Healthier Eating Begins With Counting Calories

 This post appears in the August 2011 issue of Truck News and Truck West Magazines

Last week I did a trailer switch in Headingley, MB with one of our Edmonton based drivers. I thought I would be a nice guy and pick up the tab for dinner. Dinner was simple, a Cesar salad and coffee for me, a banquet burger with fries and coffee for my buddy. The quality of the food was so-so and the same goes for the service. With tax and tip it was over $27 at the truck stop. If you have to depend on buying all your meals on the road it's not unreasonable to budget $30 to $40 a day for meals, coffee breaks, and snacks. So if you spend 25 days a month on the road your monthly budget for food alone would be in the neighborhood of $750 to $1000 per month. Like many drivers out here on the road I pack a lot of my food and spend a little extra time preparing my own meals in the truck taking the time for a sit down meal when I'm just too worn out to bother 'cooking' in the truck. I'm glad I find some enjoyment in preparing my own meals because I couldn't afford it otherwise. I appreciate that some folks have no interest in cooking or food preparation out here. A lot of people would rather spend what little free time they have doing something else. But that choice comes at a premium doesn't it? And with all the same restaurants and fast food joints in every city and town we stop in it can be difficult to find any joy in eating a meal.

Tobacco and snack foods play an important role in the course of a day for many, many drivers. They are often the source of relief for boredom, fatigue, and stress. Driving for many hours a day can be mind numbing. Eating and smoking are very effective ways of bringing the mind back to the present moment. In the past I have been dependent on smokes and snacks for what I felt was a very beneficial purpose, staying alert and calm. Of course the long term effect is destructive. It took me a good number of years to come around to the full realization that healthier food choices, sleep, and exercise were a far better combination for combating that mind numbing feeling we more commonly call fatigue. I had myself convinced that smoking and eating were something I had to do to get through my day. In fact they had become a crutch and were not a solution to keeping me alert, awake, and stress free as I went about my daily routine.

But it was hard to break the routine I had fallen into. Besides I love snack food. I've never met a nacho cheese Dorito I didn't like, plus I can never eat just one. It doesn't matter the size of the bag, if it's open and by my side it's getting emptied. I admit it, I have no will power when it comes to Doritos. I know many of you have a similar weakness to your own favorite snack. In the past couple of columns I have said that the key for me to making a change in what I eat comes from starting to read food labels. Doing this very simple thing set me on a path of discovery and understanding about my body, my health, the food I eat, and level of exercise I require.

After I had quit smoking my weight continued to climb. I was snacking more to compensate for the smoke that wasn't in my mouth. Knowing that I would continue to gain pounds if I continued to consume more calories than what I was burning off in a day I looked up my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). That is how many calories I require in the course of a normal day. I posted this number up in the truck where it was always in my face. Back in 2001 that number was about 2500 calories for a 235 pound male with a sedentary lifestyle. Then I just started reading those food labels and pretty soon I was calculating in my head what I could and could not eat. It became something of a game I played with myself and it was a great source of motivation. I started to look for alternative foods that gave me more volume for less calories. This all happened slowly, I didn't try to change my life overnight I just allowed it to happen in it's own way.

I know this sounds a little too simple but that's the beauty of it. Any changes we make to our lifestyle out here on the road must to be done in small increments if we want those changes to be lasting and to be permanent. Making those changes is good for your health and for your pocketbook.