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Traveling to a town with a population below 500!


lackyannie

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So I started whole30 (day 6!) knowing that at the end of my journey I will be on a literal journey through my job to a tiny little town in Washington where there is literally nothing - the people on our business trip equals more than the amount of people that live in the town!

 

It's a company event, so all the locals of the town are paid to cook for us. (they are so nice to do that for 600 people!)

this is my 5th year attending, and as I recall, most lunch/dinner meals being steak, potatos, tacos, sandwhiches - etc! and breakfast being biscuits and gravy, bagels, yogurt, oatmeal, etc. etc. All foods in the breakfast category = no, obviously;

pretty sure none of the lunch meats used here will be complaint, and none of the oils/butters used will  be either.

 

I am worried because this is a company trip and we are so limited on WHERE I can buy compliant substitutes (I have trouble finding compliant stuff in SoCal, how am I going to find anything in a town with 1 grocery store and 1 stop sign?!)

My question is, if I stop at the grocery store to purchase my own food, what if they have nothing compliant? And I'm screwed.

I can't just not eat for 7 days!

 

I'm starting to doubt if I made the right choice in starting my whole30 at this time. It literally ends the day I'm set to go home, which means I'll be traveling for 7 days of my whole30. I'm kind of psyching myself out for the end of this.

 

Now, I know I can still choose to make healthier choices; breakfast just having fruit (maybe request somoene make me eggs?, blah!)
lunch/dinner I can just have meat and potato with no toppings; lunch, just take all my sandwhich ingredients minus bread and eat that. I'm still just concerned I've backed myself into a corner and started my Whole30 at the wrong time. :unsure: or am I just making excuses!? :rolleyes:

 

Any suggestions!?

Thanks! :-)

-Lacey

 

 

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All grocery stores have meat and vegetables. I don't know what kind of setup you'll have where you're staying, but if you have access to a stove, you can make compliant foods fairly easily, although they may not be the most exciting meals you've ever eaten. 

 

If you don't have access to at least a stove, it might be more of a problem. If you were driving and would be able to have a fridge in your hotel room, you could bring pre-cooked food with you. 

 

You could also speak to someone at your company (probably someone in your HR department, or the person who organizes the event, if you know who that is) and find out who to speak to about some dietary restrictions you have. In a group of 600 people, I doubt you're the only person with restrictions -- someone in that group is allergic to something, or lactose intolerant, or something, and has had to make special requests. 

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Good idea on talking to HR, there's a lot of vegetarians and vegans in my company so I know most of that is compliant.

 

As far as our hotels, they all differ. I'm in kind of the all in-clusive higher end one (as far as that goes in a town like this hah), that's sort of like a townhouse, so I'm assuming it has anything I'd need to cook and/or store food.

 

Thanks for your feedback! I'm gonna go for it!

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You could also pack tinned fish, jars of olives, sauerkraut, avocados, hardy veg like carrots, boiled eggs - just to have as back-ups, or until you get yourself sorted.

 

With a bit of planning it's definitely do-able.

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You could just accept that this is a bad time to do a Whole30. It is one thing to have an ordinary business trip that lasts 2.5 days into a big city and another to be in a small town for a week dependent on many variables that are hard to control. You might be able to stay technically compliant through this period, but I don't think it is worth the trouble. Just start a Whole30 when you will be home for 30 days in a row.

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It's possible but you would have to live out of your suitcase and avoid the social dynamics that your company wants you to have.

 

Doctors orders trump Whole 30 and when it comes down to your livelihood and the company is footing the bill, I agree with Mr. Denham.

 

Do the best you can with what you're given. I hope they don't "poor boy it"...means going the cheap route. I hope they don't fix white bread sandwiches with a slice of bologna, slices of mealy tomatoes and a leaf of that old iceberg lettuce.  A handful of potato chips and a dill pickle. A couple of commercial cookies.   :P 

 

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.  It's only 7 days and you can carve out 30 more days in the near future. Companies like teamwork, mission statements and compliance, too.  ;) It's your paycheck that pays the rent and puts food on the table. Enjoy your week and the activities they have planned for you.  I love seminars.

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Are you flying or driving?

With your lodging setup, sounds like you have potential.

But to add on to what Tom said, even if you do everything right as far as you can tell, stuff will likely slip in. Imagine even in your hometown if you ate at restaurants 7 days in a row. You may have kept with the spirit of the program, but the accidental ingestion of errant gluten, soy, butter, etc., would have spoiled any food sensitivity feedback which is a huge part of an "eliminate+reintro" protocol like Whole30.

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I'm flying from SoCal to Seattle then driving the 5+ hours to the tiny town from Seattle. It's a lot of travel, and I just feel kinda weird carrying food in my suit case (which, I'm staying in the PNW for 11 days, so I kind of need that luggage space for clothes!)

 

My company defintly will definitly be more concerned with me eating enough to get through the week than with them saving a buck. I also have my own company credit card since I'm a district manager, so i may ask to utilize that so I can buy some complaint foods from the town grocery store.

 

I'm already 8 days in and I'm feeling pretty good. So you know, even if there's some slips that I absolutely cannot control - at least it will be better than how I'd normally eat on this trip! (Which is a lot of over-eating, a lot of candy, sugar, etc.) So even if there's some inevitable Whole30 mishaps, I'm gonna try my best and go for it. (and they definitly do not serve gross old food. Everything is fresh from the town, most organic, meat, fruits, and veggies from local farms. I mean, for the most part it's healthier than the way I normally would eat at home off of a whole30, so at least there's that! HAH!)

 

I'm also going to pack some extras like Larabars that take up less space in my suitcase. Even tho I normally wouldn't eat those throughout whole30, it's better than being tempted by the tub full of candy bars they serve every night!!

 

it's like they say, when the going get's tough, the tough get going!

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Before you leave Seattle maybe make a stop at Whole Foods and stock up on stuff rather than packing it in. If you pack some insulated bags those don't take up a terrible amount of space and then the food will keep. Sounds like where you are going will be a great place to eat fresh foods though too. Have fun on your trip. We have been having some very nice weather here. :)

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I'm in a similar situation.  We found out yesterday about a death in my boyfriend's family and we fly out today.  We'll be spending five days in a grieving household with limited access to a car.  I anticipate a lot of casserole dinners.  I'm going to remain as compliant as politeness allows, but I'm pretty sure today ends my Whole 20 and I'll start over when I get back.  I'm looking at it as a dress rehearsal for off-roading.  I'm going to keep logging my meals here to keep me accountable.

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Follow up post.  I ate a LOT of potatoes this week.  Mashed potatoes from Bob Evans and broasted potatoes from various places.  Blergh.  I avoided bad foods for the most part, but finding good foods was much harder.  To add insult to injury, every time we left the house we drove past a hillside covered with grazing cattle.  And my boyfriend's parents have chickens, but they weren't laying enough for me to eat any eggs while I was there.  [End rant.]

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