It’s another early morning in Houston! It has been a great trip thus far. For those of you who have asked, I spent most of yesterday in two of Houston’s malls, Galleria and Memorial City, participating in consumer research within the fragrance and cosmetic categories. It’s been very interesting thus far but it also meant that we spent all day yesterday on our feet. I also forgot how large suburban malls can get! We literally had to drive from one part of the mall to the other because it would have taken us over 20 minutes to power walk the distance!
I wanted to share yesterday’s foods with you because it is a perfect example of one of this week’s Tuesday tip: When in doubt, stick with what you know for the healthiest meal options.
My first year of heavy work travel I quickly realized that I couldn’t treat every work trip to a new, fun city like a vacation in regards to my eating habits. Within two months of travel I gained 5 pounds and found that I was exhausted and drained after every trip. Once I started eating better I immediately felt better about the heavy travel schedule. It was no longer as draining and I found I had more energy.
When I say to stick with what you know, I mean that sometimes, especially for breakfast and lunch it’s best to go with habit. Therefore, on most trips I will order Starbucks perfect oatmeal, banana, and a venti unsweetened iced green tea as this is my normal breakfast in New York. For lunch, I’ll choose a large salad with protein and dressing on the side if we’re dining at a sit down restaurant for lunch. I also do my best to snag a few apples or bananas from the hotel if they have complimentary fruit or I buy fruit or a bar from the gift shop. This ensures that for the first 10 hours of my day I have healthy fuel in my system to power me through a busy schedule. It also allows me to enjoy work dinners a bit more, which like last night, tend to be at delicious local restaurants!
Below is how I put this tip to work yesterday in Houston.
Breakfast: Low carb banana muffin whose nutritional information was posted in the café area (300 calories, 5 grams fiber, 6 grams protein, and 6 grams fat), venti unsweetened iced green tea, Light & Fit Yogurt, and an apple for later.
Lunch: Subway is always a great food court option when we’re traveling to different malls for store visits. While it can be high in sodium, this can be balanced out by lots of water and what I eat the rest of the day. This Subway had more toppings than the average location and even had spinach, avocado, and Frank’s hot sauce! My 6 inch turkey breast on whole wheat with all the veggies, except jalapenos, kept me going until 4:15. I also enjoyed a large water and bag of Baked Lays on the side! While many of my co-workers enjoyed Japanese from Sakura for lunch, I knew that this would have too many hidden ingredients and calories for a healthy lunch and would leave me thirsty all afternoon.
Snack: Around 4:45 I had a small iced green tea during a Starbucks break and my apple from this morning. There were more chocolate filled Frappuccino drinks enjoyed by my co-workers yesterday than I’ve ever seen before. But, when you’re traveling with men whose metabolisms is still like a growing teenagers, you just have to keep yourself in check!
Dinner: Since I had a healthy breakfast, lunch and snack I was excited to enjoy one of Houston’s best steak restaurants, Perry’s, with my team. One glass of Pinot Noir, a salad with dressing on the side, splitting a cold seafood tower, and then a small petite filet was the perfect indulgent meal that was high in protein and lower in calories than I normally have at a steak restaurant. I stuck with protein early in the meal through the seafood appetizer which was healthy and absolutely delicious. This left me full enough during the main course that I wasn’t tempted by the steakhouse sides or dessert.
Question: What is your best tip for staying healthy when you travel?
Great travel tips! I’m definitely going to put them to use this summer! Also, Perry’s in Houston is one of my favorite restaurants; I grew up in the Houston suburbs, and we’d always eat at Perry’s for celebrations.
It’s SO hard to eat healthy and travel, well, I guess what I mean is it’s a lot easier to just grab something convenient and effortless. Good for you for doing so well! I try to bring some of my own snacks when i travel.
Hi there! I just started reason your blog (haven’t had much time to update my own!) but you have a great philosophy on traveling! I just had my first trip and stuck with normal eats during the day. I brought the travel packs of trail mix from Trader joes and Luna bars. Just wondering, what do u do that let’s you travel so much, I’ve always been interested in market research!
Your strategy of sticking to what you know is very, very smart – people can claim ignorance, but is is surprising that grilled chicken, vegetables, and fruit are going to be healthier than pastries and fried food?
When I travel for business, I remind myself that none of the meals are really treats, they are just meals away from home by necessity. And of course, keeping snacks like an apple snagged from breakfast helps you avoid going for readily available sugar mid-day.
All really great tips! I’ve heard tell of Houston’s giant malls…I’ve never actually been there to see them in person. And a Subway with avocado? Jealous!
Glad to hear you are having a good time! Traveling can make healthy eating challenging, but it looks like you are making it work. I like to keep my breakfasts and lunches simple and I try to pack plenty of high-fiber snacks to help me keep hunger at bay throughout the trip. This allows me to splurge a bit on dinner without completely falling off the healthy eating wagon.
Definitely agree with the ‘stick with what you know’. I also do try to eat as much fresh, non-processed food as possible – especially taking advantage of fruit and veggies for snacks. Also, if there is any way to get to a grocery store to buy some snacks, then I’ll try to do that too. I’ve been at weird office parks with nothing around except what is being catered, so that doesn’t always work out!
Love all of these tips. I’m traveling to Houston next month for work too. This will be my first time traveling for work so any help I can get with staying healthy and active while I’m there is greatly appreciated!
Great tips. I don’t travel for work, but when I’m traveling with my family we try to have a situation where we can cook or at least have refrigeration. Much easier to keep the calories in check if you aren’t in a restaurant for every meal. When we do have to hit more restaurants, I have to agree that Subway is right up there in choices. Even my kids eat (mostly) healthy there.
I’m headed up to NYC this afternoon with my bridesmaids for my bachelorette weekend and expect to indulge… At least we’re planning to run throughout Central Park and hit up the hotel gym 😛