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📢 United voices change headlines! Plus, 8 strategies for healthy travel food ✈️

Author

Casey Means
September 03, 2024

Welcome back!

Before we jump in, did you happen to see the wild buzz that occurred around this misleading TIME article from last week? In case you missed it, TIME magazine wrote a disappointing article implying that ultra-processed foods might not be as bad as we all know they are 🤦‍♀️ . Many (including myself!) took to social media to post about why this is wrong. I wrote a post breaking down the playbook the media often employs to confuse us about nutrition, which over 2 million people saw. RFK Jr re-shared the post, Joe Rogan discussed the article separately, and astonishingly, TIME changed the title of the article the next day to seemingly backpedal and imply that just ONE dietician is speaking up for ultra-processed foods (see below). While it is hard to know what happened behind the scenes here, I have an inkling that the swift public outrage to this ludicrous article had some impact. 💪 

The title of a TIME article before and after social media outrage! WOW.

What does this all mean? 👀 👇️ 

People are no longer silently standing by in the face of media tactics that may not in the best interest of our health. 💪 

In other news, my book, Good Energy, continues to be the #1 most sold non-fiction book on Amazon. THANK YOU for your support of the book and your incredible reviews and testimonials about how it is impacting your life. 💗 

Metabolic health is going mainstream 🎉 🎉 🎉 

Now, on to the newsletter: Healthy eating strategies while traveling! 👇️ 

In this week’s newsletter, I’m sharing a recap of how my fiancé and I managed to meal plan for a super healthy Labor Day Weekend full of Good Energy eating principles, despite an intense 4 day travel schedule that involved:

  • 🛩️ Air travel to Seattle

  • ⛴️/🚘️ 2 hour car drive + 2 hour ferry ride from Seattle to the San Juan islands

  • 🏕️ Camping on the San Juan islands

  • 🥳 Celebrating my dad’s birthday on a boat

  • 🛥️ Boating with family

  • 🚲️ A 36 mile bike ride

  • And traveling with 6 other people including 2 adorable children

My hope is that this breakdown helps YOU have an easier time meal planning for your next trip or holiday!

I was determined that none of the travel circumstances would fully sidetrack us from healthy eating because I know I feel best (mentally and physically) when I eat clean food. I also want to get pregnant sometime soon, so I am taking extra care to support my cellular health and avoid inflammatory foods with toxic additives. What was I optimizing for? 👇️ 

  1. 🌱 Organic food

  2. 🥗 Majority unprocessed or minimally processed foods

  3. 🙅‍♀️ Avoiding ultraprocessed grains, ultraprocessed sugars, and ultraprocessed seed oils

  4. 🖐️ Incorporating the 5 elements of Good Energy meals in as many meals as possible, which include:

    1. Fiber

    2. Healthy protein

    3. Omega-3 fats

    4. Micronutrients and antioxidants

    5. Probiotics

It isn’t always possible for this all to be perfect when traveling (you can see below, we still had a few meals that weren’t fully “Good Energy” approved!), but simply trying gets us a lot of the way there, and is simple and low stress. You may see all this and think it is overkill or obsessive, but here’s my thought process: people in America are getting very, very sick, and chronic illnesses are now affecting at least 75% of American adults and close to 50% of kids and are the leading cause of disability and bankruptcy in the US. Chronic diseases are skyrocketing across the lifespan. ALL these chronic illnesses are tied to our modern, toxic ultraprocessed food supply. Given this, I really want to try my best to avoid conventional, pesticide-covered, disease-promoting food. This means being highly aware of what food I buy and eat and taking the time to plan, because I believe a little investment now may help reduce risk of big problems down the road (certainly by no means a guarantee, but I want to do what I can).

8 strategies I use to make sure healthy eating is possible during travel:

✈️ BRING SNACKS FROM HOME: I always pack food for the airplane so I never have to buy packaged food at an airport (see my travel food guide HERE)! I also load my luggage with TSA-approved “emergency snacks” for the trip in case I cannot find healthy food at my destination. For me, this often includes cans of wild salmon, grass-fed beef sticks, a big bag of organic unroasted nuts (I LOVE Vision Sprouts nuts), 2 bags of Flackers, a bag of ZenBasil seeds (so I always have a breakfast option), several pieces of hard fruit that won’t squish (like unripe pears, apples, and oranges), a cloth napkin, and reusable bamboo cutlery. I also always bring a few glass or metal food storage containers, a stainless steel coffee mug, and a glass or stainless steel water bottle I can use throughout the trip. Avoid plastic whenever possible.

