29 July 2008 No Comment

Because my son’s daycare was closed for the week, I decided that the middle of July would be a great time for a trip to Disneyland in Anaheim. I’ll never do that again.

I don’t regret going. It was great seeing my son fighting Darth Vader and getting braver as the days went on and he went on more rides. But July is not a good time for going to this popular theme park. It was hot and crowded, and people were sometimes rude. I also didn’t realize that a three-year-old turns into a child you’ve never seen before when placed in the Happiest Frickin’ Place on Earth.

I had an appointment set to see my nutritionist the week after we went to Disneyland. Because I knew that I was going to have to cheat while on vacation, I was extra strict the whole month before the trip. I hadn’t had a drink in what seemed like a year but was probably closer to 5 weeks. I had stopped eating rice, even brown rice, which is a huge sacrifice for an Asian American. It was big for me to change from white to brown rice, but then I gave up rice altogether! I wasn’t eating any dessert, brown rice tortillas, cheese or anything that I loved. I was basically eating meat and vegetables. I was committed because I wanted to get better.

I didn’t know how I was going to be able to stick my diet while at Disneyland. I searched the internet for a great forum, asked a few questions, found out that Disneyland is actually quite accommodating to people with allergies or with special dietary needs and read menus and ingredient lists. What I decided after all of that research was that although Disneyland can accommodate people who are gluten-free and dairy-free (GFCF), like thousands of autistic kids, it is quite another thing to ask them to cut out gluten, dairy, grains, sugar, vinegar, yeast, fruit and–you get the picture. You could get a gluten-free and dairy-free pizza in Tomorrowland, but that pizza would still have yeast and maybe sugar in the sauce.

Sigh. It was easier to choose the least offending food than to stress over being perfect. I could still take all of my herbal supplements, psyllium, probiotics and enzymes. I got more lax with the food as the vacation went on. I started with rotisserie chicken, roasted veggies and a few bites of sweet potato at Claimjumper’s. Not bad! For breakfast, I had a black bean chili omelette and gave away the pancakes that came with it. I next had a Cobb salad with blue cheese dressing. Because of time restraints and location (we were waiting to see Fantasmic, which is awesome!), I got steak gumbo in a sourdough bread bowl. I liked Denny’s across the street from the parks because they serve things a la carte. I ordered plain oatmeal (something I would’ve eaten at home) and biscuits and gravy. I know, I know. I shouldn’t have had the biscuits and gravy. But my dad had told me that Denny’s had the best biscuits and gravy, so I had to try it. It was way too salty for my taste and not worth the cheat. Then I moved on to fish and chips while sharing the fries. I didn’t drink soda and brought water to the park in a Klean Kanteen instead. I had a chili dog and gave away my apple slices. By the last day of our trip, I was so exhausted from walking in the heat with an over-stimulated three-year-old that I had macadamia crusted orange roughy with steamed vegetables and a glass of Pinot Grigio. My first drink in quite awhile, and I needed it.

I know that I could’ve been more prepared. I did bring Lara bars in case I needed to eat and the food was just too bad to ingest. I wasn’t supposed to have the Lara bars, though, since they’re mostly made of dried fruit. I could’ve brought raw carrots and almond butter, but I was tired of carrots and almond butter and wanted to enjoy my vacation. All in all, my stomach was a wreck from not eating the way I was growing accustomed to, and it took me over a week to start feeling better. My energy was wiped out, my minerals were wiped out (after not taking my vitamins, which upset my stomach), my adrenals were taxed, and I needed help. But even after all of that cheating, Pat found that my Candida was under control. I guess I had done a good enough job in the month before the trip to make me better. And even though I’m still recovering from that trip, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.