Diet on the road

My trip to the Chicago Blues Festival is over, and as always after a trip I'm happy to be home! One reason for my good mood is being able to return back to my routine of diet and fitness. As I said before in my previous post, the trip was somewhat of an experiment to see how I would fare on my diet, and in the end, I learned a little on what to do when mostly eating out in restaurants.

My general plan, before setting out, was to stick to salads in chain restaurants when I wouldn't be able to find an independent healthy restaurant. This worked pretty good, I believe. The biggest snafu was ordering a Cobb salad at Panera Bread when I first got to Chicago, realizing upon eating it that it had a very oily vinagrette that undoubtedly packed a good many bad calories. (I should've known that a vinagrette would be a bad choice.) It seems that this happens consistently in corporate stores - the advertisement of healthy choices - when in fact salad dressing or bread choice make it very unhealthy. As consumers, we need to be conscious of what is in the food and what the health claims mean. Subway, in particular, is very guilty of this sort of advertisement. They advertise subs that contain only 290 calories, but they inform eaters in small print that this is there 6 in. sub. Most people in America are lured to a store by the ad alone, thinking an idea like "Subway is healthier," but then might order food that is just as unhealthy as McDonalds or Burger King. All of this reminds me of Michael Pollen's recent rule of thumb: "Don't eat advertised foods."

I did find, however, next to where I was staying at the Chicago Youth Hostel a fantastic health food store called Kramer's Food and Health. This place is a health store with a cafe above it. The cafe serves healthy burritos, excellent salads (I had one with really good asparagus in it), and various vegetable drinks. I chose a beet juice, not knowing what to expect or if I would like it, and I have to say that it was very tasty. I planned to go back but unfortunately the store is closed on Sundays.

So, my verdict is that it is indeed possible to eat healthily and well in restaurants when on the road. This is more true if you plan ahead and probably easier in larger cities with their more diverse restaurant choices. The greatest problem, however, is the periodic temptation that a vacation itself encourages to break your diet. At the Blues Festival, with everyone drinking beer, I did break down the first day of the festival and had myself a number of Bud Lights. At a party I attended, again beer was the breaking point along with some brats. But, honestly, with all the walking and taking of public transport, it is very possible that I lost weight over my vacation weekend.