It’s time for me to make another trip to visit my mother. She had been doing well most of the time, living on her own in Florida, but then she had a massive stroke a couple of months ago. We moved her to a nursing home in Georgia. I have two sisters who live there who can look in on her every day. That’s good news but it is still a long way away for me to go visit and to help out.
I’m sharing this with you because I am getting better at planning how to stay on track with a healthy low calorie diet despite the upheavals that life throws at us. From air travel, to long car trips, and for the first time next week, travel from Iowa to Georgia by train, each form of travel presents challenges for healthy eating. In addition to that, when I arrive at my destination, there is the challenge of staying in hotels or being a guest in someone else’s home.
I will be the first to admit that there are times when I have little control over my food choices. Some advance planning and preparation helps but won’t solve every tricky situation that might be encountered. When necessary, to make a situation better, my advice is to make the best choice you can from the available food options, watch how much you eat (portion size), and see if you can get in some exercise to make up for a less than ideal meal. I rarely skip meals because I function better with poor food than no food at all.
Image by ninahale via Flickr
In addition to advance planning for trips, having healthy eating habits at home helps me deal with obstacles when traveling. Healthy eating habits can help you also. How? When you are at home eating a healthy and satisfying low calorie diet such as what I recommend at this website, you choose the kinds of foods that help fill you up and give you a sense of satisfaction with fewer calories. This in turn may help you get better at recognizing when you have had enough to eat.
Keep in mind that recognizing you have had enough and then actually stopping are two different things! One of my battles in the last 10 to 15 years is eating more than I need simply because I can. Sound familiar? There are all kinds of reasons I may keep eating regardless of what my body is telling me. If you would like to learn more about the psychology of why people eat more than they should and what to do about it, I highly recommend psychologist Carole Solomon and her blog “Stop Stress Eating”. [Note: Not all overeating is emotional or related to stress!]
Correcting poor dietary habits is the first step for successful weight loss, maintenance, and better health. It gives your body a chance to do what it is programmed to do on its own far better than you might think. That is, maintain a healthy weight. 1200 and 1500 calorie carefully planned diets may be what you need for a while. But eventually you want to reach a point of having enough confidence with your choices that you have no need to count calories. Your body will do the hard work for you. What you need to do is pay attention.
If you have overeaten one day whether consciously or not, pay attention to your bodies’ cues and you will likely note that you are not as hungry the next day. Our bodies are designed to balance calories or energy intake to maintain weight over a period of days. (However, having said this, do minimize your intake of refined carbohydrates!) When you are traveling, allow yourself to have the occasional treat or to eat less than healthy choices when necessary without feeling guilty. But do stop short of giving in to the mindset that it is O.K. to eat whatever you want just because you are traveling and away from home.
Here’s something else I’ve learned. My husband and I discovered years ago that we only have enough room for one substantial meal a day when traveling (given the over-sized portions at so many restaurants). The rest of the day we snack on small portions of healthy food that we may have brought with us or purchased locally at a grocery store. This allows us to enjoy one great tasting meal (healthy or not) in a restaurant each day without overeating as badly as we might otherwise.
Next week I will be more specific. I will share with you some suggestions as to what to bring with you for snacks and mini-meals when traveling. I’m hoping I can plan two days of meals and snacks for my train travel so I am not stuck with less than ideal choices from the dining car or snack bar. However, I will definitely buy something fun to eat when I am at the train station in Washington, D.C. The last time I was there (a number of years ago) I discovered that they have a great food court with intriguing and tasty food from all over the world! Does the Chicago station have something similar? Guess I will find out soon.
Till next time, watch those calories, and most importantly, stay healthy!
