Keto in Vegas đ˛(99.9% of the time at least)
So this March I had the privilege of skyrocketing my own Visa bill and taking a 5 day trip to the capital of gambling and day drinking. What did I learn the most? Probably that more than 4-5 hours of sleep per night is key unless you actually enjoy feeling out of body while walking down the Vegas strip. Needless to say â having to keep up Keto while I was in a place where they served waffles and fried chicken FOR BREAKFAST was tough, but not impossible !
Small disclaimer: around day 4 & 5 I did indulge in a few small non Keto worthy treats ⌠I mean hey, you only live once and what happens in Vegas stays there! But not really cuz Iâm proclaiming it out in the open on my blogâŚOh well, so much for that saying đŠ
Day 1 felt like I had just taken on a whole new challenge, and technically it was quite a big one. When youâre on vacation, dietary limits seem like a huge drag â you want to indulge in everything because itâs all so different! But in all honesty, I was actually concerned on what I could get my hands on and eat without seriously sabotaging all my hard work that Iâve done so far. But with a dash of determination and supportive friends along the way â Keto in Vegas was actually quite the breeze.
I didnât drink too much on this trip (staying closer to harder liquor without too much juice when I did have a glass in hand) but this is a nice outline for anyone who still wants to âstay hydratedâ while on Keto.
BREAKFASTS: đł
Below is a quick example of what it meant to keep up with healthier Keto friendly meal choices
As you can see, to the right is scrumptious fried chicken with bacon filled waffles that my friends had, I mean come on⌠this is pure torture for someone eating a boring salmon omelet with tomatoes & spinach ! đŠNo hate though, the omelet was very tasty (didnât touch much of the berries though since they were mostly unfrozen packaged ones ⌠blehh, but I did have the 2 apple & orange slices).
This was at Hash A Go Go quite the breakfast place if ever you were looking for super diverse options all served on a hugeeee plate. You can find her inside the Linq Hotel & Casino.
Next up, there was my go to EggSlut and what a beauty she was! Some pure cheddar cheese, a nice warm egg with steamy bacon, and arugula with shaved parmesan ⌠miam ! đThis technically came in a bun like a breakfast sandwich, but I opted for the salad option to obviously avoid any carby breads.
Given that my friends and I were staying at the Linq Hotel, Hash A Go Go was definitely convenient to grab some food before weâd venture out. So back again, I decided to try one of their âmessy omeletsâ which had bacon, avocado, Swiss cheese, and onions.
Honeydew isnât too bad on Keto, itâs just before the âhalfwayâ mark in the Keto friendly fruit list. Coming in around 5.68g of net carbs per 100g. A nice website that summarizes appropriate fruits on Keto and their net carb content per 100g can be found here: https://www.ruled.me/best-low-carb-fruits-avoid/
Lastly, before we left for the airport we checked out one of the best brunch buffets in Vegas at Wicked Spoon situated in the Cosmopolitan. đĽ Of all times to kindaaaa stray outside the Keto lines, this was it.
I mostly ate what was Keto friendly, but I did try some of the things that were pretty unique â like Hibiscus yogurt below. đş Accompanied with it is a feta-spinach omelet and prime rib, which is a nice fattier meat.
Three ounces of prime rib contains 298 calories, more than half of which comes from fat. One serving contains 23.9 grams of fat, which provide 215 of the 298 calories. Of the 23.9 g of fat in one serving of prime rib, 9.6 g are saturated fat. https://www.livestrong.com/article/320805-prime-rib-of-beef-nutrition/
Some intense Keto people might point the finger and be all âyouâre not a true Keto member you had Hibiscus yogurt and tried other non-Keto approved foods!!â but hey â this is my journey, and being in Vegas is something that will probably only happen once or twice in my life (maybe three times). So, if you thought this would be a post on how you should never stray from Keto on vaca EVER and if you do then youâre a fraud⌠youâve come to the wrong blog! Life is all about balance. đHaving ambition is admirable, but so is understanding when itâs an appropriate moment to loosen the reigns and enjoy this miracle of an experience we call life. So yes â if youâre on Keto in Vegas at Wicked Spoon, try the yogurt and the tiny â4 bite bowlâ of pasta they got.
LUNCHES: đĽ
Keto lunches werenât too hard at all, because all I had to do was find places that had nice bowls of salad with some protein/fats in it â which were pretty much everywhere.
To the left is a Fall Harvest salad â mixed greens, bacon, Gala apple slices, tomatoes, blue cheese, (cranberries which I asked to be taken out), pecans, apple cider vinegar and some grilled chicken which I added as an extra. Believe it or not, this was at a pizza restaurant called Flour & Barley so keep an open mind when shopping around for a meal!
