More business travel and events than meals at home ... so yeah. Anxiety. Tips?

(Keto Travels) #1

Hello All,

Anyone else here trying to do keto while mostly being from home? I travel for business at least 4 days a week, with very long days, at most a minibar-fridge and rarely a store around the corner that would carry the kind of supplies I want and be open at an hour when I can get there. Plus the mostly obligatory trip to the canteen for lunch with the clients, and equally obligatory working dinners with the team, both usually pretty late … I am learning to manage those better in terms of what I order, but can’t control the timing ow what’s on offer - and that lack of control is something I find really hard.
For the last month I have managed most days to come in under 30g of carbs, which seems to work for me in terms of getting into ketosis (judging by the flu symptoms, that is :wink: ) and I am at a point where I am rarely hungry any more and don’t really have any cravings, but I will freely admit there is still quite a bit of food anxiety involved here … especially when it comes to skipping breakfast, since it’s really the only meal I am sure will work for me (nice hotels so a freshly made omelette, bacon/smoked salmon and a bit of veggies on the side).

I would LIKE to only eat when I am hungry, but having no control over my schedule and very little control over what I eat for the rest of the day makes me anxious. Yes, I carry UHT cream around with me and I can pack some snack foods that don’t spoil, but there’s only so many nuts you can eat, my tastebuds now reject processed meats so salami is out, and so on …
I wonder how long it is going to take me to become more confident that I won’t get so hungry that I’ll do something silly and kick myself out of ketosis?
I guess adding to that anxiety is that a few years ago after 6 relatively successful months on Atkins with no cravings (calorie restricted unfortunately), a change in jobs had me falling face first into the free ice-cream and fruit and smoothies and chocolate and and …
I am going to start skipping meals on days when I have a bit more control, like weekends or travel days or days without social obligations, but any tips on how to manage travel and food anxiety would be more than welcome!

Phew, long post. Thanks for reading!

(Doug) #2

Usually “on the road” here too, Irian. Don’t always stay strictly keto, but when I do it’s often bacon and eggs - if the hotel breakfast bar has that - black coffee, no lunch, and meat + above-ground vegetables for supper.

(Christopher Avery) #3

Good for you Irian. Congratulations on your distaste for processed foods and your commitment to keto.

As a fellow business traveler my encouragement is to stay INTENTIONAL about your way of eating. Face the anxiety as a fear that you can overcome with your n=1 practice.

You can handle this.

(Jordan) #4

This video by Cooking Keto with Kristie helped me when I was traveling
for a weekend with little control over my food.
I would also suggest plan as much as you can, but try not to stress out too much.
Stress definitely isn’t going to help.
And if you slip up, just KCKO!
It will get easier the longer you do it.

1st Post - Long Flights, What to Eat?
(Keto Travels) #5

Thanks for this, a few nice ideas like the sea veggies - added complication for me on business travel is hand-luggage only, so I am seriously restricted when it comes to carrying fats and liquids. I do carry emergency butter though :slight_smile:

(Marsha) #6

@Bluhourbird-- I totally get where you’re coming from. I travel quite a bit for work as well, and I’m also obligated to attend dinners and social events. (I’m a lawyer with a corporation who manages external counsel.) The thing that’s worked for me is this – I actually tell my colleagues and external counsel that I’m following a very low carb diet for health reasons and I need to either choose (or approve) the restaurant or ensure that a working lunch features something I can eat. (Nothing worse than to arrive at a lunch that is nothing but The Big Box O’ Carbs Sandwich Box!) I know not everyone is comfortable with being so open about what they’re doing, but it’s given me a lot more control, lessened my anxiety around whether I’m going to be able to find anything to eat and helped me to know what I need to bring with me. Like you, I only do carry on when I travel, so I’m not going to bring the entire kitchen with me!

It’s also part of the reason why I’ve never jumped on the extended fasting bandwagon. I know it works well for others when they travel, but if I truly have to go to a social event with clients or external counsel, fasting isn’t going to be a very workable solution for me. It’s one thing to say that I need to eat at a certain kind of place – it’s another thing entirely to tell people I’m not going to eat at all. So I limit my fasting to much shorter periods (like 24 hrs) when I know I’ll be at home and often, when I’m working from home.

