We're home!
Well helllllo from the good ol' US of A! I'm so, so happy to be home after flying from Spain to Germany on Friday and from Germany to Boston on Saturday. It has been a long few days of travel on too few hours of sleep, but I am feeling really good, apart from the jet lag which is to be expected.
The flight
Our eight hour flight was mostly forgettable, and while I wouldn't exactly say the time flew by, it was manageable and we all made it in one piece. One of my favorite parts of coming home is when the customs agent stamps your passport, looks you in the eye and says, "Welcome home." It always makes me tear up.
GAPS diet while traveling
A confession: As previously documented, traveling definitely isn't easy for me when trying to follow a special diet. I'm pretty strict on the GAPS diet because while my stomach is doing much better, it still isn't perfect. Traveling while on the diet takes a serious effort, but it's worth it to me to try to keep healing my stomach.
Food storage for travel
So, let's get down to it. For the flight, I used my lunch box by the brand aladdin (pictured above in neon) and packed a meal of sautéed onions and zucchini in coconut oil, homemade fermented veggies and some ground beef. I love this lunch box because it doesn't spill, it keeps things warm or cold, and it travels well because it isn't bulky, and is super durable. I'd highly recommend this if you're traveling.
TIP: For international travel you can pretty much bring any food except liquids (no soups or yogurts, etc). And any fresh fruits or veggies you'll need to finish before you come through customs or you'll need to throw it out.
Unfortunately, I didn't plan well and wound up eating the entire meal before I got on the flight. Oops. What can I say? I was hun-ga-ry!
I had also ordered a gluten-free meal when our flight was booked, but the first snack was a sandwich on rice bread (which I can't have, and also, woof to rice bread) and the second meal was another cardboard piece of bread with some chicken covered in tomato sauce. I scraped the sauce off as best I could and ate the chicken because I was freaking starving, but I paid the price and felt lousy the rest of the way home. My in-laws are the best and picked us up from the airport with some GAPS-approved snacks like Brad's naked kale chips, and a homemade hot bone broth. A weird combination, I know, but you know whatcha gotta do in order to feel your best, right?
Next travels
We're in Maine for a few days, so we hit up the local health food stores. Another confession: I love little health food stores. They're basically my favorite type of shop. Forget Nordstrom, gimme the local mom and pop health food store! If you're ever in southern Maine, we found two fantastic little health food stores- Morning Glory in Brunswick and Axis Natural and Organic Health Food Store in Lewiston Auburn. We were able to find raw milk at Axis and yogurt starter, and we set to work making our yogurt which I love to have in the morning with a little raw honey. We also stopped by Little Ridge Farm in Lisbon that sells organic meat and just grabbed some ground beef and tenderloin that were both delicious.
Tomorrow we'll be driving down to Connecticut to visit my family and I'm looking forward to seeing them after nine long months! My husband Greg brought an Isobag for our drive to Connecticut and out to California and- let's be honest, probably for day to day use as well if we're out and about because we both get a little hangry if we get hungry and there's no food around. So I'm looking forward to seeing how that bag works out for us on our travels and I'll do a review in case you're interested in the bag as well.
Tips for healthy eating in LA?
One of the reasons we chose to stay out in Los Angeles this summer is because we felt like we'd have a ton of healthy options for stores and restaurants. The GAPS diet is quite similar to the paleo diet, so if you know of any restaurants that have paleo options I'd love to know. And I'd love to know any of your other favorite health food stores, clothing shops, tea/coffee houses, and things to do that are on your list! Leave them in the comments section below and I'll be forever appreciative!
PS- If you're in LA, I'd love to welcome you to one of my yoga events!