8 travel Tips for WFPB Eaters
You’ve cleaned out your kitchen pantry, restocked it with WFPB-compliant foods and started batch cooking every week. When it comes to your new WFPB lifestyle, you are completely on point.
Wait a minute! What about that trip to Hawaii that you’ve got coming up next month? How will you stay on track with your new WFPB eating plan if you can’t cook for yourself? Can you eat out and stay compliant?
If you’re starting your WFPB diet now, you may come up against this scenario soon. Will you be doing any traveling this summer? I’m sure many of you are, and you’ve probably had those very questions in the back of your mind. You’re wondering how you’re going to stay on your WFPB eating plan while away from home. All you need are a few strategies and a good plan. I’d like to offer you seven tips that should help you get started.
1. Pack your own healthy snacks and convenience foods.
Don’t count on being able to find WFPB snack options at convenience stores. It’s a challenge, to say the least. Pack your own. Grab the easy-to-carry fruits like apples, oranges and bananas. Throw some grapes in a Ziploc bag. If you like crunchy snacks, pretzels, and air-popped popcorn are good choices as they’re both low in fat. Also nuts and seeds are easy to pack as they don’t take up much space. Be aware, however, that if you’re flying, you may not be able to bring nuts on flights. New restrictions have come into play due to the large number of people with nut allergies.
2. Reserve accommodations that give you access to a kitchen or at least a mini fridge and microwave.
When choosing accommodations, look for options that include a kitchen. Renting a room in someone’s home via Airbnb would be a way to accomplish this. Several hotel chains such as Extended Stay America, Embassy Suites and Holiday Inn offer hotel rooms with kitchen facilities, according to an article on NerdWallet.com entitled, “The Complete Guide to Hotels with Kitchens” written by Ramsey Qubein. Do proper research ahead of time. Not every hotel in these chains will have rooms with kitchenettes. You may not want to spend your entire trip cooking for yourself, but this way you have an option that may keep you from going completely off the WFPB rails.
3. If flying, find the airlines that offer vegan meals and snacks.
We live in an age where plant-based eating has become more and more common and the airlines are starting to jump on the vegan bandwagon. Many airlines, both foreign and domestic, are now offering vegan choices of snacks and meals. According to an article on vegnews.com entitled “These 11 Airlines are Serving Restaurant-worthy Vegan Inflight Meals,” Delta, American Airlines, United Airlines and Jet Blue all offer vegan snacks. According to the article’s author, Karen Asp, many airlines offer vegan meals, such as Emirates, Alaska Airlines, and Singapore Airlines. In some cases, according to Asp, these plant-based options are only offered to first-class passengers and in most cases, you must order your meal when you buy your ticket. It’s important to check out the details in advance and get your order in when you buy your ticket or you may be left without a meal on your flight.
4. Do research on the restaurants in the city you’ll be visiting.
Jump on the internet in advance of your trip. Find the vegan restaurants in the city or town where you will be vacationing or on business. Make note of the ones closest to your accommodations, closest to your desired price point and with the best reviews. You might also want to check out popular non-vegan restaurants to see which ones have the best vegan menu items in case your travel companions or family desire more animal-based meals. Ethnic restaurants, Asian ones in particular, make for good choices. They usually offer both animal-based and plant-based dishes. Either way, you’ll be prepared to make the best choices for staying on track with your WFPB eating plan.
5. When eating out, don’t be afraid to ask for adjustments to your order.
I know that it seems intimidating or uncomfortable to ask if you can have brown rice instead of white or if your dish can be cooked without oil, but after you do it once or twice it will get easier and most restaurants are happy to accommodate you. So don’t let fear hold you back from getting what you need. Ask for that salad dressing on the side. Ask if you can have that pasta without the shrimp. The more we plant-based eaters make our desires known, the greater the chances of seeing plant-based options in restaurants expand. That’s what supply and demand is all about.
6. If staying with friends, offer to do some of the cooking.
When visiting a friend’s home, it’s always polite to offer to help out. They are putting themselves out to have you there, after all. Why not offer to do some of the cooking? I’m sure your friends will be relieved to have some help in the kitchen. You could offer to prepare a dish for each meal you eat at their home. This will give you something plant-based to eat even if the rest of the meal is all animal-based. You may even find your friends interested in your vegan fare. If not, that’s okay. Just leave well enough alone. You must be tactful, though. You don’t want to insult them in any way or leave them feeling like you think their cooking is no good. You’ll just have to feel out the situation and do what you think is most appropriate.
7. Find a Whole Foods Market
If your research fails or you just can’t get to one of the restaurants you’ve chosen, try finding a Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods has a cafe, a deli counter, premade packaged meals and buffet-style stations where you can buy prepared food by the pound. They have all kinds of dishes including salads, soups and even pizza. It will be easy to find plant-based options there. According to their website, they ban 300+ colors, flavors, preservatives, sweeteners and more. Most Whole Foods have a few tables for eating there if you can get one or you can just take it with you and eat at your hotel or Airbnb.
8. In a pinch, try finding plant-based options at a fast food restaurant.
Okay, this wouldn’t be anyone’s first choice. It’s not going to be SOS-free, but some fast food establishments do offer limited plant-based choices. My favorite choice is Chipotle. They offer a vegan ground meat option called sofritas and two kinds of beans along with a few choices of veggies. And, to top it off you get to build your meal. I also like Panda Express. You can get a vegetable fried rice or chow mien, a mixed vegetable dish, and occasionally you can find an eggplant tofu dish as well. No, it’s not oil-free, but at least you can keep it plant-based. There are a few other options like Subway, Taco Bell and Dell Taco that you can get a plant-based meal at. These may not be the healthiest or most compliant choices, but if your tummy is rumbling and there is nothing else around, it will offer you a plant-based meal so you can get back on the road.
Conclusion
Traveling is just a fact of life for many of us. Sometimes it’s for a sought-out vacation and sometimes it’s a required business trip. Whatever lies behind your reason for being on the road, it’s going to affect your whole-food, plant-based diet. You’re probably not going to be able to stay 100 percent compliant and you don’t want to be stressing out the whole time worrying about it. So relax. The key is to do some planning, so your time away from home doesn’t pull you off track too far. Pack some compliant snacks, know where the vegan restaurants are and try and arrange it so you have access to kitchen facilities. At the same time, especially if you’re on a pleasure trip, you want to allow yourself to enjoy yourself. So find a balance, take the tips I’ve offered here and do the best you can. Bon Voyage and Good Luck!
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Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a medical professional. The information provided on the site is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your doctor before making dietary changes or using any advice given here.