Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Eating within a Paleo Template while traveling, while doing an eating challenge


I traveled recently and I'm doing the Health and Comedy Low Carb Challenge.  A little advanced planning and I stayed on plan, most of the time. We had another good flight with Southwest.

What worked:
1. Big A$$et salads: I  brought salads for my meals at the airport. Pictured-  chicken, avocado, grilled onions, broccoli slaw, a little pink salt, balsamic vinegar, and some olive oil. The broccoli slaw made delicious crunchy, marinated noodles. Jr. Family Member approved.

2. Ate 3 meals a day: less messing around with snacks and being "fat adapted" meant I could walk and travel on an easier schedule. The smells at the airport were not as tempting.

3. Brought coconut oil: Yeah! Small, plastic, leak proof container. Checked luggage. It worked.

4. Stopping at a Farmer's Market on the trip: I picked up fresh vegetables and a few fruits.  Nom-nom.  Pinnacle Farms AZ

5. Taking over the kitchen: I took charge of the cooking. That way, I could both cook up food to re-heat later and for the meals during the day. The relatives are used to it. Everybody packed back the grass fed beef from the farmer's market.  Delicious. I'll be buying more on the next trip. Double Check Ranch. I'm going to get a cool grass-fed t-shirt on my next trip.


6. Buying breakfast from the food truck. Jr Family member says "best breakfast burrito ever". My eggs were very good. Karen (pictured in the photo- see below) is also gluten free. Super Farm Super Truck I knew I would not get an accidental gluten exposure eating here.
Buying breakfast was a lot cheaper than eating in the hotel. Better for us, too. I did forget to ask for my eggs to be cooked without dairy, and I picked out MOST of the cheese. Since I did not eat a cinnamon roll, chocolate covered raisins, or fig newtons, I'm counting this trip as a win!  ;)
7. Lots of coffee: Yeah, there was coffee and it was good!
Preparation before and during the trip made staying on the challenge a lot easier. I would have just packed some almonds and macadamias, but the challenge helped me travel with out snacking. Good stuff. This trial run gave me confidence for longer, less convenient trips.

What didn't work before I changed my diet: The old travel days
1. We would not eat many vegetables while traveling
2. We snacked constantly, and were "hungry" constantly due to our sweet/salty snacks.
3. The quality of the stuff we brought, store bought. Not so hot.
4. We ate at Starbucks for breakfast. I thought it was healthy.... :0
5. We brought in take out- a lot, hey, it was Diet Coke so I can have this cookie........ :0
6. We liked to make those waffles at the hotel... because the breakfast was free.. noooooo! Nothing is free.
7. Dumping loads of diary in my coffee, and little blue packets. I'm really glad to be off that stuff.

That's my scoop. This was one of the easier trips, because I had access to a kitchen. Eating well while traveling is awesome. Come home and come back feeling good. It's worth it.




7 comments:

  1. Yes, I have a trip to the Holy Land in October, so I'm already mentally preparing. ;) thanks for the tips!

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  2. I actually found it easy to eat paleo while traveling! My biggest problem is social eating, and while traveling, I am just with my fiance who eats paleo with me :)

    On the road, I would eat a lot of salads with grilled chicken, order fish with steamed veg, etc, etc. I really have an aversion now to processed, chemically food so it is easier to stay away from fast food and whatnot!

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  3. I was able to stay paleo traveling recently too. It just takes being super vigilant about your choices.

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  4. Loved this. I'm already thinking how I'm going to manage our Disneyland vacation. I don't have all the restrictions you do - I eat dairy, etc...but I sure don't eat the way the rest of my family does, or the way I would last year!! Usually we bought "Disney Dollars"..not this time, lol. I did already order some protein bars which should help me in a pinch if I can't find a better meal option for breakfast or lunch in the park, and I'll be drinking a lot of water. And I figure any place we eat dinner will hopefully have a salad or fish option....anyway, love hearing how pro-active and successful you were!

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  5. Gwen, Jeannette, Susan, Vickie and Cheri- thank for stopping by.
    Jeannette- so true about naturally wanting to eat whole foods. I'll stop by a grocery store over Subway any day and make my own meal from whole grocery foods.

    Hi Joyful Susan! I look forward to following you along your paleo path at your blog. :)

    Cheri, I've had good luck at Disneyland- salads (no bread bowl) with protein, bringing my own, grilled food. Even walking over to IHOP to get an omelet (ask for NO pancake batter), so on and so forth. I google a "gluten free menu" before I go and there are blogs that have the deets. I know you'll make it work. :)

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  6. I find that when I eat well on a vacation, I tend to enjoy the vacation even more. I don't have regret and negative feelings dogging me while I'm trying to have fun, and I definitely feel better when I get home. I've done pretty well shedding the "this is a special occasion so I'll eat whatever I want" mindset. It took a long time!

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