Well, I'm back from my trip and today I'm sharing how I stay consistent on the W Wahls protocol while traveling. And I'm also sharing the biggest mistake I made while I was out one night at dinner. From the group dinners with prefixed menus to tempting local treats, I'm sharing the behind-the-scenes look at what went right, what went completely wrong, and everything in between. This is all in hopes that I can make your travels just a little bit easier to stay consistent on the W Wahls protocol. And my friend, if you want a more personalized approach to creating your MS diet and lifestyle, check out my private coaching program.

Can take away from you. So if you are ready to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis, welcome to my MS podcast. I'm your host, Alene Brennan. Hello, my friend. I am back from my travels and I definitely have a lot to share about this experience. In case you missed the previous episode, I recently had a work trip to Connecticut for a week. It wasn't a super long distance to travel. I was able to just take a quick train ride up there. But anytime I step out of my home or specifically my kitchen,

that's the easier stuff. I was about to say easy, but it's not easy. It's just easier when you are doing it in the control of your own home and your own kitchen. But the minute you step out of your kitchen, you lose a lot of control. You don't know always what oils they're using to cook with. You don't always exactly know what ingredients are in the foods. And especially when you are eating off of a preset menu.

Been following The Wahls Protocol for a number of years now. I guess it's been about eight years. So, I kind of am in a little bit of a rhythm of how to follow it, not only within the kitchen, but as I said, like outside of the kitchen as well. And I will fully admit, I am far from perfect when it comes to following The Wahls Protocol or just living life in general. I'm far from perfect.

Shared on social media are like the highlight reels. And we know that, like, that's such a term that we hear so often, but we'll see people post different things about the perfect salad that they're having, or I don't know, the perfectly crafted snack that they brought on the train with them. And that's all well and good, but are you inspired every time you see that? I don't want to create an illusion of perfection. I want to share the good, the bad, and the ugly. Is it okay to set some healthy boundaries and you identify what are the most important things for you to follow. What are your non-negotiables when it comes to following the Wahls protocol? So as you can imagine, there's a lot to cover. So we're just going to dive right in.

First, what are my non-negotiables when it comes to traveling? My non-negotiables, quite honestly, are the same in and outside of my home. And that is to avoid gluten, dairy, soy, nut, and eggs. Gluten, dairy, soy, nuts, and egg. Now I know that that's a lot. But I have an allergy to soy and eggs. So they are a hard no for me. Nuts trigger migraine headaches for me, another hard no. And gluten and dairy I know are inflammatory and trigger leaky gut. And that is something that can increase my risk of a flare as well as increase my risk of MS progressing, neither of which I want. Now, if you are brand new to this, please remember that I've been following this for, again,

This is early as second grade. And it wasn't immediate that I was able to make the connection of food with migraine triggers, but I pretty quickly did. And once I was able to make that connection, it just, it was very apparent to me that I had the ability to change how I felt in my body based on the food that I was eating. So again, this is something that I have been working on for a number of years, but I didn't

eliminating these foods doesn't happen overnight. It is hard and it requires a lot of change because it's requiring change in what you're buying at the grocery store, how you're storing your foods, what you are making for dinner, what you're ordering off of a menu. That's a lot of change. That's a lot. And even just understanding what in the world is gluten? Not many people know when they first start the

So again, it's a process and I'm just sharing my story. I've been on this for a little while and I am still so far from perfect with all of this. So I share this because I 100% believe that it is worth the change and the effort, but it does take time. So don't allow yourself to get discouraged at the beginning of this process.

Avoid gluten, dairy, soy, nuts, and eggs. The nine cups, they are high priority as well, but I'm going to be completely honest. I don't count cups. I don't count them when I'm out. I don't count them when I'm home. Dr. Wahls herself says, she said it multiple times, if you're too focused on measuring the cups, you're missing the whole point of it. The point is to avoid inflammatory foods and fill your plates with as many veggies as possible;

however many I can get in a day, that is what I do. Some days it may be one or two servings. Other days it may be more. That's also why I try to stay consistent with my supplements during my travels. Because although they're not a substitute for real food, especially veggies, they can help to fill the gap for a short period of time, like when you're traveling. So my non-negotiables, avoiding gluten, dairy, soy, nut, egg.

