Living out of a suitcase

Apologies for the radio silence, I’ve been working off site for some of my corporate clients and subsequently living out of a suitcase for the past week. Having been away for the week before it has been a relief to come back to home and sleep in my own bed. I can’t complain though, the hotel was very nice, it had a gym and you could choose what pillows you wanted on your bed (I went for the goose down) however, it did hi-light the plight of the travelling businessperson to me quite dramatically.

When I was younger, I always wanted the job that allowed me to travel but my colleagues who did were always moaning about it. I love to travel, but if you’re on the road with work for any length of time then your routine can get severely disrupted, and by this, I specifically mean your health regime. Although many more hotels have gyms and better food than ever before, us humans like a bit of habit forming. Whether its what we eat for breakfast, how we shower in the morning, what we do before bed or when we go to the gym, the routines or classes that we do. Everything has its place and when a spoke falls out of the wheel then it’s hard to get back on the road.

If you’re away for work it can be a lonely existence, unless you’re on a training course then 9 times out of 10 you’ll be on your own for a large percentage of the time. The bar becomes a place to wind down as you can’t face spending all evening in the hotel room either working or watching TV, you’d rather be on your own in a sociable place so there is at least a chance of talking to someone even if it is the bartender. Unless you’ve got a client dinner or colleagues with you, you’ll eat alone; possibly choosing a comfort option as you’re away and feeling a little sorry for yourself. You might have pudding to comfort yourself with the promise that you’ll go to the gym in the morning. And if you are with colleagues often you’ll have a nightcap even when you’ve consumed more alcohol than you’d normally drink; maybe to help relax you more so you can sleep without missing your family too much.

Hotel rooms are stuffy (especially if you hate aircon like I do); they often don’t have the option to open a window which can make you feel groggy when you wake up. Maybe you’ve got an early meeting or have to drive to a supplier far away. You don’t get to the gym as you’ve got a hangover or your wake-up call hasn’t happened. Or you do and it’s so small that there’s a queue for a machine. Either way, you go down to breakfast and look at the delights on offer. I don’t really know what it is but when I’m away I’ll eat far more than I ever do at home. It’s the ’see food and eat it diet’. At the moment, at home, I’m eating a porridge mix made with oats, quinoa & buckwheat to which I add ground linseeds, fresh fruit and a spice (e.g. cinnamon or nutmeg) or coconut sprinkled on top. While I was away I ate fresh fruit & yoghurt PLUS two small slices of seedy/nutty bakery bread toasted with smoked salmon. Every morning. As I was on my feet from 9-6 every day, only able to snatch something quickly mid-afternoon, it was probably a wise idea to stock up to avoid the mid-morning wobble, but did I really need to eat it all? I doubt it. But it was there on offer and I took the path of least resistance. But on the flip side, I wasn’t munching my way the cooked breakfast or sugary cereals on offer – mainly because a) I don’t like those cereals b) I don’t get on with milk (I use Oatley in my porridge) and c) the hot breakfast was on a buffet and look really rather rancid d) I only eat cold meats if I’m in mainland Europe.

I watched my fellow diners in one of my favourite games – a bit like ‘trolley watch’; ‘plate watch’ – looking to see what they ate and then sizing up their health; guessing what might be their complaint if they came for a consultation (I know, I’m sad, but it intrigues me & after all, it is my job). I hate to say it, but a lot of the guys had that travelling businessman paunch, and were mostly tucking into a hearty cooked breakfast and a pile of toast; a gentleman next to me nearly blew a gasket when he had to ask for his drink for the third time… what was he drinking? You guessed it, coffee. It can’t be nice spending half your life on the road, but what you eat certainly does compound the negative effects of it. Foods low in nutrients, or those high in saturated fats and dairy can really help you pile on the pounds and puts strain on the body’s organs, hormones which have an emotional and physical affect that in the end will result in poor health.

It is really hard to make ‘good’ choices when you’re feeling lonely, stressed or depressed; especially when there is very little on offer such as in motorway service stations. Thankfully hotels are starting to wise-up and are putting better menus as competition rises. They try to increase profits by keeping their guests under one roof thus reducing the chance of them escaping to the nearby town centre for a change of scenery. The food at my place was reasonable, with the usual fare (steak, hamburgers etc) but a couple of fish options were okay, although the massive quanities of salt used were more than I could take – I could even sea the flakes on the top! Do some chef’s live in a bubble? Salt is not required for taste when you have properly functioning tastebuds. Grrr. Surely they must understand that the government guidelines are there for a reason?

