When you’re on the road, there are so many obstacles in the way of staying healthy and keeping sugar out of your diet. I’m a road warrior and I still have a hard time staying on track when I’m out of town. But, there are some strategies that can help. For me, there are 2 golden rules that help keep me on course.
Let’s talk about packing. I know the workout gear is a pain and takes up precious shoe and clothes space, but if you have no gym shoes I can guarantee you won’t get enough movement during your trip to offset the lifestyle you’ll be living for the duration of the trip. For business travel, this is even more important. I don’t know about you, but when I’m traveling for my job, that involves a significant amount of meetings and meals and most of it, I cannot fully control. The breakfast meeting may have nothing but doughnuts and coffee available, lunch may be at a BBQ joint and dinner always includes wine and desserts. All of this surrounding a significant amount of time on my rear end in a conference room. So, the gym shoes are my friend, they are my energy source and they scream at me from my suitcase when it’s dark outside and I’m exhausted. Most decent hotels have decent gyms and if I can’t bring myself to get in there and use it for 30 minutes before the doughnuts breakfast, then at least I’ll go for a walk around the neighborhood and get to know your surroundings – likely if I’m there for a work I don’t get to enjoy or see the city so a walk is a nice way to get a sense of where I am. The other critical tool for me to keep healthy when I’m on the road, or even when I’m home and short on time is the Nike training app. It’s free, has a ton of variety in the workouts, you can customize the music and there are a variety of lengths available so that you can do a quickie or go longer when you have the time. This app has been my go-to for a couple of years now and has kept me in really good shape, given my schedule. In fact, it’s kept me in decent enough shape to finish my first Spartan race! More on that on another post.
Traveling for pleasure for me usually does involve significantly more activity and yes, I’m that person that actually moves around quite a bit and feel that I’m relaxing, I get antsy! So, in the case of a trip that’s purely for fun, the gym shoes are critical to see the city, walk the resort grounds, take my boys out to the basketball court or even go to the gym without a time limit, which to me is a vacation in itself.
Oh, I I can’t say enough about the band! This thing is the most deceiving piece of workout equipment you’ll ever see. It’s literally just a black long flat piece of rubber and rolls up like a flattened toilet tube. You can get numerous exercises online on how to use it and if you spend 10 minutes with it, you’re muscles will be shaking and you’ll be sweating. This little thing is amazing and is my final fallback if I’m not walking, going to the gym, using the app or otherwise moving my body in any other way during the day. I have even been known to pull it out and use it in the back of a conference room for some quick bicep and triceps work during a meeting – people think i’m silly at first, then they use it and miraculously that sometimes even makes the meeting more productive! Here’s a link to the one I have, and also a good exercise guide, sometimes it’s the simple things and is well worth the $10!
Now on to the nutritional planning for your trip. Indulge locally as much as possible rather than at the airport. This is a golden rule for me because I do go to a lot of cities that offer really unique and special food, but I can promise you that the airports I go to do not. So, I prioritize the ability to have a great local BBQ in Nashville or a delicious gumbo in New Orleans over grabbing the croissant as big as my head at the Pete’s Coffee Sacramento airport terminal. Choices are tough and you may crave the energy that those carbs will surely provide you, but they will also spike your sugar levels and make you crash within an hour. That does not make for a fun nor easy travel day. By the way, I’ve been meaning to log the best healthy food available in airports around the country, if you happen to try some – please send them my way! In the airports that have little in the way of good for you options, I tend to rely on a few critical go-to solutions. First, stop at the bookshop or convenience shop and pickup water, unsalted raw nuts (yes, they’re outrageously expensive, but your body will thank you), and if you can find a piece of fruit – grab it! This week, I was very pleasantly surprised at the Minneapolis airport, there were a couple of great options for fresh, healthy and remarkable tasty food which made it much easier to make my cross country trip a food friendly one!
Airport Fresh Choices
For breakfast, hunt down a place that serves eggs. Order them without whatever carb suitcase they’re offered in unless it’s a whole wheat option or an English muffing. These carbs offer the lowest glycemic index and therefore will not spike your sugar as quickly while still providing the energy you need. You absolutely need to have some carbs during the day and breakfast is the most important and best time generally to do so. Lastly, if you can find it, load some salsa or hot sauce on those eggs – it’ll add some kick which will make them taste better and also feel more satisfying.
If it’s lunch or dinner, I’m looking for salads or again some sort of whole wheat wrap sandwich with a lean protein and veggies. Stay away if you can from the fried stuff, it’s tasty but so terrible for your heart and your body. And again, it’s easy to get tempted by the food that sounds local at the airport, but I’ve yet to truly eat a great meal that has been worth the calories. Just keep clean and eat for energy while traveling, there’s plenty of opportunity to try the bacon wrapped rib-eye in Houston or the greasy pizza on the corners of New York City when you’re in the town.
Happy traveling!
