We’ve got a Carnival Cruise coming up soon so you know what that means, right?
Exactly.
Too many Guy’s Burgers and too little proper exercise.
I just know that, despite many steps and much sightseeing in some of the greatest cities in Europe, I’m going to be feeling a bit, let’s call it, frumpy, due to a lack of routine at mealtime and workout time. As far as travel derailers go this will be pretty excellent but it’ll derail me nonetheless.
So last week, in anticipation of the floating frumpiness to come, I got all geared up to make daily hikes for both exercise and practice purposes, ahead of this summer’s 84-mile Dads4Kesem hike across England. Back in April, I’d ramped up my practice hike schedule and all-around effort by hitting a nearby trail every day for up to 6.5 miles at a clip. I was looking for more of the same last week but what I got instead was bucket upon bucket of rain and a sick kid providing bucket upon bucket of, well, you know. Every parent knows the struggle is real when it comes to the sick kid derailer — we’ve all been there and we’ll all be back there again sometime soon. I was there all last week with the Mouse.
The Sick Kid Derailer
It was a bit of Groundhog Day in these parts (I am in Pennsylvania after all) with me putting Mouse to bed after a day of steady improvement in her physical condition only to wake up with the au naturel alarm clock of what little food she did consume the previous day hitting the cool white porcelain of our master bathroom before the sun or I woke up completely. Rinse, repeat.
And yet each night I allowed myself sunny thoughts of blue skies and an 8-year-old who was/might be on the road to, if not complete health, a reasonable level of ‘better’ and maybe, just maybe, could get to school in the morning. Every morning it became abundantly clear straightaway that none of that — the sunny warmth of spring or my youngest daughter making an appearance in her 3rd grade classroom — was going to happen, which meant my hiking and daily shopping trip to buy fresh fruits, veggies and ingredients for a freshly made dinner wasn’t going to happen either.
Now, you may think having easy access to a vending machine at work is tempting but man, being an at-home parent means the kitchen is always RIGHT THERE! And when your an at-home parent stuck inside the house with a sick kid, that’s not a healthy recipe for, um, healthiness. This is why finding a nutritious snack that fills me up and powers me through the day without needing or wanting to make frequent trips back into the kitchen for a nibble of this and a bite of that is absolutely massive for me. When I’ve been derailed by a sick kid, as I was all of last week, I grab a chewy Pure Protein bar to keep my protein intake high and sugar consumption low while leaving me incredibly satisfied and, most importantly, keeping me out of the kitchen. The chewy chocolate chip Pure Protein bar is so dense and delicious that it forces me to eat slowly and savor every bite, which helps this fast eater enjoy what I’m consuming while letting my stomach catch up to what’s happening so that I don’t overeat.
I survived the sick kid derailer now I’ve got 8 Pure Protein bars packed in my suitcase and 2 in my backpack to help me fight through some of the most scenic European derailers on Earth aboard the Carnival Vista cruise ship…just in case I don’t spend as much time on the jogging track as I’m planning. 😉
*OWTK has partnered with Pure Protein for a series of stories about overcoming derailer obstacles to maintaining healthy eating and exercise routines. All opinions expressed above are honest and unbiased, as always.
