Camping and staying on track

  • How do you do it! I am going camping this weekend and I plan my diet but somehow I always have a downfall. I know one reason is a might have a few cocktails(I know, I know empty calories), and I forget about my water.
    But does anyone else have any thoughts on how they are SUCCESS on a camping trip or cottage.
    Thanks
  • I was camping a few weeks ago and survived... I packed a lot of OP Snacks and stayed away from triggers. Yes I had some cocktails - but exercise and all the walking around and moving around all day was able to not sabatoge my diet too badly.

    Some things I packed -
    Veggie Tray
    Low fat spinach dip
    Hummus
    Blackbean/Cilantro Salsa w/ blue corn tortilla chips
    Grilled Veggie burgers
    Cucumber/tomato salad

    ENjoy!!

    PS when it was s'more time - I just ate the graham crackers...
  • I went camping recently and I think my biggest downfall was not paying attention to what I was eating. I felt so prepared with a ton of "healthy" snacks, so I overdid those snacks. I tend to be hungry all the time outside. I feel now that I would have the strenght to pay more attention and slow down the eating a bit. One thing I would still have was my s'more replacement. It sounds a bit silly, but we sliced down the lenghth of an unpeeled banana and put natural peanut butter on the inside. Then wrapped that in foil and tossed it on the coals until it was soft. It was great by itself or with baked pitas. A tiny bit of dark chocolate is good that way too.
    Stay strong and be aware, and as Marathon Mom said...keep moving.
  • Camping, I did that with my boy on my last business trip, bought too much so I need to "refine" my plan for next trip.

    Of course there's turkey dogs or those Hebrew fat free dogs to grill. With whole wheat buns. Bring mustard or healthy ketchup without all the sugar, or Dijoinase. Camping wouldn't be the same without roasting some hot dogs would it? Or Boca burgers grilled with WW buns? Take some tin foil and grill some veggies too, asparagus, sweet potatoes, onions, green peppers, etc. As for coleslaw, next time I'm taking my own as I bought some at the store. I'm actually acquiring a taste for the precut brocolli coleslaw mixed with some bals. vinegrette. My boy and I did do smores, is there a "healthy" version? Because the chocolate, marshmellows and grahm crackers had my boy wired with sugar half the night! Of course there's beans or chili, how about Amy's chili? Just warm it up with a small pan over the grill. You'd of course need to bring charcoal and a lighter, I discovered the prelighted charcoal on this trip, no need to pour on fluid. At night you can heat up some sugar free cocoa and make hot chocolate.

    I'm not an egg eater but I'm sure you could figure out how to cook up some eggs (if you do egg beaters would be handy), I eat just the whites then use them on a sandwich with canadian bacon or soy sausage, add some cheese and a ww english muffin. Better then Micky D's. Lunch could be deli turkey or ham, tortillas or ww bread, those handy easy open canned fruit deals or fresh fruit like apples and oranges that travel well. I'm reading that the Original Sun Chips are as good as chips get, my boy likes them too. Cut veggies, celery, carrots and cauliflower are handy for snacks, beef or turkey jerky too. Or dried fruit, trail mix, nuts and bars. Yogurt and cottage cheese in handy small packs. Peanut butter in small tubs.

    Bring along water, juice, diet soda, coffee or whatever you like to drink. Freeze the water bottles before you go so they'll cool your cooler too. As for alcohol, either light beer or sangrias, wine mixed with sparkling water. Or vodka and Fuse is good. Or what is it you add to hot chocolate if it's cold?
  • One s'more isn't too bad. Marshmallows are fat-free, one lo-fat graham cracker broken in half isn't many calories, and you can get those individually-wrapped squaes of Hershey's dark chocolate--45 cal per square.
  • Oh gosh. I have a love/hate relationship with s'mores. They taste wonderful but boy are they a mess to eat. And especially when you're camping without running water. eek. Haha.

    Everyone has suggested really good alternatives. And November2007, peanut butter and bananas are DIVINE. I'm drooling.
  • I was just camping last weekend. I didn't go completely crazy, but I wasn't extremely disciplined. My saving grace is that we walk.hike A LOT while we're out. Burns a ton of calories, so a few diet mishaps don't show up as badley.
  • Horsey, I add chambord (sp?), the raspberry flavored liquour to hot chocolate -mmmmmmm. Yeah, I know the calories go up, but mixed with sugar free hot chocolate, it is a divine dessert choice for adults.

    Great suggestions everybody! I'll be camping in August, so I'll be using some of these ideas, to be sure!