Beets Eats take 4

[pjena]

I agree with Calee - Let them watch a movie.  Keep your sanity.  I'm against tv in the car, too, but if I were traveling with 2 kids and 2 dogs and no husband, I'd probably let that go and stay sane.  Good luck at MIL's!  You can do it!

[Beets]

Sanity was lost. My daughter napped and woke up before we even got to the Bronx. Took over two hours to get out of NYC. I was crazed with anxiety before we left. We had the radio news on and there were tornado warnings in CT and predictions for heavy rain storms.

It took almost 8 hours--usually around 5 with a stop or two. But I let my son watch Bug's Life and my daughter actually didnt scream till the last twenty miles. (I have terrible car PTSd from when my daughter would scream in *agony* and terror anytime she was in the car and not dead asleep.) And the rain was never bad at all.

But we did stop at a Wendy's. I told my son he could have a frosty. (??) I ate some fries. So I'm back to Day 1. I had a nice lunch packed in the car but I was frazzled and didn't bring it in. Mistakes were made. But we made it here ALIVE.

Seriously on Sunday I was so anxious about the drive that I was telling my husband to hug the kids extra and trying to burn in my brain the feeling of my daughter's skin.

I considered chucking the week and starting over when I get home, but I'm tired of feeling like garbage and being mad at myself for eating stuff that makes me feel bad. So back to Day 1. So far, so good.

[Bridget]

Glad you got there ok. I can't imagine doing that drive myself with the kids- and my kids are pretty grown up !

My husband and I are planning a NH trip in the fall for our anniversary. No kids-Can't wait !!!! I just love it up there.

Thankfully, we never got the tornadoes on Sunday-but the humidity has made for ripe conditions for the past several days.

I hope you have a fun, maybe relaxing week !!

[Physibeth]

I'm sorry you had such a traumatizing drive. Good for you for not chucking the whole week though! My mom used to that drive (and then some...to Windsor VT) with us kids all the time. She said she was always glad that I never slept in the car because I would talk and sing with her the whole way and keep her awake.

 

Hope the rest of your week is super relaxing! 

[Lizzard77]

Hang in there, you made it safe and mostly sound!  What a great victory it would be to get through this week and be W30 compliant, may be a bit of a hassle but you'll be giving your body what it needs to persevere.  Remember to breathe and it WILL all be fine

[Nadia B]

It sounds like a classic scene from a horror movie. You are strong. You are good. You made it there. You made a decision to do what will make you good, this is huge. Life happens, we can't stop it. But good choices (even/especially isolated ones or a progress in bad vs good chooces ratio) should be celebrated.

[annabel]

I did have a cup of coffee and my belly is uncomfortably bloated. I've been drinking iced Americanos in the last couple weeks (though not in the last couple days) and haven't felt any stomach reaction. My friend swears she gets no reaction to espresso but does with coffee. Or maybe there was something suspect on the two pieces of broccoli? Not going to stress it.

 

 

 

Coffee has a lot more caffeine in it than espresso, so that could be why coffee affects you differently than an Americano.

 

And at least you only had the chips from Wendys and stopped yourself from going too far off-plan.

 

[Moluv]

Bitchin' Day 0, glad you're back on!

[percypat]

Sounds like you did really well Beets.  That's a long drive with two littlies!

[pjena]

Glad you made it safe and sound.  8 hrs in the car with kids and dogs sounds awful!  Take care of yourself!

[mary-t]

Beets, glad to know that you arrived safely (and with sanity intact!) and are now able (hopefully) to enjoy a week of good health.  

[calee]

Hey Beets, how are you doing at MIL's?

[Beets]

Thanks guys! Calee, I'm doing just fine. Thanks for checking in on me. Made me feel nice.

Day 3 in the bag. Still going strong and feeling relatively low-anxiety despite having a few horrible nights of not-sleep (caffeine/jitters from ride, crappy pillow, daughter sleeping with me, hot and humid). I feel waaaaay better than I usually do here when I'm eating crap *and* recovering from solo (parent-wise) travel.

Because my slip on Monday was relatively minor--at least limited in terms of time and egregious foods--I have the advantage of not feeling effects of sugar/snack/dried fruit withdrawal. Had some residual snackiness on Tues but sticking with the template hasn't been hard the last couple days.

Powered through a BBQ today. Brought Applegate hot dogs but felt rude busting them out. Would've been less awkward if I'd called BIL ahead of time. Ate few bites supermarket beef burger, plain salad, bowls of fruit salad. My husband's family doesn't drink at all so that was a non-issue. Was hot/humid as heck yesterday so water was perfect.

Plain salad without dressing and a supermarket beef patty isn't my fave meal but it was ok for one. I'm resisting all the processed carb goodies in the house. I am drinking coffee: meh. And eating copious amounts of green goddess mayo: yum. There is a Trader Joe's now here in Portsmouth that I plan to hit up tomorrow. Suburban shopping is so much more pleasant. Maybe I'll throw some fish in the mix.

Happy 4th.

