15 Great Road Trip Foods under 200 Calories

By Rebecca Swanner

The car is packed, the kids are happily occupied in the backseat, and you're ready to hit the road. But, when stomachs start rumbling, what's the plan? To stop you from making a pit stop at a greasy spoon or swinging through a drive-thru, we've pulled together a list of 15 road trip foods that will keep those hunger pangs at bay—and your car not full of detritus. And, most of them can be taken on a plane as well!

1. Fruit

Fruit's fiber and high water content will help keep you full and hydrated as you travel. But, unless you want a messy car, it's best that you either choose fruit that doesn't have a stem, a pit, or an outside covering—namely, blueberries, figs, and grapes—or prepare fruit ahead of time and place it into Tupperware® containers. Strawberries, banana slices, peaches, and nectarines are great for this.
Calories per serving: 85–105

2. Kale Krunch™

I discovered this when I was doing P90X earlier this year. They're low in calories, high in vitamin A, and totally addictive. Plus, they're flavored with ingredients like organic olive oil and organic chia seeds. They are a little on the expensive side though, so if you want to make your own make these Kale Chips, chop them into bite-sized morsels, and pop them in a Tupperware or Ziploc® bag.
Calories per serving: 110

3. A Better Nut Butter and Jelly

The trouble with most sandwiches is that they require a cooler . . . unless you like eating warm chicken salad. Peanut (or any nut, frankly) butter and jelly is one that doesn't. Make it with whole-grain bread (my personal favorite is Ezekiel 4:9®), an all-natural nut butter, and all-natural fruit spread like St. Dalfour® to up the health factor.
Calories per 1/2 sandwich: 150 (varies depending on ingredients)

4. Shakeology® Packets

Want to take your Shakeology on the road? Just mix a single-serving Shakeology packet (available in Chocolate, Vanilla, Greenberry, Chocolate Vegan, and Tropical Strawberry) with water and shake!
Calories per serving: 160–170

5. Eggs

You might find the idea of taking eggs with you on the road a little odd, but hard-boiled eggs are great for a quick power-up. Plus, they're loaded with B vitamins, which may help keep tempers cool on long trips.
Calories per serving: 78

6. Homemade Energy Bars

The bulk of prepackaged bars sold at gas stations or convenience stores are loaded with sugar, preservatives, and empty calories. These homemade bars can be made in minutes and contain only good-for-you ingredients like fruit and nuts.
Calories per serving: 124

7. Nuts

Nuts are highly caloric, but they're also high in healthy omega-3 fats and travel well. Choose raw, unsalted nuts like almonds or walnuts that don't require you to dispose of a shell.
Calories per serving: 130–180

8. Spiced Nuts

Deepen the flavor of nuts by roasting them with spices. This recipe that combines cinnamon, cayenne, and cumin with a touch of honey will keep you away from the store-bought trail mix.
Calories per serving: 120

9. Baby Carrots

Maybe we're weird, but we think baby carrots are fun to eat, and they don't make a mess! They're sweet on their own, or you can combine them with hummus for a yummy, crunchy treat.
Calories per serving: 30

10. Split Pea Crisps

Peas are really good for you thanks to their fiber and vitamins A and C. But, good luck getting your kids to eat them on a road trip. Unless . . . you disguise them as a crunchy snack. These split pea crisps from Whole Living® combine peas with just a touch of olive oil and salt.
Calories per serving: 55

11. Other Vegetables

It's a classic for a reason. Slice up your favorite veggies—snap peas, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and celery all travel well—and pop them into a sealable container. Persian cucumbers are also a yummy single-serving snack.
Calories per serving: Less than 20

12. Dried Fruit

On day 2 of the road trip, when you've run out of regular fruit, try dried fruit. It's higher in calories by volume than fresh fruit, so just be mindful of how much you eat and look for options without sulfites, but it's better for you than a candy bar. Or a Fruit Roll-Up®.
Calories per serving: About 150

13. PopChips®

This is probably the least healthy option on this list since they're made with potato flour and not whole potatoes, but you could do a lot worse. Plus, they're a Tony Horton–approved road trip snack. Original PopChips contain just potatoes, salt, a touch of rice flour, and oil, so you can feel like you're snacking on chips without loading your body up with who knows what.
Calories per serving: 120

