Healthier Traveling

There is absolutely nothing like traveling to put a complete tailspin on a healthy diet.  I decided to be prepared.  For the first time, I came prepared for myself.  Yes, I'm a mom, that means that there are responsibilities to those little monsters that are perfectly capable of creating disasters but incapable of caring for themselves.  Sometimes you get so caught up in cleaning those messes, keeping bellies full, clothes cleaned and hair combed that you forget that you have to take care of yourself first. 

A while ago I read something about this, taking care of yourself first.  I was reminded of this four times on our flights this weekend.  As each flight attendant came down the aisle, although Munchkie's Daddy was sitting right in the row with us, each one looked directly at me and reminded me to put the oxygen mask on myself first before placing it on my child.  Because you need to take care of yourself before you can take care of someone else.  I tell the mothers of my patients this all of the time.  Those mothers who can't for even a second leave the bedside of their sick child, who haven't slept, eaten or showered for days. If you don't take care of yourself there's nothing left to give to your child. 

I think of how difficult it is to stay on track with a diet, schedule or even something like potty training when traveling.  When you are stressed, kids can feel it, having meltdowns and accidents.  Something as simple as staying on track with healthy eating can make all the difference.  Taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others.  This trip I used my Itsy Ritsy snack bags that I've won free from a contest and a questionnaire I filled out.  The night before we left I cut up green and red peppers and put them, carrots and pistachios into my snack bags.  The next day on the airplane we were able to snack on this healthy assortment instead of the overly processed prepackaged stuff found in airports.  I can not tell you how many times we have fallen prey to the crap found in airports and travel plazas everywhere.  Whether it's driving a few hours away during a mealtime or spending the day traveling through airports the options are slim. 

I've read many blogs that talk about how a little preparedness can make a huge difference.  But it wasn't until this weekend that I truly understood.  Eating fresh vegetables instead of the other options really made a difference in our weekend.  It literally took just a few minutes to cut them up and throw them in a bag.  We were able to eat the vegetables on both flights because the snack bags kept them fresh all weekend and all of us felt better because of it.  Eating fresh and healthy makes you feel so much better than heavy, processed foods that weigh you down.  Also, starting a trip by eating healthy makes it just that much easier to keep eating healthy.  You don't have the excuse of, "well I already messed up, I'll just start over again when we get back."  You think, yeah I will have that huge salad before my dinner, knowing that you will be so full you won't eat very much of the other foods.

Now Mimi's gluten free oatmeal raisin cookies (my fav), that's another story.....

And PS we did not have a single accident in underwear this weekend while traveling, a first for us.  Amazing how that works.