Travelling

Being vegan and travelling can be done but you have to be prepared.  I was not.  I went to Missouri to visit my son this weekend and discovered that I really hadn't thought anything out food-wise.  Live and learn. I learned from this trip, that's for sure!

I left saturday afternoon and botched the trip right away. I ordered french fries at Sonic.  I was hungry and didn't have anything to eat for lunch.  Of course, I was hungry very soon after so I started munching on sunflower seeds, cashews and raisins.  It's hard to think of how much goes into your mouth while driving so I am sure I overdid it on my 4hr drive. 

Saturday evening, I took my eldest son, Andrew to Pizza Hut.  I ordered a small pizza with olives, onions and mushrooms, no cheese and chose salad bar with my meal which I thought was a good choice.  However, their salad bar is not exactly the bees knees.  I had potato salad along with a regular salad, some other veggies and no dressing.  I think it was the potato salad and the pizza crust that did me in.  My stomach cramped so bad that night that I had alot of trouble getting to sleep.

I decided to start sunday morning off right and had whole wheat toast with jam. No butter, just strawberry jam.  It was okay but I ate too much so I felt bloated.  For lunch, Jacob wanted Chinese food so I ordered everything for the boys and decided to go with a veggie chow mein for myself with steamed rice.  They didn't have brown rice.  It was good and filled me up.

Then, the cookies...oh those chocolate chip cookies beckoning me. Calling my name so sweetly on my drive home.  I was already stressed this weekend and when I get stressed, I want sugar.  I ate those cookies.  I don't even remember how many I ate but I figured it was alot when Andrew told me that I shouldn't be eating any more of them.  Whoops...

I was so tired last night but even after all those cookies, I was starving by 9pm.  I had a bowl of whole grain cereal with rice milk.  What a night. Heartburn, sleeplessness.  Yeah, I was in a great mood this morning.  I ate a whole wheat half-bagal with pb & j and went back to bed for 2hrs.  I feel better now, not bloated anymore and my tummy has calmed down.  I didn't gain any weight over the weekend but I didn't lose, either.  I didn't have any meat but obviously I had dairy which didn't agree with me at all. 

Today is going to be a convenience day since I am behind in menu planning for the week.  Convenient, packaged food is okay but I want to make sure that I am eating foods as close to the source as I can get them.  Processed foods can definately have their drawbacks, even on a vegan diet.

We are planning another trip in 3 weeks and this time I will be prepared! I have a cooler and the hotel rooms always have a fridge and microwave so there's no excuses for me at all! I am looking forward to getting back on track and feeling better. It's obvious to me that my body appreciates a decent diet and will fight back when it doesn't get what it wants.  And I promise, NO MORE COOKIES!