If you’re an angel at eating healthy while at home but find it hard to maintain healthy eating habits while traveling, you’re not alone.  

One of the biggest challenges many of my business professional weight loss coaching clients have, is keeping up healthy eating while traveling now that more of them are venturing back out into the world. When you’re out of your element, and subject to business lunches and dinners, or even when it’s for fun and you’re eating on the go and not on your typical schedule, it’s all too easy to undo all the good work you’ve done working on losing or maintaining your weight.  

But being successful with your weight and health requires the ability to effectively deal with your reality in a way that can work for you. If frequent business travel or hectic, on-the-go days for any reason is your reality, let’s look at 3 tips for healthy eating while traveling.

1. You can never go wrong with packing your own healthy snacks for the road

Some healthy snack ideas that travel well include:

• Nuts, seeds

• Peanut butter “go” portions or made into a sandwich on whole grain bread or spread on whole grain crackers

• Higher protein/fiber bite-size cereal

• Healthy trail mix (not the kind with a bunch of candy in it)

• Fruit

• Light popcorn

• Healthier energy bars like Kind (some flavors may be weather-dependent)

No items on hand before you leave? Although we tend not to choose them, every major gas station, truck travel center and airport vendor has fruit and some of the other items noted above. If you’re picking up some healthy snacks in the moment so keeping them cool isn’t an issue, light cheese sticks or yogurt are easy picks.

Pro Tip: I make my own homemade cereal-nut-fruit packs to have at the ready even when I’m not traveling. For the packs I use a sturdy healthy cereal like Barbara’s Morning Oat Crunch, almonds and dried blueberries (cranberries work well too).  I pre-measure out the portions and store them in individual zip close bags.

2.  Know Your Choices Before Hunger Strikes

Armed with nutritional information ahead of time, you’ll be invincible!

Many times your choices while in transit willl come from fast food or casual fast dining chain restaurants. That’s okay. Just because those are the available dining choices, doesn’t mean you can’t still make a good one that supports your mission, rather than derails it.

Take a quick moment to look up the choices and nutrition information for the usual suspects ahead of time. This way, before you get hungry or rushed, you already have curated your own “menu” with a more nutritious choice picked out ahead of time that your stomach, stress level or advertising is not unduly influencing. 

If you can’t plan ahead, stop before ordering and use your phone to pull up nutritional information via the eatery’s app or website as an aid to better choices. It’s quick and will give you the extra time you may need to stop and be mindful of what you are about to put into your body.

3. Surprise! You can choose to make a healthy choice at just about any chain eatery.

Every one of the major major chains have items on the menu that can work . 

• They’re not as prominently displayed as the big burgers with all kinds of toppings and fries, but every fast food chain has salads, grilled chicken and often a plant-based meat option on the menu that can be modified to lighten them up further. 

• Sub and sandwich places have turkey, vegetable and usually grilled chicken choices, salads and soups available, so there it becomes all about the varieties, condiments and toppings to keep your choice healthy. 

• Bowls with healthy brown rice and quinoa are also featured at places. For example, Panera has a chicken and broccoli bowl. They also let you mix and match half portions to create an overall lighter option.  Another bowl place called Teriyaki Madness has brown rice bowls with lots of veggies and salmon and tofu as protein options.  

• Smoothie places like Jamba Juice or Tropical Smoothie have some good grab and drink protein options. Jamba also has fruit bowls and oatmeal, while Tropical Smoothie has salads, flatbreads and wraps.

• At Starbucks, you can get their egg white turkey bacon sandwich any time of day as long as they are in stock. They also have oatmeal, yogurt parfaits and protein boxes. Einstein’s has their Ancient Grain bagels and reduced fat “shmears.”

If you have time for a sit down meal, then healthy choices and modifications become even easier to make, but planning ahead helps curb unhealthful impulse choices.

The Healthy Eating On The Go Takeaway

Whether you’re traveling for business or fun, use these tips to make better choices that are supportive of your busy life, and keeping your weight loss mission and maintenance on track.

Will there be times that you still make less than stellar picks? Sure, you’re only human and you may decide to splurge at times. However, if you plan ahead, and are mindful about making a better choice more often than not, that’s still tipping the scale…literally…in your favor.

P.S.  If you’d like expert support with healthy eating ideas that fit you and your busy life so you can be as successful with your weight and overall health as you are in your business or career, please get a free copy of the brand new 2nd edition of my book “Weight Loss Secrets Revealed for the Happiest and Healthiest You!”

If you’re ready to explore getting my personal support with your weight loss journey on the road to the happiest and healthiest you, I invite you to schedule your free weight loss breakthrough coaching session.

Please speak with your healthcare professional about your specific needs and to determine if Wellness Coaching is appropriate for you and before implementing any suggestions on this Your Healthy Life Made Easy Blog.  Individual results may vary and cannot be guaranteed.  Melanie Jordan is not liable for any loss or injury associated with information published on this blog as it is provided solely for your education and entertainment.

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