Monthly Archives: February 2019

... it can be done.

Traveling is another challenge for us. I think I mentioned in my first post that we were inspired by Dr. Michael Brown, who travels around the world and yet manages to stay with his Nutritarian eating. It does take some planning and some work for sure.

One of the things I have always enjoyed when traveling is not having to cook meals or clean up afterwards. Eating in restaurants or having meals prepared by others was a luxury and something I looked forward to, maybe even the thing I enjoyed the most! The problem is that after a week (or however many days) of out-of-control eating, it would be almost impossible to return to the discipline necessary to eat healthy. So, we resolved to do whatever necessary to continue to eat healthy even on the road.

We started our new eating lifestyle on June 17, knowing that we had several trips on the horizon. I decided to look at it as a personal challenge. I knew our success was hanging in the balance on this one, so I started organizing a strategy for each trip. The first one was a driving trip, so I was able to take my key kitchen tools that would allow us to continue our normal routine. We did find a hotel room that included a kitchenette which helped a great deal.

It was on this trip last July that 
Mark asked me to start 
collecting pictures 
for this blog during 
the Healthy series. 

The second trip required flying, so it was more of a challenge. I couldn’t pack all my favorite kitchen tools in my suitcase, so I had to choose carefully. Mark spoke at a conference early in the trip, then we had a week to enjoy a lovely vacation home graciously provided by a friend. We were able to find a great farmers market close by, along with other familiar grocery stores with healthy options. We also did some research and found a restaurant with a couple of healthy options where we celebrated Mark’s birthday.

The last two trips were also by air, but in both cases, we would not have access to a kitchen and would be eating at restaurants with limited or in some cases, no healthy options. I did come up with a few things that helped. I packed some dates and nuts which came in handy for snacks and also for adding to oatmeal, which was provided at our hotel. On the first trip, we also had a fruit basket in our room which we completely devoured. I packed a lot of soup cups that just required adding hot water and I found a little kettle for heating water. It is designed for travel and collapses — really cool! We were able to retreat to our room before or after dinner and prepare some healthy food. This allowed us to engage with people during the meals and not worry about pressure to eat foods we didn’t want to eat.

The number one difficulty that has derailed any change in eating habits for us has been eating out. Of course the easiest solution to that problem is just to always eat at home. For most days, that works for us, but our life demands that we are in some situations that include eating out. We travel often, which means we sometimes have little control over when, where and what our food choices are. We often meet with people over meals at their invitation for various reasons and we don’t get the privilege of choosing the location or the menu. Historically, for us, that meant tossing out any restraint and just going with the flow. This time, however, we have committed to making good choices, or at least the best choices available to us even in these less-than-ideal situations. We have come up with a few strategies that help.

It’s surprising what modifications you can make if you ask. For example, I often order a large salad as my entree and emphasize that I do not want any meat or cheese included. I sometimes take salad dressing along with me or ask for lemon wedges to dress my salad.

For most restaurants serving dinner, a baked potato is an option and I order it dry — nothing on it. It’s amazing how filling that is and keeps temptation down when the dessert tray comes around. (I actually learned this one from Mark and when I first watched him eat a whole potato with no butter or sour cream — just a little salt and pepper, I was amazed at how much he seemed to enjoy it.)

I have been off refined sugar so long that those desserts really don’t tempt me and experience has taught me that foods full of butter and sugar will make me ill later, so I keep that in mind when the pressure is on. I never regret turning down what I know I shouldn’t eat. And, I know we have good things waiting at home (see below).

Once in a while, we are in a situation with no good options. We were at a catered dinner last fall where there was nothing healthy offered. Not one single fruit or vegetable in sight! Of course we had to eat to be polite, and the key here is that one meal didn’t get us off track the next day. In fact, in this case, it made us appreciate all the more the healthy food we normally eat every day.

Hint for husbands: One thing that makes me smile every day is how my husband reacts to my cooking. Everything I cook is “the best thing he has ever tasted!”  Even though I am very much aware of his tendency toward hyperbole, it definitely encourages me to
keep cooking!