After all this rain, the weather has finally warmed up enough to not wear a jacket. I just love days like this. I’m finally over my jetlag from a recent european trip. Every year for my birthday, I love to travel to a new location and am usually gone for up to 10 days at a time. This year it was Spain. I hadn’t been there for about 10 years and decided to check out new cities that I had never visited and introduce my fiance to my family out there.
I usually prepare every trip with gluten free foods but decided not to this time, not even protein bars because I was so looking forward to all the spanish tapas and seafood. I knew in advance the kinds of foods I could eat and my fiance even found gluten free restaurants in almost every town and city we visited.
The gorgeous rolling hills and the mountains were spectacular. Mallorca and the beaches were stunning. I woke up one morning to clear, blue skies, birds singing, and a lonely rooster off in the distance waking us up from our slumber. I couldn’t have asked for much more. We go down for brunch and I have such a happy anticipation for the breakfast cuisine especially since I woke up very hungry. But instead, I walked into a room filled with trays and baskets filled with gluten. Usually I can easily look past it and choose other alternatives but not today. Croissants, spanish homemade bread, homemade jellies and jams, I could go on and on. I got back to the table with tears streaming down my face, proclaiming I couldn’t eat a thing. I was having my first official gluten meltdown. My fiance was a little in shock as he had never seen me react this way about gluten before. You would think that after so many years of being gluten free that it shouldn’t phase me anymore.
I was taken aback as well by my reaction. Maybe it was the jetlag. Or maybe that I had ingestion from all the spanish cheeses, but I was irritable and sad.
Sitting there for a few minutes wallowing in my misery, I finally wiped away the tears and made do with what was there. Strawberries and pineapple with nutella. I couldn’t stomach another piece of manchego cheese or jamon (like prosciutto), the salt was making me retain fluid. There I was feeling sorry for myself, bloated with indigestion, jetlagged and the gluten was the last straw.
Despite the mini breakfast drama, I brushed myself off and headed out to explore this quaint town. I didn’t starve on this trip, trust me. Nor did I have any other meltdowns.
But I want you to know that despite the years of experience on how to navigate my way around being gluten free, there may still be a meltdown or 2.
Never let it sway you to give in to eating the gluten.
Ride it out. Cry it out. Breathe through it. It will pass.
Note to self, bring small food and snacks on international trips!
Have you had any meltdowns around food or any other issues with a chronic illness? And if so, how did you deal with it?
Much love,
