{"id":10228,"date":"2010-01-14T13:52:33","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T17:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/?p=10228"},"modified":"2010-01-14T13:52:33","modified_gmt":"2010-01-14T17:52:33","slug":"anxiety-regarding-eating-while-traveling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/2010\/01\/anxiety-regarding-eating-while-traveling\/","title":{"rendered":"Anxiety Regarding Eating While Traveling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Really long post ahead!\u00a0 Prepare yourselves kiddies! :D<\/p>\n

Earlier this week Kim<\/a> (if you’re not reading her blog please start! She’s awesome!) about dealing with weight and eating while traveling<\/a>.\u00a0 Her question at the end of the post was this:<\/p>\n

What are your tips for eating healthy when you are in a situation that normally triggers the opposite?<\/em><\/p>\n

Great question!\u00a0 Here is the second half of my response to her (If you want to read the first half, follow the link!):<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m away it\u2019s really hard for me to feel like I have control over the food situation. I\u2019m really specific on my needs and wants, and clearly when staying with someone else that is very hard. I try to eat as many fruits and veggies as I can at every opportunity. If it\u2019s a special occasion or you really only see them once a year, splurging is totally allowed and necessary.\u00a0 I may have to do a post on this so I can go more in depth.<\/em><\/p>\n

When I said that it’s really hard for me to feel like I have control, what I really mean is that in my head I silently freak the hell out because I’m not in control.\u00a0 I have an extremely hard time going off my schedule and going with the flow when it comes to food.\u00a0 When I get off schedule, my bod feels like crap.\u00a0 I don’t like that feeling at all.\u00a0 Traveling and eating create a good bit of anxiety for me and I hate it.<\/p>\n

This is really a two-fold issue for me.<\/p>\n

The first issue stems from the fact that my body needs and requires a great deal of produce.\u00a0 Like, can I just live on a farm already?\u00a0 You guys that have been with me for a while, you’ve seen how much fruits and veggies I take in, it’s a lot.\u00a0 Which causes me to thank the baby jeebus that I’ve got a husband who can provide the dough necessary to keep us in produce because if our food was based on what I make?\u00a0 Pfftttt canned peas anyone?\u00a0 But for those that are new to OHC here’s a brief rundown:<\/p>\n

Breakfast:<\/strong> Fresh fruit at breakfast, usually a banana in oats or oatbran.\u00a0 Or an apple with yogurt.\u00a0 Sometimes even more fruit is added to the oats or oatbran for extra volume.<\/p>\n

Lunch:<\/strong> Salad, Smoothie (consisting of juice, fresh greens, and frozen fruit), along with fresh fruit.<\/p>\n

Dinner:<\/strong> Veggie based something or other.\u00a0 Occasionally there is protein on the side.<\/p>\n

All day long I am stuffing my face with veggies and produce.\u00a0 When traveling it can be really hard to fit this all in.\u00a0 To make things more complicated, I need raw fruits and veggies during the day.\u00a0 My body runs best when I have at least one raw meal.\u00a0 I can go a day without but that’s about it.\u00a0 If I start going longer without raw produce I start feeling like crap.\u00a0 My skin turns icky gray, I feel bloated and run down.\u00a0 I feel like a big pile of yuck.\u00a0 If my produce intake gets even more limited then I really turn into a mess.<\/p>\n

Recently I took a trip to San Fran for a foodie festival (Foodbuzz) and that was a really hard challenge to face.\u00a0 When Lori<\/a> and I were out and about, I ate salads with my meals as often as I could.\u00a0 We were also lucky enough to stumble across a farmer’s market and we picked up some fresh fruit for the week which was really beneficial!\u00a0 But when we were provided with “meals” during the festival this is when I got really frustrated and cranky.\u00a0 The things that were given as our choices were pretty much meat-centric.\u00a0 There was not\u00a0 a lot of veggie love to be had and I was a little sad about that.\u00a0 There were also a lot of sweets around, which I just don’t eat because it’s not my thing.\u00a0 So while most people were stuffed, I actually was walking around starving the majority of the time because there was nothing for me to really eat.\u00a0 I sampled some of the meat items to taste but that’s because I don’t really dig on having a huge portion of meat as a meal or snack.<\/p>\n

There was one raw station that sadly not many people were interested in but I hovered around like crazy because finally some veggies! And they are raw! Score!\u00a0 I loved that stuff!\u00a0 But that was one day and one time.\u00a0 The last meal was a farewell brunch that had two salads along with other stuff.\u00a0 I don’t even remember the other stuff because I was busying stuffing my face with salad!\u00a0 Two kinds! And I went back twice to fill my plate.<\/p>\n

Looking back on the situation I think two things could have rectified this:<\/em><\/p>\n

1. If the festival would have made it more clear that they were providing actual X number of sitdown meals, and everything else was going to be snacks and samples. Had I realized this I would have made other plans.\u00a0 This was the first time this festival was held so it is a learning curve and I understand that.<\/p>\n

