Best Food Choices When Traveling
Written by Nichole DeHart

So you have your weekly routine down: Sunday is meal prep day and you prep your breakfast for the week and meals that take you to Wednesday. Wednesday is ‘date night’ with your significant other and you cook a huge dinner and a little something extra to take you through the end of the week. You have your regular workout routine, daily water consumption is nailed down and food is packaged in Tupperware, ready for the next day.

Then, work calls and they need you on the other side of the country in meetings for the rest of the week. Now a monkey wrench has been thrown into your methodical routine! You may be panic stricken, asking ‘How am I supposed to be successful with my meals while traveling!?’

Not to worry! It may seem less than ideal at the time, but there are many ways to still be successful with your meals while on the road! Below is a roadmap for successful eating when traveling. The roadmap takes you from the airport, to your hotel and then to your meetings with clients.

The Airport

1. Bring food from home. Here is a list of food that is easy to travel with:

• Fruit
• Nut Mix (You can control the amount you eat per serving by individually putting the appropriate amount of mix into individual plastic bags. This will help prevent you from eating a pound of trail mix in one sitting!)
• Hard boiled eggs (Your neighbor might not appreciate this but it serves as a great protein for travel)
• Rise Bar: Almond Honey and/or Perfect Foods Bar: Almond Butter.
• Protein Shake 

2. Navigate the airport restaurants. Find a restaurant that has salad (or opt for Starbucks, which usually has premade salads) and order extra protein. Hold off on the dressing and add olive oil instead.

3. Drink lots of water! You are going to get dehydrated on the flight, so make sure to carry extra water. There are refill stations at the airport that allow you to reuse an empty water bottle so recycle, reduce and reuse your water bottles!

The Hotel

1. Book a room that has a mini refrigerator. You can store extra food here.

2. Find the nearest grocery store. Purchase some food at the local market like deli meat, carrots, and guacamole. You are in luck if you are near a Whole Foods because you can load up on their salad bar/hot food bar and save extras in your refrigerator.

3. When ordering room service or eating breakfast in the lobby, stick to eggs, meat and fruit. Avoid all breads, cereals and juices.

Meeting with the Clients

1. Try and coerce your client to meet at a restaurant so you can have a little more control of your food choice. If you do find yourself at a restaurant, then stick to ordering a salad with a large helping of protein, dressing on the side and/or a meat selection but replacing the potatoes/starchy side with steamed vegetables.

2. Bring a shaker bottle with protein powder. This isn’t the most ideal but if you are stuck behind your desk and are only given the option of bagels and cream cheese, then this is definitely the best option!

3. If you are stuck at the office in meetings all day, then bring some of the food you purchased at the local market. Here is an easy to make meal if you are confined to food from the local market:

Turkey Roll Ups

• Deli Meat
• Tomato
• Avocado
• Aluminum foil

Slice the tomato and avocado. Lay out 1 slice of deli meat and place 2 slices of avocado and 2 slices of tomato inside the deli meat. Roll up and snitch to ensure no spillage of deliciousness. Make a handful of these and roll up with aluminum foil. Add a piece of fruit and you are good to go!