The Christmas holiday is only 11 days away (gasp) and while you probably don’t have a plan to get all those presents purchased and wrapped, you need to have a plan to not completely fall of the nutrition wagon while traveling. Your answer:the best healthy travel snacks to keep on hand while dashing through the snow in a 4 wheeled sleigh.
First things first, keeping your nutrition a focus while traveling mainly comes down to planning. If you don’t think through what you need to pack versus what you can pick up on the road, how will you not choose the Reese’s Trees at the gas station?
Below are the three best healthy snacks we like to keep on hand while traveling. The focus of all of these is protein. High fat snacks (such as mixed nuts) can be a good option, but it is very easy to way over-indulge in them and still end up in a major caloric surplus, despite your best intentions. Obviously when you’re sitting in the car doing a lot of staring out the window and wondering how long it is until grandma’s house, you don’t need a lot of carbohydrates. Therefore, we’ll keep the focus on protein-heavy snacking. Bon apetit!
Best Healthy Travel Snacks:
Any kind of jerky
If you eat meat, having jerky as a go to travel snack is a great idea. However, you need to read the label fairly closely. Unfortunately, many jerky companies pump their offerings full of sugar and other additives.
However, if you can find a clean one, jerky is one of the best healthy travel snacks. Below are three of our favorite brands:
Pre-Packed Protein Powder
Nothing fancy here, but your favorite protein powder supplement is a great choice while traveling. Just put it into a zip-top baggie in individual servings, and you have a protein-dense snack anytime, anywhere. It also happens to get through TSA check at airports. Double win.
Here are three excellent protein powder brands:
RXBAR
While RXBARs have more carbohydrates than the other options on this list, they are still an excellent snack while traveling. One of the best benefits of the RXBAR, in our opinion, is that it really tastes and feels like dessert, thereby curbing the ever-present sweet tooth for many people while traveling. Each bar contains only 210 calories, and has a nice balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Our favorite flavors include:
- Chocolate Sea Salt
- Blueberry
- Peanut Butter
Hydration is also key
Traveling, particularly through airports, lends itself to becoming dehydrated. In our past post, we discussed why hydration is so important, and that doesn’t stop if you are traveling and not working out as much. If anything, it is even more important if you are flying. So, pack a reusable water bottle (Hydro Flask and S’well are both great, but so is your trusty Blender Bottle) and make sure you’re drinking at least half of your body weight in ounces each day on the road! Happy travels!
