A Day In Chicago | Eating SCD + Paleo

Last year, Jonas had the opportunity to play with a national premier soccer team. It was an exciting adventure that he fully embraced, even though it came with several challenges. Our home field was about 45 minutes from our house, but we often practiced at various locations in Cleveland, which was easily an hour plus drive. But the good thing about driving to a city is that I could hit up Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, which I did often. Probably too often. Another one of the perks of this elite team was the travel, although at the end of the season I certainly was not calling it a perk. We traveled to Minneapolis, St. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and even as far as Dallas for a showcase. But for some reason, it seemed like we visited Chicago the most.

One of our final games of the season happened to fall on the last week of school, and you guessed right, it was in Chicago! We decided to pack up the car on a Thursday night, take my mom with us, and head for the Windy City. While the drive is very doable in one day (about seven hours) we stayed in South Bend so we could wake up early and drive straight to the city. One thing I learned from this year of intense travel was how to pack efficiently for an athlete who follows strict dietary guidelines. We ate breakfast at the hotel and lunch on the road, the cooler was packed and we were loaded up with tons of snacks, all of which met the requirements for SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet.)

BREAKFAST
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 almond flour pancake topped with butter and honey
Strawberries, blackberries, bananas
*This was prepared at home before we left.
Here is my recipe for waffles, which could easily be made into pancakes, although I have yet to try.

LUNCH
Turkey & cheese sandwiches made with Liberated Specialty Foods bread, lettuce and Primal mayo
Carrots and sliced cucumbers
Homemade trail mix
Frozen grapes

SNACKS
Fruit Strips
Freedom Bars
Homemade Bliss Balls
Oloves

We headed straight for the Field Museum and spent about three hours touring there. Since we had a hearty lunch in the car, we knew we could squeeze in another activity so we decided to visit the Shedd Aquarium. Doing two museums back-to-back makes for a long day, but it was worth it! Make sure to check with your local museums about a discount at affiliate locations. With our membership to the McKinley Museum, we receive entrance into the Field Museum for free!

After a long day, we knew we needed some healthy fuel for the drive to the hotel. We embraced our Spanish heritage and sought out a tapas restaurant. Tapas Valencia was a short distance from the museums and offered creative Spanish tapas, unique cocktails and a lively atmosphere with walls adorned in multi-colored mosaic artwork reminiscent of the art of the great Spanish artists Joan Miro and Antoni Gaudí! I spoke with our server and went over the details of our lifestyle of eating and they were extremely accommodating to our needs! Everything Jonas ordered was cooked special to avoid any non SCD ingredients.

Eating out with strict dietary restrictions is very doable! I have been working on a post for some time and hope to share it here soon, but if you have any questions about eating out while on the SCD, Paleo or other clean-eating lifestyle diet please ask away! I will make sure to include a Q & A in my post.