I have a job which requires me being on the road all the time. Can anyone suggest how they eat while on the road. It’s tough to find foods that can be eaten in a truck and Fast Food often comes into play. What would be some good things to eat?
Thanks
Pro wrestlers have the exact same problem. Traveling 4-5 days a week, 3-4 shows, plus having to go to the gym to lift and do cardio, eating right…all this while being far away from home. Here is what some of them do:
Most of them live on MRPs. They all try to get egg white w chk breast omelettes in the a.m.
Lance Storm eats Cracker Barrel whenever possible, always orders their Grilled Chicken meal w/plain baked potato. In a pinch, 2 or 3 Fast Food griled chicken sandwiches, throws away all but 1 bun.
Stone Cold and Flair don’t watch their diet as much as the others, but are both fanatical about cardio, doing 45 min a day, every day, hoping to compensate.
If you work out of home, your simplest solution would be to bring all your food w/ you in a cooler. If not, you’ll have to live on MRPs and whatever of the meals described above appeals to you. Good luck
Beef jerkey and mixed nuts make a good P+F meal. Skim milk for a good P+C meal. I use sandwiches, protein shakes, or protein bars on the road also. Just have to get one of those little collapseable coolers.
Grocery stores often have a in-store deli and they usually have baked potatoes. Plus, in a grocery store, you can get fresh produce. Whenever I useto have to travel, the first place I’d hit would be a grocery store. And I would find any nearby Chinese or Japanese restaurants. Asian food is usually the safest bet when on the road.
Keep a can opener in your car. Tuna, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, canned chicken and many others are all easy sources to eat on the road. No storage issues, but you’ll probably have to pull over to eat the stuff.
Beef Jerky? Don’t do that brah! I was in a similar postion with the military. I choose to throw in some mixed nuts and jerky because of heat tollerence and durability as well as protein and essential fats. The result: 10 pound water gain in like 2 days. Seriously. I looked at the sodium in my jerky and it was enourmous. It was easy to lose with a lot of water pounding for a week but I would not suggest this unless you find one with low salt. But then it would probably taste like crap.
If you can hit a supermarket wherever you are, most have whole roasted chickens available near their deli counters. Kinda messy, but just rip it apart & ditch the skin. Also, canned tuna filets in tomato broth sold alongside the regular old canned fish at the supermarket. When I travel on biz breakfast is always a protein shake with fresh fruit prepared in the hotel room (plus my fistfull of supps!) Good luck, bud.
Most fast food joints post their nutritional facts online. Wendy’s chili, any places’ roasted chicken sandwich, Taco Bell’s chicken soft tacos. There was a post a couple of weeks ago that asked the same question, there was a lot of response–check it out.
I have the same problem. I carry a small cooler with me which contains my 3 meals I eat every 2.5-3 hours. I try and break up my meals in to protein/carbs and protein/fats. I have a protein shake and 1.25 cups shredded wheat at 10:00. 2 chicken sandwiches for lunch, and a protein shake with 1 tbsp flax and 2 tbsp of natural peanut butter at 3:00. I find most of these easy to eat when driving, sometimes eating cereal while driving can be tough.
Trail mix!!! You can find really good blends of nuts and dried fruit with no added salt or oil. A cup or two of trail mix is what I use to get me through the awkward times when I just can’t take another MRP, but I am not about to cheat. The good fats do wonders for stunting the cravings. If you can’t find a good blend make your own. I typically consume 10lbs of trail mix in less than two weeks.
yeah MRP’s, but there are a few fast food places, like wendy’s, where you can get a salad, or get the grilled chicken (or 2), ditch the bun and mayo, and the chili. (i think the chili is 27 protein grams and 31 carb grams.)
just curious, but how do you know so much about WWF, (well WWE i should call it now.) i am a huge wrestling fan, and have always wondered where/when the wrestlers lift and eat while on the road so much. i’d actually be interested in hearing some of your stories-------JC
Trying to think about this…I’ve made lots of road trips and I’m often faced with similar problems. As mentioned above, MRP’s are by far the best way to have real control over your road diet. For fast food, eat grilled chicken sandwiches with no fatty or sugary sauces – veggies and bun only, no mayo, no or very very little BBQ sauce. One decent fast food chain, albiet not a very common one, is El Pollo Loco, which serves marinated mexican-style grilled chicken. You can’t eat all their sides, but if you eat the grilled white meat, some salsa, and a tortilla or two, you’re doing pretty well. I don’t know the fat content of their rice sides so I won’t get into that. As for truck stop/mini-mart/gas station food…ugh…well…skim milk, hard-boiled eggs, cottage cheese, MRP bars from REPUTABLE companies (ones that don’t lie about their contents), mixed dry-roasted nuts, and jerky – low-fat beef, turkey, or salmon jerky is always pretty good for you, and with the salmon you’ll get your Omega-3’s, too.
