- Messages
- 2,375
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2 (in remission!)
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Really glad to be back among friends after our little jaunt to Florida. There were no recorded diet disasters but some overall disappointments in admittedly random testing, which I am putting down to
a) Invisible carbs in super-processed basic foods (I like that excuse)
b) Unseasonably hot & humid weather (more like July, with thunderstorms)
c) I caught another cold halfway through
Overall despite taking no proper exercise I lost 3kg in two weeks, which I put down to eating less generally, possibly increased carbs and lower fat, and maybe dehydration. I expect the weight to go back on quite quickly at home. I also felt unmotivated and without energy for much of the time, until the last day of our holiday when the weather relented and everything seemed to quicken, like a film reverting from slow motion to normal speed.
The Virgin Atlantic "low sugar, low fat" diabetes diet, as suggested in a previous post, proved as irrelevant to my diet as the ordinary one. Luckily the diabetic meal is handed out well in advance, so after eating my "diabetic" chilli chicken and leaving the rice, I was allowed a "normal" curried chicken with a dessertspoonful of dhal and left the rice in that too. On the outward flight I got apple crumble for pud instead of a Gui chocolate thing. The moral is: take backup. Babybels, nuts and dark chocolate will go through customs at the other end, and crunchy raw veg is good provided you eat it before you arrive. I don't trust cooked meat though, and remember hardboiled eggs pong a bit if shelled in a confined space. Don't pay £2 a bottle for water in the boarding area -- ask for as much as you want when on board.
Shopping at Publix or Winn Dixie supermarts was pretty straightforward and in the first week, with a fully equipped kitchen, breakfasts were easy. In the second week we had just a microwave and no pans. Scrambled eggs outlived their welcome.
Eating out was very expensive and menus weren't as easy to mix and match as I'd hoped. Many dishes are based on rice, pasta or fries and if you take these off the plate there isn't much left. The salads were unimaginative and tasteless without the sweet gloop that passes for dressing. My best meals were a bucket of crab claws and shrimp (giant prawns) in butter, Mexican chilli beef with steamed veg, and our last breakfast, a feta cheese, spinach, tomato & mushroom omelette. Just like home, but with strawberries! The biggest mistake was a dish of 4 piles of shrimp, all perched on mounds of fries and either battered, crumbed, coated in coconut (delicious) or grilled. I ate all the shrimp but no fries. Hell, I was on holiday.
My conclusion is that planning pays dividends unless you prefer adventure holidays where everything is a surprise. I'm too old for that.
a) Invisible carbs in super-processed basic foods (I like that excuse)
b) Unseasonably hot & humid weather (more like July, with thunderstorms)
c) I caught another cold halfway through
Overall despite taking no proper exercise I lost 3kg in two weeks, which I put down to eating less generally, possibly increased carbs and lower fat, and maybe dehydration. I expect the weight to go back on quite quickly at home. I also felt unmotivated and without energy for much of the time, until the last day of our holiday when the weather relented and everything seemed to quicken, like a film reverting from slow motion to normal speed.
The Virgin Atlantic "low sugar, low fat" diabetes diet, as suggested in a previous post, proved as irrelevant to my diet as the ordinary one. Luckily the diabetic meal is handed out well in advance, so after eating my "diabetic" chilli chicken and leaving the rice, I was allowed a "normal" curried chicken with a dessertspoonful of dhal and left the rice in that too. On the outward flight I got apple crumble for pud instead of a Gui chocolate thing. The moral is: take backup. Babybels, nuts and dark chocolate will go through customs at the other end, and crunchy raw veg is good provided you eat it before you arrive. I don't trust cooked meat though, and remember hardboiled eggs pong a bit if shelled in a confined space. Don't pay £2 a bottle for water in the boarding area -- ask for as much as you want when on board.
Shopping at Publix or Winn Dixie supermarts was pretty straightforward and in the first week, with a fully equipped kitchen, breakfasts were easy. In the second week we had just a microwave and no pans. Scrambled eggs outlived their welcome.
Eating out was very expensive and menus weren't as easy to mix and match as I'd hoped. Many dishes are based on rice, pasta or fries and if you take these off the plate there isn't much left. The salads were unimaginative and tasteless without the sweet gloop that passes for dressing. My best meals were a bucket of crab claws and shrimp (giant prawns) in butter, Mexican chilli beef with steamed veg, and our last breakfast, a feta cheese, spinach, tomato & mushroom omelette. Just like home, but with strawberries! The biggest mistake was a dish of 4 piles of shrimp, all perched on mounds of fries and either battered, crumbed, coated in coconut (delicious) or grilled. I ate all the shrimp but no fries. Hell, I was on holiday.
My conclusion is that planning pays dividends unless you prefer adventure holidays where everything is a surprise. I'm too old for that.