Does work require you to travel and stay in a hotel? If you’re driving, and staying in a hotel with a full kitchen, load up the cooler, your favorite knife, ceramic pan, and it's business as usual. If you’re flying, limited on space, and all your hotel room has is a minifridge and a microwave, this post is for you.

Why can’t we eat out for every meal?

For most people getting on the road and living in a hotel means going into survival mode and eating varying qualities of restaurant food for every meal. If you don’t have a plan, you will quickly derail your diet and spend a fortune eating out. If you have money to burn, you may not care about the cost of eating every meal in a restaurant, but you should care about your health. With few exceptions, restaurants use seed oils, sugar, processed grains, and factory-farmed meats to curate their meals. You think you’re doing the right thing by ordering the 6oz salmon and spinach salad with vinaigrette for $25, but you’re poisoning yourself, and here’s why.

Farmed vs Wild Salmon. Which would you rather eat?

Unless the menu specifically says, “Wild Caught Salmon,” you’re being served farm-raised salmon. Farm-raised salmon is treated with antibiotics, is high in heavy metals, and has an unfavorable fat profile due to an unnatural diet. It is then placed on a bed of raw spinach, which is 450mg of oxalates per 1.5 cups. Oxalates are chemical toxins many plants produce, and overconsumption can lead to fatigue, inflammation, anxiety, and chronic pain. Then, to top it all off, the vinaigrette is most likely canola oil, a highly processed seed oil, and we are discovering one of the leading causes of the epidemic of chronic disease in America.

Obtained from zeroacre.com. Check them out.

Is your mind blown? I understand. I just told you that your salmon and spinach salads from restaurants are poisoning you, and that’s a lot to take in but trust me, I’m from the internet. Everyone knows McDonald’s and other fast-food joints are bad for their health, but not many people know the so-called “healthy foods” that sabotage their health. No one thinks about the silent killer in their restaurant salad dressing.

How do I prepare meals in a hotel?

Every trip is a little different regarding available stores, the size of the mini fridge, and time in the hotel vs. time on-site or traveling. For this post, I stayed at a Courtyard Marriott with a mini fridge and went shopping at an older Kroger. I prefer whole foods due to the greater selection, but this will show you what you can get done at Kroger.

When trying to maintain your healthy diet while traveling, it’s important to remember not to let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.” Do the best you can with what’s available. All the foods listed can be paired in any way you like, and the eggs don’t just have to be for breakfast. I’m active all day and working out, so I have a lot of carbohydrate sources. If you’re less active or trying to lose weight, cut back on the carbs, eat more protein, and include some fats from your meat choices, dairy, and avocados.

My no-cooking required grocery haul.

Hard Boiled eggs – Protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals; eggs have everything you need to thrive. They’re already peeled and can be eaten alone or paired with the Turkey or Salmon.

Wild Caught Smoked Salmon – High in protein and Omega-3 fats. Delicious on its own, or you can wrap it around a pickle or a slice of cheese.

Oven Roasted Turkey Breast – I would prefer red meat because it has more nutrients and better fat content, but there wasn’t any roast beef without additives.

Cheddar Cheese – Cultured milk and enzymes were the only two ingredients. High in protein, fat, and satiating. It pairs well with the Turkey or Salmon.

Yogurt – I look for minimal ingredients, high protein, high fat, and no added sugar when buying yogurt. The best I could find had no fat, high protein, and 8g of added sugar. Not ideal, but I’ll live.

Grass Fed Beef Jerky – Minimal Ingredients, high protein. Great alone or with a hardboiled egg if you need a snack.

Fermented Pickles – Adds Salty crunch and beneficial bacteria to any meal. Wrap the Turkey around a pickle with some cheese. Make sure these are from the refrigerated section.

Guacamole - High in potassium, monounsaturated fat, and other vital nutrients. Spread it on your deli meat or hard-boiled eggs.

Lemons – Squeeze an entire lemon into your water bottle and drink first thing in the morning or throughout the day. Google the benefits of lemon water; they are numerous.

Carbs – (For my metabolically healthy people and athletes; Use as needed) Organic Raw Unfiltered Honey, Bananas, Organic Apples, Organic Oranges

Things I Brought From Home and carried in my checked bag.

Desiccated Organ supplements from heartandsoil.co – Organs are nature's actual super food and multivitamin. Taking them in pill form is an easy way to keep them in your diet while traveling.

Redmond’s Real Salt – Ancient Salt from America. Great for salting your hardboiled eggs.

Instant Espresso Packets – Put them in your coffee cup, head down to the lobby for hot water, and you’re having a good day.

I also brought a 40oz metal canteen, coffee mug, spork, multi-tool, and one glass Tupperware. Those items prevent me from buying plastic or paper junk, and I can cut my cheese, fruit, etc. The above list is how this trip shook out, but the next trip could be different. Use the above example as a starting point, but your imagination is your limit.

Minimalist kitchen load out for traveling.

Why didn’t you list any vegetables?

More and more people in the nutrition space have been calling attention to the adverse effects some vegetables can have on humans. Unlike animals, plants can’t run away or physically fight back, but they also do not want to be eaten into extinction. To protect themselves, plants develop plant defense chemicals, which can cause various symptoms depending on the individual. While I eat certain low-inflammatory vegetables at home, they are for variety and taste, and I don’t believe they are essential. There are far more bioavailable nutrients in meat, organs, eggs, and raw dairy. Delving further into this topic is outside this post's scope, but I’ll include resources below.

Conclusion

Whether you’re high carb, low carb, keto, carnivore, or animal-based, you can accomplish some version of the above template with some imagination. Your diet doesn’t need to suffer while traveling. Diets are highly individual, and what works for one person may not work for someone else, keep an open mind; if you aren’t getting the results you expected, ask why and make changes. You may not fit squarely into one camp. I personally pull elements from animal-based and paleo, and don’t follow either to a T. Figure out what works for you.

Resources

Your health and vitality are a reflection of what you put in your body. These are three great books I’ve read and used to shape my diet.

1. If you are suffering from chronic disease or obesity check out Deep Nutrition by Catherine Shanahan, M.D.

2. If you want to fuel performance with meat, organs, honey, and fruit. The Carnivore Code by Paul Saladino, M.D.

3. If you’re a generally “healthy” eater, but can’t figure out why something is bothering you check out Toxic Superfoods by Sally K. Norton, MPH

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