Whole 30 - Traveling

Today was an exceptionally early start for me, with not a lot of sleep on top of that. This morning, my alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. Even for me that's an early wake-up call. But I needed that time in order to get showered, dressed, and well-fed before heading off to the airport. In the past, when I traveled early in the morning, I would skip breakfast at home and just grab something at the airport. However, with Paleo, airport food isn't always an option. Travel can be a daunting task for Paleo-ites. As I sit at my gate waiting for my flight, I see a wall of sugary processed foods at the nearby news stand, a Starbucks full of sugary drinks and grain-based snacks, and a Proof-of-the-Pudding full of to-go wraps, yogurts, bags of chips, and salads with lots of cheesy toppings. But what are most prevalent at airports? Fast-food restaurants - a Paleo nightmare.

The Atlanta airport is a rockin' airport. It's massive and if you have the time, you can check out the different terminals for their food options. I had an almost 4-hour layover today, so I came into Terminal B, walked the entire terminal, then walked to C and walked up and down that terminal before proceeding to Terminal F (the airport's new international terminal) and walking both levels of that as well. I then walked back to D, walked around D, and came back to B for lunch.

Here's a couple shots of Terminal F: 

Here's some of the places to eat at the various terminals: Terminal has a TGIF and Cafe Intermezzo. Terminal D is undergoing some construction. Terminal E has fast-foot restaurants as well as a fancier-looking restaurant with a sushi bar. Terminal F has a Pei Wei, El Taco, The Varsity, and Pecan Grille. (For the life of me I can't remember what was at Terminal C.) Of these, I recommend Cafe Intermezzo. I got an Almond Avocado Salad ("avocados, mandarin oranges, diced cucumbers, red peppers and toasted almonds on mixed greens with orange vinaigrette dressing").

The key to Paleo traveling is being prepared. Most airports have the available dining options posted online so you can check out what will work for you. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport has this site which lets you search by terminal. And if you know you won't have time while you're at the airport to grab something, prep some snacks or a meal the day before. For instance, last night I mixed up a Ziploc bag of raw almonds, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and hazelnuts as a snack if I needed it. I also brought along two apples, a banana, and Lärabars. I ended up not needing it while traveling, but at least I came with food so that I didn't have to resort to going hungry or succumbing to unhealthy airport fares. And the nuts came in handy for adding some more variety to my salad during dinner with the family.

Road Trip to Pensacola

I made a 530-mile drive to Pensacola today to attend KM's winging ceremony tomorrow. I left my apartment at 10 this morning, and after a quick stop at Whole Foods for some cut celery, baby carrots, fresh fruit, and Larabars, I began my journey. After driving for 250-miles, I found myself at The Tiger Truck Stop along I-10, where I stopped to fill up on gas and take a 30-minute lunch break. My lunch consisted of an extremely greasy hamburger pattie. I don't recommend it, but there wasn't a whole lot of other options around. Alas, such is life. I only stopped once on my drive and made the entire trip with 1.25 tanks of gas. I love my new car and it's gas mileage. I've averaged 33.0 mpg in the past week of driving my car.

This morning my breakfast was a kale, spinach, mushroom, and Swedish Meatball Turkey Burger crumbles omelet, with two slices of oven-baked bacon. It was delicious, but ended up being too much food for me. Unfortunately, one-third of my omelet ended up in the trash since I was taking off for my 9ish-hour drive.

Tonight I broke Paleo for some fried, Boursin-stuffed artichokes at the Global Grill. They were delicious and went very well with pork tenderloin! I'm well aware that I won't be able to maintain Paleo all of this weekend with all of the winging activities, but I'm going to choose the healthier options wherever available. And I'm not going to worry about it. Stay tuned...

