still get the edema

 

I have a question about the "dietary" head waiter and asking for a low salt diet.  What can they do, and what does "no added salt" mean?  Surely they don't shake salt over our meals before they serve them.   I presume they don't, but if a soup is made and salted, then there's nothing that can be done then and there, obviously. Do you think they shake salt over a steak when they're broiling it?  If you arrange for a low salt diet, and choose the menu items, does this mean that your food items are cooked separately and salted less, or does it mean you're restricted to certain items?  I'm trying to think of a single soup I've had on Regent that has NOT been oversalted.

There are a number of passengers on Regent who require a sodium restricted diet - what will happen is that the day before, you will receive the menus for all the restaurants with all options available - you select your choices and submit it the night before and when you arrive for your meal(s) the next day, no matter what restaurant you chose to dine in, you just need to provide your suite # and the food items that you have ordered will be prepared with the restrictions requested, i.e., no salt added.  You have the ability to eat all the items available to the general cruise population.

 

gnomie 

[HotRoot]

41 minutes ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Funny, I almost never drink regular tap water onboard ship, but still get the edema

 

I have a question about the "dietary" head waiter and asking for a low salt diet.  What can they do, and what does "no added salt" mean?  Surely they don't shake salt over our meals before they serve them.   I presume they don't, but if a soup is made and salted, then there's nothing that can be done then and there, obviously. Do you think they shake salt over a steak when they're broiling it?  If you arrange for a low salt diet, and choose the menu items, does this mean that your food items are cooked separately and salted less, or does it mean you're restricted to certain items?  I'm trying to think of a single soup I've had on Regent that has NOT been oversalted.

 

Have you ever been on a galley tour?  Beef is covered in salt as a marinade.  Yes, they do shake salt over everything, even scrambled eggs.  Our bowls of soup are separated before they add the salt.  Our meat is not salted.  The reason we say no added salt is because we do like bacon and other naturally salty foods in limited amounts.  If you say no salt, they will not serve you naturally salty food.  And I guess bacon is not really naturally salty since the processing makes it salty.  So, yes our food is prepared separately without salt.  Our problem with salt is it makes us swell.  We almost stopped cruising after a 3 week cruise when the only shoes we could wear were flip flops or the slippers in the cabin.  

 

For a 7 night cruise, we do not worry about the salt.  We take water pills and if we start swelling, we just take a pill.  For anything over 7 nights, we request a no added salt diet.  It works on all cruise lines we have been on.  They do like to know ahead of time so our travel agent lets the home office know.  Then we meet in the dining room after boarding and make sure they have us on the list.  The only difference is some cruise lines have you order the previous evening at dinner.  Others drop the menu in your cabin and you turn it in at breakfast.  We have never been served any food dish that tasted salty.

 

We have been able to do this when we have reservations in specialty restaurants.  At breakfast, since you cannot preorder, they do know to not add any salt to our food, ie, do not salt our scrambled eggs.  Lunch is hit or miss as to amount of salt but if we can skip the salt at dinner, we can handle some salt at lunch.  But, if something tastes salty, I don't eat it.  Because I have been cooking salt free for over 30 years, I do not like the taste of salt.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

47 minutes ago, gnomie1 said:

There are a number of passengers on Regent who require a sodium restricted diet - what will happen is that the day before, you will receive the menus for all the restaurants with all options available - you select your choices and submit it the night before and when you arrive for your meal(s) the next day, no matter what restaurant you chose to dine in, you just need to provide your suite # and the food items that you have ordered will be prepared with the restrictions requested, i.e., no salt added.  You have the ability to eat all the items available to the general cruise population.

 

gnomie 

 

Yeah, I get that, but just wondered how much difference it would make.  HotRoot explains it well below.

40 minutes ago, HotRoot said:

 

Have you ever been on a galley tour?  Beef is covered in salt as a marinade.  Yes, they do shake salt over everything, even scrambled eggs.  Our bowls of soup are separated before they add the salt.  Our meat is not salted.  The reason we say no added salt is because we do like bacon and other naturally salty foods in limited amounts.  If you say no salt, they will not serve you naturally salty food.  And I guess bacon is not really naturally salty since the processing makes it salty.  So, yes our food is prepared separately without salt.  Our problem with salt is it makes us swell.  We almost stopped cruising after a 3 week cruise when the only shoes we could wear were flip flops or the slippers in the cabin.  

 

For a 7 night cruise, we do not worry about the salt.  We take water pills and if we start swelling, we just take a pill.  For anything over 7 nights, we request a no added salt diet.  It works on all cruise lines we have been on.  They do like to know ahead of time so our travel agent lets the home office know.  Then we meet in the dining room after boarding and make sure they have us on the list.  The only difference is some cruise lines have you order the previous evening at dinner.  Others drop the menu in your cabin and you turn it in at breakfast.  We have never been served any food dish that tasted salty.

 

We have been able to do this when we have reservations in specialty restaurants.  At breakfast, since you cannot preorder, they do know to not add any salt to our food, ie, do not salt our scrambled eggs.  Lunch is hit or miss as to amount of salt but if we can skip the salt at dinner, we can handle some salt at lunch.  But, if something tastes salty, I don't eat it.  Because I have been cooking salt free for over 30 years, I do not like the taste of salt.

 

Yes, I've been on many galley tours, but never have seen them shaking salt all over the food.  I'm stunned by this, what a shame, really.  Anyways, what you say makes sense, and glad to hear I still have soup once in a while.  Yes, I love smoked salmon, for instance.  Good advice about breakfast and lunch.  uess I can custom-order the eggs instead of just taking the pre-made scrambled.  Onboard ship I try to limit lunch, if I eat it, to salads since I find it hard to get enough vegetables onboard (I love vegetables.)  I use salt judiciously in cooking, sparingly, but never salt my plate, and avoid prepared foods with high salt content.  I can also talk to my doctor at the time about an extra water pill if I need it--I take a prescription for high blood pressure but it's no longer a simple water pill.

 

Thanks for the reassurance, all.  Maybe if enough pax ask for the "no salt added" diet the kitchen will do something about this.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Wendy The Wanderer