This past week I traveled to a conference. Fabulous, right? Travel? Awesome? No. Try maintaining a Paleo diet while traveling or going to a function. Note: I'm not complaining, I'm simply noting the lack of "alternatives."
Start at the airport. McDonald's. Dunkin' Donuts. Popeye's Chicken. Starbucks. Oh, remember, we're eating breakfast. "Do you have anything that's gluten free?" Weird looks. Nobody did. So I was glad I had eaten before I left and had brought Paleo-friendly snacks for the airport(s) and plane(s).
Arrive in Florida. Ask the folks at the front desk for food suggestions (because the conference doesn't start until tomorrow). I'm starving. It's dinner time. I hadn't had a "meal" all day. "Oh, and I can't eat bread or pasta." Concierge furrows his brow. Exactly. "Go down the street and over the bridge. There's a health food type restaurant called Dig. They'll have something you can eat and it's good." Okey dokey. Well, Dig's holding a fundraiser for some wildlife something or other. It's packed and there's no food to be found. Moving on. So I found a pizza place that serves...salad. *Sigh* I got a buffalo chicken salad. Meh. With no travel plastic fork or knife. Who does that? Anyway.
Breakfast the day the conference starts (at 3 p.m.). I wasn't paying $16 for an omlett at the hotel, so I walked. And walked. Breakfast sandwiches. Nope. More breakfast sandwiches. Pastries. Bagels. Seriously?! So I went to Starbucks and got a turkey bacon and egg sandwich and didn't eat the English muffin. Wheee (said sarcastically).
At lunch time I went downstairs in the hotel to find something before the conference started because who knows what they'd serve. I ran into one of the conference planners, Kate, that I knew and she bought me lunch. Score! Salad. Boo.
Conference snacks - cookies. No fruit to be found. So I asked Kate for some loose fruit, you know some apples and bananas to put on the table. Hopefully I'm not the only one who would enjoy them? In the middle of the first presentation Tom, another conference planner, brings me a large bowl of cut up melon and fruit and a fork. Um...well, I...OK. No apples. No bananas. Kate was frustrated for me.
For dinner we all went out together to an awesome restaurant on the beach. They actually had something I could eat on the pre-planned menu, so I was psyched. I ate all of that damn fish. They actually had created "pasta" out of zucchini using a julienne peeler which I had so wanted to try. It was yummy. Definitely asking for one of those for Mother's Day.
Conference breakfast - guess. Bagels, breads, muffins, oh my! Kate and I arrived at breakfast at the same time and she watched me eyeball the table. "You can't eat any of this," she sighed. And we couldn't find a human to get me even a hard boiled egg. So I cheated. First time in a month, I had a bagel. Eeeee! But it was yummy (shhhh). On to lunch - cold cut sandwiches and potato salad. I'll have some cold cuts...and some fruit.
Now I am in no way bitching. Don't get me wrong. But I was talking to Kate before we left and she said, "I never realized how much unhealthy stuff we offer at these things. I need to work on that." Indeed. And invite me back next time so I can check your progress!
