What a wonderful weekend we spent watching my daughter play tournament volleyball in Reno, Nevada. Three days of buffets, gambling, long days and healthy eating challenges. Luckily we planned ahead and were very well prepared physically and emotionally for the tests we faced throughout the trip.
I wanted to empower myself with lots of healthy eating options. For our breakfast meals, I prepared at home before we left, boiled eggs and homemade granola. I packed those items along with leftover ham, bagel thins and low-fat milk. For lunch we shopped at Costco and TJ's. From Costco, I packed frozen, cooked, tail-on shrimp, spring mix lettuce and a mozzarella-prosciutto roll. From TJ's, I packed healthy crackers, hummus, olives, grapes, bananas and air popped popcorn. Oh, and of course dark chocolate! We supplemented all required condiments from home, including homemade vinaigrette and roasted garbanzo beans.I also packed baby carrots, celery sticks and Cliff Bars (kid size) for snacks at the tournaments. Here's our lunch ingredients: | ||||
| Our Lunch Fixin's From Costco and Trader Joes. |
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| Lunch is served! |
What a huge success! We felt like we got one over on the casino-restaurant powers that be. The side of iced tea from Starbucks is my new bad habit.
For dinner the first night we decided to get the buffet out of our system. GASP! A buffet?! That's right! Face the challenge and conquer the BUFFET! I started with a bed of baby spinach and decided I could have anything I wanted on top of the greens but it had to be generally healthy, a tasting size portion and something I really wanted to have. The food at casino buffets, in general, isn't the best food so my choices were very easy. A spoonful of various mixed vinegar-based veggie salads, a ravioli here, steamed veggies there and one crumbled corn tortilla on top. No salad dressing because all of the stuff on top flavored the spinach. We shared one slice of roast beef, a serving of baked fish and turkey with sauces scrapped off. If I really liked the "taste" then I went back and served myself another taste. For dessert, again healthy taste size portions. A small fruit tart (3 pieces) and we split a piece of dark chocolate mousse cake. We were stuffed, walked away feeling very little guilt and never looked back. I truly feel that if we had avoided the buffet all together we would have thought about it all weekend.
The second night, the volleyball team decided to go to Claim Jumper for dinner. If you're not familiar with Claim Jumper, the portions are ginormous. We remained calm, ordered a steamed artichoke each and split a tri-tip meal with a baked potato and grilled veggies. All condiments omitted and/or on the side. I had a fourth of the corn muffin and left the rest for the bus boy!
The next night dinner wasn't until 11:00 pm because the tournament ran very late. We had no restaurant options so we ended up at the hotel diner. The smell of french fries was overwhelming. My emotions went wild. I reminded myself repeatedly what my goals were (to live healthy) and ordered a plain hamburger with ketchup and veggies only. I ordered a side salad but didn't eat it because I enjoyed eating the burger. I was so proud of myself when I walked out of the restaurant. In my mind I flipped off the french fries. Ah!
For dinner the first night we decided to get the buffet out of our system. GASP! A buffet?! That's right! Face the challenge and conquer the BUFFET! I started with a bed of baby spinach and decided I could have anything I wanted on top of the greens but it had to be generally healthy, a tasting size portion and something I really wanted to have. The food at casino buffets, in general, isn't the best food so my choices were very easy. A spoonful of various mixed vinegar-based veggie salads, a ravioli here, steamed veggies there and one crumbled corn tortilla on top. No salad dressing because all of the stuff on top flavored the spinach. We shared one slice of roast beef, a serving of baked fish and turkey with sauces scrapped off. If I really liked the "taste" then I went back and served myself another taste. For dessert, again healthy taste size portions. A small fruit tart (3 pieces) and we split a piece of dark chocolate mousse cake. We were stuffed, walked away feeling very little guilt and never looked back. I truly feel that if we had avoided the buffet all together we would have thought about it all weekend.
The second night, the volleyball team decided to go to Claim Jumper for dinner. If you're not familiar with Claim Jumper, the portions are ginormous. We remained calm, ordered a steamed artichoke each and split a tri-tip meal with a baked potato and grilled veggies. All condiments omitted and/or on the side. I had a fourth of the corn muffin and left the rest for the bus boy!
The next night dinner wasn't until 11:00 pm because the tournament ran very late. We had no restaurant options so we ended up at the hotel diner. The smell of french fries was overwhelming. My emotions went wild. I reminded myself repeatedly what my goals were (to live healthy) and ordered a plain hamburger with ketchup and veggies only. I ordered a side salad but didn't eat it because I enjoyed eating the burger. I was so proud of myself when I walked out of the restaurant. In my mind I flipped off the french fries. Ah!
Our last day in Reno we had to get up early and be at the convention center for the last day of the tournament. So we ended up at Mimi's Cafe which is an upscale version of Denny's. Thankfully, there were lots of options so I had an egg white frittata with fresh veggies, fruit and turkey sausage on the side. It was delicious and very satisfying.
For a late lunch after final tournament play we found a restaurant that served fresh food and open at 4:00 p.m., Silver Peak Brewery. We split the ahi tuna salad, a turkey reuben sandwich, fresh steamed clams and a fantastic cup of a tomato bisque soup. Again, really great choices and we were so happy when we walked out of the door.
I learned so much over the long weekend. Thinking mindfully was my biggest accomplishment and overcoming those french fries was huge. I really have to remember that I'm retraining my mind to speak to my food emotions. Portion size is another new lesson. When splitting meals it's easy to think that I'm not getting all the food I should be getting. In reality, there is always plenty to eat. My eyes have to communicate different thoughts to my mind. A hard thing to do. Being prepared is another big one. Bringing healthy food and snacks was key. We also exercised at the hotel gym. Something I've never done. A new and wonderful experience.
We had a fabulous time! We ate healthy! I could write all day about the volleyball tournament, people we met, girls on the team and friends who were also there but this post is long enough.
I learned so much over the long weekend. Thinking mindfully was my biggest accomplishment and overcoming those french fries was huge. I really have to remember that I'm retraining my mind to speak to my food emotions. Portion size is another new lesson. When splitting meals it's easy to think that I'm not getting all the food I should be getting. In reality, there is always plenty to eat. My eyes have to communicate different thoughts to my mind. A hard thing to do. Being prepared is another big one. Bringing healthy food and snacks was key. We also exercised at the hotel gym. Something I've never done. A new and wonderful experience.
We had a fabulous time! We ate healthy! I could write all day about the volleyball tournament, people we met, girls on the team and friends who were also there but this post is long enough.
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When will you open this to the world? This is really inspirational stuff for people struggling to find reasons to continue to eat healthy. Get on with it, gurl!
ReplyDeleteI'm trying... sheesh! :-)
ReplyDeleteLove that photo of you.
ReplyDelete