The ins and outs of business trips — airport delays, food on the run, sitting in a car for hours on end, entertaining customers with food and drink — are often also the ins and outs of the traveler's waistline.
With recent studies indicating that obesity looms as a leading cause of preventable death in the United States, are business travelers at the forefront of a deadly trend? They need not be, says Terry Riley, a psychologist-author and expert on managing travel behavior. His latest book shows how, with some forethought, travel can be a weight-loss opportunity.
“The Complete Travel Diet,” (Applied Psychology Press, $12.95, softcover) bills itself as an "ON the road guide for taking pounds OFF.” While aimed mainly at leisure travelers, some of its lessons are universal, Riley says.
Some of his suggestions: Think of airline terminals as gyms for long walks and stair climbing; don't guess at what you're doing, but keep a log of activity and calorie intake; get off the subway or out of the taxi several blocks before your destination and finish the trip on foot.
“One reason I wrote the book is that I lost almost 20 pounds, most of it on the road,” Riley said in an interview. Travel “gives me a chance to pay more attention to what I do or how I exercise. I like to call these 'activities.' It gives people a chance to establish new behaviors, and I brought some of those behaviors home,” he said.
Success, he adds, can come with a few small changes rather than big alterations in behavior.
The schedules and circumstances in which business travelers operate can sometimes present unique problems, Riley said. One is that “people who are in fairly good shape can make others feel self-conscious, and you don't want to do that to a client. So there are some techniques — like saying you had a big lunch” when you order something light for dinner, he said.
In some respects, eating right on the road is easier these days, he says. Travelers forced to spend more time within security barriers at airports are finding more wholesome food available and “even a fast-food patron can make better choices.”
Packing fruit or other healthy snacks is easy with some advance thought, Riley said, and a doubly good idea at a time when airline food has disappeared on many routes.
“It's important to eat regularly during the day. Travel is just kind of a longer affair these days. If you don't eat for a long time what happens is that, eventually, you pig out,” he said. “And, it will happen.”
For more information see the Web site http://www.completetraveldiet.com.
On a related note, travel in far-flung places can present very different problems when it comes to eating. A series of books from a U.S. publisher, aimed at demystifying cuisines and deciphering menus has added a seventh to its collection — "Eat Smart in India" (Ginkgo Press Inc., $13.95).
Other books in the series have covered Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia, Poland and Morocco. The next in the line of Eat Smart guides will cover Peru.
For additional information see the Web site http://www.ginkgopress.com.
