Denormalizing Vacation Eating
VACATION PLANNING
While planning a vacation, what is one of the top priorities/concerns about your trip? For us, it’s usually the food!
Where will we eat?
What restaurants do we need to make reservations for?
What restaurants can we not miss that are special to the city?
What kind of food will be available where we are staying?
I know that old me used to get so excited about vacation food. I would research what that area was known for and then find the best places that served that food. For example, in Maine, I sought out every restaurant that served the best lobster rolls. In New York, I sought out the best cheesecake and pizza. I would always expect to gain massive amounts of weight because:
“Hey, I’m on vacation, what does it matter?”
Except it did matter. I always felt bloated on vacation. I was always miserable because my bowels would be messed up which caused me to not be in the best of moods. I didn’t want that for our next big trip that I had worked so financially and physically hard for.
I began planning our Europe trip in November 2022. I knew that I was going carnivore starting late December/early January. My BIGGEST concerns about our Europe trip were
“What will I be able to eat?” and “Will I be able to stay on track?”
I had booked budget-friendly hotels for France and Spain which meant no kitchen. That meant I had to find places to eat out for all three meals every single day for two straight weeks.
The stress and anxiety over staying on plan started creeping in immediately.
How can I avoid sugar?
I’m going to Paris, the bread capital of the world, how can I avoid the best bread ever?
I was starting to look at every restaurant possible along our two-week journey and attempting to find menus in English that would allow me to continue to eat a meat-based diet.
Thankfully, however, on March 29th, all of my stress about food on vacation went away!
I canceled our stressful Europe and planned a Hawaiian vacation to national park hop instead! Thankfully hotels are much more expensive than air b and bs and VRBOs in Hawaii. This meant I got to book condos with full kitchens! No more stress about restaurants. No more stress about feeling poorly while going to museums and walking the city.
Now I could be in charge of ALL of our meals and not feel horrible! Our new trip was going to be focused on relaxing by the beach and hiking our way through national parks. I definitely wanted to feel my best and not waste a moment of the trip.
HEALTHY IN HAWAII
We arrived in Maui on May 20th at 1pm. We immediately drove to the condo to scope out the kitchen. Prior to our arrival, I had researched the grocery stores in the area. We chose Foodland for its local beef options. Specifically, the Maui Cattle Company is known for its superior quality beef that is pasture-raised, grass-fed, grass-finished, and hormone and antibiotic free! Their ribeye steaks (my personal favorite!) were on sale for $17.99 a pound! We stocked up on steaks, eggs, Portuguese sausage, ground beef, and cheese.
A ribeye didn’t seem to be enough for our first meal in Maui so we stopped by a local fish market for some fresh shrimp. Back at the condo we prepared the shrimp and steak with Hawaiian salts and grilled both of them! The complex had wonderful outdoor grills that we utilized frequently during our stay.
My go to meal even at home! Ribeye and shrimp (YUM)
Most mornings Bryce made us a 5-6 egg omelet with Portuguese sausage in it. When we were in Oahu in 2017 we fell in love with this style of sausage. Portuguese sausage is pork made with onion, garlic, paprika, and other spices. On mornings that we had to leave the condo early for adventures, we would pre-cook a pound of bacon to enjoy on the road.
Portuguese sausage omelet
For lunch, we made burgers from Maui Cattle Company grass-fed ground beef. I added cheddar to the top of mine as a special treat. At home, I typically only allow ground beef and avoid cheese. The burgers were easy to make ahead of time too just in case we were exploring during lunch.
We had two lunches out during our 9-day stay. The first lunch out was while driving the Road to Hana when we stopped for lunch at Braddah Hutt’s. The owner said she couldn’t sell me just meat at a lower price without sides so she gave me double meat! I enjoyed bbq shredded pork and chicken. Bryce enjoyed my sides.
During our day trip to Lanai’i, we packed bacon for breakfast but bought lunch in their city. We went to Ganotisi’s Pacific Rim Cuisine. There I had short ribs and shrimp. One of the sides offered was pickled cabbage, carrots, and cucumbers. I had a few bites of that as well.
The dinners we ate while on vacation were a lot of fun! We enjoyed a lot of ribeye steaks, but then changed up the sides of meat each night. Safeway had a great selection of fresh Poke. We got a few small sampler packages to enjoy each night with our ribeye.
Ribeye and Poke sampler
We treated ourselves to two date nights for dinner while in Maui. Yes, that did require a tiny bit of research on my end but that was for only TWO meals instead of the 42 had we vacationed in Europe as originally planned.
The first night we went around the block from our rental to an oceanfront restaurant called Duke’s. I had a fresh fish that is very common in Hawai’i called Ono and lots of shrimp. For our second date night, we went to another oceanfront restaurant called Huihui. They had a HUGE meat-based menu! This was the one time we did order an appetizer and we chose their pork belly. A carnivore favorite! For my entree, I ordered the pork shank with vegetables which lasted two meals.
Pork shank that was fall-off-the-bone tender
Snacks weren’t really needed, but when I wanted to munch I had my Carnivore Snax and a Carnivore Bar that I had gotten from Ketocon.
The first nine days of our vacation were very easy to stay completely on track! I saw the benefits immediately. I was in a bathing suit every day and not once was I bloated! My stomach was flat the entire trip, which was a first for me. This allowed me to wear two goal outfits I had been dying to wear! I was able to wear them with confidence. According to my Oura ring I slept a solid eight hours every night. We had dinner at 6pm, sunset was at 7:30pm and we were passed out by 8:30pm every night! This allowed us to be up before 5am and well rested to see the sunrise and begin our day of adventure. I didn’t have sugar cravings. I didn’t have my blood sugar drop throughout the day like it did prior to carnivore. I was stress free and relaxed and I attribute that to staying zero carb and zero sugar.
On Monday, May 29th we flew to the Big Island. I decided to relax a little from my zero-carb eating on this second leg of our vacation. For breakfast, we continued to eat omelets with Portuguese sausage, cheese, and eggs.
Bryce making another of his famous omelets
Lunch was Poke from a local grocery store. Dinner was more ribeye steaks that we picked up from a local store that sells only produce and meat from local farmers.
On the Big Island, we stayed at a permaculture farm that made its own chocolate! This chocolate was made from 100% Hawaiian cacao and was sweetened only with local honey. I did indulge in a few pieces.
We also stopped at a local fruit stand. I sampled six different types of Hawaiian fruits including strawberry papaya, ice cream banana, soursop, rollinia, egg fruit, and mango. On the day we left the Big Island we bought some macadamia nuts which I enjoyed as well.
I’m so grateful I allowed myself a little leeway with my diet. I didn’t overindulge and I didn’t make myself sick. I allowed some fruits and Hawaiian treats for the last couple of days while on vacation. I honestly believe that my being so strict this year on carnivore allowed me to safely relax a little for a few days.
Our vacations for the past few years have involved more adventure than relaxation. We like to explore, hike, swim, and stay active wherever we are visiting. Indulging in comfort food while on vacation used to be a priority, but now, feeling well enough to explore and be active is a higher priority!
I managed to eat high-quality food while in Hawaii that not only tasted amazing but also left me satisfied. That allowed me to hike volcanoes, play in waterfalls and sleep soundly for over 8 hours every night.
Do you try to eat healthily while on vacation? If not, I highly suggest giving it a try, feeling your best, and enjoying your break even more!
