Going on vacation - need restaurant eating advice please!

[onlyme]

So, I've been following your protocols for six weeks now and we are getting ready to go on a mini-vacation Sunday night through Tuesday. We'll have a kitchenette in our room, so I'm planning to bring some things with me, but I'd like to be able to eat out with my husband once or twice.

I found on-line menus for some of the area restaurants. Can you please give me some pointers? I'm following the anti-candida diet and I've eliminated corn, wheat/oats, and soy due to eating all of the above every day for several months previous. Also, doing minimal dairy. I found that some of my symptoms that cleared while on Stage 1-4 of the Vital Cleanse came back when I added in the kefir and yogurt (I was "diagnosed" as dairy intolerant through kinesiology with a crystal on a string over my hand when I was young . . . guess I haven't outgrown that).

http://www.mamasake.com/ - there is a menus link - I am sushi illiterate. Under the starters they list miso soup and a few other things that I've seen on this site as okay. I don't think I've ever tried anything on this menu before, so I wouldn't even know where to start!

http://www.firesidepizza.com/menu.htm - they make a sourdough crust, and a pesto sauce. I was thinking no cheese with portobello mushroom and artichoke hearts wouldn't be too bad, but I don't know . . .

If all else fails, there is an organic juice bar nearby!

Thanks for your input. We had three family deaths this year and this will be our first vacation since May 2005.

[chardy]

Have a wonderful vacation! Dont stress yourself too much

Dont forget to bring some digestive enzymes, or some triktau if you have some capsules, so you can follow pungent therapy to aid digestion. Possibly even some spicy tea.

Before bed, why not have a cleansing drink and a fibre shake to keep things moving? Or bring a some lecithin to have if you have something with oily or a dressing you're not sure about.

On they days you're going out for a meal, eat lightly in the morning if you can. Maybe even have one of those juices. Your body will be ready for the food in the evening then

Sushi should be perfectly fine! They dont use cheese, but if you're avoiding soy avoid miso too, I believe that is made from soy and unless its fermented its not ok. Oh, I just had a quick read, its not traditional sushi, so there are a few things with cream cheese. Also, tempura is a sort of lightly fried batter, its totally delicious but you might want to limit that. Im jealous of you getting some good sushi!

The real cheats come with the pizza place Theres not much you can do, but limit as much as possible mixing cheeses with the protein and starches. Just make sure you're stomach is ready and you have some spices. Maybe when you get back go on a juice fast for a day or so, help your body recover.

Most importantly, really enjoy your time away, have fun and relax. That'll do wonders for your health.

[onlyme]

Thanks! I'm definitely planning on bringing my teas and digestive enzymes. I'm thinking this might be a good time to take a break from cleansing drinks though, since I've been doing two per day for six weeks now. Lecithin is a good idea. I'll pack some of that as well. This will be my first time eating out in over six weeks. I don't like not being able to completely control what is going in my body, but I guess this is as good a time as any to get over it, right?

[shelley]

I wrote a post on how to travel and eat out all the time and survive, but I don't know if I put it in the FAQ... hmmm...

[onlyme]

Shelley, If you find the post, please let me know where it is. I did a search and everything and can't find it.

[shelley]

I found it in the book, I'll repost here.

[onlyme]

Thanks so much!

Any advice on safe things to eat at the sushi place? I've never eaten at a restaurant like this before, so I have NO CLUE what to order.

If we do end up at the pizza place I'll order sourdough crust, pesto sauce, artichoke hearts and portobello mushrooms, and NO CHEESE.

We leave tomorrow. I packed packets of India Spice, Peppermint, and decaf Green Tea (put them in the ziploc baggies as suggested - thanks!). I'm also bringing my tea kettle and purified water so I can make tea in the room. Also packed digestive enzymes, b-complex with vitamin c, and the last of my Primal Defense. I'll need to find a more affordable probiotic to take when I get back (can't do the kefir or yogurt as I had a bad reaction last time - itchy ears and scalp came back with a vengence).

I'll check this site one last time before we leave. Hope to hear from you, but if not, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

[shelley]

Ah, sushi place.. yum.

Start out with all the "appetizers" you can - Sunamomo if they have it is a great salad, Japanese cuisine believes in starting out with something fermented, something with vinegar, miso soup, some pickled ginger... the ginger has a teensy bit of sugar but so what - ginger is great. All of that is fine, even the tofu since it's a small amount.

