Day 329 – I Survived the Business Conference and Stayed on GAPS

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This next week will be my eleven month anniversary on GAPS. During this last year I've wondered how it was going to be attending my conference this year. I get to go to this one each year and in the past I have looked forward to it because they usually feed us well with all kinds of delicious things which I am no longer eating.

Thankfully the conference planners did well at providing varied items, enough that I actually was able to eat at both lunches and the big dinner.

Now if I were eating only organic, I wouldn't have been able to eat a thing, I'm sure. And there's no way of knowing exactly what was on everything but I think I did pretty good.

Here's what I ate:

Wednesday evening reception snacks

  • carrot sticks
  • celery sticks
  • broccoli
  • pea pods (we were told these were edemame, but they were peas and I only had one)
  • sunflower, pumpkin [affiliate link] and almonds [affiliate link] (seasoned so may have gotten MSG)
  • sparkling water (not GAPS legal but it's one of my cheats)

Thursday lunch

  • plain grilled hamburger (was delicious, but looked plain grilled but who knows they may have sprinkled MSG all over it)
  • butter leaf lettuce leaves (faux bun for the burger)
  • red onion slices
  • tomato slices
  • baby greens salad (no dressing, none legal available)
  • some type of mustard/horseradish (hopefully did not contain illegals)

Thursday dinner

  • salmon (some type of tomato covering on it, gluten free, but no telling what the seasonings consisted of
  • grilled baby vegetables (zucchini, yellow scallopini squash)
  • grilled veggies (small onions [affiliate link], mushrooms, carrots, asparagus)
  • baby greens salad (again, no dressing)
  • 3 half strawberries

Friday lunch

  • roast beef, sliced (did not taste cured, hopefully it was roasted)
  • turkey, sliced (did not taste cured)
  • tomato slices
  • red onion slices
  • butter leaf lettuce leaves (faux bun for the meat)
  • some type of mustard/horseradish (hopefully did not contain illegals)
  • 1 thin slice honeydew melon
  • 2 thin slices cantaloupe melon

While this may not seem like much of a selection or much food, I was thankful that the lettuce leaves covered a large portion of the humongous plates. I was quite satisfied and full with my portion, and I can still remember how it used to feel at these types of events where I'd pig out and my stomach would ache from being overfull. Then I'd be tired after eating. Not so this time. Although everyone around me was eating buns, potato salad and all kinds of carbohydrate foods, not to even begin to mention the desserts… I did not feel like I was missing out. And no one said anything about the limited selection on my plate.

I stayed in a suites hotel which had a kitchen. The pans were non-stick, so I went to a Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a stainless steel cookware set for $50. Most certainly not the most quality stainless steel cookware, but I believe it's safer as opposed to using non-stick cookware. We mostly use cast iron skillets at home.

I made Asparagus Quiche (slightly modified, I did not use cheese, subbed butter for the grapeseed oil, subbed green onions for the scallions) from Elana Amsterdam's The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook to bring and share with my roommate who has celiac disease. My roomie showed no interest in the quiche, although she exclaimed that it looked delicious and that she loved asparagus. I also brought cupcakes made from the Carrot Cake recipe in The Gluten-Free Almond Flour [affiliate link] Cookbook but alas I used walnuts [affiliate link] and my roommate is allergic to walnuts. She said she could take a Benadryl and we could pick out the walnuts, but geez I don't want someone to risk having food that is going to close up their throat.

So that was a little disappointing, but at the same time it worked out just fine for me because I had one or two of the cupcakes each day and I ate quiche and had enough to bring home and have another couple of meals.

I bought only a few items from the grocery store, just under $25 worth. I bought cauliflower, 18 eggs [affiliate link], 1 pound of mushrooms, 3 avocados, 1 jar of green olives, 1 pound of butter. My roommate and I had planned to buy groceries, but as it turns out she managed to find enough gluten-free choices from the complimentary continental breakfast at the hotel where we stayed, and then at the conference.. She did bring almonds which we shared.

I boiled up seven eggs (all that would fit into the pan I bought in one layer) and ended up eating those by myself as well. I brought back home all the groceries I didn't use.

I have never stayed in a hotel room with another woman, I never did the college dorm thing. Thankfully my roommate and I worked together for two days and kind of got to know one another so it wasn't too weird at all.

I showed her the GAPS book… she said she read the first few pages but I had to get it back before she left. I hope one day she will try it. She is five years older than me, and I don't think her current diet is doing her any favors.

I must mention my energy level. I definitely had a lot more energy this year, than at the previous two years. I remember feeling like I was dragging and had a hard time making it through the day. This time I did take a nap on Thursday afternoon, but that was mostly because I knew the Thursday night dinner was going to last until 10pm.

The dinner was Western-themed and they had a Old Tyme Photo area, it was really fun. The photographer and her assistant helped to get my roommate and I dressed up. The photographer took two poses but this was the only one that came out. She told us to look real serious, so I did. Boy, did I ever look serious.

Photo by All That Jazz Entertainment, LLC

Here's a new recipe from Elana's Pantry that I want to try: Vegan Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. I have a similar recipe for a smoothie Pumpkin Coconut Smoothie. I haven't been able to find coconut milk [affiliate link] without guar gum so I will probably just use all cashew milk for Elena's recipe, and of course substitute honey [affiliate link] for the agave syrup.

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