The worst thing about eating on the road is not just the food quality – it’s the fact that you tend to munch mindlessly, as an anti-boredom tool. I think that’s probably the biggest cause of losing your hard-earned shape while making road trips. At least it’s certainly mine!
Oh and soft back coolers are the best! We have two and do use them all the time.
You’ll have to get in the habit of packing a personal cooler. For protein sources pack cottage cheese, tuna, chicken breast, turkey, etc. For carb sources pack fruit, fresh veggies, beans, and oatmeal. For fat sources pack raw nuts (walnuts and almonds), cheese, ground flax seeds or flax oil, olive oil, and fish oil caps. The cottage cheese can be mixed with salsa, tuna, beans, flax seeds or the oils, etc. Cottage cheese can also be used in P+C by mixing with dry oatmeal and artificial sweetner and flavor with dry sugar free jello. You might have to thin a little with either “egg beaters” or water. Or the cottage cheese can be mixed with protein powder and dry oatmeal or flax meal. Again sweeten with artificial sweetner and thin with either “egg beaters” or milk or water. If using chocolate protein powder, can add extra hersheys unsweetened baking cocoa for “double chocolate”. Or if using vanilla protein powder, can flavor with cinnamon or dry sugar free jello. Cottage cheese or tuna or beans (not baked beans but plain canned black or red (kidney) beans) can be flavored with salsa/hot sauce and other spices. Flax or Olive oil can also be added to cottage cheese or tuna with the salsa/hot sauce. Also, buy raw nuts as sold in baking section or bulk section of store - not the deep fat fried party nuts sold in the snack dept. Another P+F meal could be cottage cheese mixed with natural peanut butter and flax oil or meal. Use your imagination and experiment and you’ll find 1001 possibilities. Get in the habit of reading the nutrition labels on food. You just need to get in the habit of planning ahead and packing it with. Short of road kill, you won’t find any other healthy choices “on the road”.
Read this link:
Tuna in the packet. It tastes better than in the can with no hassle. Just open and eat with a fork. No draining either. The cheapest place I’ve found is Wal-Mart.
Well Bob, the t-mag community came thru for ya. Good luck, and good eating.
JC- The reason I know so much about pro wrestling is that I’m a wrestler myself. I’m just starting my career though, so don’t expect me on TV anytime soon. As far as where they work out and eat when on the road, well, mostly 24 hr gyms and whatever places they can find open after/before shows. Nothing fancy. Just don’t interrupt them during their workouts, most will sign autographs or chat AFTER they have finished working out.
As far as stories, sure I already have some, but I think we all do. besides, the guys I have stories about aren’t famous-yet. I have been thinking about writing an op-ed piece for one of the major websites talking about steorid use and the mentality behind it-based on what I’ve seen only. The death of yet more wrestlers under the age of 40, Davey Boy Smith as well as Alex "Big Dick DUdley"Rizzo, are proof that wrestlers in general need to educate themelves about steroid use, because they won’t stop using them.
thats awesome that you are a wrestler. are you in an independent, like the Ohio Valley? that has got to be hard enough traveling as much as they (you) do, let alone find places to eat and train. much respect. and yeah, the recent deaths did kind of give wrestling a bad name, and im sure guys like HHH and Angle (among many others) are always having to defend themselves. while they obviously still juice, has it gotten more responsible, or are some of these guys going to be joining the British bulldog soon?
- A quality m.r.p. 2. tuna made with sunflower oil in pouches from starkist. 3. make you some turkey or chicken breast salads or sanwiches and keep in cooler.4. drink tons of water. 5. low glycemic fruits. 6. a quality protein bar. 7 a double beef whopper with extra cheese (forget that one).