Battle of Atlanta

Well, first of all, I can see no one was impressed with my butt post.  Much apologies if I offended anyone.  I just was thinking about that, so I posted it.  This blog is kind of a journal of my food addiction efforts.  Not everything I think is going to be worthwhile, I guess.  In the future, I'll keep my opinions about my rear to myself.

This past weekend, we decided to be completely spontaneous and take the kids up to Georgia.  Why?  Well, it was snowing.  The older two kids never had seen snow.  Gabe had seen it when he was one and didn't like it.  We had heard about the snow storm hitting the south, and we figured this was the time to go for it and make a good weekend for the kids.  So we decided really quick to jump in the van and drive up to Atlanta.  Well, on Friday night we drove to Macon.  Then on Saturday we drove up to Atlanta and visited the Georgia Aquarium (amazing) and the World of Coke (meh).  We stayed there last night and then drove home today.

Now, as far as my food efforts go, this weekend should have been a disaster.  In fact, I was very worried going into the trip that I was going to have a very hard time doing things right.  Here are some reasons why the cards were stacked against me:

1. We left in a hurry.  This means that we didn't take our time to think through things as much and double and triple check stuff.  That means that we forgot things.  Like my new big bag of almonds.  And my Prilosec and daily vitamins.  That doesn't bode well.
2. We were not staying with friends or family.  This meant we couldn't buy food and stock it in the fridge to make things work.  We were staying in two different hotels in two different cities.  We were at the mercy of restaurants, hotel fare, and attraction food.
3. I  like trying new restaurants.  I have always enjoyed eating at new places in new cities.  I try not to go to chains when I'm traveling (unless it is Ted's Montana Grill).  I want to experience local places -which are usually better and/or cheaper.  My break of this rule is when there is a chain that we don't have in Florida - like In N Out or Jack in the Box or Fat Burger.  (Yes, there was a Fat Burger two minutes from our hotel in Atlanta.)
4. Fresh and healthy foods are more expensive.  I really think that the food controlling elements of our society have conspired to make us fat.  They charge twice as much for healthy food.
5. Lots of driving time.  As I stated in a previous post, I love to snack in the car.  Snacking usually means sugar or tons of salt or whatever.

So, this was what I was facing.  Things didn't get easier up there.  The La Quinta breakfast had nothing I could eat.  We ended up having to eat at the Georgia Aquarium.  (Do NOT do that if you can help it.  Believe me.  More expensive than Disney's food prices.)  There were tons of places I would have loved to eat: Pappadeux's, Fat Burger, The Varsity.  We went to the World of Coke - where they gave out free samples of sodas of the world.  They also gave everyone free Cokes to take home.  The pizza place I ordered dinner for everyone from had NOTHING for me to eat - so I had to sit there and watch everyone eat pizza until I could run out and get myself something.

However, I have come to the place in this battle where I follow this motto.  I would rather not eat than eat something bad.  Don't get worried, I'm not becoming anorexic or anything.  But when I am faced with the apparent option of only eating something wrong, I choose door number two.  That door is no food.  I will survive if I have to miss a meal.  It doesn't happen that often.  And I can always get something later that will work.  I don't have to pick something bad.  So, following this credo, I told myself that I was not going to fail.  Here's the rundown of what happened.

• Friday Dinner:  We went through a Taco Bell drive through for everyone.  The kids and Heather got their stuff.  But Mexican is a no-no for me.  So I didn't get anything.  This was VERY hard, because I love Taco Bell.  And one my favorite items is being highlighted again.  But I wasn't going to screw up right away.  Instead, I waited about an hour until we got to Moultrie, GA and I went to Chick Fil A and got a grilled chicken sandwich, large fruit cup, and water.  I tossed the bun and just ate the meat.  WIN!
• Friday Snack:  We had to stop and get Gabe some more Gatorade.  So I grabbed a bag of salted almonds.  I usually avoid those, but I would need them.  Good thing I got them.  WIN!
• Saturday Dinner:  Hotel breakfast was a no go for me.  I literally couldn't have anything there.  So everyone else ate and I didn't.  We got in the car to head to Atlanta from Macon.  I munched on some more of the almonds in the car.  Basically, I had to skip breakfast.  WIN!
• Saturday Lunch:  Georgia Aquarium.  Ruh roh.  Burgers, pizza, chicken tenders.  Tons of cupcakes and desserts that looked delicious.  BUT, they had a "make your own salad" station.  I went there and got spinach leaves, chicken, turkey, ham, peppers, cukes, carrots.  I added a fruit cup and water.  And I didn't touch the baked goods.  WIN!
• Saturday Snack:  We were at the World of Coke.  There were "over 64 flavors to try."  I avoided all of those "over 64 flavors."  WIN!
• Saturday Dinner:  This was one of the hardest efforts.  The room service was ridiculous, even with our $25 food credit.  So I ordered the kids a pizza and Heather spaghetti.  I was exhausted and didn't want to go anywhere.  I wanted someone to bring me food.  But this Italian place had nothing I could eat.  Literally nothing - except for hot wings.  I hate hot wings (except for Willie Thomas' from down in Orlando.  He can make me hot wings any days he wants.)  But I had no choice.  "Uh, we're out of chicken wings."  What?!?  I felt like Tommy Boy.  "Davey wants wingies!"  The menu boasted calzones, subs, pizza.  I really was battling.  I knew I was going to have to go out somewhere.  Again, tons of pitfalls all over.  A big Mexican place, Fat Burger, Wendy's.  I ended up going to Arby's and getting a roast beef sandwich and a roast chicken sandwich.  I ate the meat off and tossed the buns.  WIN!
• Sunday Breakfast:  We used our food credit for breakfast.  There was one thing on the menu I could have.  It was a fruit smoothie - fruit puree, yogurt, and honey.  So I got it.  It was gross.  The honey made it sickeningly sweet.  I haven't had sugar in a month.  So it doesn't take much to be too much.  But I drank it.  WIN!
• Sunday Lunch:  I intentionally looked for a Cracker Barrel.  I was tired of having to scrape things together for meals.  I knew I could get something at Cracker Barrel.  We found one around 12:00 - it was overflowing thanks to church people.  (stinking church people)  We kept driving and found another one at 12:45.  I got grilled chicken tenderloins, carrots, side salad, and turnip greens (nasty).  Another water.  And I deftly avoided the candy attack on the way out.  WIN!
• Sunday Snack:  I didn't have any almonds left.  So I just nursed a bottle of water along and ate nothing.  WIN!
• Sunday Dinner:  We were back home.  It was Valentine's Day.  And I knew we didn't have a lot of stuff to pull together quick.  So as we drove back through town, I diverted to Fresh Market.  Braving the insane crowds, I got Heather and I some steaks from the meat department.  [I also scored some dried vegetable chips and low sugar peanut butter.]  When I got home I broiled the steaks, sauteed some spinach, and heated up some of my leftover roasted tomato soup.  WIN! WIN! WIN!

So I won the Battle of Atlanta!  Yay me.  I will know tomorrow when I do my post-weekend weigh in how it affected me.  I tried to drink a lot of water to keep from the normal travel swelling.  I also avoided the cured meat sticks.  So we'll see.  Overall, though, I have to say I was impressed with my efforts.  We had a great weekend, lots of good memories.  And I was able to go the whole time without even eating anything against my diet.  It was truly an epic victory!  Woo hoo!