Advice on planning for long commute and long work meeting

[gdh22]

Once a week I have a two- hour drive to a day-long meeting for work.  On those days I usually get up by 6 AM, get ready/walk my dog, drive, and have a small breakfast when I arrive at my meeting.  I get to the meeting around 9 AM an there is breakfast served there, lunch is served around 1.  If I get there early enough the have cook to order omelets, otherwise the only thing I could probably have is fruit.  They have scrambled eggs but made with milk.  Most likely I'll only be able to have salad and fruit at lunch.   The food is brought in hot by a 3rd party so there is little way I can get any detailed information about how things are cooked.  meat and veggies are almost always cooked in a butter or sauce.  The only exception is when its make your own fajita day, I'll pray for that. 

If I pack food to eat before and after the meeting, there will be about 7-8 hours in between where I may only be able to have lettuce and fruit.  I can't eat a meal during the meeting, and I have to be physically present at the lunch.  Looking for some suggestions on the most nutrient dense snacks I can use to help or something I can use to supplement lunch (outside of bringing my own protein for the lunch).  Also I don't just want to end up eating a ton of fruit because I am starving. 

Also, I usually drink a monster rehab on the way there.  I know they are terrible for you.  But I will literally fall asleep driving, and coffee first thing in the morning usually gives me nausea/stomach pain.  If anyone has any alternative caffeine suggestions I will take those as well!

Thanks!

 

 

[ladyshanny]

Just because you have to be physically present at the lunch doesn't mean you have to eat the food they provide? In today's day and age, there are so many people with food allergies and preferences that I'm sure you could pack your own lunch and eat it at the specified time. What did you have in mind for us to suggest to supplement your lunch instead of suggesting you bringing your own protein? Is there something there you haven't mentioned? You said only fruit and salad is available so I would think that if you wanted to add to this you would have to bring your own food in? What am I missing?

Getting up at 6am and having a full breakfast at home before you leave would be most preferable and set you up for the most successful day. If you eat breakfast at 630 it would be around 5-5.5 hours until lunch. Totally doable if you compose your breakfast meal to the template.

As for falling asleep while driving, that seems rather dangerous and not something we can really coach you on. Are you saying that this has happened to you before? Or are you exaggerating? You said you "literally fall asleep while driving" which is awfully frightening. A 2 hour drive isn't super excessive, lots of people have horrendous commutes. Can you make sure that you're getting to bed early the night before so that you are well-rested for the drive? 

[gdh22]

Thanks for the reply.  I understand that I can pack my own lunch, but since this will only be once a week I am trying to avoid that for professional reasons. I am planning to eat food that I pack when I leave and before I head home. I was looking for any suggestions for food that can pass snack food to add to whatever is available for me at lunch or for before or after.  I understand I’m being a bit difficult, I was just looking to explore all my options without it effecting my job as I’m a consultant and these particular meetings are important to my business and I haven’t seen anyone bring their own food for lunch.  If that’s really the only option, I’ll have to consider it. 

As far as breakfast, if I ate at 6:30 it would still be about 6.5 hours until lunch.  Considered that fruit is discouraged as a snack, still looking for some snack options that the most nutrient dense. I’ll also add I’m allergic to nuts.

As far as breakfast, I need to be business formal so I usually need about 30 minutes to get ready (and that’s rushing) and at 6:30 I walk my dog. Can’t really get her to eat any earlier than 6, she barely wants to get out of bed. I know it’s recommended to eat within an hour of waking, but I’ve also seen that’s it’s less optimal but ok to eat breakfast on the go if you have to.  

Not looking for advise on how to stay awake while driving, I do that with caffeine. But I would usually have energy drinks because coffee in the morning makes me nauseous and jittery, also not helpful while driving. Was just looking for any recommendations on other caffeine or similar energy sources (for example never tried caffeine pills or other energy supplements) and would appreciate any anecdotes on alternatives because even after 30 days, I’d like to cut out energy drinks entirely. 

[TryingOver]

@gdh22 For caffeine you could try black tea (I really like chai). It won't have as much caffeine as an energy drink or coffee, though.

If you could eat egg muffins or something similar on the go and then have the fruit when you get there, that would make for an okay breakfast. You could add spinach, mushrooms, etc to the egg muffins so that you have protein and vegetables. For snacks you could bring olives and Epic bars. I actually frequently bring pouches of tuna and olives to work events and add them to salad at lunch to make a complete lunch, but I definitely understand if pulling out a pouch of tuna makes you uncomfortable. You could also bring sliced vegetables (bell peppers, cucumber, carrot sticks, etc) along with a compliant dip (guac, beet root hummus, baba ganoush) for a snack before you head home. 

I frequently travel and eat a pouch of tuna with a pouch of olives dumped straight into the tuna pouch at the airport (not on the plane) and that has lasted as a dinner when there weren't other compliant options available. 

