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WIAW - At an All You Can Eat, All-Inclusive Resort

Holy crap it is -17 Celsius here today...with wind chill it feels -100!!  Time to think back to our wonderful vacation in the Florida sun a few weeks ago.

This might sound weird, but one of my biggest fears about going to the Club Med was that I would be really hungry all the time.

How is that possible at an all you can eat place?

I worried that either food would be doled out by stingy servers who would glare at you if you came up for seconds, and/or there would be so few healthy and/or appetizing options, that I wouldn't find much to eat.  For someone with a big-ass appetite, this had me concerned.  So much so, that I brought 14 Quest bars with me...enough for 2 a day, just in case.

As it turns out, I certainly didn't need to be worried about being hungry at Sandpiper!  Not only were you able to help yourself to as much as you wanted, but there were a ton of delicious, healthy options.

That being said, if, like my children, you cannot resist white carbs (pasta, pancakes, pastries, etc.), hot dogs, French fries, chicken nuggets and ice cream, than you could certainly do major damage to your arteries. I was very dismayed to see my children living on sugar, salt, nitrites, and simple carbs the whole week.  I kept joking I was going to have to put them on a detox cleanse when we got home!


 

At least Big A ate some raw spinach leaves a few times, as well as corn (as you see above) and some fruit.  I don't know if little A even had a single bite of fruit the whole time!  Oh wait, I think I spy some Craisins on her plate below...if you can call them fruit.


Me, on the other hand, managed to eat pretty healthy the whole time.  There were always a ton of options to suit everyone including those who eat gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan.  I was in heaven!!

I got into a rhythm of having an egg white omelet with veggies and cheddar cheese for breakfast, along with a little kale or spinach salad with salsa and 2 navel oranges or a grapefruit (hey, we were in Florida after all, gotta have some citrus!). When I got sick of the omelets, I started to make this breakfast salad with cottage cheese, salsa and a few hard boiled eggs.  I couldn't believe how filling this, comparatively small breakfast (for me) was!


I was also surprised how much I loved these savoury breakfasts as I usually love my oatmeal.  Although they always had oatmeal at breakfast, as well as grits and a bulgar/quinoa porridge, I have learned that oatmeal never tastes the same when its not made by me at home and I am always disappointed, so if I am out for breakfast I choose something totally different.

Lunch was always a base of greens (usually baby spinach), with 2-3 proteins...probably excessive but there were always so many to choose from.  I usually went with some sort of grilled chicken, a fish, and a bean dish. Then I would heap on a bunch of both raw and cooked veggies. 

 
Dinner was another version of lunch and I never got bored because there was a ton of variety at each meal.  There was always plain meat, fish, etc., available as well as all the kid-food crap, burgers, fries, etc., as well as a rotation of Thai, Chinese, Caribbean, Indian dishes and more.  There were always 2 soup options and a raw salad bar too.


 
Dessert after dinner was a few apples (I made due with Granny Smiths and Red Delicious since that's all they had), and I did still manage to eat about 2 Quest bars a day...plus a few cocktails!
 
While I may have eaten a lot (my brother joked that you needed a crane to lift my plates at each meal), I feel pretty good that I made healthy choices.  I avoided all the refined carbs, which were extremely plentiful, and the sweets and got a ton of fruits and veggies.
 
At least at this all-inclusive, you can eat as healthy or as unhealthy as you want.  I just fantasize about a day when all the unhealthy crap is gone so my kids don't gorge on it.  What a healthier world this would be if that stuff simply wasn't available!

I have submitted this post to Peas and Crayons' What I Ate Wednesday for this week.
 

 

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