The essence of life
Food. The simple word conjures up memories of home for some, and terrified cold-sweats of diet-fueled insanity for others. As Americans, we have a passive-agressive relationship with our food. We eat too much, but by and large, it’s the wrong things. We fear fat, but worship high-fructose corn syrup. Which do you think occurs in nature?
Michael Ruhlman writes about America’s fat problem, and he doesn’t mean the ever-expanding waistline. Of all my travels, I’ve never been anywhere else in the world where the word “diet” is greeted with anything but complete and utter derision. People in France, Italy, China, Japan and Korea do not diet. It’s simply not in their relationship with food. Ours, however, is dysfunctional in the extreme, and so people are constantly swinging from “fat will kill you” to “eat more bacon, it’s a health food”. Both are wrong. Bacon is beautiful, but like all things, moderation is the key.
Now, why would anyone listen to me for health advice? I’m not exactly built for a Calvin Klein ad. I do have an observation of late with my extensive travels throughout the United States, but not internationally. Because of my constant “road warrior” status, I eat out a lot. I eat at a lot of horrible places1 because I’m in places that only have chains. I carefully pick and choose from the least evil of the offerings, but without a doubt, I’d be better just stuffing my maw with a stick of Kerrygold butter, as it is healthier.
I’ve always struggled with my weight, as has my sister and my dad—at least until he snapped, and went all IronMan on us. I had been under control though with a modicum of exercise, walking a lot to various things, and cooking at home most of the time. Then the travel started. Not only have I struggled to eat even passably well, but I’ve had to find new ways to get any exercise in, and my weight has gone up. When I’m home, I cook as much as I can.
What am I going to do? I don’t know. This is one place where not only do I not have answers, but I don’t even have a lead on the right answer. Cooking on the road is a difficult proposition, and restaurant choices are limited. How do other people deal with this?
1 Applebees, I’m looking at you!
This entry was posted at 9:30 am on 29 February 2008 and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the post-specific RSS 2.0 feed.
One thing I try to do is increase my water intake while travelling. This both gives my body what it needs to flush toxins out, and helps satisfy the hunger pangs.
I have a mild allergy to soy, and things derived from soy, so I can’t eat at most of the chain restaurants. When I travel, and I’m going to stay for more than a day, I have to ask for places to stay that will put a fridge in the room. I then shop for groceries to last me the days I’ll be there. If I’m lucky, the company can book me in one of those suite hotels that have a small kitchen in each room. Because of all this, I may be in better health than I would have been without the allergy. However, I like to say: “Be careful if you pray for good health. You might not like how it is delivered.†;-)
If you are technically inclined the solution is “The Hacker’s Diet” (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/).
Implementing some simple controls, without starving or becoming an athlete, in the last three months I’ve lost 13 kilos (and still counting).
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unfortunately, the best answer for me – not that i’m any physical specimen even now – was giving up the full travel lifestyle.
the approach that needs to be taken to be healthy in that realm is at once rigid and difficult to sustain. if everyone is going to Applebees – or Ruby Tuesday, as it often was in my case – your choices are highly limited.
having left a full travel schedule behind in favor of still frequent but much briefer trips, i find being healthy a much less complicated endeavor.
not that that helps at all, of course.