Playing on the Road, Eating on the Run: Choose Healthier

July 1, 2025

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If you’re a touring musician, you know how difficult it is to find healthy food between gigs. Fast food and unwanted restaurant calories add up quickly as they are usually loaded with sodium, saturated fat, and sugar. Granted, nothing is going to be as healthy as a home cooked meal, where you control the ingredients, but now eateries do offer more variety in the way of grilled meats, grain bowls, and salads that fare better on the scale of nutrition.

Select beverages with fewer calories and no added sugar. In a pinch, convenience stores offer fat-free or low-fat yogurt, fruit packs, and trail mix. Keep in mind that some prepackaged foods look like single servings, but actually contain multiple servings. Avoid the obvious poor choices: fried food, high-fat meat, and milkshakes. Instead, choose sandwiches with fewer toppings and no cheese. Select salads with low-fat or fat-free dressing, replace French fries with sliced fruit, and swap out fried meats for grilled options, or even better, for fish.

Hidden Calories

Fast food chains use a halo symbol to indicate the healthier menu options. They may list the number of calories each item contains, but it’s only part of the equation. This claim usually overestimates the healthfulness of an item. Consumers often confuse low fat with low calorie, which results in overeating. Some veggie dishes pack nearly 1,000 calories, while a burger may have as few as 250. Make an informed choice by quickly looking up nutritional content of particular fast food items. You can easily check out menu options for a restaurant ahead of time.

According to one study, consumers chose beverages, side dishes, and desserts containing up to 131% more calories when the main dish was cited as healthy, even though the main dish contained more calories than the unhealthy option. A rule of thumb is to always read the nutrition facts before ordering. Many restaurants have added calorie counts to menus, so it’s becoming easier to riddle out how much you will be taking in.

Other studies have found that low-fat labels on snack foods encouraged people to eat up to 50% more than those who saw labels without the low-fat claim. Simply seeing the words low-fat encouraged people in these studies to consume 84 extra calories. When consumers see the low-fat label on a product, they automatically assume it has fewer calories.

Dehydration can cause sweet and salty food cravings. Stay hydrated and you will be less likely to snack. Fruits can add to overall hydration. Lettuce and some vegetables have high water content, as do watermelon, peaches, strawberries, oranges, pineapple, and blueberries.

Banana, Beans, Greens

Maximize protein and plant-based foods. Grab a banana at the hotel café or deli. Plant-based foods, plus plenty of protein, keep energy levels up. Generally avoid refined grains, sugary snacks, and fried foods. Bananas are considered a super fruit because they are high in B vitamins, calcium, and other minerals, such as magnesium and iron. Dark leafy greens, quinoa, nuts, seeds, and fruits, and foods high in probiotics (fermented foods) all boost energy. High-fiber and nutrient-heavy plant foods will burn for hours. Low-fiber and nutrient-light foods—simple carbohydrates—burn quickly. When you’re eating plant-strong, you won’t have the energy highs and lows.

Kale, mustard greens, collard greens, cabbage, and broccoli are high in nutrients and contain glycosylates, which inhibit the growth of certain cancers. Swiss chard and spinach have similar nutritional value. What’s more, they are available throughout the year, and both are rich in iron.

Double Down on Vitamins D and B

Nuts are satisfying proteins that fill you up, although select the “no salt” option. They have heart-healthy unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and fiber.

Eggs pack a punch, too. More than half the protein is found in the egg white, along with vitamin B2; egg whites are lower in fat and cholesterol than the yolk. Egg whites are also rich sources of selenium, vitamin D, B6, B12, and minerals, like zinc, iron, and copper.

If you like fish, it’s one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Like nuts, fish has plenty of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D. Vitamin D is critical for your nervous system, for balancing calcium in your blood and bones, and maintaining the immune system. (It’s also one nutrient that most people are deficient in.)

Refuel with Healthier Foods

• Grilled over fried—always.
• Ditch the soda—water is free.
• Lean proteins—chicken, turkey, fish.
• Shelf-stable, high-protein options—think nuts, peanut butter, canned tuna, and protein bars.
• Easy-to-eat fruit: apples, bananas, and oranges.
• Greek yogurt over regular—more protein, less sugar, and good for digestion.
• High fiber, protein—oats, brown rice, quinoa.
• Eggs—packed with protein.
• Nuts and seeds—healthy fats, great for snacking.
• Leafy greens—when in doubt, add spinach.
• Skip the mayo and heavy sauces.

There’s an App

There are a number of nutrition and calorie-counter apps that you can use to manage food intake. If you’re at a chain restaurant, you can probably find what you’re eating in the app’s database (or you can find the nutrition information on the chain’s website and add the item to your app).

Some apps also include their own daily recommended target or maximum for “sugar.” Ignore it. Health experts only recommend limiting the sugar that’s added to foods, not the sugar that occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, and milk.

Eat smaller, pint-size portions. Here’s where the kids’ menu can save on calories. If it’s not possible to eat healthy at one meal, make sure the next choice is a healthy one. Being mindful about what you are eating will pay off with increased energy and overall better health.

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