Wiser Choices

This last week I went to Salt Lake City for an essential oils convention.  I was gone for about 5 days.  This meant that I had 5 days to eat out.  Eating out isn't an easy thing when you are trying to eat more healthy.  We all know this.  We have all experienced it. I was DETERMINED to continue to eat healthy.  In fact, I was actually more worried about my family keeping the way of eating than me. I was assured that they ate good and I am grateful for that.

I left for the airport on Wednesday around lunch time.  I didn't eat before I left so I needed to pick something up at the airport.  The food choices at the airport are NOT the best.  BUT, there are a VERY small handful of places that I could go.  I decided to go to Woody Creek Bakery because I knew that they would have a whole grain bread option or even a salad that I could get.  I admit that a ham, or turkey club sandwich often sounds good.  But in my mind, I need to consider the rest of the day, "What did I have for breakfast? What am I going to have for dinner?" If there is a possibility that I might have meat for dinner, then I shy away from things that contain meat (Rule #5). I opted to get the veggie sandwich on whole grain bread.  It was GOOD!!! I ate about 2/3 of the sandwich and then I was done. I even threw away the cookie they gave me. :)

The rest of the week went like this:

Wednesday Dinner:

• A half  of a Roasted Vegetable Salad at California Pizza Kitchen with a mushroom flat bread (The flat bread only because it was free, but I couldn't eat it all.)

Thursday Breakfast:

• Peach and Mango smoothie, with almond milk instead of OJ from The Blue Lemon.

Thursday Lunch:

• Was provided so it was Subway with a Cesar salad.  The sandwich I picked was on wheat bread and I couldn't eat it all.

Thursday Dinner:

• I had the awesome opportunity to have dinner with one of my dear cousins. We went to a bar and grill called RedRock. I HAD to order the mozzarella sticks, but I only ordered 3. (Mozzarella sticks are a SUPER Achilles heal for me.) My cousin ate one while I savored the other 2.  :)  For dinner I ordered a Caprese sandwich with sweet potato waffle fries. How can you pass up waffle fries???!!! (I could only eat half my sandwich and I only ate about 8 fries.)

Friday Breakfast:

• Blueberry and Strawberry smoothie with almond milk instead of apple juice from Nordstroms eBar. (This was actually my favorite smoothie.)

Friday Lunch:

• Bruschetta with herbed bean paste, sauteed spinach, and diced tomatoes with a side house salad from Caffe' Molise. (I couldn't eat all the bruschetta and yes, "Caffe'" had 2 F's in it.)

Friday Dinner:

• Black Bean Ravioli with fresh spinach in a bell pepper and tomato sauce from The Blue Lemon. (The Blue Lemon QUICKLY became my favorite restaurant.)

Saturday Breakfast:

• Three of us ordered different things and shared so, I had a 1/3 of a veggie omelet, one berry crepe with orange cream, and one lemon blueberry pancake with buttermilk dressing from The Blue Lemon. (I couldn't finish the pancake)

Saturday Lunch:

• Raspberry Chicken Salad with a side order of Sweet Potato fries from the Blue Lemon. (I only ate about 10 fries, and they were normal skinny fries.)

Saturday Dinner:

• Vegetable Lasagna from The Garden Restaurant (I could only eat about 2/3 of this dish, but it was really good.)

Sunday Breakfast:

• Scrambled eggs with salsa and cheese, honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon, and a tiny bit of oatmeal from JB's Restaurant in our Hotel. (It was a breakfast buffet.  I was SO happy to see melon.)

Notice I didn't have any desserts.  I was asked several times if I wanted a bite, but I graciously, but firmly said "No". And with every meal I had water to drink.  There are healthy options out there.  We just need to be aware of the choices and ASK to have things changed if it isn't what you want.  We can say, "Dressing on the side." or "No cheese.", but remember you can also say, "I want almond milk instead of juice."

Because I made the choices I did, I was able to still lose weight while I was out of town.  How many times have you been able to say that? "I lost weight while I was out of town!"  For me, this was the first time.  I think it also helped that I was walking all over downtown, but I know that if I hadn't made those wiser choices, then I wouldn't have lost what I did.  EVEN WITH THE WALKING!