It did amuse me however, to have a risotto described as coming in a big ‘healthy’ portion; little did they know that a risotto laden with cheese & made with white rice does not equal ‘healthy’, nor do big portions. It is still surprising to me that even though there is a huge amount of information at people’s fingers tips in magazines, websites etc that people are still completely unaware of what is truly good. Just because it isn’t chips doesn’t mean it’s healthy!

My top tips for living out of a suitcase

• Always use a small plate when eating from a buffet – you can always go back for more, but 90% of the time you will eat what’s on it, even if you don’t want to.
• Avoid hot breakfast foods – often you will not know how long they have been sitting there, or the quality of the meat products.
• Ask if the kitchen can make you some scrambled eggs from scratch (if the ones on the buffet look old & cold) and add smoked salmon. Eggs are really easily absorbed by the body and the essential fats in salmon will help keep your brain sharp throughout the day.
• Avoid the sugary cereals – these will only make your blood sugar rise dramatically and leave you with an empty stomach mid-morning which may influence you to make poor snack decisions (e.g. pastry & coffee)
• Check how the food is cooked- avoid fried and choose grilled, roasted or poached. If there is a butter or creamy sauce, ask for it on the side so you can have a little if you so wish, but it doesn’t all get added to your food.
• Eat slowly and thoughtfully, your body will recognise when it has had enough. When you are full, ask the waiter to take your food away or palce your napkin over the remnants to resist the temptation to pick.
• Aim to exercise every other day – if the gym is full, go a little earlier. Ask reception to give you a wake up call. Even if its 20 mins on the treadmill walking briskly, it’s better than nothing.
• Aim to only drink alcohol if you’re with clients and then limit to 2 drinks. This will not only ensure that your meeting goes the way you want it to, you will also wake-up feeling fresher and ready to face the next day.
• Spend this time away from your family positively; relax, have some ‘me-time’ and listen to a de-stress cd before sleeping.
• Take your own herbal tea bags with you and just ask for hot water at breakfast. I find that the herbal teabags at most hotels are very poor quality and right now, I can’t live without my cup of Dr. Stuart’s Wild Fennel tea.

Confession time…

Everyone has their vices, and believe me I’ve had a few over the years, but the main one for me is caffeine. I was addicted to Coca-cola. I started drinking the brown sugary concoction when I was seven. It was a special occasion thing or when we were out or on the boat; and only then I was only allowed one or two glasses. As I grew older and had pocket money I started buying it for myself; especially when I was at dancing school (all good habits my parents dutifully taught my sister & I went out of the window there).

Coke was the first thing I drank on the way to 6th form college at 7.30am and by the time I reached my final year at Uni, I was drinking roughly 3-4 cans a day. I also drank squash and fruit juice – of course the cheapest you could get – or alcohol. The only water I drank was when I was in the gym. I was always buzzing about doing stuff, if I was tired, I’d have a can of coke, my instant wake me up; I didn’t drink beer, only wine or vodka (which I mixed with coke); so the amount racked up without me knowing. And dehydration, pah, that didn’t effect me – I’d have another fizzy drink.

The Dark Days

It had got to the stage that I could tell which country produced the can of coke I was drinking; for the uninitiated; UK Coke is the least sugary, German & Middle East Coke is the most sweet. Coke tastes best out of the traditional glass bottle, yes, the taste changes depending on the container. I could tell the difference between Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Coke, Diet Coke and even caffeine-free Coke at 100 paces. I even tried the vile the ill-fated Tab but whatever the diversion, my mainstay was regular Coke. In a way, I see it as a good thing I didn’t go down the diet route, I wasn’t flooding my body with artificial sweeteners such as aspartame*, just plain old sugar, the best of a bad lot, I’m telling myself.

I had never thought that drinking all of this stuff might be bad for me. I didn’t drink coffee, tea or any other hot drinks, so I didn’t really know what else to drink, I did mix it up with other fizzy drinks at times, but always returned to the old faithful brown nectar. The bottled water phenomenon was just starting when I was at Uni, I wasn’t interested so didn’t pay any attention.

Instigated by a conversation with some friends over dinner; I realised I had a problem when I was 24. I’d started work at a record company and had the drinks fridge by my desk, which contained a variety of canned drinks. It was for the whole office but as it was next to me, slowly but surely my consumption crept up. On a bad day I was drinking the equivalent of 8 cans, but averaged about 5. My friends were shocked and appalled at this admission, and from that moment on, I decided to limit myself to one per day.