[SugarcubeOD]

If you're willing to bring snacks to supplement whatever food is available to you at the event, then why can't you bring some sliced up chicken and just drop it on top of a salad discreetly?  Why are snacks different than actual food?  I totally get wanting to still be professional but no one is looking at what you eat... Believe me, this isn't meant to sound rude but people don't care that much and if someone asks, just brush it off and say 'Oh, I have some sort of intolerance to food I"m trying to figure out' and then move it along.

As for caffiene pills or supplements, sorry, we won't provide anecdotal stories or otherwise because those are absolutely the antithesis of what the Whole30 is about.  This is not a short term solution but I would focus on getting my sleep patterns on track and fueling my body so that I had constant energy... THAT is sustainable and healthy, not caffiene pills and supplements.  In the meantime, drive with the window down slightly, turn up the music, sing along, car dance... even a little citrus or peppermint essential oil in a diffuser might help keeping you alert - assuming you meant you'figuratively fall asleep while driving' not 'literally' as you said because if you're 'literally' falling asleep then you should see a doctor about that asap - energy drinks and caffiene pills are not the solution to that.

[gdh22]

@SugarcubeOD
I understand what you're saying, I was just looking for some nutritious snack recommendations as either way I'm going to be out for a long time and even a serving of chicken probably wont keep me full between breakfast and dinner, and I would like to have something compliant around to keep temptation away from the provided snacks.  In this situation, bringing a fully (template) compliant meal is sub-optimal from a work perspective.   At the end of the day I'm fully aware no one deeply cares about what I'm eating, but to say that no one will notice isn't entirely true.  I totally understand that BYO food is the recommendation that most fits the program.  In this situation I'm just very reluctant, and I was hoping to minimize eating food that isn't provided during the lunch.  I'm there to solicit business and I'm already significantly younger and one of the few females present, and while it may sound overly self-conscious I don't want to be known as the girl who brings her own chicken to a catered event.  But I'm not going to push that one any farther, I understand that the stance on this is to supply your own food and stick to the template.  

I'm a little bit confused on the response to caffeine.  I like the taste of black coffee, and I can usually drink it later in the day without as much trouble.  Regardless, I think most people drink coffee for its effect on energy, and that seems to be allowed here.  As I said before, coffee in the morning pretty consistently gives me an upset stomach.  I did a search on the supplements section on the forum, and the conversation on caffeine was a little vague, but it does not seem to be forbidden as long as it's not a fat-burner/preworkout.  
To be clear I have never taken caffeine pill supplements and don't want to, but I also REALLY don't want to get in a car accident, and I still feel as though I'm going to need some replacement for the energy drinks.  I completely mean literally and not figuratively nodding off.  I'm usually fine for the first hour but the second I'll have a lot of "head-nod" fall asleep moments.  Usually sipping an energy drink as I drive solves this.  Totally appreciate these suggestions, but window open, singing, moving around, does not do it for me for the duration of the ride.  And it happens about 75% of my longer drives.  If I don't bring something with me, I have to stop at a rest stop if it gets to the point I know I can't keep driving.
I have seen a doctor, as well as done a sleep study, checked for thyroid and sleep conditions but didn't find anything conclusive.  And I complain to my doctor every year about fatigue even though I get about 7 hours of sleep on average.  But I never feel refreshed in the morning, and energy levels is one of the primary problems that propelled me to start whole30. 

I guess I was hoping for a compliant interim solution other than coffee if anyone had any suggestions, because for these early days its not like I can stop driving until I see improvement in my sleep and energy.  I'll try tea again, although that hasn't been strong enough for me in the past.  The answer may have to be that I go with black coffee because nauseous would be better than asleep. Obviously, my hope is that by the end of whole30 I'll see some improvement here and this becomes unnecessary.  

 

 

 

[gdh22]

@TryingOver

Thanks for the suggestions! Egg Muffins were already a go-to breakfast for me, so planning on keeping with that adjusted to try to get a full breakfast.  I'll definitely keep some emergency tuna and oil with me.  Luckily its winter so I can bring some real food and keep it "chilled" in my car for the way home.  I haven't tried epic bars, I usually assume most bars will have nuts (or potential contamination) in them so I honestly didn't look, but they seem to be nut free!
I know I'm not that big of a deal, but there actually is already an ongoing joke about someone who used to pull weird food out of her purse and not so secretly pick at it under the table.  I don't want to become to second purse food lady. 

[slc_melissa]

You’re allowed to leave the room, yeah? Go be weird purse food lady out of sight. I find that fats keep me satiated longer, so I am thinking olives. Maybe some coconut. I like chomps and epic bars as portable protein. For portable veggies, I like baby food pouches of sweet potato or whatever. (Bonus-in a hurry, you can really suck down baby food pouches quickly!)

however, in my experience people actually notice it more if you’re obviously picky about provided food vs just eating your own food, but each situation is different.

[gdh22]

@slc_melissa

its a govt building and I don't work there so I can really only go to the bathroom without going through security again.  but yeah, sure I can go to the bathroom.  thanks for the suggestions!