I mentioned that I took a train ride. So I left early Monday morning. I think it was around like 6 a. m. And although that is super early to be up and out the door, I still had a full breakfast beforehand. The night before, wait for it. I made a sweet potato and a piece of salmon, and then I just reheated it in the morning. I could have done a smoothie just as easily, but I wanted something like a little bit more hearty and substantial. And I did that because one, it helps me know that I have some food in my system before I leave the house, especially on a travel day, because I have no idea what is going to be available at a train station or once I get to my destination,

totally get it. Just make yourself a smoothie and drink that on like the train ride. I'm giving the example of what I had, but if it's a car ride, a plane ride, whatever it is, you obviously can't take a smoothie through security if you are going on a plane. But I've done that before. It's about a 40-minute drive from here to the airport for me. So, I have made a smoothie and then I was just intentional with drinking it,

a big difference for me throughout the entire week. I intentionally arrived a couple hours early and I did that one because I wanted some rest time before all of the events started. And the first event that was happening was a happy hour that Monday, like late afternoon. I think it was like 4:30 or 5 o'clock. So I wanted time to get checked into the hotel, get unpacked because I'm that type of person that as soon as I get into the hotel room, I want to unpack, so I wanted to unpack, but then I also wanted to get set up for the week from a food perspective. So I took a walk to a local store to pick up some food that I could have in my hotel for the week. Now my hotel room had, what did it have? Like a mini fridge and a microwave and a sink. Wasn't fancy, but it had those two things, the microwave and the refrigerator. And that was tremendously helpful. So I get settled into the hotel. I start going for a little walk.

I knew it was safe to eat, and it was just quick and easy. So again, I just did, I think it was a pack of three salmon avocado rolls. So I sat down, had the sushi, and then continued on with my walk. And where I was at was literally right off of Yale's campus. So it was like such a beautiful town, and they actually had a lot of cute restaurants and food spots, many of which I just assumed I couldn't eat at.

Will I ever get to this food market? I'm stopping for sushi. I'm stopping at this little cafe spot. But I walk in and it immediately caught my attention that there was a bakery section that had these little labels that said gluten-free and vegan. Your girl over here perked up because I like desserts, they're a special occasion thing.

And then I go down the line and find this pumpkin cookie and it looks fantastic. And the sign on it says gluten-free and vegan, which means gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. The only thing I need to ask was, were there nuts in it? Because sometimes they'll use a flour like almond flour or something like that. Or is there any soy in it? And a lot of times, you know, they'll use an oil that has soy or just anything. They may have used like a butter alternative that was soy based. So I asked one of the employees and she gets out this big binder and she starts paging through it. And she's like, nope, there's no nuts or soy in it. So it is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, and egg-free. Now I hear that I'm looking at this thing. It looks amazing. It's a beautiful day. And I'm kind of in like,

regardless of whether it was allergy-friendly or not, there was just something inside of me that was like, uh-uh, don't eat this. And as I thought about it, I'm like, even if it is allergy-friendly, one, I'm not 100% sold that it is because it tasted too good. And after you've been on this for a while, there's a certain texture that you expect when it's allergy-friendly. It's going to be a little bit more dense and just all the different things.

I'm living it up because I'm in my hotel room and I'm right off of Yale's campus and it's a beautiful day. And I'm excited to go to the conference and meet these women. And it just was like, why would you potentially throw all of that away for a cookie? Like you're going to have a couple bites of it. And even if it tastes amazing in this moment, you may be living with the side effects of it for quite a while. It could wipe out this entire week. And I just, I couldn't do it. So I tossed it. And honestly, I felt more proud of myself than I did disappointed. Like, of course I wanted to have the cookie. However, I felt so proud of the fact that I chose my health over a stinking cookie.

I wanted the confidence in knowing that I was doing everything that I could that week to feel my best, so I next it. And I didn't think twice about it. I just let it go. If I wanted it, I could have had it. And I chose not to because I looked at it as like, 'I am choosing to show up my very best this week.' I want to sleep well, I want to have good energy, I want to have good mental clarity; I want all of that.

I nipped it in the bud, tossed it, and kept it moving. So again, back to my trip to the market. All of this, I still haven't made it to the market yet. I stopped to get my sushi, I stopped to get the cookie, and then I keep walking. And I found a little spot that was just a few blocks from my hotel. And I'll tell you what I got there. I went with the intention of just picking up a few things that I could have back at my hotel. I knew breakfast was not included in the conference, so I had to have something for breakfast. And then I wanted to see if I could pick up like any little snacks or something along the way. So I got a couple containers of a dairy-free yogurt-I think it was the So Delicious

kind from the grocery stores. And all in all, I think the total was about $45. So it wasn't cheap, but if it lasted me all week, it was 100% worth it. And it did. So for breakfast, I had the yogurt with some of the organic raspberries and banana, and then some of the granola on there. Now, just a side note about the granola, because I always get lots of questions about grains: You can have gluten-free grains on level one of the Walsh Protocol.

