Day Eighteen: Travelling and Eating

Oh my word!

What a trip! And we’ve still got one more day!

This blog is about my dieting journey, so I’ll stick with it, but my goodness what a time we’ve had!

Okay, first observation… it is very, very difficult (not impossible) to find good options of veggies and fruits (especially the fruits) on the road. Yes, there are occasional fresh fruit and veggie stands, but they are way too hard to find. And grocery stores carry fresh produce, but I am in shock because I can’t find one!

We’re staying in Harrisburg, PA tonight, and I can’t find a grocery store within about a mile radius of our hotel. I didn’t have time to go searching beyond this perimeter. I even stopped in a “Mexican Grocery” to find some fresh fruit or veggies. I almost laughed. They had some scallions, limes, jicama and avocado. I almost wanted to ask where the mariachis were but chose not.

For breakfast I was blessed to have some apples and an orange from our hotel’s breakfast offerings which I juiced. The rest of the day wasn’t so great. I had a couple of chocolates on the road because they were there and I haven’t had any chocolate candy in about four weeks, well since Tuesday – but four weeks before that! I liked it, but it wasn’t all that special.

For lunch, I ate a Subway sandwich – 6 inch honey oat bread with roasted chicken (toasted). I added tomato, cucumber, green pepper, lettuce and spinach with some chipotle southwest sauce (as my decadence). I love the heat. I added a bag of jalapeno Kettle chips and a liter of water. It was a delightful meal and had a few veggies, but I’m starting to miss my fruit/veggie/juice fast.

Now here’s the interesting part. We are on a trip. We are moving from Montgomery, Alabama to Albany, New York (well, near there anyway). We’ve been pushing ourselves for the last several days to get the stuff packed, loaded, sent and the house cleaned. We stayed up driving until 2 a.m. last night, and had a really rough time of it.

I’ll write that story on my other blog.

But here’s the second major issue. The rest of the family is sick. Some of them have actually started vomiting (while I’m driving the minivan!) The others (now including my wife) simply feel nauseated, tired and feverish. Ooo boy!

I feel fine. Well, I have. I’m starting to feel a little nauseated myself, but I think it’s primarily due to the fact that I’ve been neglecting my fruits and veggies and have eaten cra#()$*( for meals. For dinner tonight I went searching for that grocery store I mentioned, but when I couldn’t find it, I should have opted for a salad, even from Mickey D’s. Instead, I got a chicken ranch quesadilla from Moe’s Southwest Grill, which in the Montgomery area is fantastic.

Not so much in Pennsylvania. It probably did not help that I showed up ten minutes prior to close, but the food was almost not edible. Overly salty, greasy and surprisingly bland. I had actually been sad that I’d not be eating at Moe’s again for a long time as we left Alabama. Now, I couldn’t care less.

Anyway, I think this dependence on subpar food is actually affecting my health. I think I’d rather not eat at all than eat this junk. If I can’t find good food, I’m going to try and not eat anything – except at certain times when I’ve decided before hand that I’m gonna take a break and eat the “bad stuff”.

Ah, yes… the diet in general! I forgot to mention what my plans are. I will continue as I had previously thought and just eat as healthy as I can (without too much trial if at all possible) until next week (I think Sunday?) Then I will begin the 15 day standard Reboot again. I think I’ll follow this 20 day plan for a while until I reach my optimal weight (which will be a while).

I may modify it. I look back and realize I enjoyed the juicing and with my office based in my home may be able to juice more easily and for a longer period of time. Perhaps I can do a fifteen day juice fast. That would be intriguing.

Alright, later friends. God bless each of you.

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel. We have only one day left, but if it’s anything like the last two, it’ll be quite an interesting day!