Eating healthy food on a road trip: TROUBLESHOOTING

• eating healthy food on a road trip is easier than you think
• fix #3 explains why I used to BINGE & how I stopped bingeing 23+ years ago
• crash course on how I lost 30 pounds 23+ years ago
• 5 ideas to boost your metabolism when eating healthy food on a road trip
• donut stores are attached to some gas stations – try THIS ↓

Eating healthy food on a road trip

My last blog post (best read before this one) is: What’s the healthiest thing to eat at a gas station like 7-Eleven?

Even though that post focuses on gas station food (!) it’s kinda a crash course on how I lost 30 pounds 23+ years ago… Why?

Because I eat the same way whether I’m at the Tate gallery cafe in London, sitting in my needs-to-be-renovated kitchen on a Monday night OR when I’m pumping gas in stilettos…

Or… ummm, walking to the gas station in beat-up Birkenstocks and throwing on heels:

…before Alex takes a few quick pics for this post.

No lingering!

I’m still scared of getting in trouble at 7-Eleven… like last time 😮

But this article, the one you’re reading now, focuses on:

Easy solutions for stuff that can come up when you’re refueling your body at a gas station

Whether you’ve arrived:

• in a flashy Ferrari
• friend’s car that sat at their farm for years (that was our old car that we loved!)
• by foot (like I did)

Or you got your own wheels, like my dog Rocky ↓↓↓

This was only his second day riding around town (he’s 16!)

And…

We can hardly keep up with him!

Troubleshooting 5 common scenarios when eating healthy food on a road trip

So what we’re going to talk about isn’t just about gas stations.

When you’re on the move and putting a meal or snack together at a:

convenience store
coffee shop
or canteen

at the Museum of Natural History in NYC

(b/c you’re a Catcher in the Rye super-fan and want to trace all of Holden Caulfield’s steps…)

It’s easy to find yourself wondering:

I mean, food decisions can get complicated if you’ve got:

“healthy”

&

“diet-y”

&

“what looks delicious”

IDEAS

all battling it out in your head…

So here’s 5 OMG-that-makes-sense SOLUTIONS for all these eating-on-the-go situations.

Ready?

Eating healthy food on a road trip: Fix #1

Look at the back of the food package

If you opt for the fancy microwaveable dishes, like the Chow Mein I mentioned in my last post, or any of the foods you choose that aren’t whole foods, look at the list of ingredients at the back of the pack.

The front of the pack is often misleading ↓↓↓

When there’s tons of words
you’ve never heard of before
or
that you can’t pronounce,
your body won’t know what the heck to do with those ingredients either.

Steer clear and pick another option with ingredients you recognize, if possible.

This is why I LOVE whole foods!

They’re ONE ingredient foods.

An apple is made of… apple! 🍎

I go for the “sale rack” at my local.

Yesterday I got 8 apples for 3 bucks 🙂

And it was a “flight” of apples!

There was a:

Cosmic Crisp!
Gala Apple
Ambrosia
a few Honey Crisps
& a Gaucho premium gala from Argentina.

But… what if whole foods aren’t possible?

Don’t worry.

It’s more important to NOT skip a meal than it is to eat a perfect meal.

ONE MORE TIME FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK:

Don’t skip meals.

#ShoutedWithLove

You gotta fill your tank at regular intervals to fuel you… so you can get all your important stuff you’ve got planned, DONE! (like watching Ron Finley’s Masterclass commercial… over and over again) and to keep your metabolism ticking.

Those regular intervals are also known as:

• breakfast
• lunch
• & dinner

(REPEAT!)

Plus healthy snacks between meals when your tank’s empty.

When you don’t eat regularly, your metabolism sloooooows down to reserve energy.
Then it’s hard to lose weight.
& yup, you guessed it,
EASY to gain weight.

Eating healthy food on a road trip: Fix #2

Avoid mindless snacking

Driving, especially in the dark, while eating food from a big bag, can lead to eating past full.

