Holiday travel and eating

In less than 6 hours, I'll be flying home to sunny California to visit my parents in my hometown. It'll probably be more like overcast, but eh ... there will be homecooking and seafood ... and homecooked seafood! I'll save the Thanksgiving food post for another day, though.

I really don't eat well when I travel. This is the time when health and fitness mags and webzines start issuing tips on how to avoid eating badly while you're traveling. When I fly somewhere in the morning, I find the airport's Burger King and get a croissanwich and hashed browns value meal with o.j. If I fly in the afternoon/evening, I get something creamy and frothy from Starbucks. I miss when they had almond toffee bars, although I've come close (close enough) to finding a doppleganger recipe. Still, I always find something in their pastry case to tempt my tummy.

This year, holiday travel eating started early with a breakfast burrito, and for lunch, a grilled Reuben, both from one of my favorite sandwich shops, Dagwood's. Oy! And after talking to my mom a few days back, I know there's more good food on the horizon. That said, I'm going to revisit something my doc told me last December before she prescribed the South Beach Diet (Phase 2). She said that all the holiday parties I'll be going to will have lots of food out, but 99% of it won't be worth eating. If I'm going to ruin myself, don't let it be on that junk. No cookie trays or commercial candies. No boxed taters or store-bought pies. If only I went to parties where my friends offered more junk. *sigh* Luckily, mom's food tends to be pretty clean and healthy!

A promise to myself: don't drop the workouts during my visit, even if it's just ambling along on my parents' treadmill for half an hour. Maybe I could get my fambly to ambly with me! Woot!

Happy Holidays, all! All I want for X-Mas is a working oven, and supposedly, the repairman will come on Monday with a new bake element, since I apparently burned out the last one. *blush*

Comments

Kribha said…
Have a safe trip and a great ThanksGiving with your family. Enjoy your time to the maximum and come back soon to share more recipes. Take care.
Julie said…
Thank you, Kribha! I hope to bring back photos of my mom in action! I hope you have a weekend of happy eating, too!
Michael Marsh said…
Have a great trip! I've already prepared my contribution for Thanksgiving: squash soup (from the frozen bricks, but still really really good). That, and some Snapping Ginger Ale (our holiday beer didn't come out well).
Susan said…
I suspect many of us don't eat well during travels b/c we can't control what we run into and are too enervated to keep the willpower up to choose wisely. Home-cooked seafood sounds more than worth the journey, as is, of course, visiting home.

BTW, I've tagged you for a meme. If you are interested, go for it; if not, I'll be looking forward to your next posts anyway. Holiday Cheers!
Kourtney said…
Julie,

You blog is a great inspiration for me. I love to bake, cook, read, write, and I am about to get serious about shedding weight. Congrats on your 50lb weight loss! I would deeply appreciate any pointers you have on juggling losing weight with the burning desire to bake and create delicious foods.
Elle said…
Thanks for coming by my site - I'm enjoying your recipes! I think I'll be swiping some for dinner plans soon...
Julie said…
Mike! Why is your profile not linking to your blog(s)? Do you have your soup recipe up anywhere, or do you mean it was frozen from um your grocer's freezer? Regardless, I hope you had an awesome Turkey Day! Hugs and Love!

Susan, you're right--maintaining willpower, especially during the holidays when you're back in your mom's yum-producing kitchen is a tough one! I managed to keep to single plates (no seconds) and work out almost every day, so it wasn't all nutty. And the seafood ... egads! I'll answer your meme as soon as I can--I'm honored that you tagged me for it, and sorry I didn't notice that you'd tagged me earlier!

Kourtney, wow, your words really mean a lot to me! I'll send you an e-mail soon!

Miss Eliza, thank you! You're more than welcome to the recipes I post! If you make them, please let me know how they turn out. Best wishes!
Michael Marsh said…
I've got two google accounts, and this is the one that's not attached to my blogs. Of course, you were nice enough to link to my beer bloggle.

I haven't posted the soup recipe, but it's not a bad idea. I got the recipe from my neighbor in Ithaca about five years ago.
your bread looks good! I love the shaping.
Then....seeing what you did with it made me hubgry! yum!

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