Planning a quick weekend road trip, or venturing back into the world of travel?? Wherever this summer takes you, make sure that your snack game is strong so your nutrition and health can still have priority! Road, air or sea - travel always has unexpected surprises and delays!
Here’s a list of healthy, portable snack options to hold you over until your next meal. My top 5 are:
1) Hard-Boiled Eggs
With 77 calories and 6 grams of protein per egg, hard-boiled eggs are an easy travel snack you can eat with your bare hands in a pinch. Try sprinkling an umami seasoning, everything bagel salt or another flavored topping for some extra pizazz (at home), or save salt and pepper packets form gas stations or takeaway orders.
2) Jerky
Beef jerky provides protein along with micronutrients. To reduce the sodium try turkey, chicken, or plant-based options! There are so many varieties to try; this is an easy to eat, easy to pack must have and plenty of flavor! We always have this in our backpack when we hike!
3) Protein Bars
Protein bars are a quintessential travel snack, but the sugar and artificial flavoring can really kill your clean eating plans. Look for bars that have 6g of sugar or less and an ingredients list that you can actually read! (If you can’t pronounce it, you probably shouldn’t be eating it) #truth Granola and Protein Bars can be sneaky and have the nutrients of a Snickers candy bar so for sure READ THE LABEL. I love Beachbody’s Beachbars and there are 3 delicious options: Chocolate Cherry Almond, Chocolate Peanut Butter (both whey) or Chocolate Almond Crunch (vegan and tastes like a s’mores).
4) Nuts
Nuts are a nutrient-dense snack, so pack some before you go! Pistachios are a great option because they can be considered a complete protein, meaning they contain all nine essential amino acids in one little snack! If you like flavored nuts, skip the store-bought version and try making your own, you’ll thank yourself! You’ll be able to control the sodium levels and notice that a sprinkling of seasoning goes a long way. WATCH YOUR PORTIONS. Reasonable portion sizes are: 20 pistachios, 12 almonds, 8 cashews or walnuts, 10 pecans or 14 peanuts. Shocking how little right? I bet we are all thinking “woah, I had a week’s worth in one sitting”. That’s why portion sizes matter. We might not be getting results because we don’t know any better :) I’m here to help!
5) Cheese Sticks
Snack cheeses like string cheese and Babybel provide protein and calcium for under 100 calories per serving. These are great to pair with a piece of fruit to offset the sugar content. They are best, however, for short trips - like most perishable foods, you’ll want to eat cheese within two hours of taking it out of the fridge. Don’t overdue it or have this every single day because cheese can also stop you up in the toilet area :) That’s no fun on road trips.
Best advice when you travel and something I ALWAYS do - add veggies to EVERY SINGLE MEAL; even brekky! I find vegetables super hard to find when I’m traveling and I never get enough fiber (women want 25 grams a day and men, 35 grams) so if I eat then when they’re available, I don’t pay the price later when options are sparse.
What other tips do you have?