My family has been in transition for many months. First, we sold our house (surprisingly!), then we moved into a rental, now we are staying with family, and next week we are moving into an apartment. We will be in the apartment for at least 7 months while we house-hunt, then moving into a permanent (hopefully) home. Needless to say, it has been quite a couple of months for us. In spite of all this, we have maintained our way of eating about 75-80% of the time. Pretty awesome for the amount of chaos our life has had.
Here’s a few ways for you to stay the Paleo-course during transition:
1. Be very easy on yourself! It’s hard when you are moving to be 100% Paleo. I’m not saying it’s impossible, in fact if any member in our family had celiac disease, I would make it work. I would HAVE to put more of an effort into it. However, and thankfully, no one in my family does. In fact, other than noticeable temper tantrums by the little ones, some minor digestive issues, and gas, there is no major difference when we don’t eat Paleo. It’s sad. I wish there was to motivate me more!
2. Prepare food and snacks beforehand. Make my Fruit Gummies, order some beef snacks for yourself and some Berky for the kids, grab some fruit leather, pack lots of bananas and apples, get apple chips for your toothless littles, and starve your kids until you leave, so that they just eat the whole drive. Hehe! Yes, my car is trashed… the price to pay for good kids who will do anything for food :).
3. Print out a copy of my dining out post with suggestions for what to order at top chain restaurants. There is also an app (of course!) for eating Paleo on-the-go. I have never looked at it so I can’t tell you if it’s awesome or not. But, it looks nifty!
4. If you are flying, order yourself a Paleo Margarita at the airport, instead of drinking beer or wine. That’s if you MUST drink.
5. If you MUST eat fast-food, instead of chosing one of the restaurants I recommend, then choose Chic-Fil-A. The kids can order grilled nugget meals and their grilled chicken salads are pretty tasty for the adults. If you think about it, pack yourself an oil and vinegar dressing mix, or just splurge on their balsamic vinaigrette.
6. When you get to your location, do your research! For local eggs, I always head to Craigslist to see if there is any local people with an overstock of fresh eggs. For meat, check out Eat Wild for recommendations for local, sustainable farmers. If your family does raw milk, check out Real Milk for local suggestions. Local Harvest also has great suggestions for fresh produce and local Farmer’s Markets!
7. If you get sleepy on the road, pull over at a drive-thru Starbucks and get a coffee. Ask for heavy cream and some honey!
8. Make some Pumpkin Breakfast cookies before you head out!!! These are sooooo good!
Do you have a hard time sticking with Paleo during times of transition or vacation? What are some ways you make it work for your family?
Love this 🙂 I am pretty new to Paleo although I would say I eat this way 70% of the time without calling it that….educating myself and exploring more specifics. Going on a trip to DC with my eighth graders …. im a teacher….snd dreading that it will be a fastfood unhealthy fest for a week. Im packing snacks and Im going to t try for 2 acceptable meals a day at least 🙂 These tips are awesome!! Going to try the cookie recipe!!
Yay! Good for you! You’re going to love the cookies!!!
Though you acknowledge FAST FOOD would not be the ideal situation, just wanted to mention the ingredients of the “grilled chicken” is surprisingly long:
Grilled chicken (whole breast filet, seasoning [water, apple cider vinegar, soybean oil, yeast extract, salt, modified corn starch, palm oil, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, corn maltodextrin, sea salt, flavor, sugar, chicken stock, cane molasses, chicken fat, spice, natural flavor {including smoke}, dextrose, lemon peel, citric acid, red bell pepper, orange juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate, natural flavor, paprika, vinegar, xanthan gum, ascorbic acid, and spices]).
https://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Detail/ChickfilA-Grilled-Nuggets-Kids-Meal#?details=ingredients