Travel & Keto
/Weight Loss Fluctuations (6.23.2025 to 6.29.2025)
Planes, trains, and automobiles. They take us places, whether it's to work, run errands, or to faraway lands. I'm just back from our biannual trip to My Lovely Mate's homeland, Colombia, South America. It was a lovely time. The vista from the porch of our little coffee farm relaxes me. We had a couple of excursions to sites new to me and accomplished a lot of 'housekeeping' chores we needed to do as we set up our second home there. It was a good trip.
However, travel can be impactful even under optimal circumstances.
this is a pic of some of the food at our favorite restaurant in pereira, colombia (Sazon Llanero)
Like many people, I've experienced travel most of my life. When I was little, my large family of origin piled into the station wagon and headed to the North Carolina coast, where we stayed in a pink house a couple of blocks from the beach. In those days—the early 1960s—there were barely interstate highways, let alone exits to myriad restaurants and convenience stores every couple of miles. But these days, there's omnipresent and quick access to food everywhere, regardless of the mode of travel or the destination. As such, sometimes we can conflate the ideas of road trips, layovers in airports, and vacations with eating, eating, and eating. I've worked on teasing apart the notion that food and travel are joined at the hip, so to speak. With practice, it has become progressively easier to enjoy the adventures for what they are rather than as compulsory eating opportunities.
We've enjoyed being hosted by My Lovely Mate's hospitable family, eating at restaurants, from the fancy to the small ones in various pueblos, and roadside joints with trucks whizzing by twenty feet from our table. We've always been able to make food choices that allow us to stay on ‘Page 4’ and stay in ketosis. Airport food? We rarely partake of more than coffee because a $30 bunless burger goes beyond the pale for us frugal folk. On this last return trip, however, we had ample layover time at Miami Airport, and we enjoyed a nice dinner that we split: ribeye, side salad, and ceviche. (Yes, it was crazy expensive, but we were truly hungry, and it felt like a date!)
So, how does my 'keto-er than thou' bragging translate into scale readings? Although I've pretty much nailed down declining the sumptuous and plentiful meals at Amparo's home and even resisting eating as many patacones as I want,I put on weight after every trip to Colombia. It's a fact that I've come to accept. I retain water like crazy on these travels. Be it the thirty-thousand-foot cruising altitude in a pressurized airplane cabin, the bumpy ride to our little coffee farm, or being on a mountainside in the Andes at said farm, or whatever it might be, I can count on weighing more on my return compared to before my departure. And it feels like it's mostly around my (c)ankles. Lovely.
Oh, well. What am I going to do? Not ever get my duff off my comfy chair? That would be silly. Besides, everything about travel is easier now that I'm smaller than before I started following the ketogenic protocol. I've written about that before. And isnt' being able to go where we want to go and do the things we want to do worth laying off the carbs? It's more than a fair trade-off. At least, it has been for me. If you haven't already done so, perhaps you'll try doing so as well. You'll almost certaily be glad you did.
If I can do this, you can do this. I promise.
Disclaimer: I’m not a medical doctor, researcher, or Ph.D., but instead, I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths, and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all. I welcome questions, comments, and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to affiliate links, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through those links. Thanks!