2. Be more assertive and explain that I need something real to eat and then get it.\u00a0 I was trying to be all go-with-the-flow to try and let go of my issues but it didn’t work out for me.\u00a0 I need to realize that as it’s happening and take charge.\u00a0 After all, this is me and my body, I’m responsible for it not anyone else.<\/p>\n

This leads up to my second issue of feeling like I’m forced to eat something I don’t want to<\/em>.\u00a0 This happens when you are presented with food someone else has made.\u00a0 How do you deal with the situation if it’s something you don’t eat?<\/p>\n

This is a situation that causes me the most anxiety.\u00a0 I have not had to deal with it all that much so far, thankfully.\u00a0 I have been to potlucks and such where I’m able to skirt around not eating or find something as healthy as possible and eat that.\u00a0 I hate being asked about the food though because how do you handle someone asking you if you ate such-n-such or how was such-n-such when you didn’t eat it because it’s not something you would eat?\u00a0 Do you politely lie and say it was good?<\/p>\n

I have a lot of beliefs and personal guidelines I follow and this obviously isn’t always the same as how others choose to live and eat.\u00a0 This can get in the way of eating and I’ve been in situations where I made myself eat something even though I so did not want to, just so I wouldn’t offend the person offering it.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m at someone’s house\/party\/function whatever and it’s a sitdown meal with mashed potatoes, roast (it could be any meat type though), and corn.\u00a0 Well now this is a huge dilemma for me. <\/em><\/p>\n

1. I would rather not eat roast and this is because I have no idea where you purchased that roast.\u00a0 Is it from a local farmer or was it on sale this week at the Kroger?\u00a0 As a personal life rule, I don’t eat grocery store meat.\u00a0 Factory farmed meats are a huge no-no in my book.\u00a0 The last time I purchased grocery store meat was 2002 or thereabouts.\u00a0 Yet I have been in situations like this where I felt like I was forced to eat the dish and so did.\u00a0 I felt ill.\u00a0 Not only for the fact that I just supported a practice I loath but also with myself for giving in and eating it.\u00a0 UGH!<\/p>\n

2. The mashed potatoes.\u00a0 Chances are it’s not organic milk and it’s probably loaded with butter.\u00a0 You may have even used cream or half and half.\u00a0 I’ll eat a nibble but that’s about it.\u00a0 Again, personal guidelines come into play.\u00a0 I don’t really want a cream and butter laden dish.\u00a0 I’ll eat it but only a small portion.<\/p>\n

3. Corn I’ll just deal with and eat.<\/p>\n

Man these types of situations are really hard for me to handle. \u00a0 I don’t want to feel like I’m forced to eat something or compromise my beliefs just to make someone else feel better.\u00a0 Yet I absolutely don’t want to offend someone either (to take it a step further, if someone is offended by your diet, that’s not something you can really help is it?) Keep in mind this is an example, there are lots of things I won’t eat either because of choice or because it doesn’t appeal to me.<\/p>\n

Questions this type of situation raises:<\/em><\/p>\n

How could one go about handling this type of situation?\u00a0 Asking them where the purchased the meat from no matter how well phrased, will seem like an insult and rude.\u00a0 When it’s a sitdown dinner like that, is it alright to pass on a dish?<\/p>\n

If they are a close friend or family member, does one have the right to be frustrated that their food choices and preferences weren’t taken into consideration? Or is that a selfish reaction?\u00a0 Not that I’m in anyway suggesting that someone alter their diet habits to fit your specific needs, but if there’s not even one dish you can feel good about eating, is it alright to feel a bit frustrated over that?<\/p>\n

What to do? And this is again, two fold for me:<\/p>\n

1. How do you politely decline food?<\/em><\/p>\n

If I was just attending a dinner, I would at least make sure to eat before hand and have something ready for me at home for after.\u00a0 However, if traveling and staying with another person, this isn’t always possible. Which brings us to the next issue:<\/p>\n

2. Traveling and eating while staying with others:<\/em><\/p>\n

How do you cope?<\/p>\n

Is it alright to bring your own foods?<\/p>\n

Is it alright to shop while there to pick up a few things?<\/p>\n

Is it alright to tell someone that you just don’t eat that?<\/p>\n

I told you, this stuff stresses me out!\u00a0 Part of it too is that I don’t want to get made fun of or labeled as “picky” when I’m not picky.\u00a0 I just have personal guidelines that I follow and personal food preferences that are perfect for me.\u00a0 The reality is that it shouldn’t stress me out and it shouldn’t offend others but since this isn’t an ideal world, I face those things.<\/p>\n

How do you handle these kinds of situations?\u00a0 Does this stuff stress you out as well?\u00a0 Do you even think about it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Really long post ahead!\u00a0 Prepare yourselves kiddies! Earlier this week Kim (if you’re not reading her blog please start! She’s awesome!) about dealing with weight and eating while traveling.\u00a0 Her question at the end of the post was this: What are your tips for eating healthy when you are in a situation that normally triggers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58,51],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4KYWa-2EY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}