Traveling and Eating for Metabolic Health
travel tips and the meals we ate on our recent family trip to Mexico!
My son-in-law is in the Navy and will be deployed soon, so we wanted to have a family get-together before he leaves since he will miss Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Valentine's Day, and Easter with all of us.
We decided to meet in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for a week of sun and family togetherness. We did some fishing, played games, went kayaking and swimming, snorkeling, played cards, and did lots of talking, catching up, and hanging out. The trip included me, my husband (Dr. B), our oldest daughter, Maddie, and her husband, Garrett; our second daughter, Lauren, and her boyfriend, Chris; our third daughter, Camille; and our youngest, Nolan.
Our family card game of choice is Hand and Foot. We play Hand and Foot with friends on card night and at every family gathering and camping trip. It is a very social game and can be played while chatting, visiting, and catching up. If you are not familiar with Hand and Foot, check it out!
The eight of us stayed for two nights in downtown San Jose del Cabo at the quaint El Encanto Hotel, which has lush gardens and a lovely pool. Restaurants are all within walking distance, and we had some incredible meals. Then, we headed north to a coastal town, where we rented a house on the beach.
London Cafe I enjoyed this avocado toast loaded with veggies two mornings in a row, it was so good. The avocado toast was served on a single slice of sourdough bread and I ate about half of the bread (to keep my blood sugar stable) and all of the veggies and protein each day.
La Lupita has incredible tacos, and we eat there every time we visit Cabo. This time, we also tried their cricket salad, which was flavorful and crunchy. I highly recommend it!
When we choose a restaurant, we go for fresh, local ingredients prepared simply. I try to avoid fried food (although I had a fried oyster taco one day for lunch, and it was pretty tasty!)
On our way out of town, we made a trip to the grocery store and Costco to stock up on food for the next five days where we stayed at a rental house on the beach. We ate predominantly low carb (refined carbs being homemade corn tortillas and tortilla chips). I will share our strategy for eating well when you have access to a kitchen:
Breakfast Foods
No Oats (brought from home)
Greek yogurt
Berries, papaya, mangosteen
Eggs
Grass-fed butter
Spinach, nopales, onion, avocado
Corn tortillas
Ham
Green juice (made in a blender each morning with cucumber, celery, ginger, turmeric, water, and lemon or lime juice)
Milk, coffee, green tea
Combos
Scrambled eggs and veggies
Omelettes with cheese, ham, nopales, and spinach
Eggs with avocado
Green juice and eggs
Green juice and No Oats
No Oats, yogurt, and berries
No Oats mixed with warm water and berries
Lunch and Snack Foods
Sardines
Tinned seafood
Guacamole
Salsa
Tortilla chips
Pecans, pepitas, pistachios, peanuts
90% dark chocolate
Cucumber rounds
Manchego
Combos
Cucumber rounds and sardines
Tortilla chips and tinned octopus
Manchego and nuts
Guacamole and cucumber rounds
Most days, we ate a late breakfast and skipped lunch. However, my son is growing and needs more food than the rest of us, so he had lunch most days!
We decided to divvy up the meals for our four nights of eating in, so two people each made one dinner. Madison is a pescetarian, and Garrett doesn’t like fish, so we made sure that each meal had a seafood and meat option along with lots of veggies!
Dinners
On night one, Lauren and Chris made an appetizer of tomatillo salsa that we enjoyed with tortilla chips and cucumber rounds. For dinner, Chris and Lauren marinated chicken and shrimp separately in a yogurt sauce by TikTok’s Jen Curley, along with a Greek salad. The chicken and shrimp were marinated and then cooked on the grill.
Night two, Nolan made an appetizer of grilled octopus. This has become his specialty- he boils the octopus the night before and marinates it overnight, then it is quickly grilled right before serving.
Dr. B and I made flank steak (marinated and then cooked on the grill) using this flavorful herb and spice marinade, green beans with mushrooms sauteed in butter, a side of guacamole, tomatillo salsa, and blue corn tortillas.
We bought our blue corn tortillas from a local market, where we watched them being made! Here is a recipe for blue corn tortillas if you want to make your own.
I find that I can eat one corn tortilla in combination with protein, healthy fat and veggies without a big blood sugar spike. At home, I buy sprouted corn tortillas by Food for Life. They are made with sprouted corn, sea salt, water and lime- that’s it! If you want to make your own low carb keto tortillas, try my keto tortilla recipe.
On night three, Camille and Nolan made a Gordon Ramsey recipe: sticky lemon chicken and sticky lemon shrimp, smashed potatoes, a cabbage salad (Costco pre-packaged salad), and sliced papaya.
If you follow me on Instagram, you have likely seen me talk about resistant starch created by boiling and cooling potatoes, making them better for blood sugar. I boiled these potatoes ahead of time and then cooled them in the fridge. When it was time to make the smashed potatoes, we dumped them on a large sheet pan and smashed them with the bottom of a glass, drizzled with melted butter, sprinkled them with salt and put the whole sheet pan on the grill.
