Restaurant food, traveling, and sodium

melsinct

I will be traveling for work next week. I have no choice but to eat out from Monday dinner through Thursday lunch. I have checked out the food places near my hotel and think I have a good plan, however I am going to be stuck in SODIUM CITY!

Background: I do not have the option to make any food at my hotel and I will not have a fridge. I also do not have the luxury of eating small meals throughout the day. I will be working, and three meals is all I can fit in as I can't hold up meetings because I want to snack. Additionally, I can pack some snacks but room is tight as I have to cram a week's worth of clothes and work stuff (computer, folders, etc.) into a small carry-on. I will not be near or have access to a regular grocery store, just little convenience type stores.

I am a home cooking, non-packaged food eating kind of girl, so when I eat out, sodium hits me hard. I already drink tons of water and plan to keep it up. My question is by drinking extra water, does it really "flush" the sodium out of your system or is that a myth? Is there any way to combat the sodium I know I will be assaulting my system with?

Pebble321

It's tough, I had to do this a few weeks ago including a team dinner with pizza, tapas and sangria - not easy!
I just tried to order plainish things - like a pork cutlet with mash and veges, then I ate the pork and veges, half the mash and left most of the sauce. Don't stress too much about the sodium, besides monitoring what you order there's not much you can do about it when you are eating out. I'm not sure if more water flushes out the salt but it has to help your kidneys work better under pressure.
And see if you can get up half an hour earlier to fit on a walk or go to the gym (if your hotel has one). I found this super hard as I was 3 hours out of my time zone, but it woke me up and made me feel better about not eating so well.
Good luck with the trip!

seadog1

I travel a lot and have found that more and more restaurants have calorie charts for their food. Just ate at IHOP and they have calories on their menu, fast food places have them available and some times posted. I worry mainly about carbs when traveling, if I keep the carbs under 120 day, I dont seem to gain any weight. I also travel with the 98 percent fat free campbells mushroom soup.. and some other low calorie soups, I eat the entire cans contents so there is no spoilage, almost all motel rooms have microwaves now days. I some times add sausage crumbles, such as the spicy ones to my soup. Also keep some high fiber bars handy for snacks, and muscle milk. I try to eat least 100 calories 3 times a day other then meals.

melsinct

Thanks for the tips. I travel a fair amount for work but this is the longest stint I will be gone since starting MFP. Usually I am only gone for a day or day and a half. Unfortunately I will be in a typical urban/downtown type hotel- tiny room, no microwave, no fridge. I am staying at a Hilton with a fancy gym that I can use for free since I have Hilton status, so I will definitely either get some exercise walking around the city or I'll hit the gym and do some cardio.