Long Trip Home

I returned from a long trip to my parents’ house to help take care of my father who had had knee replacement surgery. The combined trips added up to over 24 hours on the road. And some of that was some really late hour driving.
I was glad I could be there for my folks, but what a number I did on myself. My parents can have sweets around the house and just ignore them. If I know there's candy around, I catch myself going back again and again. It's like I can't leave it alone. Additionally I don't cook anything like my mother cooks. When I'm preparing meals the nutrition index is way up and the unwanteds (highly processed food, breads, and fried foods) are way down. It can be exactly the opposite there.

I went in without a plan and I gave in. But what I learned is the importance of going on trips with a well developed plan. That won't make nutrition perfect, but it will certainly keep me from being a total victim of really bad nutrition.

You see, I notice that it isn't just going to my parents' house that's a problem. It’s anytime I'm on the road. My bad nutrition started while I was driving to my parents' house, not when I walked in the door.

Before I go on another trip, I'll take some time to work on controlling nutrition/eating while on the road. I need to have a plan, a routine that I can turn to when I'm out of my own environment. The importance of planning - that can't be overemphasized enough when I'm preparing for a trip or circumstances require me to be out of my own element. I know how weak I can be around food I don't need. I also know how strong I can be in the same situations. I just need to plan to stay strong when I'm out on the road.

That planning is just as important at work. We're coming up on holidays. Today, the PTSO brought in all kinds of goodies for the teachers to eat. Lots of brownies are on the venue. I luv me some brownies. Thanksgiving is just a little further off and then comes Christmas. All these holidays are saturated with food traditions. The need to plan on how to get through these days is really important. I've already had one year where I lost ground to bad nutrition because I gave in to the food storm that came during the holidays.

So, a primary task for the next few days is to spend some time coming up with contingency plans and to develop some strategies for dealing with food issues while traveling or celebrating the holidays.