Strategies for eating well while traveling

[jbischke]

So I've dialed in my nutrition pretty well when I'm at home and have a fairly normal schedule. However I've always had more problems when I'm not at home (like most people). I have a number of trips coming up and am looking for creative ways to eat well on the road. A few things I've been thinking about:

1. Smoothies - I've been doing a lot of these at home. Unfortunately on the road it's much more difficult to do these. Any suggestions here or should I just plan to bag that part of my nutrition strategy when I'm away?

2. Green drink powders - I haven't done much of these lately (except for a scoop of greens in my daily green smoothie). However, I'm thinking this might be good for road trips. I've used the InnerLight products in the past and have liked them but if people have other suggestions please let me know.

3. Fruits & veggies - Any creative strategies for upping fresh fruit & vegetable intake while on the road? Again, prep here can be pretty tough so other than trying to hit places with salad bars I'm not sure what I can do.

Any help in these areas would be appreciated.

P.S. Can't wait for the day when vegan and organic restaurants are abundant...hopefully we'll get there sooner rather than later.

[Jonathan]

This is an issue I have aswell. Bags of dried fruit are a pretty good strategy - obviously one can't get one's whole fruit intake in this way, but it's a good way to get maybe a couple of portions a day.

I also find a product called "V Shots" are quite good. Tiny little bottles of pre-mixed really high concentration fruit-and-veg smoothie. They're easy to knock back over breakfast, and count towards at least one portion of fruit/veg and have 100% RDA of vitamin C. They don't take up too much luggage space either. (I'm not working on commission, honest! )

[Cron]

Most restaurant meals are over sized and/or have many hidden calories. To help reduce that as a problem:

1. Ask for half your meal to be wrapped up to go before it is brought out to you. If it is a self serve situation do that for yourself and put your "to go" half away before you start eating.

2. Drink only water.

3. Ask for all sauces and salad dressings to be served on the side, and then apply the minimum ( for your taste ) to the food.

[WanderingOak]

If you are doing the 'salad to go' routine, pack a small bottle of your favorite healthy dressing along, and leave the thousand-calorie dressing on the counter. If you are driving, mix up baggies of 'road rations' - nuts and dried fruit beforehand. For fresh fruit and veggies, just pack beforehand and don't rely on gas stations/truck stops to have anything you need at a reasonable price. Whenever you stop for the night, find a grocery store and restock on fruit, mini-carots and broccoli florettes. They should keep for a few days without refrigeration if you eat them quick enough.

[jbischke]

Great suggestions all. A few things to add:

-There are a lot of great raw food bars out there. I'll definitely stock up on these in advance any trips.
-Mixed nuts/dried fruit is another good suggestion.
-I don't overeat really. The only circumstance is when I get really hungry and so as long as I keep a pretty steady flow of calories throughout the day then I'm fine. And if I do that I can order salads when I'm out and feel totally filled up.

Thanks for the tips here. Please feel free to keep 'em coming!