Like I always say, put what you want to eat on a plate before you begin!

So… do the same when you’re driving.

Especially if you’re quite hungry (which can lead to eating faster and thus, overeating).

And if you’re like me, and like taking things to the next level?

Well, try this:

Take out what you want to eat and throw the rest in the trunk of your car.

Set yourself up for success!

Especially at the start when you’re just beginning to build healthy habits.

For instance, if you decided to eat the example ROUGHLY balanced snack made MOSTLY of whole foods, that I shared in my previous post:

What’s the healthiest thing to eat at a gas station, like 7-Eleven

Take out:

• 1 or 2 Babybel cheeses
• the almonds you want to eat
• your milky coffee
• & apple

Then gingerly place the remaining food in a secure place in your trunk, so it doesn’t roll around all the way to Syracuse.

The beauty of doing this is that you know there’s more food if you need it.

But ya still got yer-self a healthy serving you’re happy about, up in the front.

Then turn on some tunes and get back on the highway.

And if you want to eat more?

By the time you get to the next exit you’ll probably decide to keep driving because… enough time will have lapsed such that all those beautiful nutrients entwined in fiber in your natural food choice, will have started to release and be in your blood stream and you’ll feel satisfied.

And as “L” said in my group program What the F do I eat?…

You’ll also probably feel a little SMUG.

(Love ❤️ it!)

Why?

Because making a d*mn good choice feels good!
& allows you to carry on with the day being ultra-productive
b/c you aren’t preoccupied, worrying about what you ate.

Eating healthy food on a road trip: Fix #3

Want to save money and time?

As often as you can try to pack a piece of fruit and some nuts.

Get known for it, ok?

LOL.

When I first met Alex, his parents loved to joke that I always had an apple on me! 🍎

And I always say to the women I work with:

Be like Mary Poppins.
Show up places with fruit and veg!

You’ll be surprised how many people don’t include any fresh food at a family gathering or party buffet.

And “plants” (fruit & veg) should be at least 1/3 of what you eat!

Don’t be a victim.

Be the hero of your life.

The hero of the party!!

A fruit and veg platter makes a marvelous hostess gift.

Your body… and every “body” at the party will thank you.

And if you’re on a road trip and have your trusty apple & almond-type snack in your:

Louis Vuitton purse,
brief case you bought at a Christmas craft market
or backpack you found in perfect condition behind a condo building on a dog walk (!)…

Well, pair that beautiful snack you brought from home with a coffee, tea or latte from a gas station.

A hot drink is so satisfying to round-off a balanced meal or snack.

Yum!

And hey, if you’re super organized, you can always pack a flask full of your favorite hot beverage so you don’t have to stop.

Or a travel mug so you have a zero waste drink on the run.

Side note:

Healthy snacks can help you STOP emotionally eating & bingeing

For the 10 years my eating was disordered, I felt like I ruined everything if I had a snack or ate something unplanned.

(I was caught up in trying to eat the perfect amount and sticking to rigid diets.)

So if I was hungry, I was hellbent on waiting until the next meal.

But eventually I’d get panicky-hungry, break my rules and eat something small.

…like one raisin from the top of a muffin.

Immediately I’d say:

“Forget it!”

Keep eating.

And re-start an even more restrictive diet the next day.

It took me yeeeeeeeeeears (10 in total) to realize that you should:

Eat when you’re hungry!!

Along with boosting my metabolism, this “eat a healthy snack when you’re hungry between meals” approach would’ve helped me stop:

• emotionally eating
• bingeing
• & purging

for the decade my eating was disordered.

…Oh the time I spent doing all the above disordered eating behaviors ↑↑↑ that could’ve been invested into:

friendships
falling in love ❤️
artwork
studying
reading New York Times best sellers…

Or pulling out my trusty copy of Catcher In The Rye.

Ok, so here’s more about WHY having a healthy snack can prevent you from emotional eating or bingeing:

Click on the photo above ↑↑↑

Eating healthy food on a road trip: Fix #4

Gas station donut store

Many gas stations have donut stores built right inside, that have bagels and cream cheese, peanut butter, and so on.