14. Spicy Baked Chickpeas

Chickpeas, garbanzo beans, little weird things that come in a can . . . whatever you call them, these little nuggets of goodness are high in fiber and will help keep you full. Try this road-friendly recipe for them.
Calories per 1/4 cup: About 200

15. Seeds

Though high in calories, seeds are high in heart-healthy magnesium and protein. Plus, cracking pumpkin or sunflower seeds open will keep your hands (if you're not driving!) and your mind busy while you're on the road. They can be high in sodium, so just take a look at the sodium levels or consider roasting your own.
Calories per 1/4 cup: About 160

5 Reasons You Should Walk More

More than one-third of the adults in the United States are obese, according to the eggheads at Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And, over the years, that number hasn't been getting better…it's been getting worse. And obesity can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and much more.

But, taking a daily walk can help you stay in shape—and if you are obese or overweight, it's a low-impact way to ease into exercise. If you combine your daily jaunt with sensible dietary substitutions, like consuming fewer simple carbs and replacing soda with water, the walk can be surprisingly beneficial for weight loss. On top of that, walking can also elevate mood and alleviate stress. But that's not all.

Here are 5 more reasons you should take a walk.

1. Walking Aids Digestion
According to research that appeared in The New York Times, a post-meal walk can aid digestion and control blood sugar levels. Alternatively, physically moving away from the dinner table eliminates the possibility of going back for seconds, thirds, or nineteenths.

2. Walking Is Good For Your Bones
You won't bulk up your quads, hammys, or glutes in the same manner you would by performing load-bearing exercises like barbell squats or deadlifts, but walking still builds strength.

"Walking strengthens the legs and core, and improves cardiovascular fitness," says Lisa Lynn, PT, FT, a specialist in performance nutrition. "In fact, walking strengthens the bones better than biking, swimming, or elliptical training."

Just a friendly tip: Avoid texting while walking. Researchers found that walking texters or readers were found to have shoddy balance. Stumbling into oncoming traffic while texting increases your odds of having all 206 bones in your body smashed into bits. Plus, you might also dent the person's car.

3. Walking Is Low Impact 
Sometimes our bodies need a break from demanding exercises like burpees, rock star hops, and jump squats. But taking a time out from high-impact movements doesn't give you permission to become a loafer.

When your goal is to lose weight aim to walk for 20 minutes per day, suggests Lynn. If your diet isn't as clean as it should be (put those Funyuns down right this second!), boost your walking time up to an hour per day. "We're supposed to be getting 10,000 steps daily," Lynn recommends, "so how long you walk really depends on how active you are and how much you sit."

And on the topic of sitting, use some of those steps to stand up and walk around a little at least once an hour. Prolonged time on your posterior isn't healthy.

4. Walking Can Improve Your Mood
Sitting all day under florescent lights, dealing with annoying emails and TPS reports as you watch your lunch hour blow past can be both infuriating and stressful. So, go for a walk. Assuming you're not walking through a methane garden, the new stimuli and fresh air you encounter during a walk can help calm you down and prevent you from Hulking up on your coworkers.

"A walk is a great way to clear your head and serve as a form of meditation for today's anxious society," Lynn explains. "It's a fast way to boost mood…and a great way to detox both mentally and physically."

5. Walking Cures Laziness
There's no excuse not to take a walk. "When you don't feel up to the hardcore, overzealous exercise, walking is a huge victory," adds Lynn. "Walking keeps our bodies pliable and our joints and muscles loose and in working order. I tell my clients that if you rest you'll rust, but you won't if you walk!"

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Why join for the Beachbody coach discount?

You may be in the middle of Insanity and really want to try TurboFire, T25, or something else. If that’s the case, it makes sense to sign up to get the Beachbody coach discount on your next program. The 25% is even more beneficial to Shakeology customers. You can save approximately $15 on regular Shakeology (chocolate or greenberry) or $25 on vegan Shakeology (chocolate or tropical) each month after your coach fees! That’s $180 to $300 a year for doing nothing but signing up to coach.

Don’t let the title of “coach” scare you. If you want to rock this business, I am here to help you every step of the way; if you just want the discount and to be a regular client, I am happy to do that too. Just because you signed up for the Beachbody coach discount does not mean you have any responsibility as a coach (except to pay your coach fee $15.95 which is auto-withdrawal).

