Food options on the road are restrictive and not especially friendly to Paleo or low-carb lifestylers. Usually, I can make due at restaurants and select fast food joints (In and Out, Chipotle) However, the hardest place to eat is the airport. Once past security, you are held hostage within the security parameters and all the (terrible) choices it offers. Short flights are no problem because I can bring snacks. It is increasingly challenging as the hours increase, where I spend a lot of time agonizing about food and end up regretting what ever I put in my mouth. I don't want stinky airport food to be the cheat portion of my weekly diet. My body is better for eating nothing at all than crap.
Somewhere between my flights from ONT to SLC to ORD, I had an epiphany while listening to Mark Sission's interview on Latest in Paleo. I can designate my flying time to fasting instead of eating crap at the airport because fasting isn't bad for my health! Mark got my attention when he suggested intermittent fasting. He explains the science and benefits of fasting with loads of citations and facts from his blog: The Health Benefits of Intermittent Fasting (Feb. 2011), Is Intermittently Fasting Healthy? (Aug. 2007), and Fasting Makes You Active (Dec. 2010).
Traveling is my best time for fasting because my body is forced into inactivity. For hours between flights, I am stuck sitting or passed out in my seat. As long as hydration is not an issue, fasting is a viable strategy for maintaining health and sanity on the road. Please don't categorize this as rationalized anorexia and don't use this to rationalize any eating disorder. In my case, I was contextualizing years of training from my grandmother, who unlike my first world upbringing, had really struggled with hunger and food during war times. Some of her eating and food views were different from mine but definitely not all. She and my family were the ones who made me a "real food" eater before it was trendy.
