Road to Health

THE ROAD TO HEALTH IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS

HERE IS WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

1.         Quick travel tips to make your journey a little healthier this summer

2.         How to decode restaurant menus

3.         Public Health Issues Committee Brief Update

QUICK TRAVEL TIPS:

Summer is here and the living is easy – or is it?

Summer time can present some special challenges on our road to health. A little new found freedom in our schedule can give way to chaos and haphazard judgements pretty quickly that can throw us off balance. Eating at restaurants can be a minefield of fat, salt and sugar that we have to navigate or suffer the consequences. Long hours traveling either on the road or in the air with limited access to food when we want it sometimes has us storing up like a bear heading into winter  – just in case. Here are some quick travel tips that you can pack with you this summer:

• Bring water in refillable water bottles with you on your journey or purchase water right after security in the airports. An abundance of air travel recently has proven to me how dehydrating air travel can be.
• Bring unsweetened, unsalted trail mix, almonds or other nuts. They can satisfy your hunger in a healthy way. Great for times when you get  to your destination after all options for food have closed or you find yourself in the middle of nowhere.
• Bring tea bags.  You are just a cup of boiling water away from a nice cup of tea.
• Bring oatmeal.  1/3 cup of  rolled oats and 1/2 cup water in the microwave for 1 min20 sec or better yet use boiling water and cover in a bowl for 5 minutes and top with your favorites.
• Bring fruit . Apples are a high fiber, low fat snack that packs well and can withstand travel more than some other fruits.
• Walk - around the hotel, airport, malls. Use fitness facilities at hotels. Bring resistance bands. They pack light and allow you to customize the resistance to your own strength.
• Take a hike! Take an active holiday and go for walks, cycle, swim or whatever else gets you going.

RESTAURANT GUIDE

1.         Order water with every meal.

2.         Increase the tea – most are loaded with antioxidants. Add citrus to your green tea and you will increase the absorption and bioavailability of the antioxidants substantially.

3.         Look for the veggies and pick them.

4.         Look for the lean protein and have a serving with every meal.

5.         Send back the white bread. Choose whole grains.

6.         Share meals to get a reasonable portion size.

7.         Substitute fresh sliced tomatoes for hashbrowns or fried potatoes.

8.         Choose steamed, poached, broiled, baked, roasted and grilled.

9.         Order dressings and sauces on the side.

10.     Choose oil and vinegar dressings, mustard, salsa and lemon.

11.     Beware of buttered, basted, battered, breaded, fried, creamed and cheesed.

12.     Consider a la carte to get what you want without the excess.

13.     Beware of white pasta. Choose the whole grains.

14.     Choose water based broths and tomato sauces.

15.     Avoid or limit the alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and sugared up specialty coffees. Try club soda with a twist of lime instead or a cup of hot or iced tea. Have a glass of water before and/or after your other calorie rich, glass of sugar to minimize the impact.

16.     Currently Boston Pizza and Olive Garden offer whole grain pasta options.

17.     Tim Hortons and McDs  have low fat yogurt and salads.

18.     Tim Hortons and Subway offer whole wheat subs.

19.     Starbucks  make a very quick meal of oatmeal topped with dried fruit and nuts in the airport, at the gate, on the plane or just in town but on the go.  Some Starbucks also have salads and many have fresh fruits.

20.     Lastly, when all else fails, choose smaller portions, sit down, chew thoroughly and savor and enjoy every delicious mouth-watering bite!

You may be interested to know that as the Chair of Public Health Issues Committee  for Doctors Manitoba there is a motion being brought forth from a national public health promotion team to General Council this August to have nutrition labeling (calories, mg of sodium, grams of fat, protein and carbs) on all restaurant and cafeteria menus across Canada. This will make decoding restaurant menus and making informed healthy choices a lot easier for all of us traveling on our road to health.  This is especially great news for anyone watching sodium levels but losing the game of hide and seek. One of the other motions being put forth aims to facilitate equitable and affordable access to healthy food for our vulnerable populations ( northern communities and inner city populations). More on this later and I will keep you posted on the proceedings.

Be Good For You!

Shaunna