Hang in there. Keto and business travel can be a challenge, but it is doable! (Now, if we can just convince airlines to offer something we can actually eat on the planes…)

(Keto Travels) #7

Don’t get me started on airlines … although there is a tapas mix currently on offer on my short haul flights of which I can eat the 4 olives and 30g Serrano ham … :frowning:
Thank you for your response and tips - I have been open with my colleagues, clients are a lot more tricky, especially when you deem their canteen food “not good enough” - which is how they seem to take it however carefully I phrase it. But maybet at my next client I’ll just use a little lie and tell them I am diabetic and managing this with diet alone … a litlte lie only cause that is exactly what I will be in a few years if I continue to eat carbs!
Yeah, can’t see how to fit in any extended fasting unless there’s a long weekend involved, but not quite at the stage yet anyway where I feel confident with that - skipping a meal here or there I can imagine however!

(Ethan) #8

Now imagine that pork is against your religion. Welcome to my boat–or airplane as it may be.

(Keto Travels) #9

Gaaaaah! Bacon has saved me so far - not sure what I would do without bacon …

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #10

It may be a sin to lie, but it’s an even bigger sin to ruin your health, so lie your ass off, if you have to. God will understand—promise!

(Cailyn Mc Cauley) #11

@Bluhourbird

I signed up for that Keto Krate mail-order. It saved my hide on a recent trip to Europe and the wildfires in NorCal. I don’t mean to promote a business here, but I didn’t have to think about food-- I simply grabbed my Krate.

As for not having control, it sounds as thought you are still in a flexible stage of eating. Maybe shift to 16:8?

Best of luck!
KCKO

(Keto Travels) #12

16:8 would be wonderful but I don’t make my own schedule most days and 12noon lunches with client plus late dinners are kind of a thing here… for now I think I will just skip a meal whenever I can.
Yesterday I skipped breakfast with no adverse effects (usually that just means I will not be satisfied no matter how much I eat later in the day but that effect was a bit milder this time, maybe it will eventually go away?) and today I have the opportunity to skip dinner … we’ll see.

(Boston_guy) #13

Salted Macadamia nuts are a great snack to pack - either a whole bag, or a small portion. Don’t need refrigeration, and full of good mono-unsaturated fats!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/trader-joes-macadamia-nuts-roasted-and-salted-552495051

(Phillip) #14

I don’t know what your tolerance for butter coffee is, but I usually travel with a bag of powdered MCT oil (can take on planes) and can find butter in most places (or cream) to make a calorically dense drink anywhere if in a pinch. Not a great thing to depend on, but I’ve found that most hotels/planes/airports/street corners all provide hot coffee so it’s my go to in a pinch. Other snacks I bring a long are usually Salted Mac nuts as stated above or german Landjaeger sausage from my local butcher.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/478026

(John B) #15

My family and I were traveling, and the hotel we were at didn’t have a refrigerator. Went to the convenience store and got a small Styrofoam cooler, pretty cheap, and kept our heavy cream in there. That way we could have coffee in the morning.

(Keto Travels) #16

Yeah, the powdered MCT oil does … shall we say “not agree with” my stomach :roll_eyes: … I carry a small bottle of the oil though and am stocked up on snacks though which helps with the anxiety.

(Keto Travels) #17

So I survived a week with four business dinners, 3 client lunches and a 1.5 day conference making the best choices I could, skipping breakfast once, generally feeling anywhere between stuffed and full, and still lost a tiny little bit of weight. That was NOT a normal week, so it is likely to get better from here.
My biggest issue has been drinking enough, constantly thirsty and gave myself a serious headache on Wednesday when I forgot to take my water bottle to the meeting room that I was then stuck in for most of the day. Oh well. On a happy note I am now all stocked up to make my own ketoaid over the next week - eating salt with everything helped somewhat but I could never quite get enough, so that should help. Between the magnesium and lite salt and sea salt and collagen, I am kinda waiting to be pulled over one of these days at an airport for all the suspicious white powders in my bag :wink: - already had a few judgy sidelong glances dipping my finger into sea salt in public. Fun!

(Keto Travels) #18

Well … I hadn’t even thought about the bourbon vanilla powder … looks like that shows up as a suspicious substance on the scanners! This is kinda entertaining … :wink:

#19

Are you seeing a doctor at all? One who approves of keto?

Not sure what the current homeland rules are but a few years ago you could bring a limited amount of liquid for medical reasons. I would double check the rules and if medical reasons are permitted get a note from a doctor saying you need certain items for medical reasons

(Keto Travels) #20

Thanks for the idea Saphire- so far I can manage with the 100ml of MCT allowed so no reason yet to complicate things :slight_smile:. But if I have to that is a good idea. My gynecologist is also an endocrinologist and totally in favor, she is the one who told me what blood tests to demand from my GP so she could see if I was insulin resistant (I am) after diagnosing me with PCOS. Let’s just ignore the (very nice, but) quite overweight GP who Said my blood glucose was still in the normal range, so I was fine and Should maybe eat less and exercise more. It’s where I go if I need a sick note and that is it.