Finding a healthy balance while traveling

I travel 3-4 days a week for work. Typically, I fly out early Tuesday morning and return Thursday night. I stay in hotels and eat at restaurants for a majority of my meals.  Trying to optimize my time on the road, exercise is a rare treat.

I've been following this lifestyle since March.

Not surprisingly, my metabolism has slowed down.  Noticeably.  I can tell that my metabolism is slower because I feel, comparably, less hungry.  For example, I used to need snacks (apples, bars, etc) with me wherever I went to keep my blood sugar on an even keel (I tend to be more irritable and head-achy when I don't eat regularly).  Now I can go for hours without eating and not even notice!  This is bad.

Nothing is worse than seeing numbers creeping up on the scale

Some might point out that my metabolism may be slowing down because I turn 30 this year (what?!).  But I refuse to believe that I have no control.  Recognizing the problem as something I could change, the following is a list of what I've been doing the last month to help boost my metabolism.

1. Bring along the running shoes.  It is challenging to fit in a 2-hour rock climbing session or a 60-minute yoga class while traveling, but I find that a short jog in the morning is very doable.  I never used to be a morning exerciser.  However, now that I spend 90% of my time in a car or a store, I look forward to a 10-30 minute run in the fresh air.  Especially now that it is autumn and the air is crisp and cool!  But it must be FIRST thing in the morning.  If I don't get out the door in the first 10 minutes, chances are I will get sucked into emails on my laptop and never leave the hotel room.

   

   My current running shoes

2. Say NO to sweet treats. It is so easy to treat myself while traveling.  (A) The company pays for my meals (I rarely waste money on sweets at home because they provide very low nutrient density per dollar).  And (B) there are many days that I feel like I "deserve" dessert as a reward for a hard day's work.  As incredible as this might seem, I just tell myself "no, you cannot have dessert."  If I don't buy it, I can't eat it.  Simple as that.  If I am still hungry later (and I usually am), I eat an apple or protein bar.
3. Say YES to protein.  I make a point to eat protein at every meal and snack.  First of all, protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates, so it helps me feel full longer.  It is also thermogenic, which means burning calories to produce heat.  I tend to run cold (anyone who's ever shaken my hand knows this), so more thermogenic foods are a 1-2 punch to boost my metabolism and help me feel warmer as the seasons change.
4. Say YES to leafy greens.  Whichever entree I choose, I try to pair it with a pile of leafy green vegetables.  Whole Foods makes this easy by offering many delicious salads (Garlicky Kale is my favorite!).  Romaine salads (from conventional restaurants) are also acceptable.  Leafy greens, especially dark leafy greens, are SUPER nutrient-dense and help fuel the travel-stressed body.  In general, I try to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, as many colors as possible.  Each color represents a different array of vitamins and minerals contained within the edible plant.

   

   Garlicky Kale Salad = yum!

5. Laugh and relax. Stress is a huge factor in weight loss. When I get stressed, I tend to get stuck in the "fight or flight" response.  The opposite of "rest and digest," this means that, when I do eat, I am not able to absorb or assimilate nutrients as well.  The calories I do absorb are more likely to be stored as fat.  Not good.  No matter how long my day, I always take time to relax and do something for myself.  Sometimes this means taking an extra long shower.  Sometimes this means watching an episode of Suits (my guilty pleasure TV show).  Sometimes this means crossing items off my personal growth "to do" list so I can go to bed feeling accomplished.  For example, tonight my goal was to start blogging again (I haven't written since July!)
6. Schedule "down time".  As much as possible, I try to stop working at the end of the 8-hour work day and not even open my work computer on the weekends.  Additionally, I also try to be AT HOME every other week.  While I enjoy camping / climbing trips with friends (I was at the New River Gorge last weekend!), I do not enjoy returning from a work trip only to immediately pack and go on a 5 to 9 hour road trip.  This is exhausting.  I find that having a weekend at home, without a schedule, really helps me recharge my batteries.  Even if I am cleaning my house, cooking food, and performing maintenance on my car, the lack of structure helps me relax and "go with the flow."

"T" belaying "A" at "Zero Buttress"

I moved!

I moved from a house in Falls Church to an apartment in Alexandria.  I purposely planted my garden in containers this year, to make it easy to move.  Here they are, lined up on the concrete slab that is my porch.

from front to back: chard, chives, strawberry, basil, rosemary

I am especially impressed by the rosemary.  I actually dug this up from the ground at the old house (June 28), transported it in a broken container (June 29), and then just re-potted it this weekend (July 12).  It seems to be doing just fine.

Grande Rosemary!

Harvesting My Container Garden

Today I harvested my new red potatoes!  They've been growing since late April, so a little over 2 months old.  They are super cute and round.  Awe...

I also learned two things: (1) potatoes do not like damp soil - all the potatoes at the bottom of the container were rotten!  (2) potatoes exposed to sunlight (i.e. poking out of the soil) turn green and are not good to eat!

Yield from 1 seed potato: 3 rotten, 3 good, 1 green

I also harvested my Swiss chard! The left-behind plants look so naked.  But I know they will grow back new leaves for me to harvest later.

Harvested chard

How quickly they grow

My container garden is taking off like wild fire!  Now that the weather is sunny and warm during both day and night, my leafy greens are growing quickly.

Bright Lights rainbow chard after rainstorm

spinach, chard, and garlic chives

This potato plant used to have leaves - darn rabbits!

Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the vegetables I planted in the ground.  The zucchini is just barely out of the soil and the chard and potatoes are being nibbled by what I suspect are hungry bunnies.

Potted potato plants - too high for bunnies to munch

Last year, the strawberry plant was nibbled on so much that it never had a chance to bear fruit.  This afternoon, I found it growing among the weeds and was thrilled for the opportunity to try again!  I gently pulled up the weeds around it and then put up a barrier of sticks.  Check it out below!

Defense against rabbits - a fence of sticks and twigs!

the strawberry plant is back!

Another observation of interest: composting worms do not eat seeds.  The "soil" I took from my compost started growing a wild and mysterious blend of curcubits!  It seems as though all the seeds thrown carelessly into the compost bin last fall survived the winter and readily germinated in the warm spring weather.  At first there was one; now there are five or six!  Eventually I will need to thin them - squash plants take up a LOT of space, but for now it is a fun experiment in overcrowding.

Soil from my compost - naturally growing mystery seeds

The saddest story is probably my basil.  It was so healthy when I picked it out at Norman's Farm Market in Bethesda (thank you Irene Jillson!), but begin wilting as soon as I transplanted it.  Two weeks later, it is still looking unhappy.  Does anyone know what is wrong and/or what I might do to remedy the problem?

My poor basil plant has holes and dry patches - what is going on?

The Spinach Is Growing!

sea of spinach sprouts

After 5 days of waiting and below-average air temp, the spinach is growing! Much celebration - So glad I didn't fail as a gardener this spring!

baby potato plant

I'm also impressed by the seed potatoes - they took right off once I put them into nutrient-dense soil.