Ideas for diet for someone who works long hours?

[Anonymous]

ok. So here is my problem. I work as a tour guide in a job that has me working much longer hours than the average person. I am active at work and I go to gym often but my diet sucks. I work on extended overnight camping tours in remote areas and a normal day for me is to be up at 2.30am for gym then get to work at 4.45, pickup customers at 6am, drive for 4 hours, work until 7pm, get campsite ready then cook dinner for customers then make a fire and usually in bed by 10.30pm. Next day is similar hours as I drop customers off at about 7pm once we get back to civilisation then wash 4wd, go to gym and go home for bed at 10pm, and then repeat day one again. I get one day off every week.

So as you can imagine it has not been hard for me to fall into the trap of constantly snacking on junkfood and fast food at roadside stops and petrol stations as I struggle to find time to prepare proper food for myself. I know its a tricky one but does anyone have any ideas for healthy food that won't take me long to premake the night before my trips. The easier/healthier the better.

thanks

[Chassana]

Good Lord. I hope you love your job.

Okay, first of all- you're not going to be able to stick with premade dinners all the time. You're going to go to still frequent those roadside stops, and that's okay. But, I'd make a game of it- if it sounds healthy and tolerable, and you haven't tried it before, try it. There's a market for decent healthy food, and things have gotten better. When you get sick of it, start the game up again.

Sugars are great for short term energy but you work long hours so that's not going to keep you going. Grease will make you tired. You want wholesome foods, and the less processed the better- whole blah, brown blah, white things are usually processed or not good in mass quantities (and cauliflower isn't naturally white, by the way). You'll know all this from pop culture and ads, so I'll stop.

Look around for things that are less unhealthy and that you'll keep eating.

Brown rice. Make a ton of it one weekend night, eat it over the week. Beans are fantastic- I would do chili, personally, there's a ton of complicated recipes everywhere, but go simple. Don't try to make some fancy thing if you don't know how to cook or that sounds complicated. Basically- make BIG batches of thing. Big batches are your friend. They don't take much longer to cook, and you can reheat them. Take care of that one big batch (don't burn the darn thing) and it'll take care of you. There are certain things that don't reheat well, but you learn as you go, be fearless, my friend. Fearless, but cautious.

Get family packs of meat and cook them- just be careful not to overcook things or they'll be tough.

Vegetables are more tricky. I hate salad, it's not substantial, and I won't recommend that to you unless you love it. All I can say is to try things, try the frozen aisle, and don't do veggies in batches until you learn how to not overcook things.

I forgot to say this earlier- I'm not giving you specific dishes for a couple reasons. One, being that you need to get in the habit of learning how to cook, finding out what works for you, and getting into the habit of things. If you need any cooking help, ask me for whatever. I love cooking and I'll try to steer you into basics without recipes. The more you get the basics down, the less you'll make mistakes with recipes in general.

To some of the other ideas: Tuna is great, just get mints since you work with people. Almonds are hunger suppressants, also a good idea, I'd toss those in some sort of homemade trail mix (nuts+chocolate, nuts+raisins, whatever you like), though, or you might get sick of nuts. PB&Js are awful, jam=sugar, pb=fat, bread=processed grains. It'll keep you full, but they're not healthy at all. Hard boiled eggs are great, but travelling with them would be hard- don't want you to get sick on the job.

Go the grocery store, buy healthy snacks in bulk and stick 'em in sandwich bags.

Wanting to be healthy is half the battle. Good job. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

fruits? apples, bananas, pears, peaches you can just grab and eat. or cut a bunch of strawberries and other berries and put them in a container so you can just snack on them while you're out. whole wheat sandwiches with turkey and cheese take a minute to prepare. not really sure besides that...you have a crazy schedule

[just_tired]

I'm guessing you don't have an issue with dropping weight, just with eating more healthy to get better results from gym?

Well if this is the case, what I suggest is preparing your work lunches before hand so you're not buying crappy junk food along the way. I'm not the expert in doing this, but I know some people who have done this. Many people eat a lot of salads, which sounds boring but aren't if done well. When I say salads, I mean hearty salads with different kind of meats, nuts, possibly beans and you can vary the veggies and dressings. There's probably a lot of good recipes, if you google it.

Couple other things that come to mind is fruits, nuts (trail mixes), beef jerky for protein, sandwiches with whole wheat bread and well.. some other type of cold lunches unless you have an opportunity to heat food.

[honeyltsme]

1. Tuna from a can - in water not oil. Inexpensive and low calories but very filling and super-healthy, lots of proteins. It can be the basis of several different meals, like a salad, or toast.

2. Cottage cheese.

3. Lean ham

4. Nuts (important: should be raw - uncooked and unsalted). Almonds, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts are all good.

5. Some (NOT all) protein bars are good (like PureProtein brand Chocolate Deluxe). But one bar is like a whole meal - so what you do is you cut it up in 4 pieces, then each piece is like a big chocolate candy.

You will do well if you get a plastic container with multiple containers and basically load it up with different ingredients from this list every morning after breakfast (so you have a portion control), then wash and reuse.

[Anonymous]

I had the same problem. I went to a weight doctor to get some diet pills, and it helped a lot. I stopped a lot of the snacking that I was doing. If I did snack, I was fine with something like an apple.

I don't know why so many people have a problem going to the doctor for their weight. There is nothing wrong with getting help for a problem. I even discovered that it was cheaper to pay the doctor, than to pay for all the junk I had been eating. So I lost weight and thereby, lowered my blood pressure, looked better, felt better, and saved some money.

[Anonymous]

Premake your meals and void eating out. Make PB&J sandwiches and drink water. Hard boiled eggs are also great.