This last post in my Nashville trip series is all about “eating out”.  Thankfully I don’t suffer from severe allergic reactions (known as anaphylaxis), so my tendency in eating out is to try and eat as closely to allergen-free as possible and just assume I’m probably going to feel a little badly afterwards.  Similarly, when on vacation, although I prepare as much as possible through packing emergency snacks and attempting to find ready-to-eat groceries, I still generally eat out at times in order to have meat which keeps my hypoglycemia at bay or just because it is part of the fun. 

Sit-down Restaurants

When we were in downtown Nashville one evening, we ate at a place called Big River Grille and Brewing.  We chose this particular place because steakhouses and grills are where I tend to find a complete meal (mostly) free of allergens.  Their menu had a Grilled Chicken Cashew Salad (with artichoke hearts, feta cheese, tomatoes, cashews, and balsamic vinaigrette).  I usually can’t have feta because it is most often derived from cow’s milk.  However, they also had a Hummus and Goat Cheese Salad, so I knew that I could have the feta replaced with the goat cheese.  I also asked the waiter to have my chicken grilled in olive oil with no blended seasonings and to just bring me oil and vinegar in place of the balsamic vinaigrette since I assumed it could have contained soy or corn.  I was excited to learn that the dressing was homemade from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil all whipped together, so I could actually eat it.  The salad and dressing were both really tasty and I felt fine afterwards which means there weren’t any hidden allergens. 

Fast Food Restaurants

Another night, when we were running late for dinner and my blood sugar was already dipping too low, we stopped at a McDonalds because it is all we could find.  Anytime I eat at McDonalds, I get a grilled chicken breast sandwich with no bun and no condiments, but still alway feel a little sick in my stomach and muscle-achy afterwards.  I have always had my suspicions that the chicken was cooked in soybean oil, but never took the time to research it.  After returning home, I googled McDonald’s grilled chicken breast sandwiches to see what they actually contain and this is what I found on McDonald’s Ingredient List:

Yuck!  I expected the soybean oil and possibly the msg, but cheese and milk!??  Why do they need to add dairy to everything?  No wonder it makes me feel gross! 

We also ate at a Subway once, where I order the grilled chicken breast sandwich on “whole wheat” with spinach leaves, banana peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and oil & vinegar (not the red wine vinaigrette dressing) and had similar experiences to those at McDonalds.  If you’re interested, here’s a Subway Ingredient List and Subway Food Allergen & Sensitivity Chart which shows why I don’t feel great after eating there either. 

And lastly, although we didn’t happen to eat at Burger King this time, here’s a link to Burger King’s Ingredient List  for your use.  Their grilled chicken breast also contains soy, msg, and dairy along with corn. 

Well, I hope this little peak into my attempts to eat allergen-free during my trip was useful to you.  Next time, I’ll remember to take photos of my allergen-free “adventures”!

After my arrival in Nashville, a friend met me and we drove to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, which I had found on the Natural Food Store Locator map prior to the trip.  Trader Joe’s was not exactly what I was expecting.  I had been to a huge one in Texas a few years ago, but this one was fairly small and did not have prepared meats or very many allergen-free selections in the granola bar/cookie department (generally a large percentage of my starches when traveling due to lack of necessary preparation and ease of portability).  However, I did find some plaintain chips(Trader Joe’s brand) that were super yummy, along with honey whole-wheat bread, apples, baby carrots, and goat’s milk. 

Then we went to Whole Foods where I was able to purchase prepared chicken, allergen-free granola cookies, corn-free mustard, and a few gallons of water.  Thankfully, my friend had brought me a cooler to keep the meat, goat’s milk, and water cool.  We just kept refilling it with ice at the hotel.  I used this food for breakfast and other times when it was hard to find a place to eat.  We didn’t really have a cooler full of sodas, by the way.  I was just severely slacking in my photo taking.  I’ll do better next trip!

We did have one little oops with the chicken.  I didn’t think far enough ahead to bring extra ziplocks to store the chicken while it was in the cooler and I was too cheap to buy a few.  So, I opted to instead place the box of chicken inside of a huge 2-1/2 Gallon Hefty One Zip bag, which I happened to have with me.  The problem was that the zipper wasn’t actually watertight so water got into the bag and ruined the chicken.  It was a sad day, but we recovered.    It taught me to make sure I bring along a few large ziplocks with me next time if I’m planning on purchasing meat, etc. in order to protect it while in the cooler. 

