Old friends and eating on the road...

Everyone has people in their lives that seem to have always been around. Those that you don’t see, or even speak with very often, but when you do it feels like you only saw them yesterday. After my last post I got an email from one of these friends of mine. Bec and I went through years of pony club together and still catch up from time to time. Bec travels often for work and asked if I could help by writing about how to eat well when you are always on the road. This is a common question I’m asked by clients too, lots of people who travel regularly find it really difficult to make good choices with the food they can find on the road or in their hotel room.

A trip back to the time when Bec and I first hung out - 

Miss Prim and I at Kingstown pony club 

Typical travelling options include service station snacks and 

fast food, restaurant, take-away or room service main meals. Whilst it may seem difficult sometimes there are always “better” choices. It is possible to stick a little closer to your usual routine and return home without the junk-food hangover! Here are my top tips to eating well while travelling and I’ve also thrown in a few of my favourite “on-the-road” options so you don’t even have to think!

1. Try to remember you “balanced plate”. Aim to have half your meal full of vegetables or salad, a quarter carbohydrate and a quarter protein. This simple rule works anywhere – a chicken and salad sandwich, a Thai beef stir-fry with rice and veggies or a steak, mash and veg at the local pub. Also remember that just because you are away from home doesn’t mean that you need to opt for an entrée or dessert at every meal. In fact, at some restaurants, an entrée-sized meal with an extra side of veggies may be enough.
2. Avoid banquet overload – if you are staying at a hotel with a continental breakfast, try to stick to your normal breakkie and avoid having multiple courses just because it’s there. Same thing goes at lunch and dinner – have a look at all the options, serve one balanced plate and enjoy it! Don’t go back for seconds or thirds or try to have a little of everything, it's easy to quickly go overboard in terms of energy.
3. Arm yourself with healthy snacks. Keep a few good muesli bars, snack packs of dried fruit and nuts, fresh fruit or individual packets of wholegrain crackers (try Vita-Weats) in your handbag or glove box. If you get stuck these are pretty easy to find now at airports and service stations. In most service stations now you can also find low fat yoghurt, reduced-fat cheese and crackers and fresh fruit – you may just have to look a little harder (behind all of the chips, chocolate and biscuits).
4. Always keep a bottle of water on hand. It so important to stay hydrated and the best choice is water. Try to stay away from juice or soft drink as they just add extra energy to your day without filling you up. The best thing about drinking water is you can always refill a water bottle too so you can save money at the servo.

 One of the many examples of a not so good take-away choice 

on a recent trip to the US...

Better on-the-road choices

Breakfast options:

• At a café or the hotel restaurant:
• Poached, hardboiled or scrambled eggs on toast with a skim cap – you get a filling protein hit from the eggs and a serve of dairy too. Even better – add some veggies to this (try tomato or baby spinach) to get one of your five serves for the day.
• Fresh fruit, muesli and yoghurt – lots of fibre and a serve of fruit, whole grains and dairy.
• Wholegrain cereal with reduced fat milk and take a piece of fruit for the road.
• At the airport or service station:
• Single serve tubs of yoghurt and fruit (fresh or a tub in natural juice)
• Raisin toast with a skim coffee – raisin toast is low GI and usually easy to find in the airport at all hours.
• A muesli bar or nut bar but check the label and look out for those with lots of added sugar.
• At a fast food outlet:
• McDonalds now stock Uncle Toby’s single serve oats, which is a great low GI, filling option.
• Try a breakfast wrap but skip the bacon to cut a whack of sodium, fat and energy from your breakkie.

Lunch and dinner options:

• At a café or restaurant:
• The daily soup special – make sure it has veggies and a protein (meat, beans, lentils etc). This can make a great healthy option but be sure to stay away from the creamy-style soups which can have a huge amount of fat and extra energy.
• Grilled meat, chicken or fish with veggies and baked or mashed potato or a bread roll. Just watch out for high-fat sauces and dressings that may come with, ask for them on the side so you can choose how much you eat.
• A healthy pizza – places such as Crust Gourmet Pizzas have good healthy options that you can share with your travelling partner. You can also choose your own toppings so you can load up on veggies and reduce the amount of cheese that goes on top.
• Sushi – try a California roll or salmon sashimi, and seaweed salad to make a great meal.
• At a fast food outlet:
• Remember that most fast food restaurants now have the kJ count on their menu so make sure you compare the options. Ideally look for something with less than 2000kJ.
• Subway 6g of fat or less sandwich. Easy to find wherever you are – just be careful not to add too much in the way of cheese and high-energy dressings such as ranch.
• Tandoori chicken wrap at McDonalds and a salad. Also easy to find and one of the better choices on their menu.
• If staying in a hotel, find a grocery store and make your own quick lunch or dinner. Try:
• A Sunrice Quick Cup, a tin of tuna or four bean mix and some baby spinach and cherry tomatoes – no chopping required!
• A lean cuisine balanced serve frozen meal with a packets of Heinz Steam Fresh individual serve frozen vegetables.

A true travelling option - the amazing floating markets in Borneo. 

Make that "on-the-water" fast food. 

 

I hope this gives you a few ideas Bec. For those of you who travel lots, what are some quick, healthy and easily available options that you go for to help keep you on track while you’re away?