Three Unexpected Eating On The Road Guidelines
My husband and I bought an airstream over a year ago. Right now, we're on our second trip driving across the United States. So far we have driven through Montana, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, and Vermont. Next up is Massachusetts and Connecticut. We have been on the road for about a month now and currently seeing some amazing fall foliage on the east coast.
Every time we have hit the road, others keep telling me to do an episode about eating while traveling. When you look up these kinds of articles, they all say about the same thing. Plan ahead, look up menus to be able to choose the "healthiest" options, pack whole food snacks, yada yada yada. Sometimes these suggestions are doable and sometimes they simply are not. So I wanted to offer something a bit more basic of what might actually feel doable and honor you the eater that is always doing the best you can to nourish your body and that best may also mean just satiating your physical hunger with whatever is available.
Let's dive into three unexpected eating on the road guidelines (not rules!)
1. Food is food. Eat consistently.
When you're super hungry on the road, eating any food that can support your body in continuing to stay focused, especially while driving, is good enough. There are a lot of suggestions out there on the best way to eat healthy on the road and sometimes those strategies are just not possible for a bunch of different reasons like location of where you are, when your hunger arises, what is available, and how much planning ahead was possible. In those moments, it's better to eat and nourish your body with anything than to forego eating and risk getting dizzy and disoriented from low blood sugar especially when you're driving many hours in the day.
This includes satiating your physical body consistently throughout the day, which may look like eating about every 4ish hours. Your body still needs food to function regardless of how much you may be sitting down due to your travel schedule. These guidelines can also be the same regardless of if you're traveling. You may know what resonates with your body best and those foods may not always be readily available day to day in your life. Yes, you can plan ahead AND knowing that you can trust your body to digest and assimilate any food you put in can be an important step on a food and body healing journey. This way, you deeply know whatever food situation you find yourself in you will be able to navigate that moment with ease.
2. Include All Macronutrients.
Your macronutrients include protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Each macronutrient plays an important role in the optimal functioning of your body. The balance of these macronutrients will be unique to you and what supports your body best. It can be stabilizing to your body to include every single macronutrient (that includes the demonized carbohydrates!) at every meal and snack. This can be a guiding light when traveling to ensure meals feel satiating so that when you're driving, getting out for a hike, going on an adventure, you know you have nourished your body adequately to get out and be on the go. Having these balanced meals will stabilize blood sugar levels so that when unexpected events happen on the road (which they do happen!) they are much easier to navigate because the body feels grounded by getting what it needs nutritionally.
3. Enjoy Simplicity.
In the airstream, we have a small two stove top burner that works off of propane. We end up cooking very simple one pot meals for ease. This change is actually wonderful and welcomed. When the body needs food, feeling the pure satisfaction of giving the body what it needs, noticing energy levels change, witnessing mental clarity increase, feeling the warmth of food being digested is such a simple and satiating experience. Sometimes, experimenting with simplifying what you're eating and noticing bodily reactions when consuming uncomplicated meals can be a reminder that the body needs ANY food to be alive and can reveal to you everything you may be emotionally expecting from your food that food may never be able to provide long term. Being aware of your emotional expectations on food can be valuable information as it can be guiding you toward your emotional hungers that are needing attention and satiation in non-food ways.
You may notice a consistent theme to these suggestions includes embodiment. To receive the pleasure, satisfaction, attunement, and connection from simple balanced meals often means we need to be in our body when eating anything. Traveling can sometimes feel like a disembodying experience from planning, to being in different environments, to navigating unexpected situations.
Meals, on any adventure, can be approached as a reminder that you are safe no matter where you are.
Whether you're home, on the road, in the car, on a plane, in a different state, you continue to eat again and again day after day. Eating can provide a sense of safety that wherever you are in the world you are alright and alive in a body that has needs that you're honoring at each meal.