Eating healthy while traveling can be a daunting task for anyone beginning a transition to a healthier diet. Some may decide to put good choices aside when they take a trip, fly, or go camping for a week. Because I have two trips in July where I’ll be traveling in a car for 2 days to attend a personal development course in BC, and then to New Zealand for work, I thought I would take the opportunity to share how I manage eating healthy while traveling and staying on track.

Travel Food

First thing I do is stock up on things I can take with me, non-perishables. Things like: trail mix, dried fruit (make sure to get non-sulphured, non-radiated brands), raw nuts, power bars (I eat only Sunrider ones), herbal teas (again Sunrider), etc. Be careful if going over the border - you have to make sure they are all in the original, sealed packages. If any are opened they could be confiscated. You can’t take fresh fruit and veggies over a border either - but you can take it with you to eat on the plane - just dump any in the trash before you hit customs.

Airplanes have very poor food choices, so it’s important to have healthy snacks like raw almonds better suited to support your health. Depending on the length of the flight, you might consider a nutritional shake as well.

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Popularity: 11%

Well I figured it is almost summer here - knock on wood - so best time to have some BBQ or grilling type recipes, with a healthy twist. So here is the first of a couple, let’s start with marinated vegetables. You can eat them as a salad, or put them on skewers and grill them on the BBQ like we did. Either way - they were yummy!

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Popularity: 8%

We love roasted vegetables, especially in the winter and this recipe is great tasting with a zesty orange sauce. I’ve used three of our favorite root vegetables here but I’ll often mix it up and put in sweet potatoes, rutabaga, or even chopped up winter squash like butternut. Feel free to add onions if you’re so inclined also.

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Popularity: 6%

This week’s whole food recipe will be a compilation of various bean recipes Darlene has done over the past year. These recipes include black beans, red beans and garbanzo beans. Darlene is away showing her art this weekend, so I (Rob) will be posting on her behalf.

Being low on the glycemic index, beans not only provide fiber to your diet, but also have very little, if any, impact on blood sugar.

Not All Protein Is Created Equal

Ounce for ounce, black beans provide the same amount of protein as ground beef, but have no saturated fat, no cholesterol and provide 9 grams of fiber. As well, 4 ounces of black beans are almost one third the calories as ground beef.

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Popularity: 9%

Yes I said CHOCOLATE! This Vegetable Chocolate Chili Mole is amazing!

If you’ve ever eaten as a real authentic Mexican restaurant, you’ve probably seen something with “mole” sauce on the menu. I’ve got one book that says mole is a Spanish word meaning “mashed together” but I know it to mean (my own personal definition) - “very tasty, spicy Mexican sauce with dark chocolate in it!” How’s that for highly technical?!

I came across this recipe for chili mole in Extra Vegan Za and just about flipped. I LOVE mole sauce!!! This Vegetable Chocolate Chili Mole is one of the best chilis I’ve ever made. We spiced it up by adding a whole habanero pepper (one of the hottest you can get) because I can’t make anything too hot for Rob’s tastes. If you haven’t ever used one - handle with gloves, throw out the seeds, and use about 1/3 of the pepper to start. You can always add more later, but if you make it unbearably hot you won’t enjoy the subtleness of the mole - or have any feeling left in your mouth.

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Popularity: 7%