Clean eating on a vacation

This is a food diary of sorts that I wrote while traveling to my nephew's wedding in Mesa, Arizona. I knew it would be challenging, so I decided to track what I ate here and also on an app on my iPhone. I meant to take more pictures, but I felt a little silly about it. I packed clean snacks and breakfast items in my suitcase. I also carried a cooler that looks like a purse with snacks for my daughter and me. I have found that the best traveling foods are apples, nuts, sugar snap peas and protein powder. I also took 86% dark chocolate with me for emergencies.

Day 1: I started out my clean eating on this trip by drinking a green smoothie in route to the airport. We ate lunch at Wendy's in the airport, which is not my favorite. I shared a Cobb salad with my daughter. Then I had clean snacks that I had brought for my mid afternoon snack. When we got to Mesa, we had a family dinner of pulled pork and salads. I stayed away from the pasta and sauces and ate the meat and green salads. I did not have dessert- hurray!!!

Day 2: Off to the gym at 5 am for legs, core, and cardio. The gym at our hotel was really well equipped for a hotel gym. I has more time to devote to legs, so I added in some extra lunges and squats and core.

I ate the foods that I brought for breakfast and snacks. And for lunch....


I feel really good about this option. It was so delicious. I even kept my hand out of the chip basket. I had the waitress bring me hit water for peppermint tea. I drank that while everyone else munched on chips. When I was ordering, I looked at the menu and just thought "what would I make at home that is clean?" There were several options that looked yummy, like tacos and tamales, but I opted for the cleanest option. I think that I ate more than half of it though. I still need to work on portion sizes.

The reception: I went to the reception not hungry. I had cashews and 86% dark chocolate about an hour before. I know, not the best choice. The food consisted of lots of white breads, artichoke dip and crackers, potato and bacon soup, tortilla soup, and a spinach salad. For dessert they had hot chocolate with toppings, chocolate and carrot cake, mint brownies and butter cookies. What did I eat? I ate the soups and a little bit of salad. Hurray for me!!! I'm over 24 hours into this and I still feel like I'm making great choices. Just the fact that I haven't eaten any dessert is incredible for me. Yes, I have eaten more nuts than usual. Yes, I have eaten dark chocolate to satisfy my sweet tooth. But I have also steered clear of processed food as much as possible. I usually wouldn't eat soup without knowing what was in it exactly, but I kept my portions small.

Day 3: I'm kind of regretting my intense leg and core work yesterday. I went with my sister to her gym here in Tucson. We were the only 2 in the class, which was awesome because I got free training advice. We did kettle bells, Burpees, mountain climbers, squats, pushups, and core work. Ouch!!!

We ate out for lunch and dinner. For lunch I got fish tacos: mahi-mahi with avocado, pico de gallo and salsa. I stayed out of the chip basket! For my clean treat for the week we went to a frozen yogurt place and I got no sugar added mint with berries and walnuts. Dinner was my cheat meal for the week, which might be silly since I have eaten out so much. My splurge was fries and a sandwich. I hadn't had fries in 12 weeks and they were pretty yummy. However, I think I can go another 12 months without any. As for the sandwich, I has wheat bread and the house dressing. Still no sweets. Hip, hip hurray!!!

Day 4: Going home.
Of course I got a cold. I'm sure that it's because of all the travel, stress and lack of sleep. All of throws off my immune system. Last night I think I coughed more than I slept. This morning I got up and went for a slow 3 mile run with my sister. I don't think I could have done more than that.

I ate the food I brought for breakfast and snacks and we grabbed sandwiches at Quiznos for the drive home. I didn't get any sauce but I did have cheese on it. I also got a broccoli soup which I'm sure is not remotely clean, but my throat hurts and I wanted something warm and soft.

All in all, I'm pretty proud of myself. I think that I stuck to all of my goals. It wasn't tight, but i think I made really great choices. I have to admit that a lot of the food was highly mediocre. I am becoming quite the food snob. My favorite meal was the mahi mahi tacos. They were probably the cleanest too since I did not eat the tortillas. I also loved that I never felt stuffed to the point of discomfort. I'm really looking forward to returning home to my normal routine and feeling better.