How To Eat Healthy While You Travel

May 26, 2010

Forget hassling with airport security lines or sitting in weekend traffic. The toughest part about traveling is eating healthy, especially given all of the diet landmines in airports, hotels and highway rest stops. As long as you are willing to do a little preparation and get creative, though, watching your waistline really shouldn’t be that hard.

Travel Trap: The airport

Why it’s a problem: The nerve-rattling process of getting to your gate can leave you feeling tired and stressed — a bad combination for your diet. “When your mood is low, you crave something that will make you feel better, and that’s usually high-calorie,high-fat foods,” Being surrounded by Burger Kings and Cinnabons make it even easier to cave to those cravings.

How to eat healthy: Avoid mega portions at airport restaurants. Water should be your drink of choice to keep calories down and stay hydrated. For snacks, head to a newsstand where you can buy almonds or peanuts (avoid sugar-coated versions) or dried fruit. At restaurants, sandwiches can be healthy-look for whole-grain bread, a high-protein filling, veggies and no added extras like sauces or mayo. Other healthy meals and snacks include one slice of veggie pizza with a side salad; a burrito with beans, brown rice and veggies; or a low-calorie smoothie made on the spot.

Travel Trap: The hotel breakfast buffet

How to eat healthy: From breads and bagels to pancakes and waffles, these buffets are loaded with calorie-laden, non-nutritious carbohydrates. That highly-refined carbo load can leave you feeling sluggish later on.

How to eat healthy: Skip the waffles and muffins (even if they are blueberry) and look for healthy carbohydrates like whole-wheat bread or bagels, or oatmeal. Then pair that with fresh fruit and a lean protein like peanut butter or a glass of milk. If possible, grab an orange or apple to snack on later.

Travel Trap: The highway rest stop

Why it’s a problem: Chalk it up to boredom. After you’ve been staring at an endless highway for hours, pulling into a rest stop and chewing away your monotony sounds like the best solution. Problem is, when you’re in this mood, you’re easily swayed by processed junk food.

How to eat healthy: Pack a cooler of nutritious foods so you’re not tempted by high-fat choices at rest stop restaurants. Easy-to-travel foods include peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese sticks, carrots, apples, dry cereal, nuts, and dried fruit. Avoid fried or sugary and carb-loaded menu items at fast food joints. Starbucks is everywhere on the road and a regular coffee (avoid the mocha frappa lappa ding dongs which are fattier than some fast food megaburgers) will not only help fill you up, but will aid in your alertness. I like to munch on something crunchy (Corn Nuts are my crunch of choice) as the vibration of munching & crunching also helps keep me alert…and at only a few grams of fat, its a fairly nutritious choice.

Whatever you choose and wherever you are traveling, the rules are basically the same as they are in your every day life. If you have basic knowledge or good habits on healthy eating, the rule of the road are obviously still the same. You just have to prepare a little bit more.

And awaaaaay we go….