I knew that just yogurt and berries weren't going to hold me over for the morning. So I needed a little bit more substance with that. So my little parfait was my breakfast for most days. I also got that organic chicken sausage that I was able to heat up in the microwave for another breakfast that I had with some fruit. Now it wasn't as good as when I take this sausage and cook it on the cast iron skillet when I'm home, but it did the trick.

A chicken breast set aside for you. That's not something that is always available. So, you just may need to do a little bit of prep for that. But anyway, those were my breakfast. Now lunch was served in the hotel restaurant and it was served buffet style. And I rarely eat from a buffet setup because let's face it. They're usually not allergy-friendly food. And even if they are, there's just such little control that you have over it because people are taking like a serving spoon from one and putting it this dish and then the other. So, like the cross-contamination, which I'm usually not like. Super vigilant about, but like in an environment like that, there's just, there's so little control. Um, however, I, as I shared in my last episode, I coordinated all of my allergies with the event coordinator in advance and she passed them along to the chef at the hotel. So everything was labeled. Everything was labeled each day. They had a big green salad.

Of food was substantial, especially for lunch. Like that's a lot to have for lunch. I was still really apprehensive about eating from a buffet line that first day. So I did two things that really helped. The first, I tried to be first in line so that there wasn't a risk of cross-contamination from the dishes that had gluten or any of the other allergens in. The other thing that I did, I spoke with one of the restaurant managers and I asked her, basically, I was just confirming all of the allergies. And because you never know, like things get lost in translation. So I just, and I don't. I never expected them to make the entire meal something that was allergy friendly for everybody. Like that is never my expectation. My hope is that I can get something to put on my plate in front of me when I am at a group dinner or a group meal or whatever it is, just so that I have something on my plate that I'm eating. I have very low expectations for actually what it's going to be or how it's going to taste.

Anyway, like I said, I tried to get in front of the line. And then the other thing that I did, I had the restaurant manager walk me through the line that first time. And she was able to confirm that everything was allergy friendly. It just made me feel more confident in what I was eating. Now, of course, I always pay attention to how I feel afterwards, because in my opinion, that's the true test of if it was allergy friendly. I'm glad you have little signs here. That's all well and good.

And I think that, again, it was gluten-free. I think it was just one of those ones that had like, it was highly processed that had a lot of ingredients in it. That's my guess because it was softer than a lot of the traditional gluten-free wraps, which typically is an indication that it's just, it has a lot of things extra in there to make it that consistency. So what I did the next day is I just scooped the veggies out from the tortilla and then I didn't eat the wrap itself.

To a dinner of how many were there of us? Like there was 60 or 65, maybe more. I don't remember exactly how many there were, but like just getting a dinner coordinated with that number of people is a lot in and of itself. But then to have me come in with all of my allergies and then the next person comes and they have different allergies and then the third person comes and they're vegan or like that, you know, like it's just, it's really hard for the event coordinator and the chef and everybody to coordinate all of that. So I jumped ahead of it as early as possible. And I feel like that is what made such a big difference. Now I say that, and then I actually have to backpedal a little bit.

And of course it was at a restaurant that served brick oven pizzas. Come on, come on. Brick oven pizzas are my favorite. If there is one thing that I could cheat on, it would be a margarita brick oven pizza. If I can have it in Italy, that'd be amazing too. And then if I can have some vanilla sheet cake afterwards, that's even a double bonus. Like that is my dream meal there. I know it's not like the most nutritious coming from a nutrition coach. However, if nothing else mattered, that's what I would have. So here I am like in this new town with new people at a new restaurant I've never eaten at before. And then the only thing that they're serving are brick oven pizzas, gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, all the things.

And honestly, I was pretty drained at this point, if I'm being honest, like I've been traveling all day. And then I was on the phone with some things that were going on back at home. And now I'm in a restaurant/slash/ bar meeting lots of new people for the first time. And it just felt like everything became so draining. And as tempting as that pizza was, I could feel myself getting so tired. I didn't know how else to describe it, but I think you can relate to this when I say it just felt like my nervous system was spent. Like, do you ever get that feeling where you may not be like totally like sleepy tired, but it just feels like your nervous system, it's had enough. It's spent.

And that's how I felt. So I just needed my quiet hotel room so I could rest and be ready for the next day. And that's exactly what I did. I left the happy hour. I went back to my hotel room. I heated up that diet pizza. I called back home, took care of a few things and called it a day. Now, full transparency, that pizza was not good. Mainly because it's not supposed to be microwaved. It's supposed to be put in an oven. There's no instructions on the box to put it in the microwave. And that's for good reason. Because it gets too soggy to even pick up as a slice. So I literally just ate the crust of it, like just the edges of it. And the center of it, it was just like, I don't know. It was too soggy.

