Let’s face it: fast food is the easiest and most convenient way to stay fed as a truck driver. Unfortunately, fast food joints don’t offer the healthiest meals on the road.
Eat too much of that stuff, and you could find yourself with many health problems, ranging from high blood pressure to gout or worse. Instead, let’s review five healthy and quick meals for truck drivers that you can whip up yourself or find at your favorite rest stops.
Why Do Truck Drivers Need To Eat Healthily?
Drivers need to eat healthy foods to feel good, maintain their energy levels, and drive safely. In fact, your food heavily impacts:
- Your attention span
- How much energy you feel while driving long hours
- How healthy you feel at the end of a long day
- How good your sleep is
- And more
In short, what you eat can massively impact your performance as a carrier. Because of that, all carriers need to eat healthily when possible.
In the long term, eating unhealthily could lead to various side effects and long-term health conditions, like cardiovascular disease, weight-related problems, and more. It's easier than ever to accidentally eat unhealthily, particularly if you take advantage of all the fast food restaurants along some of the most popular trucking routes.
Unfortunately, eating healthy is difficult for many in the shipping industry. According to some sources, seven out of every ten truck drivers are obese. You can avoid being a part of this statistic by making important diet adjustments.
What Are Some Healthy Meals for Truck Drivers?
There are lots of healthy meals that truck drivers like you can either make or purchase at frequent rest stops and restaurants. Skip the cheeseburgers, French fries, and burritos.
Instead, try these healthy meals and snacks instead.
Greek Yogurt With Fruit
Greek yogurt with fruit is a great breakfast choice or an excellent snack in the middle of the afternoon when you need a pick-me-up. Greek yogurt is packed with probiotics, helpful bacteria that bolster your gut microbiome and improve your digestion.
Fruit tastes good and comes with plenty of vitamins to help improve your immune system and other aspects of your physical health. Greek yogurt is a little bitter, so the fruit helps to balance out the flavor.
Greek yogurt with fruit is highly accessible, and you should be able to find some at most gas stations or rest stops.
Breakfast Burrito on Whole Wheat Tortilla
There's one type of burrito you can get away with eating if you want to improve your diet: a breakfast burrito made with whole wheat tortillas. Breakfast burritos with whole wheat tortillas are healthier than those made with flour or corn tortillas, plus they taste better overall.
You can enjoy eggs, veggies, salsa, and even some bacon in your burrito of choice. Just don't have this every day to ensure you don't eat too much bacon or sausage each week!
Salad With Protein
For lunch or dinner, salad with protein ensures that you get your daily helping of vegetables while providing some extra protein, like chicken or steak, for personal enjoyment. A good salad is more filling than you may think, thanks to loads of fiber.
Eating a salad with protein might make you less hungry in the afternoon before dinner, helping you avoid unnecessary snacking or munching on less-than-healthy treats.
Veggies and Hummus
Veggies and hummus are also excellent snacks for truck drivers on the go. Not only is this snack highly portable, but it's also easy to find at most gas stations.
Veggies are healthy for self-explanatory reasons: they have vitamins and minerals that can improve your diet and are packed with fiber to ensure that you don’t eat too many calories in the course of a day.
Hummus is a good dip that’s not nearly as unhealthy as ranch dressing, so it’s a preferable alternative if you prefer to snack on your veggies with a little extra flavor.
Turkey Burger With Veggies
What about dinner? To max out your dietary health, try a turkey burger with veggies. Turkey burgers are quite tasty but aren’t as risky for your health as red meat. Plus, the mouthfeel or texture of a turkey burger is similar to that of a traditional beef burger.
Instead of fries, pair your turkey burger with vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, or mushrooms (on the burger, if you like). This classic trucker meal can be ordered at many restaurants these days, so don’t worry about being unable to find it.
Alternatively, you can put together turkey burgers and veggies in your truck if you have the right equipment. Most grocery stores have ready-made turkey burger patties right next to beef patties.
Still need more healthy snack ideas for truck stop shopping or homemade meal prep? Here are some suggestions:
- Whole grain bread toast with peanut butter
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Fresh fruit and dried fruit
- Protein bars without too many carbs
- Mixed nuts, provided they are unsalted and high in healthy fats
- String cheese
- Low sodium trail mix
- Omelets
- Low-fat beef jerky
- Fish tacos
- Granola and yogurt
As you can see, there are plenty of healthy food choices to pursue that can help you lead a healthy lifestyle while avoiding things like heart disease.
What Are Some Tips To Help Truck Drivers Stay Healthy?
Aside from eating healthily, you can also stay healthy by pursuing other positive lifestyle changes.
For starters, buy a power inverter, which will let you make many of the foods above by powering a refrigerator or microwave. Not only does this save you money, but it also gives you more control over your food by enabling you to make meals in your truck.
Furthermore, you should try to exercise 30 minutes daily. Thirty minutes of exercise is enough to stave off serious health risks and improve your overall mental well-being. You'll feel better after some exercise, even if you just do some jumping jacks outside your truck.
On top of that, you can try driving during regular daylight hours if possible. That will help your circadian rhythm sync up with everyone else’s, plus help you avoid feeling tired when you hit the wheel the next day.
As a driver, you’re obligated to get a certain amount of sleep every night to ensure that you drive safely when you are behind the wheel. Try to avoid late-night driving sessions whenever you can.
Take a walk break once every few hours to restore circulation to your legs and help avoid stir-craziness. Even if it means just pulling off to the side of the freight lane and walking around for a few minutes, you’ll notice a major difference in your mental health by adopting this positive habit.
Lastly, remember to stay hydrated. Drink water frequently rather than drinks like Gatorade or soda. That’ll help you avoid packing on extra calories, plus help you feel alert while driving for long sessions.
The Bottom Line
Eating healthily is an important part of staying healthy for years to come. You are what you eat, so when you eat healthily, you’ll feel better and enjoy your body as it ages.
At RPM, we’re committed to helping carriers like you improve their careers and find new ways to maximize their potential. Contact us today to see how working for us can be a wise choice for your career.
Sources:
How much physical activity do adults need? | CDC.gov
How Truck Drivers Can Eat Healthy on the Road | Trucking Info
Healthy Eating Tips Truck Drivers | VA.gov
