Day 7: Sitting in the Wilderness Typing on My Laptop

Kind of a funny image, but its true.  I am camped out in Brandon (not quite the wilderness) as the first stop on my trip.  I haven't camped since I was in university, so boy, was this ever a change.  #1: you are not allowed fires #2: it's $30/night not $10 or $12 #3: there is a campground that doesn't allow you to tent even though the signs to arrive at the campground have a tent on them (false advertising) and #4: they have wifi.  Okay.  I am willing to sacrifice the above to ensure I can blog!

So, today marks 1 week since I started this little adventure and all is well.  I have managed to stay away from the evil candy, the tempting desserts, and large portions of well, everything.  In addition today is my first morning on the road attempting this clean eating thing. Fyi: not easy.  But doable.
   After flitting around the house yesterday morning I took off to Brandon after lunch.  I made sure to stop at the local market to pick up healthy treats for the drive because I knew if I had a bag of almonds I would eat the whole bag before hitting Portage L Prairie and this equals not good.  I don't know about you, but I associate driving with snacking so I knew ahead of time that this was going to happen as I am not at the stage to completely cut out the action.  My momma don't raise no foo'.  Instead, I armed myself with cut up veggies, elk peppettes, a small baggie of almonds, and a conglomeration of seeds.  I made it to Brandon unscathed.  I didn't die from the lack of gummies in my tummy.  I didn't pass out because I didn't have my Laffy Taffy.  In fact, those elk peppettes were freaking awesome.  I saved 3 of them for today's journey.

After my photoshoot last night, I drove around Brandon trying to think of the cheapest, healthiest place to eat.  Subway? Nah...their chicken scares me.  Safeway? They have a deli, but OMG no...everything looked greasy and bread-y.  I settled on Montanas.  Not cheap, but I knew they had salmon and rice.  Side note: I don't think restaurants like single patrons unless they are drinking.  

The salmon itself was pretty good, the rice was alright, but the vegetables were horrific.  I didn't even touch them.  They looked like they had been freeze dried.  Umm, no thanks.  So though I spent the extra money, I had a clear conscience for when I went back to my camp.

Eating healthy when you travel is excessively hard and it doesn't matter what city you are in (unless of course there is a city that is actually called Granola-land...)  If you, like myself, enjoy pretty pictures and are swayed easily by smells and images, then you know that the advertising world has you in its sites.  Everywhere you look there are delicious looking burgers (I don't even eat beef, but their digital artists are amazing!) and then you get to the restaurant, order it and blech...or it is super hot out and you see an image of a beautiful glass of frothy milkshaky goodness, condensation trickling down the side.  You can almost taste the soft, coldness on your tongue.  So you buy it.  Then spend the night on the toilet because "dairy" products do not agree with your body.  Was it worth it? Probably not.  Did you care at the time? No.  Those images and the smells of barbecues make you put blinders on and all you can think about is a mouth watering steak loaded with sugar laden bbq sauce, copious amounts of sour cream overflowing a twice baked potato (don't forget the bacon bits!) and while we are at, let's have a beer.  There is a reason why ad campaigns are so much money.  They hit us where are the most vulnerable (except for Houston Pizza's...their pictures make me never want to eat there because everything is yellow...uuuggggh)

It certainly is easy to get tempted so I had to talk my way through it as I drove around looking for convenience over quality.  There is no such thing.  I think most people don't like to eat alone.  I think it's a fear we all have is that we will be perceived as nobody likes us, blablabla.  Screw it.  You get the people watch.  Sure people may think you are a creeper, whatevs.  That's when you can have fun without embarrassing your friends or family.  When you see someone keep looking at you sitting by yourself, hit them back with a set of crazy eyes.

(image taken from Orange is the New Black.  If you haven't, please watch this show.  You will not be disappointed. It's on Netflix.  You're welcome.)

So yes, I got over the fear, sat by myself, ate some salmon came back to camp chilled on the laptop at my picnic table getting eaten alive by bugs until midnight at which time I crawled into my junior size tent.  Good times.

And what do we do when we are bored?  Selfie's of course!  For those of you that hate how you look on camera take a look at the difference the angle makes:

Hello, chin! (Chins?)

 Ooh...hello sharp features!

It's all in the angles.  That is my tip of the day!  

Today's breakfast:

Date: August 23, 2013

Current weight: I don't even know

Goal for the day: 25 minute walk around Clear Lake

What is your plan for food today?

B: 2 Brown Rice Organic Rice Crackers with 2 tbsp of natural pb and some raspberries

S: elk peppette and peppers

L: chicken salad

S:nuts

Su: salmon and whatever comes with it as a side

Planned water intake: 96 oz (4 water bottles full)