Skip to main content

The Camp Chronicles: The Road Back From Food Hell

It’s hard to believe that 1 week and two days have passed since dropping my daughter off at sleep away camp (but I’m not counting). 

When we travel as a family, to any destination, there is always a lot of behind the scenes busy work. Travelling with a food allergic son makes things a little more challenging so, we just can’t pop into a restaurant, rather, we have to research a restaurant in advance, and then grill the manager about their allergy protocol, if any.  In many cases, even after this arduous process, we won't even eat there, because frankly, it’s just not worth the anaphylactic risk.  Therefore, we always make sure that we have enough supplies in the car to quell those hunger pangs.

We stay in a hotel with a kitchen, as a fridge, microwave and a stove- top are requisites. We head toward the supermarket after check in and load up on enough groceries for our 3-4 day stay to cover enough for three meals a day and snacks.  I usually stock our temporary dwelling with fresh, bright colorful fruit (which always makes me happy) cucumbers, frozen broccoli, pasta, yogurt, string cheese, hummus, whole wheat bread, water and some assorted crunchy snacks that aren’t too offensive.  NO FROOT LOOPS here!    You get the idea.  I try to make it healthier so that the kids can see that you don’t have to abandon all good eating habits while on vacation, though occasional treats are warranted.  I do buy ice cream for our home away from home, as Ari can’t eat ice cream in most mainstream shops because again…too risky. 

So, there we are on the long return journey back from camp.  It’s a little quieter in the car, though Unit #2 has settled in nicely with an iron-clad grip on the DVD remote control.  No longer the Deputy of DVD-ville…he has finally been promoted to Sheriff…and he definitely likes it.  Nevertheless, we had lots of road ahead of us.

Over the course of the next two days, we did some special stuff with the sibling who was left behind.  My husband and I were trying to make the best of it, but this camp thing was a new experience to us, we just weren’t quite used to being a family of three.  It started out innocently enough, after miles and miles of blurred scenery and road, I started to nibble on some pretzels.  I was bored and a little sad.  I missed my girl. 

We stopped for lunch (Dunkin Donuts is on our approved list).  After my veggie egg white on flatbread and coffee,(still trying to keep healthy)I felt ready to conquer the road again. Well, one hour and 45 miles into our journey toward home, I noticed that I was missing my backpack.   “We need to go back and get it.” I said frantically to my husband.  “It has my wallet, but it also has the Epi-pen!  We called the Dunkin Donuts and miraculously, they had it, in tact. 

We turned around and made the 45-mile return trek.  Unit 2 mercifully fell asleep, so I grabbed the bag and we instantly got back on the road…Did I mention we hit loads of traffic? Did I indicate that it took a roundtrip of 3 hours just to get back to our original spot?  Did I forget to tell you that it was another 3 hours to our final destination, which wasn’t even our home because we were going to PA to take Unit #2 to an Amusement Park? 

Therefore, I finished off the bag of pretzels, and dove into the fruit bars followed by the extra bagel from Dunkin Donuts.  After a 7-hour ride, we finally reached the hotel.  It was late and we were low on supplies.  We ventured into Wal-Mart to stock up on some new DVD’s for Unit #2…he deserved it. He survived the ride with only a small modicum of complaining. 

I am not sure what happened to me that night, but something unleashed that was too powerful to stop.  I started out with good intentions.  I perused the fruit aisle, but clearly, Wal-Mart isn’t known for their stellar produce.  Like a zombie under someone else’s control, I headed toward the snack section.  I was tired, my tuchus was irreparably numb, my muscles ached, and I was still acutely aware that with each passing mile, I was travelling further away from my girl.

Like my previous shopping trip at the beginning of our journey, I loaded my cart with colorful things…conversely this now included orangey goldfish, pretzel goldfish, graham crackers, Oreo minis, and when I passed the pop tart aisle, my hand instantly reached for the strawberry toaster cake that would be my salvation.  It was as if a puppeteer was controlling my jerky, unthinking movements.   Don’t worry, I declined…but I did buy two bags of pretzel M&M’s….HEY DON’T JUDGE ME.

It’s all a blur after that, I basically ate my way through Scranton and Harrisburg (oh yeah, we bought soft pretzels brushed with butter in Lancaster).  I did buy a salad at the amusement park in an effort to re-set my egregious eating ways until I ate a bag of Oreo minis followed by greasy Chinese food finale upon the return home. 

It’s ironic that someone like me who writes articles on healthy recipes, goal setting, and nutrition would plunge into the depths of food hell.  Nevertheless, like the dietician who is overweight, or the doctor who smokes, or the therapist who has more problems than his/her clients…sometimes we fall off the wagon.  The bigger issue is how we get back on. 


Comments

  1. Road trips and a little sadness over leaving your daughter are totally recipes for over snacking in the not-the-best-for-you arena. You are so right though, most important is how you get on the right track again.

    All can be forgiven and started over at home!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This Ain't No Cake of Affliction

As promised here is the first of some of my most treasured allergy free recipes for Passover.  I hope you enjoy them and use them as part of your tradition for a happy and safe holiday. Chocolate Cake (adapted from Nava Atlas’s Chocolate Cake recipe) This cake is so good, it’s a shame I only make it on Passover. It’s very fudgy and rich, and trust me you can’t eat too much of it at once and yet, the whole thing disappears in minutes. Try it for yourself. It’s super easy and it's egg, nut, dairy and can be made gluten free with gluten free cake meal. This picture is two cakes stacked with raspberry jam in the middle and a ganache topping-it makes a great birthday cake if your birthday lands on Passover. Ingredients-for one cake 5/8 cup cake meal (1/2 cup + 1/8) ¼ cup+ 1 ½ tbsp. Potato starch 3 TBSP cocoa powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder (you can use the Kosher for Passover one) ½ tsp. salt ¼ cup oil 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar 1 tsp. v

Cookies for Breakfast-(Gluten,egg,dairy and nut free)

As allergy moms, we have to learn how to re-feed our families from scratch.  Ten years ago, this was not a simple task as we did not have the explosive array of allergy free items we have today.  However, just because we have more extensive choices, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy.  In fact, I have noticed that the preponderance of allergy items is snack food, cake mixes, cookies, etc… Moreover, I found it curious that many food allergy parents such as myself, were actually gaining weight, probably because we were always baking for our kiddos so they wouldn’t feel left out at school, family events, birthday parties and playdates.  While I felt good about being able to provide these tasty alternatives, my fitness and nutrition goals were less than stellar and in need of an overhaul. As a trainer and nutrition consultant with a lot of experience in limited diets, I am constantly trying to create healthy alternatives that won’t break the caloric bank, provide nutrition, and

Thanksgiving Recipe-"Cheesecake Cuties"

Thanksgiving is typically the portal to guilty holiday overeating, resulting in New Year's resolutions which are routinely broken by January 15th. Sound familiar? It's a vicious cycle. Moreover, for those of us with food allergies, these types of holidays are landmines. We are constantly surrounded by string beans almondine, pecan pie, walnut brownies, stuffing with egg, and the list goes on.  As a writer about nutrition, a recently appointed trainer at ThePerfectWorkout , and a mom with children suffering from multiple food allergies, I am trying to balance holiday consumption and safety-not always an easy thing to juggle especially when it comes to dessert. This Thanksgiving, try this recipe for "Cheesecake Cuties." They are nut, dairy, egg and gluten free. They are petite,creamy and incredibly easy to make. They won't break your calorie bank (unless you eat all 24) they are safe for those allergy challenged, and they really taste great. There is no reason