Everybody loves taking road trips and if you life in Texas, taking a few road trips a year with the kids can take you to wonderful locations such as Houston, San Antonio, Austin and so much more. Planning out your road trips is a part of the family fun as you try to nagivate which roads to take, where you’ll stop on the way to your destination along with planning dining and bathroom stops. From my experience on road trips with the kids it’s so easy to just stop at a fast food place or a diner serving home cooked and greasy food. For my own personal preference, I want the kids to eat healthy options on the road and it seems that the only way to accomplish that is to pack my own food and snacks.
However, while road tripping through Texas healthy eats are still something that can be found on some of your favorite routes. Also, I give tips on a few favorite things that you should be packing for your trip.
How not to eat a few of your favorite fried, greasy and unhealthy things
You can’t help it sometimes but you stop for some cheese puffs, fried chicken, donuts and more of your favorites. Sometimes the kids get out and grab anything that is self serve at the convenience store like slushees, candy, chips and anything at the checkout counter. So what’s a family to do? Try some of these tips for road trip healthy eating:
- Many of your popular convenience stores such as RaceTrac, 7 Eleven, QuikTrip, Sheetz and many others have healthy options with expiration dates. If they have fresh fruits, vegetables, sandwiches, yogurt and refrigerated options you may be able to get better options then those cupcakes, candy and shelf items filled with preservatives. Also opt for granola bars, dried fruit and nuts or trail mix.
- Drink to your health and bypass the carbonated soft drinks and sugary beverages. Head to a refrigerated aisle and look for skim or low fat milk, fresh orange juice, yogurts, or unsweetened drinks.
- If your only options are fast food places then opt for the healthy options such as the salads. If you must have a burger opt for a side item that is healthier. Places like Wendy’s and Chick Fil A give you the option to replace the french fries with a salad or fruit. Stay away from the fried options and go for baked or grilled. For condiments avoid cheese and mayo and opt for mustard with zero calories.
- Starbucks seems to be growing in popularity alongside interstates. At Starbucks you can get some great options on the healthier options for eating. Their dried fruit and nuts, protein platters, sandwiches, fresh fruit and even their oatmeal is better options. Also, order your coffee skinny with options like soy, non fat or low fat cream or milk.
- Sandwiches – Places like Subway, Wawa and other sandwich places along the interstates are great options in controlling how healthy you are eating because you are putting in the options for your sandwich. Choose wheat or whole grain breads, limit the mayo and opt for mustard, eliminate the cheese and a lot of healthy veggies and choose lean meats.
- Consider smoothies or frozen yogurt – Smoothies available now at many fast food restaurants are also great options for better eating. You can add your fresh fruit to these options.
Tips for bringing your own food options
As I mentioned earlier, you may need to bring your own food to ensure that you get healthy eating options. Opt for lots of bottled water, veggies, fruit, cheese sticks, hummus and drinkable yogurt. You can also take ingredients for making sandwiches and/or protein powders for your protein shakes. I also highly recommend taking a probiotic for the whole family while you are on vacation.
Bringing a probiotic with you on vacation
A probiotic provides help with digestion and immunity support. Culturelle has some great options for kids and most recently they did a study showing that 47% of families reported their children getting sick while on vacation or traveling. It’s no wonder if you see the list of foods that I mentioned when I first wrote this post. You tend to eat without a care in the world of reading labels. Just because you are on vacation doesn’t mean you can be irresponsible with how the family eats. Taking a probiotic while on vacation can help at the beginning of illnesses by increasing the amount of good bacteria in the digestive tract.
In the study done by Culturelle, Dr. Erika Landau, practicing pediatrician, Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the author of The Essential Guide to Baby’s First Year, has stated that “To maintain your child’s healthy digestive tract during travel, I recommend they take a probiotic that has a scientifically researched strain for use in children, such as Culturelle, which contains 100% Lactobacillus GG.”
The portable products that Culturelle provides are perfect for trips or on the go. Easy to take in your purse and to have on hand where ever you may be. You can take them on the plane and in the car. My five year old tried the Culturelle probiotic packets in her orange juice every morning while on our vacation as well as in the weeks leading up to Back to School. She has not had a stomach ache and seems to be in better health and has a lot of energy to start her day.
There is also Culturelle chewables. Individually foil wrapped priobiotic supplement pills that are for children over 50 pounds. I could not give these to my daughter unless she had a bad stomachache because she weighs right at 50 pounds and since she’s been taking the powder she hasn’t experienced an illness where she needs to take the pills yet. However, being so convenient for families to take, I would definitely recommend this not just for traveling but also for school. Healthy kids learn better when they are attending school and not when they are at home sick. What I found really interesting about their products is that they have way more priobiotics then yogurt and that the packets were tasteless and color less. My daughter didn’t even notice the difference.
Costs
The Culturelle Probiotic packets can range anywhere from $21.99 to $29.99. As of this writing I found it on sale at the Vitamin Shoppe for $17.99 and that includes 30 packets. For the Culturelle Kid’s Chewables can range from $19.99 to $25.99 and includes 30 tablets.
My recommendation
I would highly recommend having your kids take this product regularly. I think it does wonders to keep kids healthy and their digestive tracts healthy. I would rank this product 5 stars out of 5. I believe the cost per month’s supply is worth it and the health benefits are enormous. I’m thinking of getting this product for myself in the adult version. I have peace of mind with this product because not only is it parent recommended but it is also the #1 pediatrician recommended brand.
To learn more about Culturelle visit their site at culturelle.com. You can get a $1.00 off coupon by providing Culturelle with some information and signing up for their mailing list. You can also get a $3.00 coupon if you refer three friends.
So tell me how do you feed your family healthy while you are on vacation?
Disclaimer: The above post is a sponsored post. All opinions presented are 100% mine. Product was provided in order to furnish this review.
