What healthy foods can I eat while I'm on the road?

I think that it's great that you're taking steps to eat healthfully while traveling. It is challenging, but possible. I would suggest a few things that you can do to help ensure that you are eating the best that you can while on the road.

First, natural food stores are becoming much more commonplace, and these stores usually offer a wide array of "ready-to-eat" meals. These can serve as great healthy meals when a person doesn't have the luxury of preparing meals at home. I suggest, therefore, that wherever you travel you look for these types of stores; they are abundant in cities and also becoming prevalent in more rural areas.

Whether at a natural foods store or a grocery store you can also stock up on some healthy snacks that you can have with you during the day: nuts, seeds, apples, bananas, snack bars, and pre-cut vegetables make handy, portable, and nutritious snacks. You may want to keep water (stored in a glass bottle) in your car or hotel room; having better tasting water, as is often the case with bottled water compared to the water from the hotel room's bathroom faucet, often inspires people to drink more of it. Water, of course, presents a healthier option than sodas and sugar-laden energy drinks.

When your choices are limited to fast food restaurants, you can try to find the ones that offer healthier options. For example, a restaurant that offers custom made, fresh sandwiches may provide a healthier option than those that sell previously prepared fried chicken or hamburgers. Choosing 100% whole wheat bread over white bread as well as leaner cuts of meats and asking the restaurant to add extra vegetables (and hold, or at least limit, the mayo), will help you create a sandwich that will offer you more nutrients and less extra fat and calories. Additionally, more and more fast food restaurants are also beginning to offer a wider array of salad entrées as well, which can be a good option for ensuring that you enjoy your recommended servings of vegetables throughout the day.

You can also consider the category of "liquid foods" during your road travels. Soups in many restaurants are made on a daily basis-sometimes from fresh stock. I would, however, avoid cream-based soups. Juice bars serve a variety of freshly squeezed fruits and vegetables and also smoothies containing yogurt. There are also many healthy "cup-of-soups" that can be extremely easy to prepare in a hotel or motel room.

Happy travels, and happy healthy eating!

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