Diabetics/Weight Watchers/Health Issues

[sempi2]

We are diabetics. My husband has no weight issues, but I do. Last year we bought our a/s - sempi2. Have only taken 4 trips to date, but I try to keep our diet in line with how we eat at home. Do find it difficult however when camping since it is easier to have the Brats, chips, and other junk foods.
Anyone else out there that has some suggestions that will help? try to remember to pack some good snacks in the truck as we travel, but forget them sometimes.
Light bulb!!! put truck snacks on the checklist.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, we try to eat healthy foods at home and do it pretty well. When traveling with our trailer, we pack lots of good fruits and vegetables. My wife pre-cooks things for dinners, I cook breakfast, and we make our lunches as we go. In other words, we buy or eat out, as little as possible. [hopefully, not at all] I think we eat better while traveling because of the space we have to deal with. Since I never have them at home, I like to bring one bag of marshmellows in the trailer. I try to weigh the same when I get home as when we left and usually do.

[sempi2]

Thank you for your input. I try to make weekly menus when home, but when we get out without a meal plan I tend to not do too well.
Another lightblub moment---plan, plan, plan for meals as we travel

[Stefrobrts]

I like to meal plan before a trip. Sometimes we like to just get someplace and stock up when we get there, but I find it works better with a plan, else we're always missing some important ingredient and camp is always far away from the store!

I think we eat less while camping because we are so busy doing other stuff all day!

[sempi2]

Actually as I think about our trips, we have done better while camping because all we have is what we packed. Rather than run to the store for something we did not need,.but thought we did need.

[henw]

Watching the weight is a good start. Taking it to the next healthy level, you now need to meet with a quality diabetic nutritionist. A healthy DM diet has the right proportions of complex carbs, healthy fats, and protein.
Be sure and add in daily exercise. Vigorous walks are easy at most campgrounds.

Tom

[dlb435]

Same problem here, I've got to watch the diet and get daily exersize. I find it very easy to stay with the diet with our own galley. I also do a lot of travel for work and it's a lot harder when you have to eat every meal out. We have two dogs that need thier daily walk so that helps with the exersize part.
I've had to control my blood sugar for about three years now. I don't even think about what I can and can't eat any more. It's just habit now. The biggest problem is getting the food. A healthy diet is mostly quality, fresh foods. Almost everything that is pre-made is loaded with salt, sugar or both. This makes for some problems when camping. You either have to pre-cook meals and hope the refidgerator doesn't stop working or you have to locate a grocery and make a food run every two days.
A big part of the problem is our own expectations. Camping means camping foods. Brats, fried bacon, grilled meats, chips and all those other things we associate with camping. Finishing off the day with a nice fresh salad may be healthy but it's sure not like camping out.

[redstart]

you could try a dehydrator (e.g. nesco makes one that is sold at walmart i think)

so, what you do is cook a meal ahead of time at home, then put it in the dehydrator. you layer the food on trays and it takes about 8 hours to dry. Then when you get to camp, all you have to do is soak it with the right amount of water (it takes practice - you can always add more) and heat it and there you go, dinner's ready with little effort.

the stuff that works best in the dehydrator is low fat. So, you could cook up extra lean ground beef, or extra lean ground turkey, you can dehydrate spagetti sauce or any sauce. I dehydrate chili, vegetables (chop em small) and i make my own fruit roll ups (e.g. strawberry banana).

this takes a lot of planning ahead (a meal is about 8 hours to dehydrate) but i think it's fun. also a good way to travel light. if you are interested i can point you to a site with more recipes.

[Lily&Me]

If you don't have a diabetic cookbook, there are large selections at the big bookstores, which would perhaps help. I bought for a relative a really nice diabetic cookbook of 30-minute meals. We are not diabetic, but don't want to be, and try to keep 99% of our meals prepared in our own little kitchen----we always eat healthier that way. We always start every trip with a freezer full of meal-sized meats and leftovers we have prepared and frozen at home. We like to buy things like chicken, pork, etc., in quantity when they are on sale, then freeze them using a seal-a-meal. They take much less space in the freezer this way, and the leftovers then have no freezer container to keep and take up space. You are right, planning is really the key. Happy travels.

[woppa 4]

Off issue: Bob have do you keep the Silver Castle with such a brilliant shine. Mel

[Ahab]

I'm a type II. Keep my A1C below 7 by exercise and diet. Unless we're boondocking we purchase fresh on the way. Snacking in the truck involves raw carrots, celery, and/or fruits. DW does breakfast, I do the rest. Fresh caught fish or crawdads offer protein and a glass of wine warms the heart. Frozen meats can last a week or more in the freezer if you have one. If you don't, they do well in the new 5 or 6 day coolers.

[sempi2]

Originally Posted by redstart

you could try a dehydrator (e.g. nesco makes one that is sold at walmart i think)

so, what you do is cook a meal ahead of time at home, then put it in the dehydrator. you layer the food on trays and it takes about 8 hours to dry. Then when you get to camp, all you have to do is soak it with the right amount of water (it takes practice - you can always add more) and heat it and there you go, dinner's ready with little effort.

the stuff that works best in the dehydrator is low fat. So, you could cook up extra lean ground beef, or extra lean ground turkey, you can dehydrate spagetti sauce or any sauce. I dehydrate chili, vegetables (chop em small) and i make my own fruit roll ups (e.g. strawberry banana).

this takes a lot of planning ahead (a meal is about 8 hours to dehydrate) but i think it's fun. also a good way to travel light. if you are interested i can point you to a site with more recipes.

