Tracking, low-carb, and the Road Trip

What your travel plans entail will influence how you eat and how you manage tracking and whether you attempt to track at all! If you’re embarking on a road trip in the U.S and you have internet access, continuing to track while you’re away and bringing some food with you is wise.  Tracking even when a challenge helps you stay engaged in what you’re eating and what your daily goals are. It just does!

Road trips are one of the best kinds of vacations in my opinion. I love the total control of being on the road, stopping when I want, going where I want, listening to podcasts. 

Even though restaurant choices on the road in the U.S. aren’t the picture of health, with a couple of strategies at your fingertips and some packed snacks in your bag, you can make some pretty great choices and find you have more control over your food than you might have thought!

Foods you could pack and bring with you:

Dry goods:

• Nuts (pre-portioned in zip lock baggies for ease and accuracy of tracking)

• Skinny Pop (single serving bags)

• Apples or other durable easy to pack fruit

• Low carb tortillas

• P3 Snacks

  In a small cooler with ice packs:

• Mozzarella string cheese sticks

• 5 oz plain greek yogurts

• Deli meat and cheese

• Carrot sticks/baby carrots

• Single serve hummus packs.

• (Refreeze your ice pack in your hotel/motel mini freezer overnight, Amazon has some that can

  last quite a while, Kona Ice packs last 24 to 48 hrs)

  At gas stations/convenience stores, avoid high carb snacks, instead go for:

• Water—keep up your water intake!

• Beef jerky

• Nuts

• Popcorn

Fast Food:

Look menus up before you order. Decide on some places that you are ok with and rule out places that don’t have any good options. You can educate yourself before you even hit the road! Here are a few places that usually have workable options: Starbuck’s, McDonald’s, Subway, Chipotle, TacoBell, Chick-Fil-A.

Try to avoid places where fried foods are the only option.

A sample day on the road:

Breakfast: If Fast Food is the only option: McDonald’s Egg McMuffin without the bun, Chick-Fil-A Egg white grill without the bun, Taco Bell’s Breakfast Mini Skillet (no potatoes), or Starbuck’s Sous Vide Egg Bites, Carl’s Junior Steak and Egg Breakfast burrito (no tortilla)… you get the idea!

Lunch: Chipotle salad bowl (add chicken or beef and go for salsa and guac in place of dressing), Any burger or sandwich without the bun, a Subway salad, KFC grilled chicken and side of green beans.

Snack: Mozzarella cheese stick and an apple

Dinner: Out wherever your travels take you that day.

A day like this sample is easy to track, so by dinner time you know exactly where you stand.  And then, at dinner, do your best to estimate your food and track it as well! (Snap a picture of the meal to track later if you don’t want to be doing it at the table).

Grocery stores:

Don’t forget about grocery stores when on the road. These can be quick places to stop and often there are prepared meals or a salad bar or you can simply stop to replenish your snacks.

If keeping a cooler cold isn’t an option, just replenish the dry non-perishable goods, these can go a long way in helping you stay on track.

With a little planning, adjusting your expectations, and getting in the right mindset before you go, you can enjoy your trip to the fullest AND feel confident you are honoring your health goals as well! Both can exist!