Blue Flower

     Two of my many favorite things are weekends and travel.  I enjoy the weekends because it usually means I'm going somewhere fun, with the exception of those obligatory adulting things that come up.  What I don't enjoy about the weekends or travel is all the junk food and restaurant food I eat.  During the week I stay on track with my health goals, but once the weekend gets here all bets are off.  This usually means that by Sunday night I'm laying in the bed in agony or wake up Monday morning with horrible nausea and/or stomach pain.  After the first few times any "smart" person would have put an end to this masochist cycle.  I, however, am stubborn.  This past weekend I was traveling to Raleigh, NC to visit Offspring 1 in celebration of aging one more year.  Such milestones are celebrated with food and a visit to a place of her choice.  This meant two things for me, it was the weekend and I was traveling, my two favorite culprits of my end of the weekend suffering.  This is the point where I mention that I have a problem with food.  I enjoy food, I enjoy good food.  I like eating and tasting all the wonderful flavors.

  But yet, I have another problem, I like sugar, lots of it!  However, this was going to be the first weekend where I decided to "attempt" to control myself.  This would prove to be difficult because my third problem is that I have no self-discipline.

     The Plan was to prepare my road trip snacks and/or meals to prevent me from stopping at my favorite QT (Quick Trip) and stock up on chips and candy.  Friday night I went into the garage and cleaned up my trusted Rubbermaid cooler.  It was a done deal, I was going to stay on track.  I was determined to wake up Monday morning and feel like a champ.  I woke up early on Saturday morning and prepared oatmeal for breakfast, carrot chunks for snack, my favorite fruit/spinach salad for lunch, and couscous and black beans for Offspring 2, Kellogg's Cracklin' Oat Bran for snack #2, a banana, sparkling water, and dark chocolate covered blueberries.  With all this packed, all I needed was to hit the road ("hit the road jack" lyrics just popped into my head).  The trip went as planned and the meals and snacks were a great idea.  Once in Raleigh, Offspring 1wanted to go eat BBQ.  Turns out the journey to Raleigh was not the most difficult part of the day, the hard part was sitting in a BBQ restaurant (more to come on another post about the restaurant) and deciding on a sensible meal option.  One that would be similar to my weekday meals and not make me feel like I need a nap after I eat.  I opted for collard greens, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra, and mac n' cheese.  Even though I only ate a portion of the food, I still needed a nap.  

     The next morning, we went to one of my favorite places for breakfast, a place where I can stay on course or overeat, it's all up to me.  First Watch is a chain my family and I recently discovered on a trip to Florida.  If you're a breakfast person, I highly recommend it.  The food is always fresh and delicious.  The staff provides excellent service.  My meal was delicious and everyone in my party enjoyed theirs as well.

     So how did I feel Sunday night/Monday morning?  I wasn't in agony and wasn't nauseous.  I would be lying if I said I felt great, my stomach felt a little bloated but other than that I was fine.  I didn't reach my goal of feeling like a champ but I was halfway there.  The great thing about life in general is being able to try again.  All this to say, plan ahead to reach your goal, it has to start somewhere.

 

             
Road Trip Food