When I travel to a place like San Francisco, as I recently did for a full week, I have the blessing of some of the most amazing, inventive and wonderful restaurants in the world from which to choose for my meals. My expense account is such that unless I was to truly go overboard with an exceptionally expensive restaurant each evening, I could eat 21 meals in 7 days at remarkably fantastic places and still not even have touched the top 1% of eateries in the city. But if I do that, my pants are going to get tight and I only travel with fitted clothing, so I need to find something that works more for truly healthful and serving appropriate sizes for the majority of my meals. I will admit, I did have my beloved Chicken Tikka Masala twice in a week, and after serving myself, asked for to-go packaging so that I could share the meal with a homeless person on the way home. One other night I met a colleague for a meal at a new favorite restaurant.
But what about the remainder of the time, the other 18 meals and 12 snacks?
This particular week I chose to do a grocery shopping trip on Sunday and refresh again on Wednesday.
My Sunday list included:
Mache Rosettes
Butter lettuce
Pear
Orange
Plum
4 bananas
8 oz of dried Mission figs
Dill chevre
Three packets of protein powder
½ lb of USA bay shrimp
.75 lbs of salad items
.5 lb of chili verde from the hot bar
Yumbutter
2 orange and ginger Icelandic yogurt (skyr)
.25 lbs of thick rolled oats from the bulk bins
Havarti cheese slices
Avocado
8 pieces of sushi
8 oz of mushroom and barley soup
Unsweetened vanilla cashew milk
8 oz of artisan bread and butter pickles with onion slices
For my salad base I chose shredded cabbage, peas, mushrooms, beets, parmesan, wheatberries and chopped egg.
Monday morning I took ½ the container of mache and added 1/3 of the contents of the salad base as well as 1 oz of the dill chevre, 1/3 of the avocado and a large forkful of the chile verde. I shook it all together in a quart size baggie I brought with me and put it in the fridge at work for lunch that day.
Breakfast was a vanilla latte made with Tera’s Whey organic vanilla protein powder, 12 oz of dark coffee and 8 oz of cashew milk. Hydrating, 20 grams of protein and a wonderfully flavored treat. Because protein will clump up if mixed with hot liquids typically, I mix the cold cashew milk and powder first and then add the brewed coffee. If I’d thought of it, a dash of cinnamon would have been nice, but I already had my lid on my Tervis tumbler and just skipped it. I set aside a pear for my morning snack.
That night for dinner I added 2 oz of shrimp to the mushroom barley soup. I checked the macros and calories on the soup before buying it as soup can be either a calorie friend or foe quite easily. This one happened to be a friend-high in fiber, moderate amount of protein and water based so very low in calorie. It was wonderful, even reheated, and the addition of the shrimp was wonderful. I ate it with one of the bananas and two sushi pieces.
Tuesday I went with a chocolate latte, shrimp in the salad instead of pork and a larger portion of mache plus 4 cut up figs and a slice of Havarti diced up into the salad. For dinner I finished off the sushi and an orange along with a protein bar I’d brought from home. I ate the first two items before my run, the bar once I’d come home.
Wednesday resulted in a quick trip to the grocery to pick up a few more things, like a new carton of cashew milk. I also bought more salad mix as I was down to nearly no mache and low on proteins for salad as well. Grilled chicken, bay shrimp and roasted turkey were the choices for this trip. I chose a butternut and apple bisque for my soup and it was so delightfully filling with a great deal of fiber but still needed protein. I selected 3 oz of grilled chicken to go with my soup. I had a banana with a tablespoon of Yumbutter on it after my run. The Yumbutter had a mix of flax, chia and peanut butter and wow, was it ever good! It comes in a pouch you knead to mix it all together and then squeeze out as needed and close with a cap. I understand they make an almond butter variety as well. Pricey, but I will buy it again because I really enjoyed it and for travel it is mess free!! I put a tablespoon on each banana I enjoyed for the remainder of my trip. You squeeze it in a pencil size ribbon and no knife is needed!
I bought a few more of the Tera’s Whey packets and took a chance with blueberry, which is a flavor I’ve not tried in a protein shake before! I did not get around to trying that one, but will in the coming week and update if this is a thumbs up or down item for me.
I finished the avocado in three days and chose to not get another this trip. By cutting it into small pieces and shaking it in with my salad, I find I have no need for any dressing and get that lovely, creamy taste disbursed throughout my salad.
One interesting thing that happened during 4 of 5 lunches was that at least one person commented to me that my salad was ‘amazing’ or ‘fabulous’ or something along those lines and asked where I got it. When I told them I’d made it in my hotel room and brought it in they were surprised, to say the least. I put it on a plate to enjoy it and took time to really focus on my food, not eating during a call or while having someone in my office. I would rather spend 20 minutes quietly focused on and enjoying my food than grabbing a bite here and there and eating without enjoyment or recognition of the nutrition going into my body.
Sometimes you just need a snack and I chose to mix it up with chevre on butter lettuce, pickles topped with bits of Havarti or a piece of fruit for the majority of my snacks outside of meals. I find that if I eat 5 times a day I feel well fueled and don’t approach a meal with tremendous hunger, simply a need to fuel my body. I pay attention to my thirst vs. hunger as well. Often I’ll think I need to get some food and then look at the clock and realize I shouldn’t be hungry. So I will get 24 oz of liquid and find most of the time I am not at all hungry once I’ve had that hydration. Now, when it is close to an eating time I will usually drink 12 oz of liquid first and then eat because I find if I am well hydrated I enjoy my food more slowly and have greater satiety for a longer period of time as well.
In a future post I will share what I did with my choices the three meals that I did eat out.
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