HOW TO BE A RUNSEEKER WITH A DIETARY RESTRICTION

A Story from Stella, a participant with Dietary Restriction

"Hello Fellow Vacation Racers with Dietary Restrictions!

I’m Stella! As a veteran traveler, I wanted to share with you a handful of tips and pointers that have helped me on my journeys with the Runseek team across the planet. I’ve now traveled to: Costa Rica, Iceland, Belize, Patagonia, Croatia, Japan, Ecuador , Azores, Thailand & South Africa. To put it lightly: I’m all in on Runseek. I’m a junkie. I’m also all in on my dietary needs."

A little about my personal history for context

"I lived in NYC in 2001. And I got sick after 9/11. Really sick. After never having allergies or asthma in my life, my body completely fell apart. By 2015, I was on 14 drugs a day and supposed to be dead by the time I was 50. That year I met a functional medicine doctor who helped me figure out that my body was just having alarming reactions to anything I put in it that it perceived as a threat. So…. I stripped almost everything even remotely inflammatory from my diet. Full AutoImmune Paleo (AIP) +. For me, that means: no gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, nightshades (peppers, tomatoes, white potatoes, eggplant), nuts, seeds, grains, bananas, eggs. Thank God I eat meat!!!"

Full AIP And in 8 months I was down to 1 drug per day. I won’t die if I have something not on my diet list, but I do get sick. And if I am remotely stressed, everything is amplified. When all is well, I have a little more leeway and if I am REALLY doing well and having a healthy cycle, I am able to eat special things: like a banana. Or nuts. Or eggs. But that’s not always

So I am careful- especially when traveling. One food off diet and I’ll get the snots and the spits. A few more bites and it’s the coughs. A little more or too many little transgressions and I’m back to sounding like a tuberculosis patient. I can’t go back there. .

So…. I choose every day to work to take pristine care of my body and ALWAYS make sure I have foods I can eat. ALWAYS. Especially when I am traveling. And even more so when I am traveling with a big group.

I share all this because I’ve made Runseek / VR trips work really well with all my restrictions BECAUSE I always have a backup plan for food. ALWAYS.

A few tips for you as you pick your travels

• Latin / Central American countries will always have a TON of rice, beans, tomatoes, peppers. If you have a problem with those, be prepared to always have challenges.
  

• Buenos Aires had a TON of meat that was all delicious- but also always had tons of veggies. I note the meat because this is the trip to eat the meat if you are a “sometimes” vegetarian.
  

• Iceland & Croatia were easy for food needs- English speaking countries make it easier.
  

• Japan was the hardest country- because of the language barrier and specificity of the diet that is so different from the standard American diet. Hardest for me with my long list of restrictions 
  

I have traveled a TON and have never met a group of trip leaders more dedicated to ensuring that participants are fed well and that their dietary needs are met. There will probably be 10-15% of the people on each trip that are food weirdos. That’s a lot for the staff and the hosts to handle- especially in a rush. The VR team is wholly dedicated to making sure everyone is fueled and fed with delicious meals. They work REALLY, REALLY hard to make sure we are taken care of. Following is a list of my Dietary Travel Dos- a guide to making your time much better as you travel with Runseek.

1. Think “ABG”. “Always be grateful!” No matter what food you get or do not get- always be grateful. The GA crew including guides and all the local restaurant people are serving 50-100 people in an hour with a crazy range of dietary needs. Most of the places we go are not used to this volume or this range of dietary needs- especially if you are someone like me that has multiple, overlapping dietary needs. (I.e. someone with gluten AND dairy AND nightshade AND meat restrictions).

Many of the people cooking and serving do not speak English and haven’t even heard of these food restrictions we have. They are doing their best. I go out of my way to thank EVERYONE- VR staff + the local hosts. Thank them for the effort. Thank them for the food. Thank them for trying.

Pretty much EVERYWHERE we go, we are eating local cuisine that is cherished. What we can’t or don’t or won’t eat may be beloved by them. It’s part of their culture. We need to remember that what we may not eat or like is their core nutrition.

And since we go from restaurant to restaurant, each vendor only has one chance to get it right. For you, it might be your 10th meal that went wrong in a row, but for that host- it’s their first try.

I try to remind myself that they are ALL doing the best they can. And the MORE restrictions I have, the MORE grateful I need to be for the accommodations being made.

I try to learn to say THANK YOU in the native language and repeat it to everyone I can find in every restaurant. They went out of their way to try to help me. I go out of my way with gratitude. 2. Think “AHs”! “Always Have Snacks!” Always have your own food.

It’s annoying and it’s a pain. But you will be MUCH happier to ALWAYS have some kind of snack that will fill you up JUST IN CASE your dietary needs are not able to be met. I pack a lot of snacks in my luggage just to make sure I have enough food. The vast majority of the meals are great- but a challenge with just one meal every day or every other day is enough to make me hungry and grumpy so I always have a backup. 3. Expect for something to go wrong. It will. You know how hard it is to manage your own food restrictions in your own country with your own stores and your own language. It’s hard. Just know that everyone is doing the best they can with 50 foreigners to feed.

Be okay with this and expect it. That will make it easier when something goes wrong with your food dream. These are humans trying to take care of a wild bunch of hungry people. We are a lot to handle. Have snacks.

I have also learned that things go MOST wrong when I am MOST tired and MOST hungry. So…. Always have a backup plan for your own food. So when something goes wrong, you have SNACKS! 4. Expect to wait- the more restrictions, the longer the wait might be. The food restrictive people often end up eating last because the kitchen staff is trying to manage us. Remember that most of the kitchens are not used to 50 hungry people showing up at once and are not equipped for customization the way we are in the US. Be prepared to have to wait for food sometimes. We are waiting because we need something special or different. And they often get it wrong- with the best of intent. Remember: ABG.

But… sometimes we get to eat FIRST! Every now and then our food is set aside and separate and sometimes looks and tastes better than what everyone else gets. Cherish these moments if you find them! 5. Find the local stuff that you love and HOARD it! Be open to all the new things at local stores and restaurants and stock up. I think I bought all the plantain chips in every store in Belize and Costa Rica! I literally try to get to every meal WITH a meal. And then I am pleasantly surprised most of the time because there is always something I can eat 6. Embrace snacks Hungry people are crabby people- it’s biologic. So, I usually try to have a snack on the bus BEFORE we get to every restaurant. I’d rather end up overfull than grumpy and mean and entitled. Just always have a backup plan. I start every day with a few meals worth of snacks in my bag. Best case scenario, I end the day with a bag full of snacks because I had so much great food served up! Second best case scenario? I end up with some snacks missing- because I was smart enough to have them just in case I needed them. But mostly, “Always be grateful!”

Xoxo, Stella