✍️ ROUGHLY SKETCH OUT EVERY MEAL: Create a sketch of all the meals you are going to be eating on the trip and create a rough plan for each that can inform shopping lists when you get to your destination. You can always adjust and be flexible as the trip goes on.

🏡 GET A KITCHEN WHEN POSSIBLE: Try to stay in airBNBs/home rentals or with friends instead of hotels so you have access to a refrigerator and kitchen. Some hotels have a kitchenette, which is great.

🤝 COMMUNICATE PROACTIVELY WITH FELLOW TRAVELERS/HOSTS: If staying with family or friends, set clear expectations about your food plans so there are no surprises or unintentionally hurt feelings. For instance, you might share that you are going to stop at the grocery store on the way from the airport to the house and will plan to be taking care of your own breakfasts and snacks, and would be happy to cook them for the whole group if desired! Let them know you need some refrigerator space when you arrive. Ask if they have a cooler and ice packs you can use. Offer to procure ingredients and cook some of or all of the meals for the group. (For more, check out my article: How I approach holiday health from the Levels blog, here).

🥦 LOOK UP GROCERY STORES AT DESTINATION: Look up whether there is a Whole Foods or another health food store (Natural Grocers, Sprouts, etc) near where you are staying and go there to stock up on the way from the airport to where you are staying. Always try to make this a first stop on any trip! Alternatively, plan to have food delivered from Instacart or other grocery delivery services to your airBNB on day 1 or 2 of the trip.

👨‍🌾 FIND LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS: Search for the times and locations of local Farmers Markets in places that you are traveling — this is a great group activity, allows you to meet local farmers, and allows for getting the freshest food! All ages can have fun at a Farmers Market. 🎉 

🍽️ DO RESTAURANT RESEARCH: Research local restaurants and cafes where you are traveling that have organic, local, or healthy food. Simply search things like “organic restaurants near [insert destination]” or “farm to table cafe near [insert destination]” and then look at the website to see if the restaurant seems committed to clean ingredients and sourcing.

🏡 HAVE A PLAN FOR ARRIVING HOME FROM TRIP: When I get home from a trip after a long day of return travel, I’m often hungry, so I like to make sure I have a few healthy frozen and canned options available for a nutritious snack before I can re-stock the kitchen. My favorite go-to option is heating up an organic Daily Harvest Harvest Bowl on the stovetop and adding in some canned organic black beans or garbanzo beans and some sauerkraut. Remember, I have a special metabolic health collection with Daily Harvest if you’re not sure what to buy!

So what did we eat during this busy 4 day Labor Day Weekend? 👇️ 

Shopping lists 👇️ 

This was the food we brought and purchased throughout the 4 day trip to maximize nutrients while traveling!

✅ = Largely organic, unprocessed food

❌ = Ate at restaurants and unable to verify if food was organic or if healthy oils were used

Day by day breakdown! 👇️ 

Thursday

  • 🛩️ Thursday plane snack/dinner ✅/❌

    • Snacks from home: Organic unroasted nuts, organic oranges, organic flax crackers (Flackers), organic grass-fed beef sticks (Chomps)

    • We underestimated our hunger in the rush of the day so we did end up getting some food at the airport. The best option we could find was a CAVA chicken, veggie, and rice bowl with pickled veggies, hummus, and tzatziki. I looked up whether CAVA uses organic produce and it appears that only their hummus is confirmed organic, so this wasn’t ideal. They probably use seed oils. They do not list complete ingredients on their site, but the food behind the counter looked very fresh, which was a pro.

