Whether it is for work or holiday travel can be a testing time for ‘low carbers’. Always travel with a supply of foods to snack on during the day so you are not tempted to choose carb laden snacks at airports cafes etc. Most places you travel to, you will be able to purchase low carb options, but finding the time to shop in a new city can be difficult.
Take foods which can be purchased in sealed packages;
- almonds and mixed nuts
- cheese slices
- small cans of tuna or salmon
When you are flying, it is not compulsory to eat everything on your plate! Eat what fits into your eating plan and leave the rest. Drink plenty of water during the flight, and keep moving.
When flying nationally, take prepared LCHF foods such as Just Nuts or Low Carb Crackers as snacks.
Hotel breakfasts usually have good options. A breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon and vegetables: such as creamed spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms etc will help you to feel full for longer periods and less likely to snack during the day.
Business lunches usually consist of carbohydrate dense foods ending in an array of sweet cakes and slices, but usually provide fruit. If the only lunch option is sandwiches or rolls, remove meat and salad from bread rolls, dispense with the roll and eat the meat and salad! Don’t be tempted by the cakes and sweets, just stick with fruit and coffee. Just make sure that you are always prepared and have an alternative with you to combat those carb filled foods. You will soon notice that ‘I need a sleep’ feeling you get after the usual carb laden lunch will no longer hit you. It might help to get up and move at any opportunity at meetings and conferences. It is not natural or good for you to be sitting for long periods.
My Travel Story
But travel isn’t aways glamorous or easy. A recent work based trip to Nauru challenged my LCHF eating regime! The accommodation was very basic with no refrigeration. Note that my food choices were dubious at best! I taught the cook at the local (and only) breakfast bar how to fry eggs. By his reaction to my request I gather it was a new experience for him. Most restaurants were Chinese and it was difficult to find food that wasn’t deep fried and covered in a sweet sticky sauce. So I did my best to stay as low carb as possible, but once I returned home I was very quick to return to my low carb staples. Always remember that if you fall off the low carb wagon occasionally, don’t worry, just get back on board and carry on. This is a way of life not just a quick fix. None of us are perfect so do the best you can in certain situations but get back on board the low carb lifestyle as soon as you can.
Most concerning about my trip to Nauru though was the fact that the locals fared a lot worse than I did. While I could afford to buy vegetables, this was not a luxury available to most locals. Their food options consisted of very high carbohydrate foods such as 2 minute noodles, white rice, soft drinks, and some meat when the ship arrived in town each month. Not surprisingly Nauru has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world. For a small and beautiful country their reliance on Western aid to provide food has resulted in a diet high in processed carbohydrate and lacking in fresh food, making them a global statistic for all the wrong reasons.