But anyway, so that was night one. The next night we met at a Spanish restaurant. And that was one that the reservation was set well in advance. The event coordinator shared the name of the restaurant with me. Again, listen to the previous episode. I called them in advance. You know, I kind of did that whole thing. Well, we walked in and there were two rooms. The one room was kind of where like the appetizers were set up. And then they had a table on the other side of the room that was for beverages.

And he was, he, I think he had allergies as well, or maybe his kid did. I don't remember, but he was somebody that just liked got it and was like so compassionate. And he came over, he's like, 'Here, Eileen, he's like, they have some olives over here.' I'm not an olive fan. I like olive oil. I just don't like straight olives. And then there was a plate of carpaccio and I don't like that either. So I'm like, 'Okay, I just, in that moment, I wanted to exit out of the moment as quickly as possible.' For dinner, it was seated. So we all sat at these, like they had multiple long tables that everyone sat at. And then they would put family-style dishes on the table. And I was like, 'Oh God.

Come on, a buffet line for lunch and now family style for dinner.' Like you're killing me here. But again, I spoke with the event coordinator in advance. She shared the menu with me. So I kind of had some sense of it. And then I also let the server know ahead of time, like, Hey, just to let you know, I'm the one with the allergies. Here are my allergens. If you like, can just let me know when you put something out, if it's something that I can eat or not.

It was. I think it was like a chicken and vegetable. And like, maybe there was like some rice in it or something. I don't know. It was just, it was one dish that they said was allergy-friendly. And then they put some other ones out, and there were just too many things like sauces and stuff. And I'm like, I believe you because as a restaurant, like you can't serve something if you've been notified that somebody has an allergy, but it was just, again, it was kind of like that cookie moment where I'm like, I don't care how good anything tastes. It is my goal, my mission:

pizza spots because apparently there's the best pizza in the world up in Connecticut. And everyone's like, New York has nothing on us. They were talking about which one is best and like going back and forth. And I'm like, I want the brick oven pizza too. I want the margarita pizza too. I want the cheesy, stringy stuff like dangling off my plate and all the things. I knew it wasn't going to work for me, so I was not putting myself in that position. But I found out that they had another group was going to a local restaurant that had just like kind of like your normal menu. So I joined them, and it was so much better. It was so much better because I was able to get fish.

Because this was not a planned meal. I didn't have the opportunity to call the restaurant in advance. And there was a little bit of a language barrier with our server to just complicate the issue even more. So, this was certainly not the ideal setup. But let me share with you the biggest mistake that I made that night and the biggest mistake probably that I made all week, as well as the biggest win that I had that night. So first, my biggest mistake.

possible seat to have a conversation with our server about my allergies. And I realized this as we're all seated and everyone's settled in. And here I am, there's Alene tucked in the middle. And I typically like to have a quiet side conversation with the server. So I'm not making a big deal about it. I'm not drawing any attention to it, but I'm making sure that my meal is covered from an allergy perspective. And this seat made it impossible to do that, but everyone was seated and I wasn't about to play musical chairs. So once the server came, it was like, I think she'd come around and give us like the water, and then everyone's looking at the menus.

And then the veggies, can you just make sure that that can be made allergy-friendly? And it was fully awkward, 100%, because I'm leaning over the woman next to me so that I can just hear the server because it's loud in there. I'm surrounded by eight other women, and then there's the language barrier on top of it. And I'm announcing my allergies in front of everyone, which is the opposite of what I want to do. That's like my nightmare, my worst-case scenario when it comes to ordering at a restaurant. But it's what I had to do. So I did it. The alternative is either not eating, which only draws more attention to me, or eating whatever at the risk of compromising my health. And I was not doing either.

I wasn't doing that because I'm not doing that to myself. But also, then I'm only having to explain why I'm not able to show up for the rest of the conference because I'm dealing with symptoms. Or if it lasts till the end of the conference, I'm going back and not able to take care of my family the way that I want to, neither of which were realistic options for me. So no, I had the awkward conversation. I leaned across the woman. I spoke loudly and we worked through the language barrier. And ultimately I got something that worked for me. Now she took the, um, order back to the chef and then she, a quick, she came back a few minutes later and she's like, just want to let you know, I spoke with the chef and he said that he can do it.

