Gluten/Processed Food-Free on Vacation?! How?

Last week was great.  We packed up the fam and went to the happiest place on earth, DiSnEyLaNd!


It was great, and lots of fun, but more difficult than I expected to eat the right way.  I prepared by having my friend Cindy cook up a bunch of good quality snacks for me.  She made a bunch of grain-free treats for me to take:   cowboy cookies, a honey/molasses carmel corn that tastes like cracker jacks, two types of pumpkin muffins, a cranberry/dark chocolate bar.  I took fruit I could snack on, and water.

This worked out pretty well on the trip down, plus while we were in the condo.  But there was a lot of eating out, and that was tricky.  We ate at three different buffets, which was enough to last me for a year!  I've always hated watching people go crazy eating a bunch of unhealthy food, and now it's even worse.  I was usually okay if I stuck with the salad bar, but that got old.  At Disneyland I was able to get gluten-free buns, which was good, but usually gluten free bread has a lot of sugar in it.  I found it interesting that In-N-Out Burger had a grain-free option for a hamburger where they wrapped the burger in lettuce.

I know that I ate things here and there that I reacted to, because I started to itch all over, and still am.  My gut is sore, too, like I shocked it.  I did sneak a few bites of no-no's here & there.  I had a few skittles, a few licks of a lolly pop, and even had some cheesecake at a buffet! I didn't eat the graham crust, so I thought it would be okay.  Nope.  My family has made great strides in the last 3-5 months, but this vacation was a big step back, nutritionally.  Live & learn.  I guess I'll just have to pack all of my food to everything, all the time.  It's so inconvenient, but I'm still searching for the answer!  There's got to be a way.

Sugar is Toxic- on 60-Minutes!

I received a text from one of my friends on Saturday and she said "I saw that Dr. Lustig was going to be on 60-minutes".  I had no idea what she was talking about & didn't answer her.  I thought maybe she sent the text to the wrong person.  When I saw her on Monday she mentioned it again, and I was embarrassed to say that I didn't know what she was talking about.  She's like "You know, THE Dr. Lustig!  Sugar-free?"  And it hit me!

A month or so ago I came across the BEST YouTube clip!  It was an hour & a half lecture given by Dr. Lustig, a UCSF (University of California San Francisco) pediatric endocrinologist, about how sugar is toxic.  I told my friend about it, because she is a dietitian, and I wanted her thoughts on it.  

I couldn't wait to see how the topic was presented on 60-minutes, so I looked it up online.  It is somewhat short, at 14 minutes long, and it is very well done!  Yea!  The word is being spread.  I know people don't want to hear it, but it's important & really needs to be addressed.

Watch "Is Sugar Toxic" on 60-minutes

I was excited to talk about it with my dietitian friend.  She agrees with it all.  I'm going to show it to my kids!