Healthy Eating for Business Travelers

It's hard to eat healthy on a business trip, especially with all of the great fast food surrounding travelers at airports, while driving down the street, at nearby train stations and even the vending machines in hotel cafeterias. So how does one not succumb to unhealthy eating while on a business trip?

Tip One: Although you can't usually carry around food that should be refrigerated (ex. yogurt) throughout your trip, think of the healthy food you can carry in your carry-on bags like fruits and mixed nuts. Purchase these items at supermarkets before your trip (or have your assistant do it) so you don't pay an arm and a leg in gas stations or tourist stops.

Tip Two: If you don't want to worry about the sanitary conditions of keeping apples in the same bag with your CD player and clothes or worry that your oranges will make your bag smell, consider dried fruit. Dried fruit is already in a zipped bag, and the only time you'll smell this mix of vitamins is when you open it.

Tip Three: There's a reason candy is on the end racks of just about every retail store, including some clothing stores. People who probably didn't even have a sweet tooth will suddenly get one while they're waiting in line. But if you already have your own candy, you may be less tempted. Consider buying healthy candy sweets though, such as Sunsweet's dark chocolate plums, two excellent antioxidants (its 16,000 antioxidant score beats out blueberries, apples, raisins, oranges and bananas).

Tip Four: Make a conscious effort to stop eating fried food while on the road. The trans fat and calories in some of the foods travelers eat at sit-down restaurants as well as fast food restaurants are committed donations to increasing your body fat, giving you high cholesterol, diabetes, and heartburn. And if you're on the road a lot and have no choice but to eat at restaurants because you don't have time to cook, you can be even more attempted. Only order items that are baked, broiled, or grilled.

Tip Five: Eat a good breakfast, lunch or dinner before going into conference meetings. Business meetings are notorious for having muffins, bagels, brownies, and other fatty foods arm's length from you. If you eat before you come to the meetings, then you'll be less likely to nibble on the junk food.

Tip Six: Some of those energy drinks have a high calorie count and do nothing for you health wise. There are energy drinks that equal the same amount (or more) of sugar that a pop would, so while it's keeping you awake, it's adding on the pounds too. Try drinking green tea, water or caffeine-free drinks instead. At catered events, usually the servers will be able to provide you with this, assuming it's not already on the table.

Tip Seven: Visit whole food stores or fast food restaurants that make a conscious effort to serve more healthy food choices than fatty food choices. Whereas you may go into some place like McDonald's or Olive Garden thinking you're going to get a salad, the fries and pasta may be calling your name. Resist the temptation by not putting yourself in that situation. Places like Subway, Salad Express and just about every Asian food restaurant always have an excellent amount of vegetable alternatives. And if you're feeling really adventurous (and aren't already a vegetarian or a vegan) try tofu instead of fried meat in Asian restaurants. On some menus, it's listed as bean curd, but it's the same thing as tofu.

Tip Eight: Keep bottled water with you at all times. Buy it before the business trip, but be careful of the rules at your nearby airports. Some airports are so secure that they won't let you in with any food or drink items from outside locations while others are more lenient. If you can't have it in your carry-on bag at airports, put water bottles in your luggage. There is no reason you should be paying more than a dollar for water regardless of whether you have the money or not. Tourist stores and convenience shops are notorious for increasing water prices because they know business people and travelers will constantly buy it.

Tip Nine: Hang out with the co-workers and business partners who also eat healthy when you're traveling for business. You are more likely to eat healthy if you're around health conscious people than you would by going on trips with those who will eat anything on a plate. Or, eat alone and avoid the temptation to frown at your own food and salivate at the food sitting on your client's plate.

Tip Ten: Remember in Tip One when food refrigeration was mentioned? How about purchasing a small food cooler that can be held in one hand? If you are in a hotel room that doesn't have a refrigerator, that's okay because just about every hotel, motel and inn has an ice machine. Take advantage of that by putting your refrigerated items in this small cooler so they can be eaten later when you get back from your meetings. These coolers can be awkward to keep around with you while in meetings so it's not recommended to keep them with you at all times, plus the ice will eventually melt, so you don't want a water soundtrack as you walk. But it's an alternate way to keep sealed food in healthy conditions to eat when you get back to your hotel instead of buying outside food.