Eating healthy on road trips

So many of us will be hitting the road as the weather warms up.  A relative is relocating from one state to another and is on a 29-hour road trip.  Other relatives are headed to the beach on a seven-hour road trip.  Too often those on a road trip push their health to the side and stop at Fast Food places for a quick bite to eat.  Even if one had good intentions to eat healthier a road trip can sabotage your efforts.  My husband showed me a good article on “How to Eat Healthy on the Road” in the AAA World magazine.  Many others have written on this topic.  On your next long road trip, how can you eat healthier?  As Wander Wisdom notes, Once I started bringing my own foods and snacks on trips, I felt noticeably better.  My energy levels were high, I was less hungry and I didn’t have to resort to eating the kind of unhealthy meals I’d never eat at home.

Men’s Journal recommends avoiding the “feel bad” foods.  Skip the juice drinks, deep-fried foods, refined grains like white bread, sugary snacks, and baked goods.  

What are some tips for eating healthier on road trips?

1. Plan your meals ahead of time.

My husband and I study restaurant menus in the city we will be staying at.  We both look for some healthier options on the menu.  A cobb salad or pork chops.  Even a grilled burger with tomato, lettuce and a side salad are good choices.  I loved baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes are even healthier.  AAA suggests: “type “juices” or “salads” into Apple Maps” for ideas of where to stop nearby.

2.       Pack some healthy snacks

A few years ago, one of my daughters was going to join us on a road trip.  We told her we stop at rest areas for a picnic lunch and she should bring some lunch items with her.  As my husband and I pulled out our usual ham and cheese sandwiches and chips, she pulled out hummus, a fresh green spring mix salad with homemade dressing, whole grain crackers, yogurt, apple slices and peanut butter, cheese sticks, sparkling water, and a homemade granola trail mix.  Luckily for us, she brought enough to share. 

Healthy snacks to pack – who doesn’t love to snack?  We always pack extra snacks on a road trip.  Last week I wrote about eating a handful of nuts a day and on road trips we always bring peanuts or some other nuts as a healthy snack choice.  There are many whole grain chips and crackers to bring to snack on. (See:  Add some whole grain snacks to your day).  Include protein in your snacks to stave off those hunger pains.  Wander Wisdom suggests some healthy snack or light meals to pack for a road trip (adapted). 

• Apple slices with nut butter
• Hummus and mini carrots or pretzels or carrot sticks
• Guacamole and whole grain chips like tortilla chips (make sure the first ingredient is whole corn)
• Dairy: Yogurt – Greek or plain yogurt with granola or fresh fruit
• Dairy:  Cheese sticks or those mini cheeses like Babybel, individual milk boxes, yogurt
• Wraps – choose 100% whole grain wraps with avocado, shredded carrots, hummus
• Nuts – peanuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews, mixed nuts
• Almond or Peanut butter and fruit on crackers or whole grain bread
•  Fresh or dried fruit – apple slices, dried fruit, raisins, bananas, grapes
• Trail mix, granola, nutrition bars, dark chocolate, dry cereal like Wheat Chex and raisins 

      3.       Bring a cooler

We always bring a cooler with us on long road trips.  Not only good for healthy snacks, a picnic lunch, but a cooler is great for storing restaurant leftovers.  Throw in some bottled water for a refreshing cool drink on hot summer days.

4.       Hydrate 

Bring along some water bottles.  Skip the soft drinks at the gas stations and re-hydrate with more water, 100% juice (skip the juice drinks) or milk.  (Milk is mostly water and a good way to get some extra protein and hydrate.)

5.       Seek out the healthy, fresh food.  

Many gas stations now offer an assortment of healthier choices such as yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, nuts, cut up fresh fruit, milk, and freshly made sandwiches.  On a recent road trip we stopped at a gas station.  I bought hard-boiled eggs and fresh fruit.  My husband ordered a sandwich made with whole grain bread, cheese, meat, spring lettuce, and tomato.  He said it was delicious.  So much healthier than most Fast Food meals.  

Conclusion:  

Before heading on a road trip this summer take the time to pack a cooler and pack some healthy snacks.  We keep a bag of non-perishable snacks in the car – a jar of nuts, a box of whole grain crackers.  The cooler is loaded with light lunch supplies so we are ready for our road side picnic.  Take the kids shopping with you before you go and let them choose some healthy snacks to bring along on the road trip.  They are much more likely to eat it if they had some choice in choosing it. 

Sources:  Wander Wisdom , Men’s Journal , handful of nuts a day , Add some whole grain snacks to your day , Wander Wisdom , Babybel , Wraps  Image Sources:  Lunch , Snacks to pack , Road trip food