korea trip

I just came back from Korea and felt so famished.  I was there to attend a beauty pageant and I thought I got everything in control.  I knew I can go to supermarkets and hoard on fruits and vegetables but  little did I know that the trip will be time scheduled and will leave no room for visits in the supermarket.  Every morning in the breakfast buffet I would stuff my face with watermelons.  They have other fruits like pineapples and frozen lychees but I didn't want to mix watermelons with anything.  I would also get bananas from the family mart inside the hotel but it's not enough to fuel my 3000 cal requirement.  I struggled with my food especially that people don't understand what being vegan/raw vegan is all about. Our translators were very helpful and very compassionate making sure that I get to eat something.  For lunch I would blaze through the buffet table to put a mountainous amount of greens.  I'm glad they have a variety of greens from kale, sprouts, raw broccoli and other vegetables. I can't be rest assured that they are organic but that is all I can eat.  I didn't want to have fruits because there weren't enough.  In some occasions that we don't have buffet the staff will order pizza for everyone and I would get a salad but I won't eat it.  The salad comes from pizza hut and it mainly consists of iceberg lettuce which doesn't contain much nutrients so I gave it away.  I would literally wait for dinner time and starve myself for a while but still get properly dehydrated.  It was challenging because  something in me wanted to give in to any kind of food because i was undercarbed but I also knew that it wasn't the right decision.  Although in some occasions I have tried eating cooked food because at that moment I had no other options. We went to a traditional korean noodle place and they have nothing but noodles.  I ordered a korean mung bean soup which had only mung beans and udon noodles.  It was unsalted, no onions, no garlic, no oil which suits my requirement.  I mostly drank the soup and ate less of the noodles.  I was able to go to the E-mart (korean version of walmart) one time and found organic blueberries.  I was so thankful i watched John Kohler's video of his south korea trip.  That was my guide in choosing the fruits and vegetables as it stated which one has no pesticides, been sprayed a little or heavily.  The blueberries weren't sprayed so it was all good. I should have gotten a ton of them if I knew that would be my first and last visit in a supermarket.  

In summary,  fruit is still the best source of life-force and energy.  On my way back, i stumbled upon a smoothie in a bottle. I got 8-10 of them and had that for dinner.  My first gulp of the strawberry smoothie was so comforting and heartwarming.  Kind of like telling me that it's okay, I have survived and now I can enjoy the delicious goodness of a fresh strawberry smoothie.  

It was so good!!

Oh well, so many things i have learned in that trip..I shouldn't put myself in a compromising situation like that ever again. It's always best to surround yourself with fruits and vegetables and everything will flow smoothly.  If in a challenging situation, just make sure you KNOW what you're doing. :)