How to Eat Healthy When Traveling

How to Eat Healthy when Traveling.png

By Lydia Wallie, Nutrition Director

A major challenge to maintaining a healthy lifestyle is travel. Or is it? This is another excuse (read more about excuses here). Yes, this may sound harsh, but have you heard about the brain’s reticular activating system (RAS)?


The RAS is basically the brain’s filter. It helps with prioritizing information and controlling what appears in the mind's eye, at any point in time (1). Imagine that your boss is having a discussion with you in an open-office setting. Without the RAS, there would be no filter to block the conversations and noise in the background. Can you imagine how distracting it would be if your brain didn’t have this filter? The RAS helps you focus on what’s important.

How does this relate to eating healthy when traveling? Your goals are important. Do you know what you want (your goals)? Do you know what direction you’re headed in?


This is strategy #1 to eating healthy when traveling: Start with your RAS. How? Write down your goals. This will begin the process of training your RAS on what to look for. When you know what you want, you will start to notice all the ways to get there! Your RAS is now picking up those details that weren’t important to you before.


Now, let’s train your RAS on what to look for:


Before traveling, research your travel environment. What restaurant and grocery store options are on your road trip route? What’s near your destination? What airports are you traveling through and what options do they have inside? Will you have a fridge at your hotel? Once you have awareness of your options, decide what the best options are and write them down. 


Remember, no excuses. Excuses will not help your RAS!


Worst case scenario: You are flying from Nowherevlle airport to another Nowhereville airport with McDonald’s as the only food option in the airport and surrounding areas. What do you do?


Hopefully, you completed your research and were aware this was the food scene since your goals are important. Here are some travel food strategies:


Be prepared. The unexpected can always occur with flight delays, pulling all-nighters in random cities because of crazy weather and airport shutdowns (those are fun!), or your airport vendors running out of all the healthier options.

Check out these travel food and beverage ideas (note: always read labels!):


Protein:


Fat:


Carbs/Fruit/Vegetables:

Other:

Communicate. Simply communicating your boundaries (dietary restrictions) to your restaurant server or host can help you stay consistent with your habits and avoid any reactions to foods you may be sensitive to.

  • Ask your server for lettuce instead of the bun.

  • Let your Mom know that your Nutrition Coach has you avoiding all gluten to support digestion, energy levels, longevity, and fat loss. Send her several recipe options and/or bring food to share.

  • Be tactful. If you know that Uncle Frank will have a coronary if you don’t eat his famous deep-fried turkey, you can always add it to your plate and eat a little to keep the peace. Sometimes communication is knowing when to say something and communicate ahead of time, and when to not. There’s no ready-made formula here.

  • Ask the server what oil is used for cooking the potatoes. Yes, this may seem high maintenance. Are higher energy levels, clearer focus, better health and well-being, achieving your goals, and dominating a Nutrition Challenge worth it to you? And if high maintenance is not something you want to be, search for potential restaurants that cater to food restrictions (Zoe’s Kitchen for example).

The bottom line: The best way to eat healthy when traveling is similar to eating healthy at home: plan ahead.


Source List:
(1) https://bodytomy.com/reticular-activating-system

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