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10 Ways to Stay Fit While Traveling

When you travel, do you leave your healthy habits at home? On business trips, it's easy to overdo it with carb-fest lunches and expense account dinners, sedentary meetings, and late nights at the hotel bar. (It's networking, right?) And pleasure trips are all about cutting loose, living it up. But do you really want to return home feeling worse than when you left?

A far more satisfying way to travel is to stay active, and fuel your body and mind with all the things that keep it running at its best. Try just a few changes in your travel habits and you'll be sharper and more effective on business trips, and more alert, comfortable, and energetic on vacation.

1. Bring fitness DVDs for your laptop.

If you're on the road for business, then you're probably carrying your laptop. Throw a fitness DVD or two into the computer bag, and pop one in first thing each morning. Do a quick workout early, and notice how much easier it is to resist the temptations of the breakfast buffet.

However, if you're on vacation, skip the computer. Aren't you trying to get away from it all? Leave the laptop and all that seated screen time back at home. Your eyes, back, and wrists need a holiday too.

2. Explore the local area on foot.

If you really want to get a feel for an area, the best way to see it is by walking. (Unless you're in Los Angeles. Nobody walks in LA.) If you're on a business trip, try to schedule it so that you can walk to at least some of your meetings.

Skip the cab unless you're late, it's raining like crazy, or your destination is more than a mile or two away. And steer clear of tour buses, unless there is really no other way to visit a particular sight.

Also, avoid the hotel dining room in the morning. Instead, walk to a nearby breakfast place. You'll probably get a more satisfying meal at half the cost. You'll also see some street life on the way—businesses opening their doors, sidewalks getting swept, locals waiting for the bus or hurrying to work.

3. Use the hotel gym.

Some people thrive on routine. If you have a regular gym schedule that's working for you, then continue it while you're away. Keep your healthy habit going, and it won't be a struggle to get back to it when you return home. Most hotels have some sort of gym or exercise facility. Even if it's just a basement room with a couple of stationary bikes—use it!

At the other extreme, you may find that your hotel has a big, glamorous gym with machines you've never used before. It's like being a kid at a new playground! Schedule a session with a personal trainer to learn how to use the stuff, and experience your workout as a novelty, a pleasure. The hotel might also have a great sauna or steam room, and maybe they offer spa services that are new to you. Bodywork is definitely a part of keeping fit and healthy. Schedule a Thai massage, or some other kind of therapy that sounds interesting.

Travel is about experiencing the new and the novel. Apply this attitude to your exercise routine as well, and you'll find that even your same old workout in a new setting can be a treat.

4. Take the stairs.

This one's easy. Never, ever take the elevator, unless you're schlepping luggage. No excuses. It doesn't matter how many flights up your room is. In fact, book a high floor. Better views from the room, and more calories burned to get there!

5. Discover local fitness activities.

Whatever your destination, there's probably some kind of sport or physical activity that's popular in the area. Go skiing, hiking, bouldering, or climbing if you're in the mountains. At the beach, take a surfing lesson, or boogie board, or at least get off your beach blanket and actually swim in the ocean. Those are the obvious ones, but think of others. Near a river or lake? Spend an afternoon canoeing, sailing, or rafting.

In urban parks, there are inevitably pickup games of soccer, ultimate frisbee, and basketball. Big cities are also rife with climbing gyms, martial arts dojos, a million yoga emporiums, and even dance studios. Think how much more fun your museum day would be if you capped it off with a salsa lesson!

6. Rent a bike.

Most major European cities—and an increasing number of American ones—have "smart bike" arrangements, with checkout stations all over town that allow users to pick up a bicycle in one location and drop it off in another. These are great for urban commuters, but are also ideal for tourists, since the services tend to be located in the busiest core of cities. Get around town on a bike and you're sure to see more of it.

Beaches and other tourist destinations almost always have rental services that allow you to take out a bike by the hour or by the day. Have you been curious to try a recumbent bicycle, or a bicycle built for two? Rent one! Take it for a spin up and down the boardwalk and see what you think.

If you're traveling by car, load up the bike rack and vow to leave the car parked once you arrive. In crowded resort towns, you'll be pleased as punch as you pedal past cranky tourists stuck in high-season traffic.

