Healthy Eating On The Go . . .
Yeah Right . . .

Healthy eating on the go was never easy for me. How about you?

As I mentioned in My Story, I use to be on the road a lot with my sales job.

Out of 21 meals in a week, probably 14 of them were at one kind of restaurant or another. I was always pretty good about avoiding fast food but that still didn't protect me from fat, sugar, carbohydrates, salt, gluten, fried food and alcohol . . . which of course didn't help with the gout either.

Lucky me, now I work from home! I eat waaaaaay better now.

I've tried to keep my information simple throughout my whole website because, well, let's face it; if you're here you've got gout. And if you've got gout there's a pretty good chance the way you live and eat could use an overhaul.

My whole purpose here is to get you to think about what you might do differently and spark some ideas about healthy eating on the go.

It's a safe bet that you've got some kind of crazy life and that's why you have gout. That's normal. It's taken a huge amount of "paying more attention" for me to make progress, you will too.

Here's where I have to start: Water

Water is magic. It's step #1 for healthy eating on the go. Drink a big glass first thing as soon as you sit down to eat anywhere. Before the beer, before the (red) wine, before you do anything else and definitely instead of sodas or milk. Water fills you up and flushes you out . . . drink it.

Next: Wheat

We went through a whole piece about Celiac's Disease and Wheat on another page. (click the link)

Wheat is in everything these days. And the bigger problem is that "whole wheat" doesn't necessarily mean that it's "whole-grain". Here's the difference:

"Whole-grain" means that all parts of the grain are still there; germ, endosperm, and bran. Sometimes you read that "enriched whole wheat flour" has been used to make bread and it's been stripped of the germ and the shell. When it is like that, all that is left is the carbohydrates . . . ie; Sugar.

Nevertheless, avoid bread and pasta. (notice I said avoid, sh*t happens) Especially the cheap ones. That's right, no pizza, no burritos . . . with burgers, throw away the bun. This might put a damper on your healthy eating on the go, but read on.

You may not have Celiac's Disease but (IMO) too much "gluten" is causing lots of immune deficiency problems for lots of people and is a considerable factor contributing to gout.

Dr. Steve Smiley has a lot to add to this conversation. Find what he has to say about grains and cereals and how they promote inflammation and therefore serious disease.

Breakfast Out:

• Get extra eggs, skip the toast (or English muffin or bagel) and hash-browns. (gluten and deep-fried food)
• Get the ham steak instead of the bacon or sausage.
• Go easy on the cheese, milk and coffee if at all.
• Get the mushroom/broccoli/bell pepper and onion omelet whenever you can.

Personally, eggs do weird things to me so I'm more of a protein smoothie kind of guy. Fruit and yogurt is good but can be tricky because of all the hidden sugar. Same with granola.

Oatmeal and cold cereal is a crap-shoot. Too often oatmeal is the instant kind and it's been stripped in the same way wheat has. (see the explanation above)

In a nutshell: get all the protein and vegetables and fruit you can, avoid the carbohydrates as much as possible at every meal.

Lunch Out:

This one might be the hardest on you if you are used to a real manly-man kind of lunch. Be strong.

To avoid "gluten" you have to avoid breads and pastas because they are usually made from wheat but not always. Rice is a carbohydrate but does not contain gluten. (however "minute" rice gets stripped in the same way wheat does and turns it into sugar, see above, be careful)

Here's some ideas;

• Eat big bowls of hearty soups, the broth-ier the better. Get the ones with rice not pasta. No cream-based soups.
• Big chef salads with lots of turkey and ham; use oil and vinegar type dressings not the creamy ones.
• Big Caesar salads with grilled chicken or salmon, careful with the dressing.
• Good Chili like Texas-style chili or different chili's with lots of meat, beans, onions and peppers. Get two bowls if you have to!
• There are all kinds of different Asian foods that use generous amounts of vegetables, spices, different fishes and meats, all stir-fried and served with rice. (stay away from the buffets and deep-fried foods)
• There are also some good options with Mexican food. Hold the tortillas and get some kind of Fajita plate or the Carne Adovada (pork tenderloin marinated in a chili sauce) with beans and rice. How's that for healthy eating on the go?
• If nothing else, just get a big burger without the bun and a big salad.

In a nutshell: steer clear of deep-fried foods, creamy and/or cheesy dressings and soups, and eat meats and fishes boiled, broiled, roasted, baked or grilled as often as possible.

Dinner Out:

This should be a little easier;

• 6 oz. of meat or fish - boiled, broiled, roasted, grilled or baked. (if you need more, try to work down to that amount)
• A generous portion of vegetables - steamed, baked, boiled, sauteed, stir-fried . . . anything but deep-fried.
• Starch - baked potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, squash, whole-grain rice, Bulgar, quinoa . . . anything but wheat-based pasta and breads.
• Legumes - Pinto beans, black beans, lentils, chick peas, Adzuki beans, Butter beans, Edamame and many others. Use caution with beans and legumes, don't eat them several meals or several days in a row, they can stir up gout something fierce.
• Salads - Romaine, Red leaf, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, carrots, onions, raisins, apples, seaweed, sunflower and sesame seeds, sprouts, peppers, etc. Salads are a great way to get creative and healthy eating out. Skip the croutons and creamy dressings.

I'm sure we both could come up with many more ideas for healthy eating on the go if we give it enough time and energy but this should give you some ideas about where to go with it all.

Dessert: Not much to say, dessert usually means Sugar. Sherbet and fresh fruit are the safest and cleanest but not always the most exciting. If you can't resist, split it and/or tell yourself you're going to leave some of it on the plate and walk away. Good luck.

Snacks: Do what I've done - talk yourself into buying and eating more fruit; bananas, apples, oranges, peaches, plums. Dried apricots are great.

Also make the habit to buy and eat more nuts; peanuts, cashews, etc.

Do get out of the habit of potato chips, crackers, Doritos, candy bars, cookies, Ho-hos and Ding-dongs. Even "granola bars" are usually just trans-fats and high-fructose corn syrup. That crap will kill you . . . imagine that - death by gout.

Make yourself buy bottled water, pass on the cokes and Gatorade.

Fast Food: First watch the documentary Super-Size Me and then see what you think about healthy eating on the go. Then if you still want to eat at fast food restaurants, here are a couple of ideas;

First, throw the bun away. Then eat as much of the pickles, lettuce, onions and tomatoes as you can with the piece of meat - preferably the grilled chicken. No fries, no coke, no deep-fried foods. If you can, get a Baked Potato and go easy on the butter, sour cream and bacon bits. Also get the salad with low-cal oil and vinegar dressing. Otherwise, stay the hell out of those places because it's low quality food that comes from all kinds of weird places.

Gas Stations: They might try to convince you that they've got healthy eating on the go covered at the gas station, but don't be fooled. This is it - nuts, dried fruit, and water. That's it, and it's going to be the lowest quality. Don't waste your time, get back in the car and go to the grocery store if you have to.

Buy (or grow!) your own food and cook your own meals as much as possible. It will help you gain control of your gout, your overall health and bring new meaning to "Healthy Eating On The Go!".

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