Rumspringa 2

Breakfast was a Chocolate Coconut Chew Lärabar, which I can only describe as "eh" with a shoulder shrug accompaniment. Lunch consisted of a trip to the nearest Panera Bread for Broccoli Cheddar Soup in a Sourdough Bread Bowl. Delicious! I finished off my day with 2/3 of a can of a caffeine-free Diet Coke. I used to be able to pound through a can of Diet Coke in a matter of minutes, yet here I am, 40 minutes in, and still not finished, nor with the desire to finish it. Strange.

How I felt this afternoon...

There aren't any huge differences between how I feel eating Paleo and how I feel eating whatever I want. However, my stomach is grumbling at me more than it ever used to, I'm having slightly more intense headaches so far, and a little light-headedness, not to mention the mid-afternoon carb crash. Oh, and I feel totally bloated. Geez! After listing these out, it sounds worse than I thought.

I recognize and admit that I'm eating more than I normally would because I want to eat all of the foods that I can't eat with Paleo, so that could have an effect on how I feel. But I don't remember feeling all of the things I listed above just from over-eating.

Homemade Lärabar

Lärabars are kosher, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and vegan. They are made with unsweetened fruits (dates, apples, bananas, blueberries, cherries, raisins), nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, peanuts), spices (cinnamon, ginger, cocoa powder, coconut, sea salt). Using these ingredients, the current flavors are below. I've crossed out the ones containing peanuts.

1. Apple Pie
2. Banana Bread
3. Blueberry Muffin
4. Carrot Cake
5. Cashew Cookie
6. Cherry Pie
7. Chocolate Chip Brownie
8. Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte
9. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
10. Chocolate Coconut Chew
11. Coconut Cream Pie
12. Ginger Snap
13. Key Lime Pie
14. Lemon
15. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
16. Peanut Butter Cookie
17. Peanut Butter & Jelly
18. Pecan Pie
19. Tropical Fruit Tart

Last week I was in a rush before work and didn't have time to cook something before running out of the door, so I stopped at the grocery store on the way into work to grab some pre-cut carrots and celery. While I was standing in line to check out, I saw some Lärabars on sale and vaguely remembered trying some at the race expo before my first half marathon in 2011. I picked up a bar and flipped it over to see the ingredients... "Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Non-GMO [genetically modified organism], Vegan, Kosher"... so I grabbed Cashew Cookie and Apple Pie. They were surprisingly good. I ate the Apple Pie once I landed in Atlanta and I let my mom try a piece. The expression on her face was priceless! It was a mix of "ugh, gross" and "something must be wrong with my daughter that she actually likes this." When I told her there's no added sugar, she replied, "Oh! It's pretty good then." Well I like it, and I feel like I appreciate flavors more, now that I'm not covering everything up with salt and sugar.

This coming weekend I'm going camping with some friends. We've been utilizing email and a google spreadsheet to figure out what we'll be eating and who's bringing what food, gear, etc. Based on our meal plan, I know there are some meals that I won't be able to eat, such as hot dogs, prepackaged trail mix, and cinnamon rolls. Because I don't want to impose my eating habits on everyone else, I'm going to bring some food to replace those meals. One of the things I'm going to bring is homemade Lärabars. These are the recipes for the ones I made Tuesday night:

This is really similar in appearance to actual Lärabars

 Apple Pie (made 4)

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup almonds

1/4 cup walnuts

1/4 cup dried apples, unsweetened

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp water

Pumpkin Pie (made 3)

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup cashews

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp water

Ingredients for Apple Pie

Use a food processor or blender to breakdown the dates/fruit into a paste. Transfer the paste to a separate bowl. Put the nuts in the blender and pulse until chopped small, but not to the point that you form flour/meal. Mix the nuts, dates/fruit, and spices together in a bowl. If your mixture isn't binding together, add a little bit of water. Once the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture for each bar and form into bar shape. This is more cleanly done if you roll the 1/4 cup of mixture into a piece of saran wrap before shaping the bar. Repeat for all bars and then place the wrapped bars into a ziploc bag. Store in the fridge - this allows the shape to firm up. There you go. Homemade Lärabars!