7. Keep one habit, no matter what.

Vacations are notorious for undoing months of virtuous diet and exercise. This may have a little something to do with a steady holiday diet of fried appetizer platters and piña coladas. However, what really derails a healthy fitness routine is an interruption to it.

But it's a vacation! It's time for a break! True enough, but consider keeping just one healthy habit while you're away, to keep your momentum going. For example, go to bed at your normal time (if you're happy with that habit), or wake up at your normal time. If you have a yoga or meditation practice, continue doing even a very abbreviated version of it. Say, one Sun Salute without fail when you first get out of bed. Or, if you're used to a specific, healthy breakfast, keep eating it every day. Make a promise to keep one good thing going, and then follow through on that commitment. This will create a powerful sense of control and continuity that will make it easier to get back on the health and fitness wagon when you return home.

8. Have a day of gluttony.

Early in your trip, pick one day to totally overindulge. Eat like a starving hound. Drink like a lush. Stay up too late. Make an ass of yourself. Seriously. You have been dreaming about this holiday for months. You are livin' la vida loca!

When you wake up the next morning, notice how you feel. Don't gulp down your usual hangover remedies, whatever they may be, and don't have a big guilt trip. Simply notice what is going on with your body. Let yourself feel it. Your head is pounding, right? Your stomach feels sour. You have no energy. Everything feels awful. You want to go back to bed. Ask yourself, do I want to feel like this every morning of my vacation? Do I really have that kind of time to spare?

Later in the day when you're thinking of having a fourth mai tai or a second dessert, bring your mind back to what it was like when you woke up. No judgment, no worries. Just remember how you physically felt. Then make a conscious decision about whether or not you want to feel that way again tomorrow morning. If you do this on day one or two, maybe the lesson will sink in.

9. Downshift.

The American lifestyle is so fast-paced, frenetic, and stressful that it can be hard to downshift into vacation mode. That go-go-go attitude can cause you to miss what's right in front of you.

Are you back for a third helping at the all-you-can-eat buffet on the pool deck, and you can't specifically recall what was on your first or second plate? Relax. There's more than enough food for everyone, and no rush for you to finish eating. Remember, you're on vacation. Slow down and enjoy whatever you're eating, whether it's "healthy" or not. Relish it. If you focus on and savor your food, you won't eat as much. That's not the reason to slow down, though. Go slow so that you can truly enjoy every single, delicious bite.

10. Make your vacation an adventure.

Do you really just want to sit on the beach for a week and drink? (Wait. Don't answer that.) The best way to stay fit when you're on vacation is to get out and do stuff. Tips number one through nine will help you shoehorn a little bit of wellness into any business or pleasure trip. But this last tip is the biggie, and doing this one means you won't need to bother with the others.

If you have been taking good care of yourself—working out, eating right, getting enough sleep—then you have been in training for real-life adventures. Reward yourself on your next holiday. Pick a fun, physically active adventure, and build a trip around it.

Cycle from Saigon to Angkor Wat, or through New England. Dive or snorkel in the blue waters of the Caribbean, or the Pacific, or the Indian Ocean. Refine your yoga practice at an ashram in India, or Costa Rica, or upstate New York. Go climbing in the Swiss Alps, or Utah, or Kentucky. Take a rafting trip down the Colorado River—or through the French countryside, where you'll float past vineyards and villages.

Are these just pipe dreams that are too expensive or complicated to be considered? Think again. If you can afford a family vacation to Disney World, or a Caribbean cruise, or a high-season week at any seaside resort, then you can afford something better. You can do something much more memorable, interesting, and active. Before you go on autopilot and book the usual beach holiday, think for a minute.

What's your dream? Do you want to charter a sailboat in the Mediterranean, or on the Chesapeake Bay? Have you always talked about wanting to cross-country ski in Vermont? Then do it. Go! Why else have you been clocking all those hours in the gym? You have the strength and the energy—and if you don't, you know how to train for it.

Do some Internet research, and book a trip that excites you and makes you a little nervous. These are the eyes wide open, active experiences that you will remember for the rest of your life. As an added bonus (not that you need one), you'll return from an adventure vacation looking and feeling exhilarated, recharged, inspired, and even more fit and fabulous than when you left home.

Can six days of all-you-can-eat seafood buffets and beach lounging do all that? Hardly.

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