Last month my husband and I drove to Syracuse, New York and visited family. Whenever we take road trips, I always pack a “feed bag” so that we don’t have to forage for healthy food along the way.
Whole fruit travels well (e.g., apples, oranges, bananas) as do dried fruits and nuts. Refillable water bottles are a must for me whereas my husband prefers to stop somewhere for unsweetened iced tea. Fortunately the ubiquitous McDonald’s restaurant serves unsweetened iced tea because if he relied on rest stop vended beverages, it would be very difficult to find...
Whole fruit travels well (e.g., apples, oranges, bananas) as do dried fruits and nuts. Refillable water bottles are a must for me whereas my husband prefers to stop somewhere for unsweetened iced tea. Fortunately the ubiquitous McDonald’s restaurant serves unsweetened iced tea because if he relied on rest stop vended beverages, it would be very difficult to find...
Healthy eating on the road involves some advanced planning. I find it easier to shop in a familiar hometown grocery store and pack healthy snacks before we leave town:
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At a New York State Route 81 rest stop, we saw very few healthy vended options. Note that the bottled water is at the bottom of the machine and the sugary drinks are at eye level. It reminded me of grocery store shelving where the healthiest choices are often the hardest to see. I was glad we had our own healthy food packed in the car.
Fortunately there are efforts underway to improve food selection in public places. You can urge your Governor to make healthier food more available on state property. It certainly would be a welcome change to find healthier vended food and beverage choices at rests stops. Model Beverage & Food Vending Machine Standards have been developed by the National Alliance for Nutrition & Activity (NANA) to improve access to healthy foods and beverages.
Fortunately there are efforts underway to improve food selection in public places. You can urge your Governor to make healthier food more available on state property. It certainly would be a welcome change to find healthier vended food and beverage choices at rests stops. Model Beverage & Food Vending Machine Standards have been developed by the National Alliance for Nutrition & Activity (NANA) to improve access to healthy foods and beverages.
Although the following list of beverages and snacks meet NANA's model vending standards, it does includes diet soda. I would choose better beverages and skip the artificial sweeteners in diet drinks because they may influence your body's glucose and insulin levels. Although more research needs to be conducted to determine whether the changes are harmful, water will always be the clear beverage winner for me.
On return trips home, it's not as easy to shop for healthy snacks in unfamiliar towns and I don't like having to travel far out of our way just to find something half-way decent to eat. Armed with a GPS, healthy food options are becoming easier to locate and grocery store salad bars are always an option. I recently added the Food Tripping App to my iPhone to more easily locate healthy alternatives to fast food when we travel.
It'll be interesting to see what it turns up in the middle of Pennsylvania's mountain region the next time we drive home to Baltimore from Upstate New York.
Be Well,
Mary
P.S. Please ignore the text box below; your comments are always welcome here.
Be Well,
Mary
P.S. Please ignore the text box below; your comments are always welcome here.
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