Traveling... What's in my suitcase?

I want first start out by saying that I am so grateful that I live in a place (Boulder, CO) where gluten, dairy, soy and yeast free are not unheard of and there are products out that there are available for myself and people like me to go pick up without a bunch of tilted heads in complete confusion when I say "does this contain gluten?"

It amazes me that with the prevalence of people with sensitivities, intolerance, allergies and even by choice, that it is still nearly impossible to find food at a restaurant that is not contaminated, or pre-made foods at the airport and on airlines. Though, I knew this ahead of time and I also know that I need more food than the 'average' person. I need to eat small meals about every two hours to keep my body feeling well and my mind in focus.

 

Well, I was overly prepared but I'd rather be that than under. I was able to find a meal at all the restaurants but snack wise there were not many options so I was happy that I brought what I did. I ate about 1/2 of what I brought over a period of three days. Yeah... I eat a lot :) Another reason why I brought so much was because I was in NYC on business so I didn't have a lot of time or options to go run on down to a Whole Foods.

Paleo on the road!

All items aside from the Bobo Bars are paleo friendly. I didn't want to bank on the hotel having bananas and apples available - a couple of my staples, so I brought dehydrated (no added sugar) ones with me. These helped but I gotta say it's not ideal... they are hmm... slightly moldy looking even though I know that they aren't... they kinda gross me out, I think next time I will just bring fresh ones with me and not worry about saving space!

Anyway, that's just a glimpse into what goes into my mind and into my suitcase when I'm traveling somewhere. Food not only effects my gut, it effects my entire body including my mind. An example is with wheat- I immediately get vertigo, hot and have a general feeling of being 'off.' I don't think I'm the only one that has that problem. So while some people think that I am just being careful because I don't want to have GI issues- it's much much more than that. It effects how I act, think, talk and overall what I do.

This summer I will be going on a road-trip and and we are already discussing getting dry ice and we will have to buy our dry goods ahead of time because our destination in Northern Michigan, will not have coconut flour and almond milk.

I sure hope that one day, all markets do ;)