At home, I cook smashed potatoes in a 400-degree oven until the edges are crispy, about 15-20 minutes.
Dinner on night four was made by Maddie and Garrett. Chris and Lauren made an appetizer of shishito peppers stuffed with manchego and ham. Dinner was curry shrimp and onions, greens beans with garlic and cubed ham, sliced avocado, and blue corn tortillas.
Night five was our last night, and we ate at our favorite restaurant, the Buena Vista Oceanfront and Hot Springs Resort. When dining out, I always order protein and plants whenever possible.
We started our meal with an order of guacamole and enjoyed it with sliced radishes- starting a meal with veggies, healthy fat, or protein instead of carbs is always a good idea for a better blood sugar response. (Resisting the bread basket, fries or tortilla chips befiore the meal is immensely helpful for blood sugar balance and metabolic health so if you love them, eat them after a veggie starter, salad, or guacamole! You can even ask your server to bring the refined carbs after you have some fat, fiber and protein first) In this meal below, I ate the potatoes (carbs) last and enjoyed about a third of them.
Airplane travel: my strategy
Depending on the length of the trip, I will pack food or use the travel time as a time for a fast. On this trip, I packed breakfast cookies, hard-boiled eggs, sea salt, raspberries, and loose-leaf tea in a tumbler. After going through security at SFO, I was able to add hot water to my tea tumbler. Not all airports have hot water available, but this is something I always look forward to at SFO!
The night before a trip, I always cook up any vegetables we have left in the fridge, along with some ground beef. This time, I had green beans and cauliflower. I made this peanut dressing to accompany the veggies and beef. By keeping grass-fed beef in the freezer, I always have some on hand for easy meals. For myself, Dr. B., and Nolan, for two meals, I cooked 2 pounds of ground beef. We had this for dinner the night before leaving, along with sauerkraut, sliced tomatoes, and some feta cheese. I then packed the leftovers to-go in recycled glass jars. (these jars then get recycled either at the airport or at our final destination).
The things I am loving this week
1// My Cuyana travel cosmetic bags were a gift from my brother and his wife, and I am reminded how useful and beautiful they are every time I use them. Order now for the holidays and get them monogrammed, like mine!
2// Our favorite family games deserve a spot on my favorites list. We brought the game Telestrations which is like a cross between Telephone and Pictionary. This is the perfect game for a group or family (up to 12 people) to play, and it always proves to be hilarious. It is one of those games that is fun for adults and children alike- perfect for holiday get togethers.
3// My daughter Lauren brought the game Skipbo on our trip and it was new to me but so much fun. We played in the rental house and at the airport waiting for our flight. It comes in a travel tin and is a number sequence game that is great for kids or adults.
4// I love to read and listen to audiobooks. I always have a health or nutrition book and a "fun” book or two going at the same time. I resisted getting a kindle for a long time because I love the feel of a book in my hands, but I have to say, packing a kindle in place of the 3-4 books I would bring on vacation has left room for bringing home fun things instead! These are the books that I have enjoyed on my kindle lately:
The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel- World War 2, winemaking and Champagne region historical fiction
The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren- light romance beach read
The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly- historical fiction set at Highbury House, a manor house in England between present day, 1944, and 1907 when the gardens were originally designed by a famous female landscape architect
Canary Girls- historical fiction about female “munitionettes” who built bombs in Britain during World War I, risking their lives for the war effort
Thank you🧡
A huge thank you to the four remarkable women who filled in for me while I was on vacation so that I could truly unplug and enjoy my family. If you missed their posts, find them here: Andrea Dahr, Dr. Michelle Davenport, Melissa Hsu, and Abby Cooper.
I am incredibly grateful for the supportive community of passionate, creative women that I am so lucky to know.
Andrea Dahr: Inventor of the Switch Natural App, Andrea makes choosing truly clean, non-toxic personal care + home products easier.
Michelle Davenport: is an AGE expert, dietician, and nutrition scientist who shares her recipe for 5-minute Miso Salmon en papillote.
Melissa Hsu: A functional medicine practitioner, supplement formulator, and founder of Healthy Elephants, Melissa is a wealth of knowledge and is passionate about creating the best activated B vitamins and liver cleansing teas.
Abby Cooper: Writer and recipe developer behind At the Table on Substack and the food blog Stem and Spoon, Abby shares her Creamy Tuscan Chicken recipe with us all.
P.S.
If you know anyone with pre-diabetes, diabetes, PCOS, metabolic syndrome, or anyone eating for blood sugar balance, low carb, keto, grain-free, gluten-free, or just eating for better health, will you forward my Substack to them? It would mean the world to me as I try to share the message of eating for good metabolic health.
🧡Beth
Thank you for taking the time to share all of this ~ it’s really helpful and inspiring to have real-life examples. I appreciate your work so much!
These are great tips. When travelling I always try to look to book condos or atleast a place with a small kitchen with a fridge so that we can buy and cook our own food. Our family is heading to Spain next week and I am so looking forward to heading to their outdoor markets and enjoying the fresh food there.