Friday, July 31, 2009

Eating Healthy On The Road

In 2 days I will be flying to North Carolina to see my son before he gets deployed to Iraq and I will be driving his vehicle back for safe keeping while he's overseas. According to Google maps, it takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 23 hours driving time. So 2 long days or 3 short days. I'll just drive until I want to stop.

Exercise will be no problem. I can do some body weight stuff in the morning before I hit the road. I can stop at a rest area and knock off a few pushups or run a few sprints. That will be the easy part.

The hard part will be eating healthy on the road. The temptation to hit a fast food drive through will be great rather than seek out healthier alternatives which will take more time. Stopping at a convenience store (They don't call them convenience stores for nothing.) and grabbing some M&M's and a package of Little Debbie chocolate donuts will be easy. Finding something that's actually good for me will be a little more difficult.

If you read enough on health you will run across someone talking about the 80-20 rule. that is, eat healthy 80% of the time and you should be okay to indulge the other 20% of the time. However, when traveling, it will be much easier to do 20-80 or 10-90 or 5-95. Many would justify it as it's vacation. "Let yourself go. Enjoy it." I don't know yet.

The fact is I will be on the road for 2-3 days. I will probably skip a few meals. As for the ones I eat, I'm not yet sure what I'll do. I'll weigh the time vs. other factors when I'm faced with it and make my decision at that point. Most likely I will eat a few meals that aren't exactly good for me. And I will most likely enjoy them greatly. As for the others, well that chapter hasn't been written yet.

10 comments:

  1. Excellent time to IF it or just pig out. While I advocate the something is better than nothing lifestyle, all or nothing can be occasionally fun. Draw a line in the sand and pick a side and have fun.

    Prayers will go out for the young soldier at the Pierini home that he has a safe flight to his tour of duty, a safe tour of duty and that he returns home soon.

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  2. Remember the 7P's...

    Proper Previous Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

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  3. Thanks for stopping by, guys.

    Ed, we will and do appreciate the prayers.

    Justin, you are right about the 7 P's. If I can find a health food store, I plan to stock up on some healthy eats for the road. If not, I may just draw that line in the sand as Ed suggested and have a little fun.

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  4. Hey Charles,
    First, you will have my prayers as well for your son. Thank him for all of us for his service. On the diet thing, I don't think a few days of being off the wagon will be that detrimental. I was on a 4 day canoe/camp trip a couple weeks ago and ate horribly. On the other hand, you can get some beef jerky, trail mix and similar semi-healthy stuff to munch on the road.

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  5. If you were to stop by our house on the way home we could feed you a healthy tuna steak and fresh veggies from our garden. Oh well! Your loss. Have a safe trip, brother.

    We are praying for you, Caleb and the whole family to get through your present difficulties in an exemplary fashion. I believe your lives will be a blessing to others who watch you. God bless!

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  6. I'm driving to Vancouver (Whistler actually) next week to get married. It's a 2 day trip and I plan to Fast a portion of the first day until we meet with a friend for supper at her house (our first stop) and then a 24 hour cleanse the next day as we drive on to Vancouver.

    I find that long drives like this are good days for liquids. there's a lot more stops for rest room breaks, but not for eating.

    Besides, I feel that while driving, we need less food anyway, so why not?

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  7. You are right, Rob. Driving doesn't burn as much calories as other activities. I didn't eat a whole lot on the road during my trip.

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  10. I really like how you've turned the idea of 'eating healthy diet on the way' into a list of positive actions you can take right now to better your life. Infect eating healthy foods is first step towards healthy living. Eat preferably organic diet.

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