Recently I enjoyed a long weekend relaxing in the the pristine snow capped Colorado Rocky Mountains. This was my first time vacationing since starting my new healthy eating lifestyle.
In the past whenever I went on vacation I was salivating before I even hit the open road at the endless variety of new foods I was going to try in each city I visited. However, with a determined spirit I made a concerted effort to maintain my new healthy eating lifestyle on this trip!
Two years ago I was diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA), a debilitating auto-immune arthritis that affects the joints and tendons throughout the body. Everyday is a struggle to move with PsA and not even the wearing of a weekly prescription pain patch abated my pain. However, in December when I started eating vegan and wheat free I noticed a decrease in my inflammation and pain. On this trip, I knew for the sake of my health I could no longer afford to go into vacation eating mode!
Eating vegan and wheat free while traveling is not without its challenges. You must plan ahead and for someone like me who is the polar opposite of a planner I had to adjust my fly by the night way of thinking. Before leaving home I researched the best grocery stores enroute to the mountains and stopped at a Trader Joe's in Boulder to stock up on healthy provisions. Fortunately the friend I was meeting up with for the weekend mountain vacation was also eating vegan, so the two of us decided to rent a condo with a kitchen so we could prepare most of our meals in house.
We also had the the good fortune of finding an amazing vegan restaurant in Denver. This lovely vegan restaurant called Watercourse foods offered mouth watering vegan comfort foods with a plethora of gluten free options! While we were in the mountains we enjoyed spicy tofu scrambled breakfast tacos in corn tortillas and homemade vegan cream of potato chowder! We also found a yummy pizza shop that served a vegan gluten free pizza on a vegan/gluten free zucchini crust with your favorite toppings and soy cheese.
Just because you are eating vegan and gluten free and striving to lose weight does not mean you can't enjoy your eats too! So if you are struggling with a chronic illness, especially an auto-immune one, and have not tried vegan and/or gluten free yet I would truly encourage you to do so! I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it can be to maintain and how much better you will feel in the long run!
Wishing you prosperity in your journey!
Sharon
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