How to eat healthily on the road

Choosing healthy foods whilst travelling—this can be a total minefield.  Why? Because when you’re on the road, in an airport or at a bus station, the food available isn’t all that kind to your body. It’s more than likely to be processed, convenience food, and convenience has no regard for human health! 

If we’re hungry and we’re wandering around an airport, the most obvious choices are McDonalds or other kinds of fried and/or processed foods. Sandwiches that were prepared when? Where? We just don’t know! 

So travel and health—what’s my advice? Be prepared. When you’re planning a trip, think about how long you’ll be away for. Consider which food and drink to take with you before you walk out of your front door. It’s cheaper and healthier for you if you plan to take your water and travel snacks with you, rather than realising that you’re starving by the time you’re wandering aimlessly around an airport or around a gas station. 

Don’t fall victim to the food marketing nonsense that is always in your face at these food outlets. 

Here are some healthy travel snack ideas that are easy to pack and don’t take much planning:

• Hard-boiled eggs—these are a great source of protein and fat, so keep your engine full for a while (without spiking your blood-sugar).
• Tins of mackerel, wild salmon or sardines—these may not be a discreet snack due to the smell (!), but they’ll keep your fuel tank high for hours. 
• Nuts and seeds—easy to pack, great source of energy and much better than cheap packets of crisps/chips.
• Fruit/veg—pack an apple, a banana, a carrot, sticks of celery… whatever takes your fancy. 
• 85% or more dark chocolate—yes, chocolate (with hardly any sugar in) is a healthy snack. If you’re not in a really hot train or bus, this is a good one to take in your bag. 
• Bottles of water—and if you don’t like plain water, why not flavour it with some mint leaves, or citrus juice.  Don’t spend loads of money on the road on bottles of water! Plus those plastic bottles are bad for the environment. 
• Avocados—always a good one to take on a plane. They’re a great source of healthy fats that should see to your hunger until you arrive at your destination. Bring some sachets of salt/pepper/spices to jazz up the flavour!

I think that health comes down to a little bit of planning. It’s really simple, but it’s also not easy; we’ve been conditioned by our modern society to be ‘busy’. We get sucked into buying ‘on-the-go’ snacks and meal deals that don’t have any priority for health. A little bit of planning before you go on a journey will save your body stress, and save your wallet some pennies too. 

If you need to invest in some containers to put your snacks in, get to your nearest shop ASAP! The littlest things are often a barrier to health. Have all the food containers and water bottles ready for your journey. Buy a special food bag so that you don’t leave the house without it!

And a more extreme (in this day and age) way to travel: just don’t eat. Fasting is something that humans have done for thousands of years—sometimes voluntarily for religious reasons, and sometimes out of no choice because the animal ran away! We won’t die if we don’t eat for 12 hours.

There is more and more research about the benefits of fasting and intermittent fasting. The more time we give our bodies to digest and repair, the better. You can get by on cups of tea or coffee instead of consuming all those unhealthy snacks on the go. The only way to see what works for you is experiment!    

But I like to give this quote at the end of each article from me: KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT CHANGE BEHAVIOUR! So if you’d like to learn more about upgrading your health by changing your habits and behaviours, feel free to get in touch!

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