When I signed up for a spring break service trip to Muchucuxcah, Mexico, they told me we'd be working in an impoverished Mayan village and Western amenities might be lacking. "How bad could it be?" I thought, "I'll find a way to stay abstinent." Turns out these people didn't have refrigerators, the closest supermarkets were in cities two hours to the north and south. I was told most of the people spoke only Mayan (they have started learning Spanish, which I know, only recently, to cope with the ...

I went to Prague for a conference and we ate in restaurants all week. Luckily, my roommate was Czech, and with her help and the little mini-dictionary I had with me, I checked ingredients and got by, weighing and measuring in front of diplomats, NGO heads, and senators. But one time, we were out for an early dinner before a ballet at a famous theater. When the cooked veggies came, I measured and saw that there weren't enough, so I plopped some of my extras onto the plate. I ate a little, then go...

MY ONE NMW WHERE I "FAILED" AND IT TAUGHT ME SO MUCH BE PREPARED! Always bring full back up. Pray to do it with "grace and ease". Let go of what other people think. To thine own self be true, and I KNOW this is really really good for me. I went to Mexico with our youth group. I'd always wanted to be a "missionary nurse" (ego). I hadn't brought enough wg or veggies, or protein. Wasn't assertive enough/deem it important enough to ask anyone to let me take the van to the nearest store or ask the pl...

HEARTWARMING NMW This is one that isn't so much about the food, but more about the kindness of strangers in a situation that wasn't so great. It happened about four years ago. I was traveling from Taipei to Ohio to see my family. My sister had told me that my father was going downhill and I should come back and see him before his mind was gone. At the time, my daughter was almost two and just this wee little curly haired kid. Well, we made it to the airport safely and were on the plane. I had "p...

4 ASSORTED NMWs 1. On a sunset boat cruise. Already eaten protein and open tupperware to discover that vegetable/salad is moldy. Miles and hours from shore. Pre cell phones. Eureka! Other passengers' meals are decorated with a steamed vegetable so I beg for lots and lots of decorations to fill my cup. 2. Mother's deathbed is within a few moonlit blocks of 'Grace's' restaurant where I order traditional Greysheet comfort food to take back to the hospital. 3. My 12-day-old son is in the ER. Ambulan...

BIGGEST NMW With some guy in Brown's in the U.K. First date asking for another 8 oz. of veg because it only came to 7.9 oz and I did not want to get out my back up and I knew he could afford it.  FIRST MASSAGE WORKSHOP NMW Lunch was at 12 midday. I had finished my breakfast at 9am and so when we were due back at 1pm it was my lunch time. I had to ask the teacher if I could eat while he was demonstrating foot massage (not on me) and to watch the eyes of the curious while I tried to eat my fo...

BIGGEST NMW Probably the biggest was on my sailing trip last year when I was miserably seasick for days on end, couldn't hold food down and didn't have a way to call anyone. The Captain of the boat was pleading with me to eat Xs and sip soda with sugar. I was imagining that I'd have to be airlifted off the boat and fed intravenously. Fortunately, I had worked out some of these possibilities with my sponsor beforehand - though I had never imagined that it would be as horrendous as it was. But dur...

HEARTWARMING NMW I love this story and it could fit into big and embarrassing too. I just think of it so fondly. I was about 5-6 months abstinent. I had a job at the time where I traveled and in this case I was going to a conference in Chicago. I was speaking at a convention for my job. It was huge and I had a teleprompter and someone directing, etc. I was terrified and newly abstinent. I was with people from work and they were supportive, but still didn't really get it. My part was small but be...

NOT NUMEROUS BUT CHALLENGING NMWs 1. I remember going camping early on, with another GS'r. We both brought our own food. We took it out and both had a green vegetable, but different variety or something and she said "lets swap pieces" and I about had a heart attack, said, NO. She was shocked, but I kept my food that was weighed and committed. 2. On my second week on GS, my husband and I went to the beach in Charleston. He had to run back to the condo to get my cup. What a sweet guy. He is still ...

STAYING AT HOME NMWs I came into GreySheet abstinent on another food plan. My body had started feeling too full and bloated when eating grains and starch so I switched to greysheet and have been back-to-back greysheet abstinent for just over a year. My situation is a little unusual in that I've been mostly homebound this past year and a half. This means I have not eaten out in a restaurant or traveled on greysheet. I have weighed and measured at home in front of guests and eaten different food t...

EARLY-ON NMW The family went down to my mother-in-law' s condo in Florida. My husband had gone out golfing or somewhere and I was taking the two kids to the beach. Daughter was under 3 years old (didn't walk yet...toddled) and son was about 7. I packed everything ... toys, towels, sunscreen, food for them etc. and my w'd&m'd lunch ... thought ... great! I'll eat on the beach. The condo was about a 5 minute walk to the beach. E could walk next to me but I had to hold C...or, very patiently le...

WEDDING FIRST DATE NMW I knew not a soul ... was abstinent about 3 minutes ... at a heavy drinking wedding first date ... it may not have been exactly the first date, but close enough. I bought food at B---- & Circus to bring to this wedding since they guy I was going with wouldn't find out what they were serving for a meal. Sitting across a big round table from the loudest mouth in the room. YOU BROUGHT YOUR OWN FOOD TO A WEDDING????? he asked. Yes, I replied. I was mortified, but abstinent...

EATING AWAY FROM HOME NMWs (1) The first time I measured my food at a restaurant I was in Florida with my brother and his wife. Very little protein in the salad I ordered so I used my back-up small portable proteins. I didn't have them in a container so they kept rolling off the plate onto the floor. (2) Having my GS lunch disappear at work from the faculty refrigerator. I was running around like a mad woman only to find out someone had moved it to another refrigerator. (3) Staying at motels whi...

EUREKA, I'VE GOT IT! NMW It had to be within the first month of weighing and measuring because it was still warm enough to have lunch on the beach, and I came into GS on August 17th. My husband and I were having a picnic and two pieces of green stuff fell in the sand. We didn't have cell phones back then, just an old bag phone in the car for emergencies. Well, I started to walk up to the car and my husband exclaimed, "You're not going to call your sponsor! You're a bright woman and you know what...

MY-FAMILY-GETS-IT NMW One recent NMW, heart-warmer to me, was last Saturday when I was leaving my parents' home. First problem: lost/possibly stolen or misplaced US passport. I have an Irish one with me as well, but as I'd entered the US on the US passport and had no visa stamped in the second passport, getting out of the country might be a problem. I was searching everywhere and getting out of the house late. My mother carried my food bag with my packed lunch and my scale on her shoulder, the l...