Eating Out while Traveling to Meets

One of my favorite parts of being in season is getting to travel. I loved going to the airport with my team, everyone in khakis and our polo with huge travel bags strapped to the sides of us. It was always a fun time to bond with my teammates but it also meant I would be eating out over the next few days.

For the most part, these trips went fine. I packed lots of protein bars and fruit in my bag to eat if I got hungry. Hotel breakfasts are easy; they always have oatmeal and fruit. Lunches could be a little trickier but for the most part I could grab a subway sandwich or make a PB&J from the hotel breakfast to bring with me to the meet. Then we get to dinner and that is where we could potentially have a problem depending on where the group wanted to go.

Airport: Easy

• There are so many choices I could always find a place to get a burrito bowl where I could control the toppings, or a Starbucks that had sandwiches with nutrition labels on the package.

Chain Restaurants: Easy

• If we went to an Olive Garden or Applebee's they always had plenty to choose from with nutrition facts listed and usually a “Lighter Menu” section, my go-to.

Fast Food: Tough

• I would try to get in a car with a group who wanted to stop at Whole Foods or somewhere 'healthy' on our drive but there were times when we ended up at a fast food place. If I wasn’t able to avoid eating the food I would get a plain chicken sandwich or burger depending on the place and not have any sides.

Non-Chain Restaurants: Potentially Hard

• These restaurants rarely had nutrition info listed on the menu so I would have to make estimations but I could usually find something with grilled chicken and veggies and modify it if needed to make me feel safe.

Restaurants with Limited Options/No Modifications: The WORST

• This is where eating out could be terrible. I remember going to Cracker Barrel and the staff telling me they could not give me any chicken without a coating on it because it was all pre-prepared… yikes. Or going to a barbecue restaurant where the only sides were coleslaw, mac n cheese, cornbread and greens. All of which were huge fear foods so I only ate the skinless chicken breast that I could carve out for my dinner.

Eating out on trips created an internal dilemma. On the one hand my brain was wired to look at a menu and choose the safest lowest calorie dish I could find. But on the other hand I always worried about fueling enough to race well. This created a back and forth dialogue in my head as I tried to balance eating the least I could while eating enough to allow me to run my best.

If you looked around the table you would see my teammates enjoying their food, choosing what sounded good but was also a smart pre-race decision. Eating until they were full and then stopping. It was done unconsciously and without a hint of stress.

But for me and my eating disorder, these situations took a tremendous amount of thought and effort.

I wanted control, safety, and a dish with grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies.

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