Quick tip – Travel nutrition

Quick tip – Travel nutrition.

I travel.  A lot.  Some would say too much.  My wife might say not enough.  When I travel I have to eat.  Many times this is difficult because the food available in the travel world is not necessarily food that is complimentary to my dietary goals.

If you would like to subsist entirely on liquor and cheeseburgers then you will not have any problems finding nutritional nirvana on the road.  However, I f your diet plans include green leafy vegatbles, nuts and fresh fruit – you have your work cut out for you.

I have seen a marked shift towards offering more fruit and veggy choices, but it is still and effort to get what you want or need.

The solution is usually to carry some food with you.  There are physical constraints to what you can carry.  You can’t bring any fluids with you on a plane and you only have so much capacity to work with.

Here are my top NN tips and recommendations.

1. Put some dry oatmeal in a baggie.  Mix in a handful of nuts and raisins.  When you need a breakfast and you don’t have time or access you can pour some of this mixture into an empty coffee cup and add hot water.  Even if you don’t have a spoon you can get this hot, healthy, filling slurry into your stomach in the morning.
2. Carry some fruit with you and try to replenish your stock as you go.
   1. Bananas are great but they don’t travel well.  If you have a multi-day trip you can have a couple bananas on the first day.  You can usually find bananas for sale in most airports and hotels.
   2. Apples are by far the most accessible and hardiest travel companions.  Grab them when you can.  Smaller ones work better.
   3. Pears have less sugar than apples but aren’t as tough and weigh more.
   4. Plums, peaches and the like tend to get squished in travel.
   5. Oranges and grapefruits are tough and travel well, but require peeling and napkins or paper towels.  They can’t be eaten with one hand while running down the concourse.
   6. I’m sure you can come up with your own solutions for other fruits and berries if you have the correct containers.
   7. The big issue with fruit is it is high in sugar and doesn’t really fill you up.  If you try to survive on fruit alone you will get very hungry and that leads to poor decisions.
3. Carry some nuts.  Nuts, when mixed with the fruit will stave off the hunger and fill you up.  I buy raw nuts in bulk at the healthy food store.
   1. Raw almonds are great but make sure you bring enough.
   2. Raw cashews are great and fill you up more than any other nut.  They also have a lot of calories so you have to be careful not to overdo it.
4. Dried Fruit and trail mix is a great energy mix and you can buy them pre-sorted into individual small packs.  You have to read the labels and make sure the dried fruit is NOT sugar coated or candied.
5. Dark Chocolate.  Believe it or not if you get high qualify dark chocolate, without sugar and dairy in it, it is very filling and satisfying and not bad for you.
6. Water.  As soon as I get into the airport I’ll buy a bottle of water.  I will save the bottle and refill it as I go throughout the trip.  Some folks carry a real, empty, camping type water container with them for this purpose.
7. Packaged products.  There are number of bars and such that you can get pre-packaged.  They travel well and are easy.  They are also fairly expensive.  I mostly try to choose the bars that have some ‘substance’ to them.  Many of the sports products have a ton of sugar in them and you don’t want that.  You also don’t want the ‘protein’ or ‘zone’ bars that have transfats or hydrogenated oils in them.
   1. You want something with nuts and enough protein to offset the sugar from the fruit you are eating.  Typically for me this is the ‘peanut butter’ or ‘nut’ type of bars.  Be careful to read the labels.  You don’t want sugar or transfats.

That’s it for now.  Good luck in your travel adventures and I’ll see you out there.

Chris,