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Summary
On episode 292 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan covers how to eat healthy while traveling, timed around the holiday travel season but applicable to any trip that breaks your normal routine.
He breaks the problem into two planning questions: how you’re getting there and where you’re staying, since each one changes what food options are realistically available to you.
He also covers what to do when you’re staying with family, how he packs a daily food cooler, and why he pushes back on the idea that a little moderation has to mean constant small cheating.
Links
- https://40plusfitness.com
Key Takeaways
- Decide how you’re traveling before you plan your food. Allan says driving gives you the most flexibility because you can pack a cooler and carry food the whole way, while flying limits what you can bring but still leaves room for shelf-stable snacks.
- Pack a cooler with a gel ice pack for road trips. Allan keeps several coolers on hand sized for a day of travel or a day of work, and fills them with foods that keep him on his eating plan without needing a stop.
- Scout restaurants along your route ahead of time. On a 12-hour drive to see family, Allan researched a stop serving wild game and found the portions were reasonable and the food genuinely healthy, turning a fuel stop into a real sit-down meal.
- Flying means more research and more discreet snacks. Airports increasingly offer better options, so Allan checks connecting airports ahead of time, but he skips strong-smelling packed foods like sardines on the plane out of courtesy to other passengers.
- Book a hotel with a kitchenette and refrigerator when you can. A fridge alone lets you store real food; a kitchenette lets you actually cook it, so Allan picks lodging based on that before he picks based on location convenience alone.
- Staying with family calls for participation, not passivity. Allan recommends volunteering to cook a meal or two, having a voice in restaurant choices, and stocking the fridge with your own healthy staples and snacks rather than just accepting whatever’s on hand.
- A repeatable daily food pack removes the decision fatigue. Allan’s own go-to includes boiled eggs, fish, salad, and homemade dressing prepped in small jars, the same system whether he’s headed to work or on the road.
- Skip the 80/20 rule in favor of planned, moderate breaks. Allan says most people are all-on or all-off, so an every-day 80/20 approach tends not to hold. He’d rather someone plan tightly most of the time and consciously allow a looser week around travel or family, in moderation, than treat food as a constant low-grade source of stress.
