How is My Diet Affecting My Health?

Living in a Hotel and Staying on Top of My Health

I have now been essentially living in my hotel for three weeks. Half way through my trip! One of the things we struggle with in America is an abundance of food choices. These food choices can really cause trouble with our health, and the biggest danger zone can happen when we don’t have access to a kitchen to cook our own food. So, what to do to combat the food dilemma when staying long term in a hotel?

Being very conscious of what we eat is important. I have had to say no to a lot of food choices my team and I have talked about. There have been times when they have gotten food out, and I have not gone so that I could choose something from the hotel that was healthier for me. This has usually been a salad, or veggies and dip along with a simple sandwich where I strip off the bread and eat the protein.

I don’t turn down every food excursion, but I have definitely passed on a few in favor of being careful with what I eat. I have heard for years about S.A.D. and the acronym says it all. It stands for standard American Diet, and our S.A.D. is in many ways killing us. Many healthcare programs in America are really ramping up around the idea of preventative health maintenance. My own insurance has a healthy living program that offers me perks if I get daily exercise, and if I buy healthy food from Wal-Mart, there is another program that gives me a good sized discount on my grocery bill.

So, I am in a hotel for a long stretch. What have I been doing to protect my health in this situation? I have mentioned turning down eating out events for many types of food that taste great, but are really bad for me when taken in large doses. I.E. a Panda Express dining opportunity versus choosing a salad and protein from the hotel menu. Another food opportunity I have discovered and have been utilizing is the grocery store. You might wonder how that would work in a hotel room? Especially if I want to avoid a lot of pre-packaged food which is just as bad as eating out all the time.

I have had to be very selective about what I choose to buy. For instance, the first day back in town my team and I hit the grocery store to pick up snacks. I am diabetic, so needed to buy certain kinds of food for my very health’s sake. I stayed away from the cookie aisle, and got a small container of strawberries instead. I bought a small loaf of bread and some peanut butter for those times when I need a carb, but cannot eat the big heavy breads the hotel sandwiches have offered. I have stripped off the bread from their sandwiches and replaced it with low carb bread right in my hotel room. I keep the bread in the fridge to preserve it longer.

Since I am living here pretty much, I am finding ways to preserve the state of my health, and take care of myself. The gym here has been my friend. Additionally, I have been accessing the water provided from the hotel for their business clients. On the concierge level, the lounge provides various free drinks, and free breakfast each morning with plenty of healthy choices to eat and drink. It gets boring after a while, I am not going to lie, but with good health as my goal, I still do it. I would rather eat boring than gain a ton of weight here just because living in my hotel has potential long term eating/health challenges.

In a day when Grub Hub can deliver just about anything, the steps to take care of myself are really necessary. Last night I decided I was ready for something different. I have been eating the same type of thing for three weeks now with some special exceptions here and there to eat with my teammates. Everyone else was out and about doing various things, but I was working on something and stayed put. I found out a restaurant I like could be delivered via Grub Hub, so I set up an account, and ordered my food! I loved every bite of it. I still made healthy food choices for the most part, but I added a soup they have that I love to the menu and, because I have been good for the most part on my food choices, I felt just fine treating myself!

Healthcare in America is challenging in a lot of ways, and diet is not exception. It used to be that when a patient was dealing with being overweight, a doctor would actually tell them and help them work on losing the excess for their health sake. Today? Not so much. A lot of doctor’s, in the misguided desire to protect a person’s emotional well-being, simply aren’t helping their patients stay on top of good health through eating and exercise. I am not saying it doesn’t come up, but it sure doesn’t come up enough in my opinion.

I remember being overweight. I also remember trying to talk to my doctor about it and getting the run around about how it was really okay, and I didn’t need to worry about it because I wasn’t that far above my body weight ceiling. I looked at that doctor like he was a quack because he went all touchy feely on me when I was trying to talk about something serious regarding my long term health. I stopped seeing him shortly after, and found a doctor that could actually help me. It took more than one interview though to find one. A lot of doctor’s are trying to maintain emotional health and ignoring physical health.

When I knew I would be traveling for an extended period of time, and not have access to a kitchen, I asked my doctor what I could do to take care of myself with regard to food choices. I explained I would be living in a hotel without access to a kitchen. One of the first things he said was that I would have to accept that I would be saying no to a lot of food experiences in favor of eating right. I have gone to restaurants with my team, but I usually turn down dessert, and choose some form of salad with protein in order to stay on top of my health. I have done pretty well. I am tracking my weight, as well as my eating habits, and with half way to go on the trip I am on task and don’t feel awful physically because of my eating choices.

At the end of this trip, I will do a final article on how the last half went. The most challenging weeks are actually still in front of me because after a while eating right can really be hard when my own taste buds are fighting me for tasty.