How Do You Keep Your Healthy Habits When You Travel?

I’ve been contemplating how to write about the food from my weekend trip to MA. I don’t think my friends that I visited read this blog, but I also don’t want to say anything that could be construed as an insult about the way they eat.  I really do like to think I’m pretty sensitive to people at all places along the food continuum. That’s an essential part of my job as a wellness coach because I can’t expect everyone to eat perfectly (and who says my understanding of “perfect eating” is right for everyone anyway?!).  I do think everyone is different regarding what types of foods they thrive on, myself included. I used to think I could just live on carbs, and at times I really tested this method (animal crackers and juice boxes anyone?).

During my trip, I did not take pictures of the food (and the three of us also made a pact not to take photographs at the beach for fear a bikini picture would end up on Facebook for all to see). When I arrived in Acton on Friday night, I had already eaten in the car—half a bag of Sesame Blues (blue corn tortilla chips), a bottle of water, and a granny smith apple. Well-rounded nutrition? No. Could have been better. Do I feel badly about it?  No—I didn’t stop at McDonalds!

On Saturday morning I had a feeling it would be a long time till I ate anything really acceptable to me, so I retrieved an avocado from my car and ate it with a spoon. Weird? Maybe.  But it was satisfying, and kind of an insurance policy in case it was a long time till I could eat.

On our way to the beach, we ended up stopping at a sub shop. I ordered a Greek salad, made up of iceberg, 1 tomato slice, 1 olive, and about a cup of feta cheese. Oh, and italian dressing. No comment.

Beth packed some veggies from her mom’s garden for snacks at the beach—score!  I drank a bottle of water and ate cucumbers.

Dinner—at a local restaurant. I had been anticipating some fancy Boston food (swoon), but this wasn’t the case.  It was home-y and small town restaurant quality. I ordered a salad and crab cakes. Iceberg once again donned my plate…and then there were the crab cakes. Mayonnaise, egg, and breadcrumbs anyone?

I also had a glass of wine and ended up getting dessert for some strange reason. Have I mentioned that I need to be on a no-sugar diet right now?  I killed that.

But what should I have done?  Really—what do you do when you are not in your domain and your friends don’t know you’re food-crazy?  I have always been the type of person to just blend in and go with the flow. It’s difficult for me to make any demands or ask for special consideration.

I might have to start though.

On Sunday morning, Catie very nicely offered for us to go shopping and buy veggies.  I decided I might as well head home—we didn’t have any plans anyway. That’s when I went to Whole Paycheck Foods. I bought some healthier things for the ride home, including a mixed greens salad with pecans and goat cheese and a gluten free vinaigrette. I stopped at the last rest stop on the Mass Pike to get gas (it was $.12 cheaper per gallon than in NY—I was totally being responsible!), so I ate my salad then too.

Oh, I also bought a package of dark chocolate covered goji berries and ate those while I was driving.  Healthy junk food?  Yep. But it still wasn’t McDonald’s!!!

After I returned home, it was really hard for me to instantly snap back onto my healthy track. I ate coconut ice cream Sunday night (more healthy junk…and more than zero grams of sugar for sure).  I felt awful for two days and was so tired I could barely do my work (and boy, do I have work to do!). I’ve proven to myself repeatedly that I can function much better without sugar in my life.  I get it. It’s that crazy consistency thing. Joe doesn’t really understand—he asks me why, if I know what I should do, I don’t just do it?  If I knew the answer to that, I’d be a bazillion-aire because I’d tell you too.  All kidding aside, it’s a process, and progress is not instant. I can look back over the last year and I’m much further along in the wellness department.  That’s what I need to focus on.  What are some of your coping and “mental game” strategies?

How do you keep your healthy habits when you travel?