Healthy Eating on the Go!

Finally, the warm weather is here. We can all come out of hibernation! Bring on the cottage weekends, travelling to meet family, evening activities and day trips. I live for these things, but this can usually mean trying to eat faster meals, eating on the go and not always a lot of time for meal prep.Adding all these fun summer things into an already hectic schedule can really cramp your ability to stay on track and eat well. Quick and convenient foods end up taking the place of healthy, nourishing food when we’re go, go, go all the time. Guilty! But these less-than-ideal food choices can result in low energy, weight gain, and potential health problems long term.

Guess what? It doesn't have to be this way! You don’t have to be a slave to your schedule and resort to fast food or processed foods on a regular basis. It is possible to eat healthy foods, even with a jam-packed schedule. It just requires a little bit of pre-planning to ensure success. You'll feel better, have more energy, and your waistline will thank you too.

When you start fueling your body with healthier choices, you’ll probably also find you don’t have that 3 PM slump or need that afternoon caffeine boost.I’ve also included a list of healthy snack ideas to get you started, so keep reading.

Eating Healthy When You’re Not Home

There are plenty of circumstances that will take you away from home, and make it more challenging to eat healthy food. Take the time to plan ahead and you can relax knowing that you won’t be derailing your healthy living efforts by consuming empty calories that only make you hungry again a short time later.

Daily Errands and/or Kid’s Activities

Most of us spend several hours in our vehicles every week running errands, stuck in traffic or shuttling kids back and forth between activities. If we don’t plan ahead, it is easy to fall into the trap of swinging through the closest drive through when you (or your family) are hungry.Don’t wait until the point that you’re starving to make food choices, as this will almost always lead to bad decisions. Instead, plan ahead, so you don’t have to rely on your willpower alone to keep you on track. Pack easy to carry healthy snacks, and keep them in either your purse or your vehicle. This way you always have healthy choices right at your fingertips.

Road Trips

Just because you’re on vacation, doesn’t mean you should take a total hiatus from your health goals. You can still live a healthy lifestyle on road trips by packing healthy foods to eat in the car. You can pack a cooler to keep handy so you have easy access to snacks while on the road. If you’re planning on stopping at rest areas along the way, pack a nutritious picnic lunch to eat before you head back out on the next leg of your trip. Or if you didn't bring anything with you, make a healthier choice (The En Routes locally now have markets in them with veggies, fruit and hummus options!)

Airports

You can pack wrapped whole food snack bars, nuts, seeds or even pieces of fruit in your personal items bag. With a little creative planning, you can keep your nutrition on track, and save yourself a bundle of money you would have otherwise spent on pricey (and often unhealthy) airport food and snacks.

Foods That Are Easy to Pack

The following items are all easy to prepare, and convenient to take on the go. Feel free to experiment, and find out which snacks best fit your preference and lifestyle. Mix and match options to see what works for you.  Be sure to keep any perishable foods in a cooler or use an ice pack.

• Baby carrots and cucumber slices with hummus
• Sliced or whole apples with nut butter or sun butter
• Clementine or mandarin oranges
• Grapes
• Sliced or whole pears
• Smoothie (if you plan to drink it within 30 mins or so)
• Nuts and raisins (you can make your own trail mix)
• Pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and/or sunflower seeds
• Whole Food Snack Bars (such as Larabar)
• Sandwiches or wraps
• String cheese or cheese cubes
• High quality beef jerky
• Cut-up rotisserie chicken (keep cool with an ice pack)
• Hard boiled eggs

Make Midweek Meals Easy

Just because you have had a busy day doesn’t mean you have to resort to fast food or processed foods for dinner. With a little forethought, you can make sure your family has healthy meals ready to go when you walk in the door.With the advent of Pinterest, you now have thousands of healthy crockpot meal ideas available for free. Do a quick search and see what recipes may interest you and your family. If you prep everything the night before, or even earlier in the morning, you can come home to a delicious home-cooked meal that is ready to serve.My favorite website for crockpot recipe ideas is skinnytaste.comTIME SAVER TIP:  Batch cook and plan for leftovers. When you do have time to cook, simply double the recipe and set the extras aside to use later in the week on a particularly busy day. It takes very little extra effort to double the recipe, and you will reap the benefits of time savings later in the week. 

Make Healthy Eating Strategies Work for You

Even with a busy schedule, you can still make sure that you are eating healthy, nutritious meals. By putting in a little bit planning, you can ensure that you and your family enjoy healthy foods that support your lifestyle and your goals.

You can do this!  Let me know if I can help.

Hugs and Kisses,