Clean Eating on the Road
Trying to eat clean on a road trip can drive you batshit crazy if you let it.
We recently made the six hour* drive to Saint Louis with all three boys. My husband signed up for a course to receive his running coach certification, and we tagged along to sightsee.
Road trips are usually an excuse to binge on beef jerky and Twizzlers, but this one landed in the middle of Phase 3 of 80 Day Obsession. No Twizzlers were to be devoured on this trip sadly. I did the most difficult thing a junk food addict could do: I stocked up on baby carrots, hummus, turkey slices, and sweet potato chips and prepared to munch loudly while my family stared in annoyance.
My plan worked surprisingly well. I was able to eat every two to three hours per the timed nutrition plan, made healthy choices when we stopped for dinner, and avoided the allure of dried, salted beef.
Everything was going perfectly until the third day of the trip. We were cruising through the city after being rained out of the zoo. The younger two slept while we searched for a place to get a quick bite for my husband and oldest. I’d brought along the bag I kept my healthy snacks in…or so I thought.
By the time I realized my braindead error, it was too late. The hanger had set in. I was barking orders at my husband, snarling in frustration, and pissed that the younger two were asleep and couldn’t be bothered to sit down to a healthy bite to eat. To keep me from eating our young, we stopped at the first fast food restaurant we found: Rally’s.
Don’t believe the slogan. It is not crazy good food. In fact, it was pretty damn terrible, and this is coming from someone who could scarf down the entire McDonald’s menu without blinking an eye. I ate half the “shrimp” and tossed the rest. Not even the boiling hanger raging inside me wanted anything to do with whatever they actually fried and sold to us.
Let this be a lesson to you all. Learn from my jackassery. It isn’t enough to pack the healthy food. You also have to make sure you bring it with you.
