How to Not Eat Like a Trucker

Vacation ended for me on Tuesday, and I am so glad to get back to my 100% clean eats.  Yeah, I ate a couple of cheeseburgers, some waffle fries, a few cookies, and some ice cream on vacation, which had me feeling kind of slimy. But, I also packed my ice chest full of berries, clean-eating sandwiches, water, apples, and almonds for snacking and was able to eat pretty well on the road with a little planning and good old-fashioned stubborness.

 I can clearly remember the day I stopped eating fast food. I was in the car, in the Wendy's drive-thru, trying in vain to find something for dinner that wouldn't wreck my nutrition and make me feel gross. It wasn't possible, and I realized, "I could have avoided this if I had just made myself a *&%$ing sandwich."  (Sometimes I think in curse words even though I don't say them out loud.)  From that point forward, I was done with fast food, and I packed my ice chest of sandwiches, little baggies of snacks, and everything I needed to stay fueled on the road. That was about four years ago, and I haven't had fast food since.  Here's how:

1. I pack snacks.  It does take some planning and time, but before I leave on a trip I pack little ziplocks or tupperwares of berries, sliced apples, carrot sticks, raw almonds, etc. to snack on. I don't do this randomly: I think out how many snacks I will need in a day and make sure I have enough. I'll also make some little peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and put some natural peanut butter in a small plastic container that I can use for dipping my apple slices into. I'll also throw in a knife, a fork, and a cutting board just to be safe.

2. I look for restaurants that serve healthy or healthified food. If I have my big cooler with me and access to lots of ice I will go so far as to make salads and pack them with me. But, if not then I rely on some standbys for healthy or "healthified" foods: stuff I can easily modify to make healthy. These include Starbucks (they usually have fresh fruit, the egg white omlette isn't bad, and their oatmeal has saved me a number of times - SKIP the sugary toppings and stick with walnuts and raisins), Panera Bread (they have calorie counts on their menu, their salads are great, and they have fresh fruit), and McAlister's Deli (fresh salads and sandwiches, and a kid's menu that actually includes salad.  Whaaaat?). These are usually easy to find with a smart phone that has a map feature, and if there aren't any nearby, well aren't you glad you packed that cooler? :)

3. I don't consider fast food to be a splurge.  Sometimes people tell me that they "splurge" on fast food and I just shudder.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, there are times when I eat something unhealthy just because I am craving it or I want to (the chocolate frozen yogurt with little pieces of peanut butter cups in it wasn't exactly necessary) but I never consider it a splurge or a treat in any way.  Eating junk food is not a treat, it is a diversion, and one that should be taken with caution and a prepared mind.  Please please please don't trick yourself into believing that you deserve to eat junky food! You deserve good, clean, healthy food that will make you feel good!

My road trip was about 80% healthy thanks to planning and a positive attitude that I could do it. You can do it! Next time, I'll focus on keeping the kiddos healthy on the road.  That's a little trickier. :)  Until then, have a wonderful day and as always, get out there and get healthy!

I May Have Done Something Awesome

I went out of town for a weekend with friends and family with every intention of being uber-healthy and writing a fabulous blog post today about all the ways I thwarted unhealthy vacation food and pioneered my own path of virtuous nutrition the whole time, keeping my body clean and healthy and fueled for vitality.  And I so very much wish I could tell you that story today. But I can't, because I didn't do any of those things.  But, it's cool.

I didn't realize it until last night, but when I thought back on my nutritional choices over the weekend and tried to feel all bad about them, I realized I didn't have that much to feel bad about.  Yeah, I ate a bunch of sugar and fatty foods that I don't usually eat and I felt the physical impact (translation: like crap) but when I really sat down and itemized my nutrition, it just wasn't that bad overall.