[pjena]

Good job at the BBQ.  I agree the supermarket beef patty and plain salad isn't my fav, either, but it works.  I'm glad you're feeling good and enjoying your time with your in laws.  Enjoy the suburban shopping!  I don't know how you do it.  I'm spoiled by many options and often avail myself of all of them.  I've gotten groceries at 2 super markets, the farmers market, my CSA, the natural foods store and Trader Joe's this week.  I have things I like from each.  Most of them are on my way to/from work and I drive a hybrid, so I don't feel too guilty.

[Moluv]

Hehe I use driving a hybrid as rationale for extra shopping too Jen.

[calee]

Beets, you sound really good. Driven by your intentions, not by what's on the table in front of you.

Suburban shopping does rock. Glad you're having fun with it.

I drive a gas hog so tend to walk a lot. It's good motivation given that I get 18 miles/gallon. Luckily Trader Joes across from office, farmers market 1/2 mile and Whole Foods 1/2 mile in other direction from house. I do love our big Whole Foods/less paycheck type market to stock up on meats and things like Japanese sweet potatoes.

[percypat]

Ours isn't a gas hog, but we do have to buy the fancy petrol for it because it's a turbo.  Hubby loves cars and this is the second time this has happened, despite my protesting.  I do all the shopping though so I drive it more than he does!

 

Beets, you're doing great, enjoy your shopping.  Will you be stocking up on compliant goodies to take back with you?

[Nadia B]

Beets, you sound so calm and in control. I love it. I hope that nothing will make you give away this power. Enjoy your cabbage and feeling good. 

[Physibeth]

Sounds like you are doing awesome on your vacation Beets! Yay! Keep enjoying your food and your family! Store up lots of relaxation for the drive back. Keep doing what is best for you!

[dukunbayi]

Brave you for starting W30 during a family trip! But I know, one get's to that point. Though, I actually find staying on plan-ish makes traveling easier.... eliminates a whole lot of mental clutter and decision-making. The only thing I found was that I had to let go of control of the oils used as canola and veg oil are so ubiquitous. But I wasn't doing a W30 so that was easy to let go, I just said "eh f-it," not so easy with a formal W30.

But it sounds like you're doing great. What part of NH?

Must be nice to get out of Brooklyn. Man, that place was humid.

[Jtandi]

I agree, traveling on a whole30 is almost easier for me, too. I don't have to stress about "am I going to splurge/go all out because I'm on vacation" mentality. going on a 10 day trip in a couple weeks and am a bit afraid because of this. time to make some rules and stick to them for me I guess! sheesh.

[Moluv]

Yo Beets so sorry I talked you into doing w30 with me and then bailed. The sudden move to handle by myself has stressed me beyond the point of keeping up the rules. I'm trying not to stray too far and hopefully will be able to restart in a week or two. Maybe you are dabbling also, which in some ways would make me feel better. Either way, I hope you are feeling well and having fun.

[Beets]

Oh no. I wasn't dabbling but no need to apologize.

Wasn't dabbling till tonight. Sigh. I did give my power away, Nadia and my head hurts. I'd been sticking with my plan, doing well. Last night I had a brutal night of sleep (hot as heck, no AC, horrible pillow filled with hay I think, kids waking up, so hot I felt nauseated, daughter screaming and then in bed with me, fell out of bed.). On top of days of late bed and crappy hay pillow hot sleep. Which is to say I was really exhausted today.

Started fine with an ice Americano and resisted pastries at my fave Portsmouth bakery out with my son. Ate on template till dinner at my aunts's in Maine. Had wine, grilled salmon steaks, salad with lemon vinaigrette, corn on the cob and ice cream over fruit for dessert. No cheese or crackers. Or little shortcake with fruit. No macaroni salad. The corn was delish. Drank prob too much wine after a difficult week. Came home to MIL's and ate some damn crab rangoon! What is it with that stuff?? It was cold and sitting on the counter when we walked in.

I was going to start over tomorrow bc of the wine and ice cream, but I didn't feel too terribly bad about my choices. Till the junk Chinese food.

Pissed at myself I didn't finish the week here strong. But I did well for the vast majority despite being surrounded by treats I normally eat.

Trying not to feel too horrible. I did turn down my aunts's yummy crackers, cheese, salads and shortcake. My psoriasis was looking a lot better.

But now my head hurts. And my scalp is itching. Hadn't been itching for a few days. I'm getting back on tomorrow. Feels almost like a special form of torture but I'll just feel worse if I don't. And I especially need the rules now after off-roading.

Damn! I don't want to give up the clean, calm feeling. I did much much better than ever before away from home though.

[Beets]

Oh and we have all those food stores, farmers' markets and etc., in NYC--just annoying to get to. Here you just park. No 15 min wait on line to get in, another 15 to pay. But I don't ever do any other kind of in-person shopping (big box stores, clothes, anything). It's incomprehensible to some that I'll go to Target or a mall once every two years, it's just too annoying. Though in the burbs it does always feel like a crazy amount of driving, waiting at traffic lights, parking. I might use my car once a week in BK.

[Beets]

Last, thanks all for the encouragement but a week here is only a vacation in terms of my physical surroundings. There is no resting and I didn't even have my husbands to relieve me at bedtime. It's a lot of yelling at my kids to get off the furniture and stop messing with Grammy's cane. Still, a change of scenery is always helpful.