From Coke to Coffee

My strategy worked, for a time, but my consumption started creeping up to a bottle or a couple of cans if I had a hangover which was often a few times a week (the joyous side effects of working in the music industry). So on New Years Eve, 2001 – I declared to my best friends and boyfriend that I was giving it up completely. And so I did. For a while I substituted it for other fizzy drinks; I re-discovered Tizer, Irn Bru, Fanta; but slowly the fascination paled. I started drinking loads more water; but I also started drinking latte’s & cappucino’s. My friend Liz introduced me to Starbucks in Westbourne Grove and I was hooked. On the way to work I’d buy a latte or cappuccino, there was something comforting about this weak hot milky coffee I was clutching in my paws. But it was more than that, imagery coming over from US TV shows such as Sex In The City made the process glamourous & exciting. I couldn’t afford the shoes or the dresses; I didn’t look like Carrie Bradshaw but I could hold my own with my take away coffee, oh yeah. That cup alone was going to take me places, it made me feel important, worthwhile – funny isn’t it how you can be subliminally affected by these programmes that do not portray real life, and how such things can boil down to what you consume literally and metaphorically. Looking back, my body didn’t really like this, I know I’ve never got on very well with milk, but I overrode this instinct as humans often do. Unfortunately this gave me the habit that I’m currently now trying to break. My “one coffee a day” habit.

I’ve been trying to work out what it is and why it is that I drink coffee. I am so particular – I will only go to certain coffee shops, I switched to soya a few years ago and am very particular as not all brands work well when heated. My current favourite is BonSoy – a Japanese brand only available in Flat White & Climpson & Sons. But I also love Coffee @ who use Sojade. Planet Organic or Fresh & Wild/Whole Foods just don’t seem to be able to cut it – but that’s no bad thing as they do amazing juices & smoothies.

Its odd, when I am away I don’t really crave coffee and I never drink it at home; only if its made with a gaggia machine and I’ve paid through the nose for it. I’ve not drunk coffee for 5 weeks when travelling before but as soon as I step back onto home turf, I’m there, like an addict waiting for his dealer to turn up. Its crazy, I waste over £15 a week on stuff that isn’t good for me. In these times, it could be better spent elsewhere. If I want a caffeine hit, albeit a smaller one, why not drink green tea? I’ll get loads of antioxidants as well if I did that. And I do, sometimes, but only if I’ve had my one coffee.

What’s Next?

What’s my plan? I decided when I went away this week that I was going to do my damndest to drop it for a while. I don’t want to stop drinking it completely, as every now and again its nice (especially if I’m in the vicinity of my favourite coffee shop), I’m human, not a nutrition machine… I like being bad every now and again. The issue is that I’ve really drunk anything else other than water for years. A great friend of mine introduced me to the world of herbal teas over the years but it never stuck until this winter, when a combination of working from home, the weather and a dodgy boiler meant that I needed to warm up somehow!

Previously my view of herbal tea was that they tasted of dust or weak nasty flavours. Quite frankly, I hate peppermint, chamomile and fruit teas (which taste like warm squash to me), and with my history of disliking hot drinks, I didn’t want to have to buy a whole box of tea only to find out that I didn’t like them. Luckily now, there are some amazing brands in the market. Of course, I still make mistakes – but I try and palm those off on visitors ;) This winter, I’m currently in love with Dr. Stuart’s Wild Fennel tea, Dragonfly’s Rooibosch Chai & Moonlight Jasmine Green Tea & Pukka Tea’s Chai spice.

No more excuses

So, I don’t really have any more excuses. I have variety of drink options, I just need to break the cycle, in the UK, not abroad. I started this post on Day 3 and due to a massively increased workload I’ve not been able to post until today (Day 7). Its been brilliant, I’ve thought about it, but not been tempted at all. And I even went to Borough market and didn’t crave to join the massive Monmouth Coffee queue. I think I’ve turned a corner, I’ve never got this far before. I aim to do at least 21 days in order to break the habit, which will take me to March 22. I will save £50 from this exercise, now I just need to plan what I’m going to do with the extra cash!

*A 2005 study showed that the carcinogenic risk from aspartame is evident at 20mg/kg of body weight, 50% lower than the European daily intake guideline of 40mg/kg.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/34040.php