We also had an unplanned stop at a little mexican store on my last day in the Nashville area, which my friend found when I was craving a grape soda, of all things.  I don’t drink sodas very often, but when I drink one it cannot have corn syrup in it.  When at home here in Colorado, I usually would purchase a corn syrup-free soda at a natural food store.  However, since mexican sodas are generally made of cane sugar, I can also find them at a mexican store or even the convenience store down the road which happens to carry mexican Cokes and orange Fantas.  This is good to remember when you’re in the middle of nowhere, craving a soda pop!

In a few days I’ll post the last installment of this series and share where I “ate out” and a few little things I learned related to that.

I’m back from Nashville!  I had a great time and thought I’d share a little bit about my attempts to eat allergen-free food during my travels.  Over the next few days there will be a series of posts related to preparing for the airport/plane and finding food once you reach your travel destination.  Today I’ll touch on preparing for my trip to the airport and my actual flight.  I had a 3 hour direct flight from Denver to Nashville and left my house about 2-1/2 hours before the flight, so I needed to bring about 2 mini-meals with me (I eat small meals every few hours) since it can be pretty difficult, not to mention expensive, to find allergen-free food in the airport.

I packed grilled chicken breasts, apples, allergen-free granola cookies, and almonds in my backpack/carry-on for my plane trip to Nashville.  Keep in mind that it is generally a good idea to pack enough for at least one meal/snack beyond your actual travel time because you won’t always have allergen-free food conveniently accessible upon arrival.  I also packed some extra almonds, the rest of my cookies, and an empty Nalgene water bottle in my checked luggage for use once I arrived.  I chugged a bunch of water on my drive to the airport to cut down on the amount of bottled water I’d have to buy during my time at the airport and on the plane since airport water is so expensive!  I do miss the days when I could just bring water with me – however, I’m thankful for the additional security provided at our airports. 

I ate the first portion of chicken fairly soon after arriving at the airport so I didn’t need to worry about keeping it cool.  I did need to keep the second portion cool, however.  After I made it through security, I purchased a cold bottle of water and stored it in my backpack next to the chicken.  I stored the pack on the floor during the flight because this area is generally cooler and the chicken has always remained cool for my flights of up to 3 hours.  Another option would be to bring a small ice pack with you, but if you can get by without one you might-as-well forgo the extra weight. 

Once I landed, I had enough time to pick up my baggage, meet my friend, and drive to the health food store to pick up more allergen-free food before my next mini-meal.  Plus, I had leftover almonds, cookies, and an apple just in case the trip to the grocery store would not have been that quick or easy.  If you are hypoglycemic like I am, being just an hour or 2 late on your feeding schedule can make a huge difference in how you feel and can ruin the rest of the day!  I’ll fill you in on the trip to the grocery store in a few days.  See you then!

I’m going to Nashville this week for a conference and a mini-vacation with friends and family.  Since I haven’t been to Nashville before, I need to plan ahead and figure out where I’m going to find food that I can eat.  So, I thought this would be a good time to share this handy dandy Natural Health Food Store Locator with you.  I came across it a little over a year ago and it has proven to be invaluable anytime I am traveling to an area I’m not familiar with or where I do not know of a health food store in which to purchase some allergen-free food. 

The site includes the big name stores like Trader Joes and Whole Foods, but it also includes the little mom n’ pop stores.  It can prove pretty useful if you live in a more rural area too, since you might not know that the smaller, less well known natural food stores are even there. Of course, I can always find fresh fruits, vegetables, and usually plain nuts at any grocery store.  But when you are traveling, you can’t always grill yourself a hunk-o-meat or bake some fresh whole grain bread, with no hidden allergens.  And a girl can only subsist for so long on just veggies, fruit, and nuts. 

The site consists of a map of the United States, with little markers letting you know which states have one or more natural food stores.  It even includes Hawaii and Alaska!  You need to click on the individual state though for the entire listing of health food stores to come up.  The only draw-back to the site is that it doesn’t include any countries other than the US.  Also, it is a good idea to scribble down directions for a few of the stores close to your travel destination because you never know what you may come across.  For instance, I once visited a smaller health food store while traveling, where almost everything was made out of soy – which is not helpful when I’m allergic to soy!

Well, I’m heading off to Nashville and am pretty excited that there is a Trader Joes and a Whole Foods right in town.  Take a drive around the store locator site and let me know what you think!