Practicing what I preach is really important to me, but the whole, "all things in moderation" thing is a hard one for me to practice. My brain just doesn't work that way. I am either on or off, all or nothing, in or out.  In the spirit of not being a hypocrite, I have been working hard at moderation, and living in the middle is weird and uncomfortable and I don't like it. 

But I am always telling people that change happens when things get weird, so hopefully the amount of time I spent in the middle this weekend means that change is happening for me, too.

After I realized that my scandalous nutrition wasn't exactly front-page news, I sat down to figure out what I had done differently this time to get such a happy result.  Here's what I decided, and what may also help anyone else out there struggling with living in the middle:

1. I didn't drink.  We all know that alcohol lowers our inhibitions, and not having a mind-altering substance flowing through my veins really made a huge difference.

2. I kept moving.  While I didn't work out or run this weekend, I did stay really busy.  There wasn't a lot of down time for munching, which helped me stick to actual meals instead of vacation grazing on high-sodium stuff.

3. I drank a ton of water.  I was almost always full because I kept the water flowing.  I always feel healthier when I am well-hydrated, and apparently I make better decisions, too.

Coming home to such a happy realization was like a whole new vacation. I hope my little epiphany awakens something new in your health today, too. Go find out! Get weird!

Have fitness, will travel: being healthy on the road

For the past five days, I have been doing some hard-core hotel living. One of the easiest ways to derail your fitness is to disrupt the routine, and going out of town can easily do it. Unless!  Unless!  Unless you think ahead and make a plan for staying true to your goals despite being in a less-than-optimum locale!  Believe it or not, you can be healthy on the road.  Here's how: bring your food.

Hold on, hear me out.

One of the obvious things I do is to pack my food in an ice chest and bring it with me. And it's not as much of a hassle as you think! And really, which is the bigger pain - packing your cooler or having to decipher restaurant menus and do damage control later?  Automation is a key to success, and having your regular food on hand keeps your fitness automatic. PS- this is also called  consistency.

In this case, though, I was flying so couldn't bring my ice chest. So, I called the hotel and arranged for a fridge in my room.  It was free, and usually is because hotels have guests who need to store medications. And really, food is the ultimate medication, right? Then I packed what I could in my insulated lunch bag, hit up a grocery store when I got to town, and stocked my fridge.  My co-workers tease me when I do this, but by the end of the trip they feel run-down and sluggish after eating catered food for days, and I feel great. Plus, my expense account is a lot less than theirs!

This is living!

Here's what I packed:
5 ziplocks with 1/2 cup dry oatmeal, raisins, cinnamon, and whole cranberries
Lara bars and Clif bars
5 ziplocks with 100-calorie portions of raw almonds
a small bowl and a spoon

And here's what I bought:
Spinach, oranges, and 2 bags of chopped raw veggies
Toufayan low-carb wraps
Boar's Head Ovengold turkey breast
Sabra hummus (4 pack)
Paper towels and Lysol wipes (hotels are nasty, yo)

Mmmm....breakfast!

I cooked my oatmeal each morning by making hot water in the hotel room coffee pot and stirring it into my pre-packaged oatmeal packs.  I had fruit, almonds, and bars on hand for quick snacks, and I had spinach-turkey wrap fixings and veggie/hummus combos for lunch or dinner. I figured I would end up eating one meal out each day, and when I was there I followed my number one restaurant rule: Keep It Simple!  I ordered things with the shortest list of ingredients, which usually amounts to a nice big bowl of delicious fresh vegetables with some grilled fish or  chicken.  If I have dressing with it, I keep it on the side and dip my fork into it instead of pouring it on the food.

If you're on a short trip, a supply of lara bars, almonds, and fruit in your purse can be a lifesaver. But if you're gone more than two days, it really pays off to get the hassle part done early and plan out your food so you can enjoy your time away and not have to face the big reality check when you land back at home.  It's definitely worth it!

I'm back now, which means I have a reality check of my own...finally having time to focus on strength training!  I will not miss hotel living one single bit!

Good day!