Eating While Traveling

mageepilot

We're going to be driving for about 16 hours and I need some ideas for healthy eating! My plan while I'm there is to log when I can, exercise when I can and try to not stress too much about it. The goal is to maintain.

Thanks for any healthy traveling food ideas.

a_stronger_steph

That's a long drive! Hope you're going somewhere fun!

Here are some ideas that sprung to mind:
- Fruit like apples, pears, oranges, grapes, and bananas... they're pretty easy to eat, just wash before you go!
- Veggies like baby carrots, sliced green peppers, chopped broccoli. If you have a cooler you can put some hummus or healthy dips in as well.
- Measure out some 100- or 200-calorie snack packs of nuts, dried fruit, and/or small crackers
- Make up some sandwiches or wraps ahead of time
- Some tuna snack packets or easy-open tab cans with some whole grain crackers

Enjoy!

brittanyscherich

I'm taking a vacation next month so it'll be interesting to see the replies.

iamhealingmyself

I often travel to NJ and always pack at least one small cooler. Last trip I think I had 3 - one for cold/perishables, one for dry goods (like nuts, crackers, etc.) and I forget what was in the third... but I'm sure it was something good

I bring all the things I'd normally eat for breakfast, lunch and leftovers for dinners as most convenience stores and some rest stops have a microwaves you can "borrow" to reheat what you have. It definitely helps curb those stops at the candy counter or snack aisles when you have to run in for a potty break.

It might be easier to make up your sandwiches ahead of time instead of bringing full packages of all the items (this also saves space in the coolers) Having as much of your food with you will give you lots of options instead of feeling forced to eat something less healthy because that's all that's available - it will also save time and money as you won't have to stop for restaurants (except for the reheats which you can time for an existing stop) and over priced meals you can't figure out how to log.

Enjoy your trip. You can always write it all down and log it when you get home if that's easier. The point is for you to find a way to manage your life in an ongoing manner so that you'll stick to it. Having this time will also help you learn to use other tools to "measure" your servings (like comparing 4oz of meat to the size of your palm, or 1/4 cup what you can hold in a closed (small) fist, or the deck of cards thing for starches I think it was.

katie9730

Maybe you should pack some food to bring with you. Unfortunately there aren't very many quick and healthy places to eat at.

stevemcknight

Grill chicken, chill it and season and put in a cooler - have a smaller bag with tons of spinach and make yourself a salad - if you use dry "griller type" seasoning - you won't need dressings. I use this all the time on tour.

Don't be afraid of fast food actually - just be smart.

McDonalds: ask for Grilled Chicken Patties (not on menu) they come seasoned and eat with a knife and fork. 120cal 22g Protein/ 2g carbs/ 2g Fat (usually sell for $1.50 each or so)

Wendy's: breakfast - cracked eggs and bacon - super great for you!
Double Stack - no bun or ketchup. This is probably my go to on the road - good equal protein to fat ratio -no carbs to speak of.

WeCallThemDayWalkers

I've struggled with this a ton over the past 2 years...

I travel a LOT for work and my coworkers and I eat out literally DAILY. Since I cannot just sit in the car and eat an apple for lunch while they all sit down in a nice airconditioned restaurant, I'm attempting to come up with maintenance solutions as well. It's REALLY hard.

It's even harder when you're on the road and stopping for "quick" foods. My strategy for those is to pick a few of the fast food restaurants that I'm likely to run into (think Subway, TacoBell, McDonald's, whatever) and look up their nutrition information before I leave. I write down the items that I'm "allowed" to order and try to stick to only those items that are the least offensive.

Most hotels have an exercise room with a treadmill or elliptical and some weights. So, if you can spare even 20 mins to ride the bike or walk on an incline you get a lot of bang for your buck without feeling like you had to do a hardcore workout. I've also taken to traveling with 1-2 of my favorite workout DVDs...particularly the 10-20 min ones. It's more incentive if it doesn't intrude on your trip very much!!

Another thing when traveling...DO NOT DRINK YOUR CALORIES. It's tempting to get a latte here, a lemonade there, a smoothie for the road....Don't do it. They're basically wasted (delicious) calories that you CAN'T spare when you're sitting all day in a car (and burning basically no calories).

I've never had a lot of success with packing healthy snacks. Unfortunately, I'm a serious caver-inner to peer pressure and when my bf or sister or coworker aren't as concerned about their waistline as I am I'm very much more likely to go along with what makes them happy and salvage my nutrition as best I can.

Anyways, good luck! I'm sure that a few travel days won't set you back permanently. Most important is to relax and enjoy it!

shihtzuallie

I would say make sure you have a little notebook handy for when you cannot log online. Seeing the items add up helps a bit for me. If I go out to eat while traveling, I always go somewhere where I can order salad too...even if it is a fast food place (McD's fruit and yogurt parfait without the granola is a pretty good snack in my opinion). I bring 100 calorie snacks, or pre-portioned, with me... and for extended drives, if I know I will hitting a drive thru...I may pack my own light bread or rolls. When in a restaurant I avoid the bread. That helps on cutting the calories. I also bring water--one thing I noticed is that eating on the road, the sodium, and sitting in the car are a bad combination...water is my friend, bacon is enemy while traveling. Having some veggies to munch on is also good. When ordering in a restaurant...I remember my goal and try to order sensibly (especially when I know that exercise will be minimal--such as when in a car for that long). I have a folder with a printout of the nutrition information from menus of my most frequented and keep it in the car so I know what I can order too.