Healthy Trucking

It’s not what you think

“They are trying to trick me!” the driver exclaimed. “That kind of stuff should be illegal.”
     The driver had recently started using my weight-loss program, and I happened to meet him in a truck stop. I needed to go to the store anyway, so I asked him if he wanted to come with me so I could show him what to look for. In my book, I stress that one needs to get in the habit of reading labels. Don’t just go by the package cover.
     I should mention that this gentleman needed to lose about 100 pounds to get to his goal. He had lost some weight on his own, but then he plateaued and just couldn’t take any more off. He had some ankle and back problems as well. As a result, his exercise options were limited. I assured him that I knew exactly where he was coming from...been there, done that.
     Meanwhile, back at the store, in the bread aisle, I asked him to pick out the kind of bread he should be getting. He grabbed a loaf that he usually gets, and said he really likes it because it’s so good for you. The package said: “100% Natural Multi Grain.” I was skeptical. So we read the ingredients and the first ingredient was enriched bleached wheat flour. It also contained high fructose corn syrup. I told him that enriched wheat flour is just white flour. That’s when he got upset.
     Just make sure it is 100% whole grain. The sweetener that is in bread should not be high-fructose corn syrup, but either honey, molasses or just regular sugar in small doses.
     We looked at some other products like yogurt, cereal, deli meats and cheese, canned beans and soups and some snacks. I pointed out the sugar levels in so much of the canned things and showed him what to look for.
So many of the snacks he thought were healthy contained hydrogenated vegetable oils – another thing to avoid.
     As we proceeded, he was full of questions. I always stress that one of the worst things you can do is starve yourself. You need to eat several times a day. He was stuck in the mentality that you cannot eat anything in the evening, but when the ravenous beast of hunger comes around, what do you do? I told him to take the edge off by eating something. I said to eat about five or six reduced fat Triscuits with some low-fat garden vegetable cream cheese on them.
     As for exercise options, the 19th wheel is the best thing I have found that is effective and viable. There is also the driver’s seat workout. Exercise cannot be neglected if you want to be successful. Go to the Web site safetythruwellness.com to learn about this program.
     Jack Kelsh is a professional over-the-road driver and a certified sports nutritionist.