Dining out safely requires that we all do their due diligence (DD), before planning to eat at a selected restaurant. For some, not having the option to do your DD can be stressful. Now, when we go on vacation, there is no doubt, such stressful moments are going to happen more often than we would like.
If your travel plans include a hotel room with a micro/fridge, DD is possible without a lot of stress, but nonetheless a bother. As for road trips, if you consider the many stops along the way, with each stop offering its own set of food challenges. You might start thinking – a road trip is probably a very bad idea.
Okay, your hotel room only has a micro/fridge, or you’re on a road trip by car/van. If yes, then these kitchen less meals will certainly help. Every Travel by Car/Van and Room with Micro/Fridge meal provide at least one complete protein food or a combination of partial protein foods.
Healthy fats are a part of each meal. Complex carbohydrates are only in some meals. These simple meals can provide you with a diet that’s healthier than what most Americans are presently eating. How is this possible? Answer, no ultra-processed foods, no fast foods and used only minimally processed foods in each meal.
Minimally processed foods undergo only minor changes, like washing, removing inedible parts, trimming meat, grinding, freezing, drying, canning or vacuum-packaging. That said, sometimes they may include one of the 3 key ingredients. But, if labeled as organic, the added key ingredient is usually a small amount.
Let’s briefly take a close look at these 3 key ingredients with their pros and cons:
Refined Salt – (table salt)
Cons:
• Contains anti-caking agents like Ferro cyanide, tricalcium phosphate, calcium silicate and sodium alum inosilicate.
Pros:
• Shields the salt particles or absorb moisture before they do. Thus, preventing the salt from turning into solid lumps.
Refined sugar – (white sugar)
Cons:
• Contains cornstarch, an anti-caking agent, which is also the product of refinement itself. In refinement it is soaked in sulfur dioxide.
Pros:
• Sugar is prevented from clumping so it has the ability to flow when being poured.
Refined oils – (vegetable oils)
Cons:
• High temperatures applied during the refining process, along with highly toxic chemicals like hexane solvent (a petroleum oil byproduct), phosphate, sodium hydroxide and bleaching agents result in the removal of valuable nutrients from the oil. Refined unsaturated oils are then used to make hydrogenated shortening and margarine.
Pros:
• Refined fully hydrogenated oils are a less harmful form of the now banned partially hydrogenated oils. That said, as long as you don’t ingest these refined oils, you’ll find they make good wood treatment products, hydraulic fluid, lubricants and as alternative fuel in Diesel engines.
Here are a small fraction of food additives used to make ultra-processed foods (UPFs): high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, emulsion stabilizers, preservatives, artificial colors, chemical bleaching agents and so on. Know this, the long-term cumulative effects of additives used in the making of UPFs can lead to health problems.
Try to make it a habit to avoid the two unnatural food groups (UPFs and QSR foods) as if your health depended on it. Seriously, it does! Below are two vacation diet options.
Room with Micro/Fridge
Mon & Fri
● Pour 12 oz (360) of water in a 4 cup (1L) microwavable safe measuring glass. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove measuring glass from oven and add 1/8 tsp. (0.63ml) of Celtic sea salt; stir briefly.
Use a spoon to gently place 3 eggs in the water. Reduce the microwave power level to 50% and cook for 9 minutes. Transfer eggs from hot water to a paper towel with a slotted spoon, remove shells, place in an adequate-size bowl and chop.
Put 1/8 level tsp. (0.63ml) of Celtic sea salt in the palm of your hand and then sprinkle on the eggs in a few pinches. To that add 1/4 tsp. (1.25ml) of black pepper, 1/4 tsp. (1.25ml) of turmeric and 1 tbsp. (15ml) of extra virgin olive oil, mix well. Serve with three or four corn thins.