For most people, the easiest sashimi to like are those with sauces (hand rolls usually have sauces) or the fish with a mild flavor like tuna. Sushi rolls are incredibly easy to like and most are fine on any diet.

Have fun!

[chardy]

Damn you

This thread has given me a massive hankering for sushi now

[onlyme]

What a fun trip! On Sunday morning, before we left, I had a warm Cleansing Drink with cayenne. Brought a thermos of India Spice Tea and drank that on the drive up. It was foggy when we left, but by the time we got up into the mountains it was sunshiney, but cold! Oh, also drank a total of 16 oz. of aloe vera juice throughout the day (needed to finish it up).

We ate an early dinner (about 5ish) at the pizza place. I got an 8" sourdough crust (thin), with pesto sauce, artichoke hearts, and portobello mushrooms. I didn't eat all the crust. Also took two PD about an hour before and took digestive enzymes with the meal. Also had a bit of peppermint tea. NO ILL EFFECTS WHATSOEVER! YIPPEE!!!

After that we walked around for a while and then went back to the lodging and took a sauna. I ended the day with peppermint tea and triphala.

On Monday morning, I woke and took peppermint tea and triphala again. We stopped at the organic smoothie place and I had them make me a cleansing cocktail, but I forgot to ask for the carrot juice! So, basically it was beets, parsley, ginger, and green apple. Then we went ice skating. Quite the workout at 8,000+ feet altitude! It was super-windy on top of the mountain, which made it hard to skate into the wind, but we had loads of fun anyway.

When we got back down a couple hours later, I stopped back at the organic smoothie place and got a carrot juice (to try to make up for forgetting it in the cleansing cocktai!). I drank that and popped three fish oil pills.

We ate at the sushi place for dinner at about 5:30pm or so. I started out with the miso soup. I hadn't read your response yet Shelley, so I'm glad to see that you said it's safe despite the tofu! There were only 3 tiny cubes of it, so I didn't worry too much. I ate 1/2 the sliced ginger and put the rest in my decaf green tea. I ordered the Mushroom Maki - asparagus, shiitake, enoki and oyster mushrooms, wrapped in mamenori with white truffle oil. I took two PD about an hour before dinner and digestive enzymes with the meal. I was very burpy afterward. Not sure what the culprit was . . . (butternut squash soup did the same thing to me when I ate that in the past, so I'm not gonna be making that anymore!). Took another sauna in the evening and peppermint tea and triphala before bed.

This morning we woke up to clouds and by 9am it was raining/snowing, so we checked out early so we could make it over the pass before chains were required. We stopped at a little organic market and I bought a green apple and a can of organic pureed sweet potato (plain). Those were the only safe things I could find that I could eat in the car (everything else I'd have to cook). So, I ate the apple and chewed like there was no tomorrow, and 1/2 the can of sweet potato. Took 3 fish oil pills as well. Brought India Spice Tea in a thermos again and drank that too.

Now we are home and I am going to make some hot cereal in a bit - quinoa flakes, sliced almonds, granulated lecithin, NYF, vanilla, and 1/4 c. blueberries.

Tomorrow night my mom will be here for Thanksgiving, and I think I'll make my husband and I the Cleansing Pasta (he likes that) with brown rice pasta (I'll have to make my mom plain pasta since she can't tolerate garlic or spices) and wild salmon.

On Thanksgiving, we'll have our organic, free range turkey and wild rice stuffing. I'll make all the "bad" stuff for everyone else - cornbread, mashed potatoes, etc. I asked them to bring their favorite pies - I'll pass on that!

So, all in all, the most important thing is that my husband and I had a relaxing, fun time. And, I didn't undo all the hard work on my diet.

Tomorrow morning, I'm getting blood work done (basic metabolic panel, thyroid, and cholesterol). I've also got an appointment made to see if the home pregnancy test I took was wrong and I really am pregnant, or if something else is screwed up and that' why I didn't get my period this month (it's almost 2 weeks overdue). I don't know what I weigh, but I know I've lost weight since I started cleansing, so maybe that is the culprit since I didn't need to lose weight in the first place.

Thanks for the advice and well wishes!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!