If you're eliminating the sauce, you know, she went through the whole thing of everything that's being deconstructed from this dish. And she's like, the chef just wanted to let you know that it's not going to be flavorful. Like it's literally just going to be salt and pepper. So there's not going to be much flavor to this. And quite honestly, I was happy to hear that because that makes me that much more confident that there's little to no risk of me eating this food and having any issues with it. Flavor is the least of my worries when I'm out, especially with a group like that. Like I get more nervous if you give me something that tastes too good because then I'm like, 'So I'm not looking for flavor.' I just want safe food that I can eat. And that's what I got. So that was a win. Now in the future, I would definitely position myself better so I could have a more discreet conversation with the server. So note to self, note to all of you, if you are out at a group dinner or group meal or whatever it is, try to pick the seat where you can have discreet conversation with the server. Now, the one win that I did have at that dinner

lineup was being passed around because the sooner you get it, the less likely it is that somebody else has dipped something in it. But the server was so kind to recognize that I wouldn't be able to have the chips. Most of the times they're tortilla chips, like they're corn chips. So they are gluten-free most of the time, but they also most likely have the soy in them because there's some type of soy or a blended soy oil that they're cooked in. So she was so thoughtful and kind. She's like, 'Do you want me to bring out some veggie sticks for you?' And I've asked for that at restaurants before, and it has been tremendously helpful. But I just, I don't know. I don't know if I hadn't ordered it yet or if I, truth be told, I probably just wasn't going to order.

And like, oh, what's that? It's veggies. Enjoy your chips. I'm going to enjoy my veggies. Thank you very much. It clearly was like a single serving thing. So if you would have passed that around to anybody or even offered it to anybody, even if each person's like, oh yeah, I'll just take one, then I'm gone and I don't have anything. So sometimes you do have to be, I don't want to say selfish, but you just, you have to take the food that is given to you and enjoy it and trust that other people without the

It's the social pressure or judgments about your diet. Now, I thankfully didn't feel that with this group. This group was just super thoughtful and just like, there was just no drama, which is like really odd. Um, for this size of a group, but there wasn't, if anything, the few questions that I got were more from women who were struggling with their own health issues. And they were intrigued with the diet that I was following and the results that I got in. Now that obviously varies from each group, but if this is a topic that is something that you struggle with, or you need a little bit of more support with go back to that previous episode. Cause that I speak much more to it in that episode.

I can't really say that there were moments that I felt tempted to stray. I guess maybe with that cookie, I did want to eat that cookie, but I reminded myself that nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels. Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels. I also kept in mind that I needed the energy and the strength, not only for that week, but to get home too. I needed to have that strength for the commute home, not to mention I'm coming home to a two-year-old who has been missing mommy all week and is waiting for me to come home and play with her. So there really wasn't a good buffer for me coming home. And for the cherry on top, I came home and my husband was sick.

So that was my re-entry home. I came home to a sick husband. I had a migraine the following day. And oh, by the way, this is Mother's Day weekend. Happy Mother's Day. I think the migraine had more to do with the stress that I had outside of my travels that were going on completely outside of this conference. It was just, it was a high stress week, but all in all, my energy remained really strong throughout the week. And I got to achieve my goal, which was to participate in all the events and make good connections with the people at the event. So from that perspective, mission accomplished. I don't feel that I had any foods that were outside of my non-negotiables. I definitely didn't get nine cups every single day, but I got some veggies each day and that

hard. So having to navigate the two together, living with MS and following the Wahls protocol, it's not only hard, it can be lonely too. So my intention with this podcast as a whole is to share some experiences so that you feel a little less lonely in this journey. And if anything that I share can be a little inspiration or spark some ideas for you, that is an absolute bonus. So this has been probably one of the longest episodes that I've had since launching this podcast, but I'm hoping that it's been helpful. I hope that you've been able to, again, like get some ideas, inspiration, or just feel validated in some of the experiences that you have. But all in all, kind of the main takeaways, preparation is definitely key. So listen to the previous episode and then figure out what are your non-negotiables when you're traveling. For me, it's no gluten.

And then also making sure that I'm doing what I can to manage my energy too. It's not just about the food. So that first night at happy hour, when I felt like my energy was kind of like depleted, I made sure that I went back early and I got some rest. And then as I was getting closer to going back home as well, I made sure that I was taking the breaks that I needed to so that I had the strength and the stamina to travel home and to walk through the door.

As well if you want some kind of like recaps of the podcast episodes. All right, my friends, I'm going to wrap it here. This has been a lengthy one, but I hope it has been a helpful one. Lots of love to you all. Well, my friend, we've reached the end of this episode. Pick one lesson from today's discussion and put it into action now. It's time to reclaim your body, mind and life from multiple sclerosis. And for more resources, events and programs, head over to AleneBrennan. com. See you on the next episode of my MS podcast.