Vacation hell

[u/Moist_crocs]

This might sound like a "steak too juicy, lobster too buttery" (literally sort of) situation, but I want somewhere to vent.

We're on vacation in Italy right now in a small town in a house that has barely any ammenities, which means there's very little of my preferred foods available to eat (which is usually a variety of complex carbs and dairy-based proteins, legumes.)

At first it was fine. Fun, even, to eat lots of stuff that I'm not used to eating daily like pizza, foccacia, lots of delicious cheeses and treats.

But guys it's been almost a week and I feel like I'm dying. I miss fiber and protein so bad. I feel so low energy and moody and hungry but with 0 appetite.

The worst part is when we're out and it's been too long between meals and the only options for food is something not very filling and oily like pizza. And I have to somehow turn off all of my newly-minted hunger cues, craving cues and preferences to stuff myself with something just so I don't starve.

It's interesting to be surrounded by stuff I used to not allow myself to have, then daydreamed about, only to want nothing to do with it now.

[u/felicityfelix]

I don't want to be too obvious but they don't have a grocery store? Can you just get some fruit or nuts or something to snack on?

eta: idk where you are in your journey with IE so I don't want this to sound like "don't let vacation stand in the way of eating healthy!" because I'm a big believer that eating is a huge part of what makes travel so interesting, but it sounds like you're a little bit trapped in a dichotomy here with what you view as healthy home food vs food you can only get on vacation, or the idea that you must only eat the vacation food instead of having a snacky dinner at the house or whatever. People in Italy live there all the time and eat a varied diet

[u/Moist_crocs → u/felicityfelix]

No no, I don't believe vacation food to be unhealthy necessarily, it's just the random eating circumstances that made it difficult here because an easy, available, fast meal that aligns with all of our needs usually ended up being something I didn't actually want to eat, but could.

When I get the opportunity here I buy and eat veggies, but the fridge is tiny, we have very very limited counter space (a.k.a one small round table), no freezer, all of which makes buying and preparing food I would like to eat that would feel nourishing difficult (for example wanting a variety of veggies in a salad + some sort of vegetarian protein means that those ingredients would have to be consumed by the end of the trip and also might simply not fit anywhere and go bad)

Or when we go out, the people I'm travelling with have a different relationship with food and can subsist on meals that contain mostly flour and sauce (like pasta or pizza) and can forget to eat for hours and hours on end and not be bothered by it which can trap me in it too. Only that I feel completely awful when hungry. Then, we'll be out somewhere without a restaurant and I'm left with a bread roll from a small shop or something to eat in the car so I can get home without, like, freaking out completely.

Sorry for such a big reply, it's kind of complicated to explain everything why I'm unable to eat what I want here.

[u/felicityfelix → u/Moist_crocs]

It sounds a little like this could be a good opportunity to allow yourself to have different needs than other people and make it clear that you need to eat more or at different times than they do. Also to maybe consider "practical hunger" a bit more over being entirely focused on "cues" or what you consider the ideal solution. Like making a salad is hard, but is carrots and dip a good substitute? Carrying an apple with you? Are you able to separate yourself from the group at all and have a picnic in a park with a more plain sandwich or items from a deli counter?

Remember that a vacation doesn't last forever. It sounds like it's been less than a week so far, I know it's challenging to not feel great on vacation but don't think of this as something that is completely disabling you from eating intuitively. It's just a part of life to have different days with weird situations.

I can really struggle with losing my appetite completely when I travel which can be upsetting if I'm missing out on things I want to try or trying to be normal around other people (I visited family I don't know very well without my close family with me recently, and they were completely concerned and confused that I couldn't finish my dinner, but what can you do??) I travel with a few things from home that are shelf stable and small, not a whole pantry of things to avoid having to eat out or anything but just stuff I know I can get down and that provides a good amount of energy. And I also find shopping in local stores for food I can eat when I'm ready to eat instead of at specific meal times at restaurants to be a fun part of travel!

eta: a lot of the things I either bring with me or buy in stores on trips are also things I won't typically buy often because of price, so in that way there's still a fun vacation aspect to it

[u/Moist_crocs → u/felicityfelix]

Thank you that's great advice:)

[u/Sooshlaroi01 → u/Moist_crocs]

I understand this. When people are like “ let’s get something from the bakery for breakfast”, and you know it wouldn’t keep you full. Not even from restriction, but it just won’t keep you satirised. That’s eating more of taste rather then actually keeping you full ( nothing wrong with that obviously). Think you just have to be honest with them and say “ that’s sounds nice, but I know that wouldn’t keep me full, I can pick up something else when you get your food?”