🛒🚗 GROCERY TRIP: Whole Foods stop in Seattle on the way from airport to get food for Friday breakfast and lunch, as well as to stock up for San Juan islands boating and camping

Friday

  • ☀️ Friday breakfast in Seattle ✅

    • Organic pastured-raised egg scramble with organic sautéed kale, red peppers, onions, garlic, and side of organic berries

    • Prepped lunch food 👇️ 

  • ⛴️ Friday lunch on ferry ✅

    • Sandwich of Base Culture grain-free bread, organic raised chicken thighs, sliced organic tomato, sautéed organic red onion

    • Unroasted organic almonds

    • Gimme organic avocado oil seaweed snacks

    • Sliced organic red peppers

  • 🏝️ Friday dinner at San Juan Island ❌

    • Chicken curry and rice from a local vendor at an arts and food festival - delicious, but couldn’t verify ingredient sourcing. 🤷‍♀️ 

Saturday

🛒 FARMERS MARKET: Saturday morning Farmers market at San Juan Island!

  • 🏝️ Saturday brunch ✅

    • Egg scramble with farmer’s market kale, squash, onions, garlic, avocado, Flackers with farmers market organic goat’s cheese, and an organic Asian pear

    • Pique Nandaka organic coffee alternative with organic soymilk (just soybeans and water)

  • 🛥️ Saturday birthday dinner on boat ✅

    • Farmer’s market organic pasture raised ground beef with onions, garlic, kale, squash; side salad of cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli sprouts, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar; dessert of dark chocolate and nuts with birthday candles! 🎂 

Sunday

  • 🏕️ Sunday breakfast at campsite ✅

    • Leftover ground beef stir fry with pasture-raised eggs and fruit salad

    • Pique Nandaka organic coffee alternative with organic soymilk

  • 🛥️ Sunday lunch on boat ✅

    • Greek yogurt with organic raspberries, cashews, almond butter, and Witzi’s No Oats

  • 🛥️ Sunday dinner on boat for 8 people ✅

    • Pasture raised beef patties in an organic lettuce wrap, Primal Kitchen avocado oil mayo, cucumber and tomato salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sautéed mushrooms and red onions; sliced organic watermelon

Monday

  • 🏡 Monday breakfast at airBNB ✅ 

    • Can of low-mercury line-caught tuna from farmer’s market scrambled with pasture raised eggs, fruit

  • 🚲️ Monday lunch during 36 mile bike ride ❌ 

    • Ate at a restaurant halfway through bike ride: cabbage salad with cauliflower, poached shrimp, edamame, and Asian dressing. The cauliflower was deep fried (which I didn’t know before I ordered it) and the dressing probably had seed oils. In retrospect, I would have just ordered 12 poached local shrimp! 🦐 

  • ⛴️ Monday snacks on ferry ✅ 

    • Canned line-caught tuna on flackers

    • Chomps

    • Organic nuts

  • 🍽️ Monday dinner in Seattle ✅ 

    • Home-cooked Greek dinner of grilled chicken and mixed vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, tzatziki, Caprese salad, and hummus by our wonderful hosts!

Tuesday

  • 🛩️ Tuesday breakfast on airplane ✅ 

    • Pasture raised scrambled eggs on toasted Base Culture bread

    • Unroasted nuts

I hope this overview helps you think about how to plan for healthy eating on your next trips (and for life in general!)! Let me know what questions you have!

With good energy 💓

Dr. Casey

PS: I heard an overwhelming response from past newsletters that many of you want articles on the following 2 topics. Know that I am actively working on these articles for you! 👇️ 

  • The relationship between gluten and anxiety

  • How I created space in my life to find partnership at 35 years old

👀 In Case You Missed It

🤳 Upcoming IG Live with Dr. Colleen Cutcliffe

I will be going live on Instagram with Colleen Cutcliffe, PhD, a microbiome expert and co-founder and CEO of Pendulum, on September 9th, 10:30am PT! We’ll be talking all about metabolic health, gut health, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), and more. Reply and share your gut-health questions!

Follow us on Instagram at @drcolleencutcliffe and @drcaseyskitchen so you don’t miss out.

📺️ Upcoming media

I’ll be appearing in the following media this week to talk about the recent TIME magazine article, the chronic disease epidemic, and my perspectives on the momentum happening now for chronic disease reversal. Stay tuned! 👇️ 

🎙️ New podcasts!

Check out these recently released podcasts where I talked about metabolic health and Good Energy:

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