Sunday, June 7, 2009

Porous with Travel Fever: Eating on the Road - what do you do?

Many of us travel for business - whether frequently or infrequently. And many of us have strategies to deal with the anticipated Crappy Food at the Destination. Or sometimes worse: crappy food on the plane (or in the airport).

Here's an example: 8am breakie at the meeting will be bagels and cream cheese, with some fruit (if lucky). And i'll be honest with you - i only had the sauce for a ten minute body weight workout so not actually burning up the carbs in my system to require a carb reload, as per one of the nutrition habits of Precision Nutrition: starchy carbs after a workout only. (If you're not familiar with the Habit based approach to Nutrion that is PN, you can check it out here.)

Lunch will be more sandwiches. Now if you're a vegetarian or vegan, there may be wraps. "um, what's the protein for the vegheads?" "Oh, there isn't any; vegans don't eat protein" oh my. So there's veggies in the wrap but no protein.

Get back to the hotel after long day in a business district. THere is no green grocer in site and beyond that, do i (or you) have the vim and vigour to forage at what the body thinks is 3am? No, my friends, i in any case do not.

Coping Strategies
One thing i have found truly helpful is traveling with
a) protein powder
b) bcaa's
c) creatine
d) some kind of carb thing like malto/dextrose or cytomax - tho this isn't essential
e) flax seeds (there's often a fridge in the hotel room)
f) greens+ (again, fridge in hotel room)
g) shaker cup.
h) vitamins like a multi, a big fat d and algae/fish oil, maybe zma to help stay asleep

All of the above can fit into wee glad bags stuffed into the shaker cup, stuffed into a carry on. Fab. This set of fixers is great i find particularly later at night or before sleep if i'm getting hungry.

If you do have yogurt offered at breakie and can secret some of it up to your room fridge for the next day or later that day, stirring in some greens and flax see is kinda nice

It's grand to pack a lunch for a flight, but what to do going back? On long flights, raisins, nuts and Lindt chocolate can help for munchies and sometimes there are wraps available in airports - not always. Sometimes, it seems, one just has to suck it up and Eat a Sandwhich (sometimes in lieu of the disgusting in flight meal)

What do YOU do for food when you travel?
Those are some of my Travel Nutrition Survival Strategies.

What, b2d readers, are yours?

mc
en route from NY from one meeting to London for another, about to weep having forgotten the bag of nuts, raisins and critically, lindt 85% bar.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Five pound bag of carrots and a pound of hemp seeds. It is not ideal in terms of variety but at least it makes you self-sufficient for the duration. And it is relatively compact and not messy (as long as you mind your seeds).

dr. m.c. said...

cool. thanks for the tip.

Doin the Math said...

FoodSaver and carry-on sized cooler. The first days' meals unthawed and ready to eat and open. The next few days' meals frozen when you leave home, and thawing as you travel. (Must have fridge in room.)

That worked for me for a 3 day trip from WA to Boston, for a fitness camp. The tricky part these days is what you can carry onto the plane to open the FoodSaver baggies! Ziplocs may be a better choice for the plane days.

dr. m.c. said...

Doin the math: cool! thank you

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