The Vacation Chronicles – Chapter 1; Airport Food

4:50 AM came waaaay to early today. I realize that is pretty close to the usual wake up call time, but I didn’t go to bed until 2:30, so it felt a lot earlier today. Naturally, I wanted to save as much time for sleeping as possible, so I didn’t ration out any time for breakfast…or makeup.

Ever eaten all three meals at an airport? I hadn’t until today. Eating healthy when you are traveling can be hard, but it seems like some places are actually getting a clue and we getting more healthy options all the time. I love that. Sometimes it takes some searching, and sometimes it takes some willpower. Bypassing the smell of fresh Cinnabons and walking past the perfect looking Krispy Kreme doughnuts wasn’t easy this morning. Especially because by the time we actually had a spare second to find some food my stomach was growling. My body is used to eating breakfast right when I wake up.

Eating as soon as you wake up is a habit you should really try to incorporate. Your body has been in a fasting state all night long, and your glycogen levels are low. Eating a good, healthy breakfast when you wake up will help get your metabolism going, will help your brain function better (it needs that glucose to run!), and will actually save you from overeating later in the day. Crazy right? It’s true. It has been proven that those who eat breakfast are less likely to binge and overeat on a larger lunch and dinner because they a) feel like they are “making up for lost calories” and b) are so hungry by the time they do eat they consume more than they need. Waiting to eat also causes your blood sugar levels to drop dramatically. This causes you to crave high sugar foods and carbs to boost that blood sugar back up, causing a surge in your insulin. As I’ve mentioned before insulin is a storage hormone, and excess insulin can lead to storing fat. This is where the principle behind eating smaller meals throughout the day and the science of the glycemic index comes from. Broken down simply. Eating breakfast = avoiding fat storage.

I told you I was going to show you some of my vacation eating to try and give you some ideas of how to manage on all of your summer vacations.

Breakfast: Starbucks Plain Oatmeal with cinnamon, a sprinkle of cocoa powder, a sprinkle of brown sugar, and 2 packets of Splenda. The brown sugar costs extra, but they provide cinnamon, cocoa powder and Splenda for you to add at your delight. I liked that. As you know, I looooove cinnamon.

Total Calories: 150 (Starbucks has their nutritional info posted online)

I posted previously about all of the new fast food oatmeal options that have been made available, but I had yet to try any of them until this morning. I mean why in the world would I pay $3.00 for oatmeal when I make it at home for $.25 in a way that I LOVE. Although I was glad that I could find a breakfast option that I liked; (it was very tasty), it seemed like more of a snack. My old fashioned oats fill me up and usually tide me over for a few hours, and I was still hungry after I ate these. Nonetheless, a healthier, low fat breakfast option.

We hopped on our first plane oatmeal in hand, and two hours later we landed in Houston, TX. Luckily I was able to sneak in some shuteye and found some time to apply some makeup. I’m sure the people of Texas appreciated that.  Benita’s sister lives in Texas, so she came to the airport to say hello and eat some lunch with us while we waited for our next flight.

Lunch: 
Whole wheat chicken wrap with roasted chicken, tomatoes, pickles, red onions, lettuce, salsa, and a dab of mayo and mustard, with a side of low-fat strawberry yogurt.

Estimated Calories: 400 for wrap and 75 for the yogurt (I only ate about 1/3 of it because I figured it was pretty high in sugar)

I checked out all my options before deciding on this little number, and it was actually really really good. The chicken was roasted and had some awesome flavor to it. I loved that they offered salsa as a topping too. I mentioned earlier this week how much I love salsa as a flavorful light topping. It is definitely a good idea to eat with your head not your stomach when you are in places like mall food courts or airports. There are always a lot of options and often times we go for the first items we see out of hunger instead of looking to find what is going to be the healthiest option. I am a firm believer in the fact that most of the time you can find something that is a healthy option if you look.

Now, it should be known that I always come prepared. I have some protein bars and some raw almonds in my bag as healthy snack in case I can’t find anything to eat. I always have an apple, banana, clementines, fiber one bars, cliff bars, zone bars or pure protein bars as back up items in my purse in case I find myself foodless. Let’s be honest, nobody wants to see that! 😉 I’ve said it a bazillion times, the key to eating healthy and losing weight is preparation! The times we make poor eating decisions are usually the times we aren’t prepared and we start thinking  with our stomachs.

 

Back on the plane. This time we’re headed to Cleveland. Are you jealous of all of these layovers? I bet. Another two hour flight provided me some time to take another lil’ nap and watch some Friends on my computer. Did I mention that my baby’s fixed? Just in time to bring her along for the trip. Turns out the rice thing helped, and the motherboard didn’t get damaged. The only damage was done to the top case, which had to be replaced. Lesson learned: water + electronics don’t mix.
Lucky for me the man sitting next to me on the plane found what I was doing/reading/texting/watching far more entertaining than what he brought in his goody bag. Pretttty funny.

We’re currently waiting to board our last flight to Norfolk, VA! YAY!!

 Snack Time: Pure Protein Bar Peanut Butter Marshmallow Eclipse

Calories: 180
I brought this one with me because I knew my protein would be the hardest thing to get in. Boarding call just came!
Off we go!!