With all the great advice I get on this site and especially the IP forum, I thought I'd give back a little for a change. I travel a great deal with my work, and have been OP since June 11 and not cheated once - even at restaurants. Given that, here's a few tips I've learned along the way:

1. Think about your trip - personal vs. business, etc. and where you'll be and what will be available to you for veggies, salad, protein, etc. buy food accordingly.
2. plan your day - think about your schedule and activities so you can adjust.
3. Bars are a travellers best friend - no shaker needed and can go in a coat pocket (or purse, ladies). Just calculate the increased carbs into the equation.
4. Subway is also a traveller's best friend -a veggie salad gives you close to 2 cups of veggies of a good variety. I also use regular mustard for a salad dressing. I use mustard on their sandwiches, so why not?! It works great and makes for some interesinting conversations!
5. Restaurants will almost always work with you. If they don't want to accomodate, I go the gluten free route, and say I'm allergic or that I need a diabetic diet choice. But when I'm light hearted with my server and tell them I'm allergic to fat - makes me swell up, they almost always loosen up and help me!
6. water bottles and Starbucks cups make great shakers so I don't have to pack mine.
7. Water! Water! Water! A gallon a day keeps the hungries away. 2 cups an hour gets you a gallon in by dinnertime so you're not up and down all night long!!! lol
8. I buy sugar free jello for my nighttime snack on the road. 10 calories and no carbs. (By the way- the Hunts brand has carbs- Jello doesn't).
9. I've actually carried cucumbers on a plane since most veggies in airport food courts are steamed with butter.
10. I pack a zip lock of lemon juice packs, salt/pepper packets, mustard packs, WF salad dressing, foil packs of tuna for emergencies (small town restaurants don't do healthy well, so I've had tuna, mustard, and cucs for dinner on multiple occasions). I also keep an IP drink packet and bar in the zip lock for emergencies.

Okay, that's enough for now! Since starting IP in June, I've put in around 50 room nights in hotels, 10 plane trips, many road trips, and a week's vacation doing mission work in Mexico - never cheated once!!! It works!!!!
Have a great weekend!!!
Ken

WOW that is impressive and very inspirational and helpful!! Thanks for all the tips!!

That is great information to share. Thanks a bunch!

nice tips

I'm not much of a traveler these days but I am a busy mom who runs around...these tips are very much appreciated and will be helpful as I zip to an fro in town! Thanks so much!

Thanks! Super helpful! I'm traveling for work in a few weeks and have been brainstorming ideas...I got as far as thinking I need to pack bars . Thanks for sharing yours!

Wow! Lotsa road time there. Thanks for all the wonderful tips. Luckily our food is pretty portable. It isn't so daunting when well planned.

Thanks for the great tips. I had forgotten about Subway salads.

I like the Crispy Cereal, so I throw 2 or 3 paper bowls and plastic spoons in my suitcase, depending on my stay. All I need is bottled water, and I have a fast breakfast in my hotel room and a nice change if I'm doing shakes for lunch.

I also use the "I'm diabetic and you'll have to call an ambulance if you put any sugar in my food" phrase when ordering in restaurants to make sure they don't use any sugar or extra fat. I think concerns about liability make them more careful. I don't feel guilty about it either. Sugar and fat and carbs created a perfect storm of health hazards for me, as I think it has for many of us here. I was going to need an ambulance at some point for the pending heart attack or stroke.

I've found that Thai and Chinese restaurants can make a great IP-friendly chicken-beef- or shrimp-veggie stirfry if you tell them you're diabetic. They always have a good selection of veggies on their menus.

Great info! I am not on the road as much as you, but I am always on the go! Thanks!

Thank you so much!

Thanks so much for the tips. Just goes to show that if you are serious about this plan it can work anywhere!

Thanks for the Thai and Chinese tip! I had written those 2 off while OP. And I don't use a bowl for my crispy cereal - I use the coffe cup or water glass in the hotel room. and if you don't have cold cold water- water from the ice machine is almost always filtered- I use the melted water in the morning so my cereal is cold! And I also pack a camping spork and just wash it when I'm done so I don't risk forgetting the disposables.

This information is great. I have a lot of travel coming up. The tuna idea and mustard packs is excellent. Now, I just need to find mustard in packets.

Thanks so much for taking the time to list everything.

I too have been avoiding most Asian restaurants while on IP (to the chagrin of my co-workers). My one exception was a Vietnamese Restarant when instead of ordering by usual Pho (yum), i ordered Bun sans noodles. What was left was the lettuce, veggies, and meat - Vietnamese salad.

I too keep mustard and soy sauce packets with extra tuna, salt, and IP drink packet in my purse