I take my somewhat “restrictive” diet with me wherever I go and utilize hotel frig’s/microwaves instead of eat out or get fast food. If the hotel offers a full breakfast, I skip the high carb/fat stuff and take 2 yogurt, 2 hardboiled eggs, 2 fruits and coffee for the road and mix in my flaxseed, oats and raisins into one of the yogurts along with a cup of their OJ (if it is “real”) to have for breakfast before I leave. (I also travel with “real” OJ in my cooler as the lower-cost motor lodges offer only the fake OJ and don’t offer much of anything I would touch for breakfast, including their lousy coffee.) If I’m staying in someone’s home, I dump my ice chest and store my perishable stuff in a corner of their frig in a bag. At the very minimum, I never travel without 2 bags of Starbucks Coffee and my own coffeemaker, artificial sweetener packets, ground flaxseed, old-fashioned oats, herbal tea bags, “real” OJ, bag of green apples, pkg of string cheese and at least a quart of 2% milk.
I used to order what everyone else at the table ordered in a restaurant and then take home what I couldn’t eat. Not only was that a waste of $$ for whoever paid for my dinner (if it wasn’t me), by the time the entree had been refrigerated overnight, I could see that the heavy butter, cream and other fats used in the dish (to make it taste good to the masses) had “solidified” (ex: Olive Garden). Now I just order a cup of soup and side salad and I don’t care if the others at the table think I’m rude. Almost all the (caloric) entrees and large salads served in restaurants are too big for me. I’m not used to eating big dinners at home.
I’ve just lost so many people in my life from gastrointestinal cancers that I’ve taken very strict charge of my diet and exercise routines and even moreso in the past decade. I’ve seen a lot of (unnecessary, imho) human suffering and am trying mightily not to be another statistic :=0