To the right, some good old Chipotle !! đŻ Which I had for the first time ever, and wow â twasâ guuuuudddddd. I ordered a burrito bowl, and to replace the rice base I simply asked for them to put Romaine lettuce instead (and no beans) which they graciously did! Layered on top is some steak, Monterey Jack cheese, a spoon of tomato salsa, and a heaping pile of GUAC. Was I in Vegas or Heaven? I couldnât tell anymore.
Other lunches I had were the following:
To the left is an Asian salad that I had at a food court inside Ceasarâs Palace which consisted of â Napa cabbage, mixed greens, radicchio, pulled chicken, peppers, edamame, snow peas, sprouts, and a bit of shredded carrots. To the right is the Wellness Salad which I ordered at The Cheesecake Factory (ironic I know!) If you want to see the ingredients in that, just click the link I attached.
Overall though, if you did want to get an idea of some low carb veggies that would be ideal on Keto or just in general for some salads/meals you want to make, you can check out this website it has a nice overview of net carbs per 100g: https://www.ruled.me/best-low-carb-vegetables-ketogenic-diet/
DINNERS: đ˝
So for the dinner section, I donât have many pics just because our breakfasts were sooo huge and filling, that we usually ate lunch later on in the day, so the need for a sit down âdinnerâ wasnât really needed. There were nights where we tried fancier restaurants, so thatâs what I will post below.
On Monday, we ate at B&B which is located in the Venetian Hotel. A link to the menu and restaurant can be found here: http://bandbristorante.com/ As you can see, itâs a beautiful Italian restaurant! For our Antipasti, we ordered the Calamari and Grilled Octopus (which was amazing and is definitely better on Keto than anything fried, such as the Calamari).
For the Secondi, the main course, I had the Short Rib âal Baroloâ which had a small base of cornmeal Polenta (definitely high in carbs but an idea for a Keto friendly Polenta can simply be to use Almond Meal instead of Cornmeal). I didnât ask for them to remove the Polenta because I wanted to grab a picture of the meal (which was so fancy) served as is, to at least show you how it looked (for any non-Keto in Vegas) but also to give people a better idea of how they can actually create the same meal but with better Keto substitutes.
Overall, this meal experience was a solid 10/10.
Next up was Sushi Roku at Caesarâs Palace and this is a great place to go if youâre in a large group, because then you can order a lot of plates and get to indulge in all the different flavours each one has to offer! đŁ
First up was seared salmon with avocado (the better one to focus on while on Keto), and fried calamari:
Second was some Tuna Tartare & guac with Beef Rib Eye wrapped Asparagus:
Last but not least, some spicy scallop rolls (cut 8 pieces total for our group).
Obviously rice on Keto isnât recommended. I had about 4 sushi pieces total, so for the sake of what was possibly the BEST sushi Iâve ever eaten in my ENTIRE life â I regret nothing.
SNACKS: đ
For snacks in between meals, it was a mix between liquids and solids. For the liquids I usually had an iced unsweetened coffee with coconut milk from Starbucks, but for the duration of the trip I sipped on one KeVita Kombucha bottle, since the pineapple peach flavor did have some sugar in it.
As for the solids, just some Questbars that are great low carb protein bars (the oatmeal chocolate chip coming in at 5g net carbs & 7g fat).
On the more fancier side, some amazingly delicious sugar-free raspberry mousse cakes (which were bite sized so there was plentyyyyy of room on my plate for them). đI also tried this Gluten Free chocolate chip cookie at Sprinkles, which is situated on the Linq Promenade. I canât say it was Keto.. but it was damn good, and probably the only big âreal cheatâ I made during the entire trip. Nothing to hide here people! For anyone who isnât on Keto, definitely check out the desserts they have .. itâs literally endless.
And there you have it guys! Overall, Keto in Vegas is definitely possible if you seek out the right meals and places that offer them. I didnât neeeeed to have the choices of sushi or the few sweets (which then would have made my trip more like 100% Keto appropriate), but given this special occasion of being away with my friends in Vegas, I did allow myself some small indulgences a fraction of the time spent there. This was a personal choice, and like I said balance is key. So if youâre already on Keto/just starting, and youâre having a hard time keeping up with the appropriate foods, pleaseeeee donât beat yourself up. There are greater tragedies in life. Youâre already making a decision and lifestyle change that not many people will ever take on, so stay strong, find ways to maintain your focus and move at your own pace!
Now that Iâm back home, Keto meals and snacks are back in full swing. Stay tuned for the recipes that Iâll be posting!
Cheers! đĽ
Written By: Paula Giannone.
