Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.tony_merlino
06-25-12, 09:09 AM
This isn't directly related to cycling, though it is tangentially. I travel a fair amount for work, and as anyone who travels can tell you, it's really hard to find ways to stick to a diet when you're traveling. It's hard when you have to entertain customers at restaurants, but there are usually a couple of healthy choices on the menu, and if you're disciplined about carving out a reasonable portion before you start eating, you can manage.
What are harder to manage are the solitary meals - the stuff you eat on the plane, or by yourself in the hotel room. I've been kind of lucky in the last 6 months, in that a lot of my trips were to the D.C. area, and I've been driving. That allows me to bring a cooler with my own food in it, and my diet can be basically the same on the road as it is at home. Even when I take the train, there aren't restrictions about fluids, etc to deal with, so it's easier to bring stuff.
But flying is another story - weight and restrictions become issues. Airport food is horrendous from a dietary point of view, as are most fast options in the corporate jungles that I usually find myself in.
I've been trying to come up with a repertoire of foods that I can carry that will allow me to stick to my diet (currently about 1200 calories/day, balanced at about 50/30/20 between carbohydrates, protein and fat, with about half the carbs coming from dietary fiber). The requirements are:
- I should be able to package up foods in roughly 100 calorie increments, to put together meals of varying total calorie content.
- No refrigeration required. The first night is easier than later nights - most cooked foods will tolerate a few hours of no refrigeration.
- No violation of the fluid restrictions for airports
- No cooking. Can, in some cases, benefit from warming up in a microwave. (A lot of hotels will supply the microwave.)
- Tolerant of getting knocked around in a carry-on.
- Not heavy or bulky.
- Not really heavy on the sodium (that lets out a lot of convenience foods).
I know - it sounds like I'm planning to provision a spaceship :D
So far, the foods that have worked ok have been:
- Individual boxes of organic raisins. (100 calories).
- Raisin bran cerial, packed in snack bags in 1/2 cup increments (95 calories)
- South Beach Diet Protein bars. (130 calories, 9 grams protein.)
- Tuna, though this tends to be pretty high in sodium.
- Apples
- Fat free pre-wrapped cheese slices. (30 calories, 0 fat, 5 grams protein). High-ish sodium.
- Microwavable individual servings of rice dishes. (About 220 calories).
- bread in appropriate portions. (80 - 100) calories
- Granola bars. (100 calories)
Not an exciting diet, so I'm looking for additional suggestions. In the meantime, I keep repeating my mantra: Food is Fuel. Food is Fuel. Food is Fuel...
What are harder to manage are the solitary meals - the stuff you eat on the plane, or by yourself in the hotel room. I've been kind of lucky in the last 6 months, in that a lot of my trips were to the D.C. area, and I've been driving. That allows me to bring a cooler with my own food in it, and my diet can be basically the same on the road as it is at home. Even when I take the train, there aren't restrictions about fluids, etc to deal with, so it's easier to bring stuff.
But flying is another story - weight and restrictions become issues. Airport food is horrendous from a dietary point of view, as are most fast options in the corporate jungles that I usually find myself in.
I've been trying to come up with a repertoire of foods that I can carry that will allow me to stick to my diet (currently about 1200 calories/day, balanced at about 50/30/20 between carbohydrates, protein and fat, with about half the carbs coming from dietary fiber). The requirements are:
- I should be able to package up foods in roughly 100 calorie increments, to put together meals of varying total calorie content.
- No refrigeration required. The first night is easier than later nights - most cooked foods will tolerate a few hours of no refrigeration.
- No violation of the fluid restrictions for airports
- No cooking. Can, in some cases, benefit from warming up in a microwave. (A lot of hotels will supply the microwave.)
- Tolerant of getting knocked around in a carry-on.
- Not heavy or bulky.
- Not really heavy on the sodium (that lets out a lot of convenience foods).
I know - it sounds like I'm planning to provision a spaceship :D
So far, the foods that have worked ok have been:
- Individual boxes of organic raisins. (100 calories).
- Raisin bran cerial, packed in snack bags in 1/2 cup increments (95 calories)
- South Beach Diet Protein bars. (130 calories, 9 grams protein.)
- Tuna, though this tends to be pretty high in sodium.
- Apples
- Fat free pre-wrapped cheese slices. (30 calories, 0 fat, 5 grams protein). High-ish sodium.
- Microwavable individual servings of rice dishes. (About 220 calories).
- bread in appropriate portions. (80 - 100) calories
- Granola bars. (100 calories)
Not an exciting diet, so I'm looking for additional suggestions. In the meantime, I keep repeating my mantra: Food is Fuel. Food is Fuel. Food is Fuel...