I was asked by a reader:
Hey Katie,
It would be great if you could do a post on eating healthy on vacation, especially how you deal with when you first arrive and haven’t had time to go grocery shopping yet. I always struggle with that! And working out too. Love your blog by the way!
I’m really lucky because the beach house where we’re staying is equipped with a full kitchen (oven, microwave, fridge and freezer). And—as I mentioned in my previous post—my parents drove down a week before me, taking dangerous “Katie things” I couldn’t bring on an airplane. They also bought a few staples, during the week, to save me from having to go grocery shopping first thing.
Breakfast was an old favorite: Blended Oatmeal Pudding.
I cooked the oatmeal in Texas and took it on the airplane in a small Magic Bullet cup. Thankfully, no one tried to stop me.
The above was my breakfast backdrop.
For lunch, on the first day, I utilized some of the items my parents bought. My meal was close to the ugly meal from yesterday’s post—with the monster salad, Artisana coconut butter, and Chee-fu. The only difference was that I had a bowl of corn instead of the zucchini fries. And now that I have had time to go grocery shopping, I’m eating very similarly to the way I always eat.
There’s just one exception: Since I’m on vacation, I want to enjoy the scenery, the town, the beach, etc. I don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen all day. So I’m keeping things simple—less cooking, more “thrown together” meals, with lotsa salads and fresh fruits and veggies (taking advantage of those side-of-the-road farmers’ markets we don’t have in Texas). Plus, being out shopping or hanging in the town requires portable snacks, so I’ll often exchange my beloved blended pudding or Vita-Mix ice cream snacks for Jocalat bars, fudge baby bars, raw nuts, or especially fresh farmer’s-market fruits. Yesterday afternoon, for example, I feasted on this:
Juiciest box of raspberries ever. In the words of Usher: OMG! These berries hail from the cutest little farmer’s-market stand. Honestly, I want to box up the entire stand and transport it with me back to Texas. Why don’t we have places like this? Almost everything is organic, everything is local, and the stand boasts the ripest and juiciest fruit/veg. Berries, peppers, asparagus, salad greens, apples, peaches, tomatoes…
Question of the Day:
How do you eat healthily on vacation? And in the summertime, do you tend to stick to the same type of routine, or do you completely deviate from how you live during the rest of the year?
Personally, I love the freedom of not having to be at a specific place at a specific time (unlike in college– *blah*). However, as far as eating is concerned, I still pretty much eat around the same times because that’s when my body is conditioned to feel hungry. Same thing with sleeping: For the most part, I still fall asleep around 11ish and wake up naturally around 6:30 or so. If I mess with my sleep routine too much, my body feels it the next day. (All rules go out the window on dancing nights, though. Sometimes, feeling icky later is soooo worth it!) But the rest of my family—and some of my friends—follow a completely different lifestyle during the summer months, eating dinner at 10PM, sleeping til noon, and having pizza for breakfast.
Thanks, Gisela, for the question. I’ll try to get to the second part of your question (about working out) later this week.
Ooh – the traveling question. That is always a toughy. I have food allergies and sensitivities – so I plan ahead (or try to) and bring a few staples that I know will get me through. And then I always look ahead of time to see if there is a whole foods or a market near me with gluten free options. And then – there is always getting my food delivered if I am in the US – puremarketexpress.com delivers raw/vegan food anywhere in the US. That works in a pinch too:) But true – somtimes we do have to just eat fruit and cucumbers:)
I also have food allergies (dairy and gluten) and I mostly eat raw and vegan when possible. Although, I have not traveled much since I was diagnosed with my allergies, I did recently travel to Israel. Israel was a great place to travel with my restricted diet. Almost everywhere I went there were delicious options. The outside markets were amazing (fruits, fresh figs, etc.) and in the really commercial areas there were usually grocery stores alongside fast food stores, so I was able to throw something together no matter what. I usually was able to find someone who spoke Herbrew or Arabic that could ask the chef about ingredients before I ordered. For those who cannot eat gluten be very aware of the falafel because most of them contain gluten.
Huh. I find it odd that someone actually considers eating late at night and sleeping in to be “taking the low road” and not enjoying life to the fullest (who’s idea of fullest, I wonder?). What? Seems a bit judgmental to me.
I eat late some nights due to working until around 6 and then running after work. I’m not home until 8 most nights when I do a run, even later if I’m doing my LSD run for the week on a weekday night (rare, but it happens). I then have to tend to the ratkids and the cats and cook dinner – meaning I often don’t sit down to eat until after 9. I don’t think eating dinner late is one of the “worst” habits to have. Hasn’t Katie even blogged about how your body has no idea what time it is when you’re eating? A calorie is a calorie. Some of us work later and work out at night and NEED to eat to refuel, period.
And man, if sleeping ’til noon on my off day of work/running (when I can, which is not often) means I’m not enjoying life, so be it. I’m having a pretty excellent time, IMO. I just happen to NOT be a morning person. I’ve always been a night owl and see my SO, crochet, paint, read, relax, play video games, etc. in the evening after work/workout/dinner time. I think getting up at the buttcrack of dawn and in bed by 9 pm sound awful to me, personally (and it’s one of the myriad reasons I’ve chosen not to have kids – kids can kill your sleep! LOL). Don’t see me getting all high and mighty about it, though. Sheesh.
I was told that anything you can “pour” or “smear” is considered a liquid! You’re lucky they let you through with the oatmeal! I made sure to check my jar of peanut butter when I went to Europe. I took a ton of packaged snacks with me (I wasn’t sure what fresh stuff would be allowed through security) – tons of Clif bars, Luna bars, nuts, cereal, and oatmeal. I went to the grocery store a lot, so I ate relatively similar to how I do at home (and saved a ton of money!). But since it was vacation, I also ate some things I normally don’t and splurged a little.
I try to eat about the same on vacation as when I’m not on vacation, otherwise I don’t feel good. Like you, my sleep routine doesn’t change either so I’m usually hungry at the same times. Because I have more free time, I do usually spend more time making fun meals/snacks.
I LOVE your breakfast backdrop! So relaxing 🙂
Kady,
They stole my pb once 🙁
Oh, and refried beans!! Weird, huh?
Oh Demelza, that’s 1.6 eur for one apple! Here now in summertime cost 0.5 eur/kilo. From September on we have apples at home in our garden so it’s easier through winter. I tend to eat food that’s cheap so I take what’s seasonal.
How come apples and other fruits&vegies are so expensive there?