Right now I am still working locum tenens and traveling most of the time. The past few months, I have been traveling four days a week about 3 hours from home. My hotel does not have a kitchenette, just a tiny fridge and microwave. I have not yet mastered the art of eating healthy under these circumstances. I know that I need to plan, and feel guilty as I chide my patients for not planning meals better. I have so many excuses.
Firstly, I usually leave here Tuesday evening and get to hotel sometime between 10 pm and midnight. I get settled by 1 am at the latest and have to get up at 530 to start whining about going to work. I arrive at my customary time-10 to 15 minutes late. I promise myself that I will stop at Costco on the way back to the hotel and get fruit and healthy snacks. Sometimes, I actually do this, but mostly I get off work 10 hours later, emotionally and physically exhausted and promise to order something healthy from a fast food place. But lack of sleep and being emotionally drained does not lead to healthy choices. I choose a burger and fries. I don't even like fries. Oh, and I diet Coke because we all know that the diet Coke cancels out all the fat, sodium and calories from the other food.
I feel guilty while eating and don't enjoy even one bite. I know I am hurting myself. I am not practicing what I preach. I have plenty of time to feel guilted out because the caffeine from the diet Coke will keep me awake until midnight again. I fall asleep resolved to exercise in the morning in the hotel gym even if I am tired, but the fraking update on my phone has silenced my alarm and I wake up too late to eat the hotel breakfast, pick up a healthy lunch and head off to work arriving late again. Community clinics are always stressful and at least for me, emotionally draining. Fast food for lunch, but subway this time...a little better, no? I stop at Costco, pick up fruit, yummy spinach salad and Brita water bottles.
Again, I stay awake too late trying to answer email, work on business plan research, facebookking. I know that lack of sleep leads to poor food choices, but I have not figured it out yet. I know I need to exercise to have energy but the constant traveling leaves me always feeling tired and unsettled. I know it hard for my patients who have very little education regarding this health stuff. But I have no excuse. Really. I know what to do and I know how to do it. I just don't make the time to plan ahead. I don't have a reasonable bed time. I know that I need a long time to wind down after work.
So, this week? Same plans. This week, I will shop BEFORE I travel and fill my cooler with good things and remember to ask for a ground floor room because the hotel does not have elevators. This week, I will exercise even when I am tired. Really.....It could happen.
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