I really have been very happy since changing my diet to Paleo. I wake up feeling refreshed, I get to eat lots of tasty bacon and stuff fried in butter, and I've lost 3 pounds in a week. Wonderful!
But I decided today was a good day to "cheat", and man, was I wrong.
Let me give you a little back story: I used to teach special education. When I moved from Florida to North Carolina, I was lucky to be paired up with Roberta. Roberta was my teacher's assistant for 2 1/2 years, from the day I started at my new school to the day I left. She calls me "daughter" and I call her "mom". She is very special to me.
Naturally, when Roberta's birthday rolled around, I decided to visit her at work. I asked her what she'd like for lunch, and she said Showmars. For those of you who don't live in the greater Charlotte area, Showmars is a local chain of Greek diners, and it is really, really good. I jumped at the chance to have a gyro with some tzaziki sauce.
Mmm, gyros... *insert Homer Simpson salivating noise*
I restrained myself and I had water (instead of their excellent sweet tea) and ordered a fruit cup on the side. I planned to take the meat and veggies off the pita, but when we sat down for lunch, it just looked too good the way it was. I ate it all up, every bite, and I really enjoyed it.
But then about an hour later, I was driving home and my stomach started to hurt. Then I went inside and when I picked up my little boy, I started to get that gross almost-sick-to-my-stomach sensation. Now I'm sitting in the recliner and writing this, waiting for the stomach pain to go away. On top of that, I'm tired, much more tired than I normally am this time of day. Lesson learned. Time to stay away from bread and avoid eating junk. I think you have to slip up once or twice to see how much better you feel on Paleo.
Tomorrow we're going on our vacation. We're driving 8 hours tomorrow and 8 more the next day, then doing that again in a week and a half. I don't know what we're going to eat while we're on the road. And while I love my in-laws very dearly, they're vegetarians, and finding something for us all to eat while we stay with them is going to be pretty interesting. I'm also afraid that my favorite foods from home (Skyline Chili! Jaxson's Ice Cream!) are not going to go down too well and it bums me out. Time to start looking at fast food allergen info to see what we can eat.
Did you know Chick-fil-A only has three gluten-free entrees? This is going to be difficult.
So we're back from our vacation, a 14-hour drive each way. When you're on the road that long, you need to eat. I packed a few things, but I didn't anticipate 1) not having enough or 2) getting bored with the same foods. I started with a few cans of raw almonds and mixed nuts. Yummy, but high in calories, and eating the same thing gets old. I never got to the kale chips because I didn't want to stink up the car. Here are some options I found at the gas stations we hit along the way. For the most options, stop at a "higher end" convenience store like Race Way, Sheetz, Wawa or 7 Eleven. These chains carry a wider variety of snacking choices.
