Healthy Meal Choices for Truck Drivers

Healthy Meal Choices for Truck Drivers

Over the road trucker and healthy diet. No, this is not a game of "What Two Things Don't Go Together." It's a serious subject, and it's getting more critically important. Statistics are telling us that the stereotype of the overweight driver with "trucker gut" isn't a myth. Recent statistics show that 80% of over the road truck drivers are overweight and a whopping 50% are sliding into the obese category. It's actually shortening the lifespans of the folks who work so hard to deliver nearly everything the country needs. According to the Center for Disease Control, the life span of the average truck driver is an alarming 16% less than the average American.

Given those grim sounding numbers, what's a truck driver to do? Most truckers can't go hit the gym for an hour every day, and thinking you have to live on a diet of "sticks and berries" is downright depressing. Fortunately, there's a solution. It just takes a little planning, a bit of education about nutrition and an adjustment or two.

A good way to help plan what you're going to eat when you're on the road is to think, "What can I bring from home?" or "What could I pick up at a grocery store that's good portable fuel?" There are a lot of healthy, tasty options such as small bags of nuts, raisins, granola and dark chocolate chips. It's also important not to eat snacks straight out of a big bag or box. You can eat your way through a thousand calories before you know it.

There are a lot of basic things you can bring along that are satisfying snack alternatives. Pack healthy options like whole grain bread, peanut butter, cheese sticks, carrots and easy to eat fresh fruit like apples and bananas. If you like fresh vegetables like peppers, celery and other high fiber veggies, they're great for satisfy the need to be chewing something without piling on the calories and sugar. If you have a mini-fridge in your truck or have room for a cooler, it opens up an entire world of health friendly foods you can take on the road.

Here are some easy guidelines to make healthy meal choices easier:

- Choose lean meats like skinless chicken breast and fish.
- Choose grilled or roasted, not battered or fried.
- Think salads. But, watch out for high-calorie and fat laden creamy dressings. Ask for the dressing on the side. It gives you control over amounts.
- Be aware of all those popular starches like white bread and dinner rolls, potatoes and white rice. They aren't friendly to your waistline and don't provide much in the way of nutrition besides carbs and calories.
- When you do eat carbs, think complex carbohydrates. Whole grain breads, whole grain pastas, brown rice and oatmeal are made from the whole grain kernel. They provide more nutrition and are higher in fiber. That's why they do a better job of satisfying your appetite.
- Learn to read labels. If it doesn't specifically say "whole grain" it probably isn't. Learn to read grams of fat and sodium and know what they mean.

That may seem like a lot to digest, no pun intended, but understanding more about the foods we eat will make it easier to be aware of what and how much we put in our mouth. That doesn't mean everyone has to become a nutritionist, but a little learning can go a long way.

Over-the-road truck drivers are what keeps this country supplied with just about everything we use. The country needs you and your families need you to be healthy and be around for a long time. So take care of yourself out there. You're worth it.

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The Greatest Weight Loss Secret

What is the greatest weight loss secret? Is it lowering your food intake? Is it increasing your exercise? Is it a new magic pill or diet drink?

There is a fellow down the hall from my office. For several months now he has been trying to convince everyone he sees that this new magic, all-natural pill has helped him lose 30 pounds in less than 2 months. He claimed he has lost over 90 pounds total. What he fails to say is that over 60 of that came from lap-band surgery. Then he gained some of the weight back and now uses these pills to help him go on a starvation-like diet.

Another friend of mine and his wife are telling everyone that together they lost a combined 105 pounds in 3 months. He lost 55 and she lost 45. They found a doctor that gave them some kind of injection and they lived on a 500 calorie a day diet... another form of starvation.

Of course you don't have to watch much TV or listen to the radio very long before an advertisement for some new and miraculous cure for obesity comes on. The irony is that none of those magic ingredients are nearly as powerful as one simple reality:

What is the greatest secret to weight loss? It is this simple... "if you can see it you can be it"

Do you remember the old story about putting fleas in a jar? The story goes that if you put a bunch of fleas in a glass jar and screw the lid on they will start trying to jump out. Now, fleas are supposed to be extraordinary jumpers and could normally jump right out of the jar were it not for the lid. After a day or so, you can remove the lid and the fleas will jump but only to the top of the jar and not beyond. That's because they have become conditioned to only jump so high and, I suppose, prevent themselves from being injured by hitting the lid (which has now been removed).

We do that exact same thing. Over the years we have created imaginary barriers that we perceive to be limits to our success. Unfortunately, many of these barriers were put in place before we were 6 years old. But the point is, they are imaginary... not real. But, just like the fleas, we perceive them to be real and thus they limit our ability to move past them.

So, what does this have to do with your losing weight? It's everything! One of the most neglected elements in weight loss is actually seeing yourself at your ideal weight. When you can paint a mental picture of yourself at your ideal weight, you will have essentially won the battle.

Why do people buy magic pills and potions and spend millions of dollars on gimmicks to lose weight? It's because these things promise to break the barriers that are keeping you from losing. And, they work, at least temporarily. However, when you can break your own barriers when you remove you own "lid". You will reach your ideal weight, without the aid of pills and potions and can you can maintain it forever! See it, be it.

How do you paint the picture and destroy your mental barriers?

I am going to share a technique used by Natalie Ledwell as part of her MindMovies.

1. You sit down in a comfortable place. You close your eyes and begin to take deep, relaxing breaths.


2. Get as relaxed as you possibly can. Your arms and legs feel warm and a bit heavy.


3. With your eyes still closed begin mentally counting backwards from 10 to 1. As you count down, feel yourself relaxing deeper with every number.


4. Now, picture yourself in a beautiful place. Maybe on a beach or in a meadow. Wherever you can feel nature. You feel safe and totally at ease. You notice your surrounds. What are you hearing? What do you smell? Is it warm? Is there a breeze gently blowing? Just savor the peace and beauty of this place.


5. Now as you are in your safe and beautiful place, imagine 2 pictures appearing in front of you. One is very large and positioned directly in front of you. The other is much smaller and positioned in the upper left hand corner of your view.


6. Stare at the larger picture. It is you at your current weight. As hard as you try, you can't lose weight. You try to eat less. You try to exercise. You try to do all the right things but you are still heavy and can't seem to do anything about it. You are a failure. You feel all alone and not even worthy to be slender. Feel this pain. Feel this heartbreak. Face this picture head on.


7. Now, notice the smaller picture. It is up in the left hand corner and much smaller than the one in front of you. But it's different. It is a picture of you and you are at your perfect weight. You are happy. You feel younger than you have in years. Your friends are showering you with compliments. You are active, doing the exciting things you have always wanted to do. You look incredible.


8. Now, in an instant, switch the pictures with a snap. The picture of you at your ideal weight is now in front of you and the "old you" is in the background.


9. The old picture keeps trying to come back and dominate your view but every time it does, snap it back so that the "new you" remains in front of you. Keep snapping the "new you" picture to the foreground until it is all that you are conscious of.


10. This is you. Feel yourself smiling as you feel so alive and happy. It's a beautiful picture.


11. With this picture firmly planted in your minds eye, start wiggling your toes and fingers. Bring yourself back to consciousness, alive and feeling refreshed.

Try spending 10 minutes a day painting your own mental picture of yourself at your dream weight. I think you will be very impressed with the result.

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