Ihave a dehydrator, but never thought about meals.Use it mostly for fruit and some vegggies. I would be interested in the site you referred to. Thanks, Susan

[sd90mac]

Hi,

Terry and I are both diabetic. I cook the same things out camping as I do at home. Fresh fruit, cheese and crackers and light snacks, just like at home. We do a lot of grilling and try to eat better both at home and camping. We do not eat out a lot as restaurant food will pack the weight on.

Marie

[Pahaska]

I'm on Byetta and that, over the last several years, has made me more tolerant to occasional "sinful" foods.

I try to stay under 30 effective carbs for meals in the trailer and mainly try to choose low-carb entrees and very low-carb sides with my meals out.

I have a small thermos bottle to keep my Byetta cool during days away from the trailer. One ice cube wrapped in a napkin lasts all day.

[dlb435]

Hey, this is a great post. I've always felt like I was doing this alone but it seams I've got a lot of company.

[sempi2]

Believe me you are not alone. As we learn more about diabetes, and let our condition known, we are amazed at the number of people who also haveor know someone with this disease.
I love to cook, bake and eat, so this is a battle for me. I have a large collection of cookbooks, but have refocused these to Cooking Light, Diabetes Cookbooks, Weight Watchers and Low Carb cookbooks.
I like to try new things so I am making a new priority to plan menus around these books. We are making progress on this new "life style". But I am always looking for new ideas, hints and recipes.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by woppa 4

Off issue: Bob how do you keep the Silver Castle with such a brilliant shine. Mel

Hi, I only wash my trailer before and after trips; In between then, I hose it off randomly. I use Megiures car wash soap or any good brand car wash is OK with me. My trailer is outside all of the time. When washing my trailer I rinse it off very well before using a soft car wash mitt with the soap. [to prevent dirt scratches] I use an artificial chamois to dry off. I only wash it in the evening when cool and little or no direct sun light.

I never wax my trailer; Wax makes the water bead-up and holds the water and attracts dirt in the air to stick to the trailer. Without the wax, the water dissapates quickly. These two pictures were taken after it's last bath. Trailer is about five years old and never waxed.

[RangerJay]

I think it is probably a common practice to use "getting away" as the opportunity to deviate from the unwanted discipline of a diet and over-indulge - a "give yourself a break today" attitude - just for a while. Glucometre readings are fast evidence of the cost (at least with me).

In recent years we've consciously turned that mind-set around and now use "getting away" as a fresh opportunity to re-establish and emphasize the right habits - most particularly - eating and exercise (walking). Even in retirement we both lead busy lives and our theory is that if we can't do it on vacation then it is going to be pretty tough to do any other time. Now we have come to enjoy taking the leisure time of a vacation to prepare gourmet (healthy) foods and take a walk, or hike - or something - several times a day - and, as before - glucometre readings quickly show the dividends.


Jay

[redstart]

Originally Posted by sempi2

Ihave a dehydrator, but never thought about meals.Use it mostly for fruit and some vegggies. I would be interested in the site you referred to. Thanks, Susan

hi sempi2

i dehydrate any stew-type low fat meal that has either ground beef, ground turkey or ground chicken in it. Brown the meat (extra lean) as you normally would and either dehydrate it with the sauce and veggies or separately. I find that veggies chopped finely dehydrate best.

if the sauce has a high-ish fat item, e.g. curry paste or oil, i just bring that separately and only dehydrate the other components.

I started dehydrating for our canoe-camping trips so I got a lot of my recipes from the Canadian Canoe Routes website. E.g. they have a special recipe section here (not all dehydrator recipes though):

Canadian Canoe Routes - Places

And you can also google search the forums for dehydrator recipes:

dehydrator site:www.myccr.com - Google Search

Part of the fun too is trying your own favourite recipes. I always test them out at home first, especially the rehydrating part. Have fun !!!

[sempi2]

Originally Posted by RangerJay

I think it is probably a common practice to use "getting away" as the opportunity to deviate from the unwanted discipline of a diet and over-indulge - a "give yourself a break today" attitude - just for a while. Glucometre readings are fast evidence of the cost (at least with me).

In recent years we've consciously turned that mind-set around and now use "getting away" as a fresh opportunity to re-establish and emphasize the right habits - most particularly - eating and exercise (walking). Even in retirement we both lead busy lives and our theory is that if we can't do it on vacation then it is going to be pretty tough to do any other time. Now we have come to enjoy taking the leisure time of a vacation to prepare gourmet (healthy) foods and take a walk, or hike - or something - several times a day - and, as before - glucometre readings quickly show the dividends.


Jay

I think that maybe why I am having a little trouble. It is easy to think of camp food as more junk food or not quite as healthy as you try to eat at home, because you are "getting away" from all the day to day pressures, stress and just relax and do nothing. Good thought, Susan