Eating Clean at Thanksgiving or on a Road Trip

For us Canadians Thanksgiving Weekend is approaching and some of you may be worried about over eating and ruining all your hard work towards your fitness goals -- rest easy!

I understand that some of us cannot resist mom's butter glazed Turkey, candied sweet potatoes and Pumpkin pie....and God forbid you decline and insult your mom after she spent several days planing this meal - certainly I do not suggest you do this - consider this your cheat meal for the week.

I do however suggest scheduling a workout before dinner or simply go for a walk prior to or after the meal to help alleviate your calorie intake. Why not invite the whole family! A nice brisk walk with chatter and laughter is great for family bonding!

Moreover some of you may live far distances from you family and will need to drive several hours to see them.


Here are some suggestions to eat clean while on the road:


If this is a short trip 2 - 6 hours:
Pack a big cooler with celery sticks, raw carrots, sweet potatoes, chicken breasts, wraps, hummus, yogurt, apples, mini whole-grain bagels, mandarin oranges and loads of water.

Longer trips may warrant longer pit stops at restaurants:

IHOP: order an Omelet with no cheese and no sour cream with Harvest Grain and Nut Pancakes with no butter and sugar-free syrup

Denny's: Have them grill plain chicken and eggs

Starbucks: Perfect Oatmeal without the sugar and a tall protein drink

At steakhouses: always opt for lean sirloin and fillet. Remember the "no butter" rule!

Reiterate to the waitress:
- Eggs to be cooked in spray and not in butter.
- "no sauce" on anything!
- your meat to be cooked dry with no oil or butter. 
- For veggies, be sure to ask for them "steamed with no butter".  

If you must stop at a fast food restaurant, keep it simple - the less ingredients the better:

Wendy’s: Order a dry baked potato with chives and broccoli, plus a side salad (no dressing). To spice up the latter, fork on some mandarin orange segments, which are sold as a dessert. Although nutritionists often recommend the chili as a more healthful alternative, it actually has about 40 different ingredients.

McDonald’s: About the only things that are clean here are the side salad (sans dressing), Apple Dippers (without the dip) and orange juice. Notice I didn’t recommend the grilled chicken breast fillet. That bad boy has about 26 different ingredients, and the liquid margarine in which it’s prepared has about a dozen more. That's one instance when simple isn't so simple.

Chinese: The mainstay here is brown rice and steamed veggies sprinkled with some light soy sauce.

Sushi: Order the sashimi or nigiri. In general, avoid the fancier and pricier named rolls - they have more sauces in it.

Mexican: Instead of beef, which is usually lower quality and heavily seasoned, order chicken, fish or bean tacos. The shell should always be soft, not fried, and ideally homemade from corn or flour.