On the Road

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For years I’ve traveled for business. Sometimes a lot, with road trips several days a week and multiple overnights, to just a few days a month. In recent years I’ve become a lot more aware of what I eat when I’m on the road. I guess that’s what happens in middle age.

A functional lunch years ago was two chicken sandwiches and a sweet tea from a value menu for $3.18. Now that I make healthier food choices, that lunch doesn’t work, and it’s a challenge to eat in a healthy way on the road. The filter I’ve developed is to simply ask, “would this ‘fit’ in our pantry at home?” If it wouldn’t fit there, then it doesn’t fit when I’m travelling. I need to be in control just as much during business travel as I am at home.

What I’ve learned to do is apply the power panty filter to whatever I see. Say I go into a fast food restaurant. As I scan down the menu board, I’m literally saying to myself, “no… no… no… maybe… no… yes!” The yes choices are likely to be something green (a salad) or lean (something with chicken) or portion controlled where it’s a good offering for under 500 calories or so. No heavy bread or pasta or potatoes, just something nutritious and simple.

Another option on the road is to stop at a supermarket and get a salad from the salad bar. As long as I go heavy on the greens and stay away from the prepared salads and pasta, I can get a great salad to go. A simple, fast fallback is to get the best looking, large apple I can find. It’s sweet, juicy and is quite satisfying to hold me over until I can get a healthier meal.

It’s been about 4 years that I’ve been this deliberate about my eating choices on the road. And after numerous situations where it would have been really easy to go back to my old ways, the fact that I didn’t, strengthens that choice muscle. It becomes easier to make a good choice. So next time you’re on the road and struggling with making a healthy choice, try thinking about what would fit into your power pantry.

By the Way

A simple take-along snack that I like is nuts and raisins. I mix it up between almonds and walnuts (two great protein choices, nutritionally) Sometimes I'll throw in raw pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds for variety. (Note: peanuts aren’t a very good choice – they’re actually a bean (more pea than nut) and difficult to digest) For fruit, sometimes I'll use dried cranberries, dried apples or unsweetened banana chips in place of raisins. I go about 2:1 on dried fruit to the nuts, like ¼ cup of nuts to ½ cup of dried fruit. You have to be careful with this snack, though, as the calories add up very quickly. The trick for road tripping with nut and fruit is to nibble – snack on it slowly and it will fill you up until your destination or next meal.