How great is that?

This gas station ↑↑↑ has a Country Style Donut Store attached that has big bagels and cream cheese and lovely milky coffees. (Country Style is a Canadian donut store chain with over 350 locations.)

That picture’s from the corner of Spadina & Wellington in Downtown Toronto (in case you find yourself hanging out near that intersection feeling hungry). I’ve walked by it a million times with Rocky.

In rain. In sun… in snow. And in a tutu.

Another reason to have an apple and almonds handy?

To make that meal or snack more balanced.

Cream cheese bagel + milky coffee + almonds + 🍎 = perfectly balanced.

Splitting the above between two people also makes a satisfying snack. (I’d have a whole apple though!)

Apples are my love language.

You might find you don’t even need the almonds… listen to your body.

That’s something you’ll get good at if you keep eating the way I describe in this post.

Eating healthy food on a road trip: Fix #5

Time for a treat?

If you decide to buy a cookie, coffee and apple and not go all natural don’t worry.

It doesn’t ruin the week or even the day.

Just see it as one of your treats for the week.

And enjoy.

As mentioned in my last post, I was surprised how nice some of the baked goods looked at my 7-Eleven.

And a delicious treat here and there prevents you from feeling deprived.

Make Today Count

Being out loose in the world today is a privilege.

Don’t go hungry!

Eating natural food when you’re hungry:

❤️ MEETS your body’s needs

❤️ Makes you feel satisfied so you stop thinking about food

❤️ & BOOOOOSTS your metabolism

Then you can be ULTRA productive.

Work at your PEAK Performance.

And make the stuff you create all crème de la crème…

Once again:

Don’t go hungry today.

Or any day!

Build healthy eating and exercise habits.
A healthy weight will follow.

Next Steps for eating healthy food on a road trip

Which of the 5 fixes resonated with you the most? Try it out whether you’re driving on a road trip OR taking your stilettos for a walk on the tube. (I miss taking the train when I supply taught in London.) No matter what, #3 is KEY to do all the time on a road trip or any ol’ time. Want more healthy meal and snack ideas? Sign up for my ONE DAY Meal Plan below ↓↓↓ or here.

A Road Song

Is by Fountains of Wayne (FOW). Founding member, Adam Schlesinger (guy on the right) wrote many of their hit songs. He passed away on April 1st 2020 due to Covid. We met him at gigs a few times in tiny venues in Toronto, Boston and London… and he was just the coolest person. (Funny, observant, never needed to be the center of attention-kinda guy.) Adam wrote the sound track for the Tom Hanks Movie That Think You Do. And all those songs on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. At the time of his passing he was working with Sarah Silverman on her Broadway Show The Bedwetter. A Road Song is just one of FOW’s beautiful songs. Oh ya… Adam also wrote “Stacy’s Mom” (has got it going on)… remember that one!? You could give him any genre, like “Beatles” or “The Cars” and he could do them even better.

Here’s Rocky at the end of his very FIRST Road Trip

What do you like to eat that’s healthy on a road trip?

I’d love to know!

Tell me about it in the comments below ↓↓↓

Or do you have a TROUBLESHOOTING step of your own?

We want to hear about it!

Haven’t read my article that precedes this one, called: What’s the healthiest thing to eat at a gas station like 7-Eleven?

Check it out here.

 

Want a One-Day Meal Plan? It’s an example of what I eat each day These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)

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Want a One-Day Meal Plan? It’s an example of what I eat each day These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)

You'll also be subscribed to my newsletter. Don’t like it? Unsubscribe in one click

Want a One-Day Meal Plan?

It’s an example of what I eat  each day

These kinds of meals and snacks unlocked my HAPPY weight 21+ years ago (I lost 30 pounds without dieting!)

You'll also be subscribed to my newsletter. Don’t like it? Unsubscribe in one click