One of my biggest pet peeves is the excuse that eating Paleo is impossible when you travel. I know for sure that this isn't the case, as I've traveled to many states now, through numerous airports and stayed in a myriad of cities, all while managing to maintain my usual, clean, Paleo-fabulous lifestyle. The excuses usually come from folks that fail to plan and use traveling as a reason to eat crap since it's only "temporary" and they'll get back to "normal" when they get home.
Although traveling is only a once in a while kinda thing for Korey and me, there's a usual process that I go through to make sure that we can eat the way we want after we touch down and for the duration of our stay. Airline tickets...CHECK. Hotel room reserved...CHECK. Closest Whole Foods or health food store within reasonable distance of hotel...CHECK. Refrigerator reserved for hotel room to enable grocery preservation...CHECK. All of this takes place in only a few minutes while sitting in front of a computer with a cell phone nearby. DAMN, that was hard! Whew...I think I broke a sweat...NOT!
So, we spent most of last week in San Diego, California. Who could ask for an easier place to find and eat healthy food, right?! (Even though a lot of the locals think eating healthy = cubed and marinated tofu teriyaki with a side of quinoa and lentil salad and a glass of freshly juiced wheat grass...buhhhhhh.) We knew it'd be easy to find a Whole Foods that would have lots of local, organic veggies. We also knew the restaurants in downtown San Diego would serve up some of the freshest caught seafood and fish you could imagine. Luckily for me most of the restaurants downtown were more on the haute cuisine side which typically means you're paying more for the food and atmosphere, so the chefs are more likely to prepare things the way you'd like--even if you're loaded with a ton of allergies and "odd" food requests!
Touch down in San Diego, first stop after settling into the hotel...Whole Foods. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to walk the 3.5 mile trek to get groceries--modern day hunter gatherers! Let's just say we opted out of walking back since the following was what we ended up with on our WF hotel room haul:
Romaine hearts
Local cukes
Local zukes
Baby carrots
Jicama sticks
Avocados
Apples
Deli-sliced organic turkey
Coconut flakes
Sunbutter
Kombucha for the weekend (for me)
Zevia (for Korey)
We were hungry so we concocted some snacks off of the salad bar and we were ready to take the cab back to the room.
I know what you're thinking...where's the protein in all of that? To answer your question, that was part of my pre-departure planning. Ten cans of sardines in water is an absolute STAPLE for me when I travel. TSA doesn't really like them too much, but I've managed to get on a plane with them even after they've been removed from my carry-on, swabbed down and placed into a government-approved zip-top bag.
Breakfast, snacks and lunch had to be our of our fridge--for me anyway because while I was in conference, Korey could walk around San Diego and had time to catch meals out if he wanted. Every morning I had a couple cans of sardines, cut up zucchini, a few baby carrots and a handful of coconut flakes. Wash that down with some hot rooibos tea and I was good to go!
Snacks on my breaks: jicama sticks or baby carrots with coconut flakes and plenty of water. I was doing a lot of working out and needed to replenish.
Lunch was a typical go-to for me even when I'm at home. I mix sardines with cut up cukes and make lettuce tacos with romaine hearts. Top that off with more coconut flakes to make sure I'm getting in plenty of healthy fat, fiber and calories to get me through my long days.
Dinner was always out. Nice restaurants. Delish seafood. There wasn't a single meal, I thought, that I didn't eat fish in one form or another--now you know that included breakfast as well! I had the most beautiful baramundi at a place called Blue Pointe that was to DIE for! Scrumptious white fish with a crispy skin, slightly fatty, buttery texture, served over a bed of local mixed greens and gingered julienned snow peas. This was my favorite meal.
I know this meal plan for the trip doesn't sound too exciting for the majority of the meals I had. But, the point is that while on the road and in a hotel I managed to eat within the same principles that I live within at home. It wasn't hard, it just took a little planning on my part to make sure I would be prepared and able to eat that way. For each restaurant we went to, we'd let the server know ahead of time of the food allergies that they needed to be aware of, and as I mentioned earlier, they took good care of us. Was I embarrassed or ashamed, NO. They took appropriate care of me...remember if I get sick after eating their food if they serve it to me without following my request, that's on their head. Thus, they HAVE TO follow suit....and they did!
Fast forward to the end of the trip where we ended up spending umpteen hours in the airport due to horrific experiences with UNITED airlines. (I won't even go there with that story...I don't have time, nor the patience to get into the whole ordeal. Needless to say, it was AWEFUL!) As you know airport food is exactly the opposite...not real FOOD. When left to find something to eat after hours of forced fasting, I landed on GERBS roasted pumpkin seeds from the airport gift shop. Good fat and fiber to hold me through until my next meal (little did I know it was going to be a LONG time until then!).
Breakfast the next morning was pistachios from the same gift shop. Again when left to trying to find something to eat when all there is are fast food chains and kiosks full of processed crap, nuts seem to be the go-to. At least I knew they'd hold me over for a good while. They did.
We ended up having to rent a car from D.C. and drive home (I told you it was AWEFUL!). Once we got on the interstate, we pulled over to find an alternate, quicker route. WHAT DO YA KNOW, a Trader Joe's! It was snack time and we had found our mecca! Sardines, baby zukes, some deli mustard and romaine leaves...YUM! I was starving for protein. Korey had some TJ's roasted turkey and a Larabar (his go-to snack item). This was our last meal until we hit Chapel Hill, where we got food off the hot bar and salad bar for a late lunch.
Many lessons were learned on this trip...none of which pertain to eating on the road. We know how to do it and that it can be done. Put a little effort into it and it can be done. The more you worry about it, the less time you end up planning. I've always heard the saying if you fail to plan, you should just plan to fail. It couldn't be truer when it comes to eating healthy when you travel. You are in control of what goes in your mouth...remember that!
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