Exercise and healthy eating for the OTR truck driver

There r alot of unhealthy foods at truck stops!!! Drivers, how do you stay healthy?

 

My basic formula for slow cooking is this: First off, I use a crock pot liner (makes for easy cleanup). Then I put a little bit of rice in the bottom to absorb liquid. Then I layer on meat and vegetables. Lots of vegetables. Then I pour a sauce over the top, roll up the remainder of the bag and close the lid. A few hours later, I've got good food with lots of leftovers.

Sometimes I skip the sauce if I don't think I need it. Example, I like to cook chicken with a can of black beans, a can of tomatoes, and some bell pepper and onion. Lots of flavor without any extras.

The hardest part for me was learning where I could park the truck to go shopping. My cooler isn't that big, and I don't like to keep uncooked meat for more than a day anyway, so I can't really stock up on fresh foods. Which means I need to shop more often. It also means I had to get creative with canned and boxed foods for the times I just can't get to a store. I recently made a meal out of instant potatoes, a can of tuna, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a can of peas and carrots. Not the healthiest meal I've ever eaten, but it's better than a burger and fries.

 

I need to jump on this thread get more excersize and get my diet better.

 

Many don't realize that...driving a truck is not the same thing as sitting in a recliner...



Sitting for long periods of time can begin to have an effect on your internal organs...if you lack proper muscle tone or strength in your abdomen area, your internal organs will begin to sag...and your spine will slide out of place...

Muscle is what keeps everying in it's proper place...and from placing pressure on joints and nerves...

Just since I started jogging again, and firming up, my drives are way more comfortable, for as my muscles firm up again...it takes pressure off the kidneys and lower back...

Excercising and being physically fit, indeed is neccisary if you want to be a healthy, happy, productive driver...

 

This is the workout I have been doing, called the Spartacus workout (used by the guy to get in shape for the TV series). 10 stations 1 minute of each and go through that 3 times. It's fun, challenging, and a total body workout. As I am new to trucking I don't know how many of these exercises I will be able to do in my truck, but I am thinking a majority of them. I too got the powerblock adjustable dumbbells to use. As a newbie you may not even need any weights until you get in shape. It kicks your #####!!!

http://www.menshealth.com/spartacus/workouts/

This guy is kind of a tool, but it gives you a good overview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKH3KZCOm38

 

I've seen drivers get real creative over the last few months...I saw one guy skinny as a pipe, using his flat bed as a workout platform...

He told me he use to be very 'big'...until he got a divorce from his wife...

I've also seen flat bedders bring whole weight sets with them...I took a photo of one such fella...

Long ago...I use to do pull ups wherever I could at rest areas...push-ups, of course you can do almost anywhere...and leg lifts...you can do those while laying in the bed...which help firm up stomache muscles, which make it easier for you to drive for long periods...firm abdomen muscles really take a lot of pressure off your back...

I excercise now, not cause I want to, but cause I need to, in order to be comfortable and cut down on back pain...

I'm thin, but you still need muscle to help support your back and prevent pressure from being applied to your kidneys...

 

That routine of 10 exercises is great, but I would never suggest any driver try that if he hasn't been working out for awhile already. If a driver is just starting back into working out, or starting for the first time, I suggest only 4 exercises to begin with. Squats, push-ups, stiff-leg deadlifts, and pullups. Do them as 3 supersets trying to get to 20 reps on each exercise. Doing these 4 will hit mostly all of your muscles, and is a great start on getting into better shape. I blogged on this exact workout a few days back. If you're interested, you can read it HERE. And no, normally I don't link to my blog on here, but since it was topical, I did this time.

 

The other day, I ordered a McDonalds hamburger...and it tasted like a pile of salt or sodium...I rarely ever eat hamburgers anymore...so my taste buds have lost resiliance to all the sodium they use...but when you with strain for a while...a long while, and then eat one again...all you taste is salt or sodium...

I was like 'gross'....I mean what are these things doing to peoples arteries and heart?

I mean even home cooked hamburgers don't have such a high salt or sodium content as McDonalds burgers do...be careful what you eat...

 

I understand what you're saying, Ghostchild, about changing your tastebuds' sensitivity to flavors. My mother used to halve the sugar in most of her recipes, and to this day I find a lot of prepared foods too sweet for my taste.

I'm still fat, though. Just not on sweet stuff. <sigh>

 

I'd have to say of all the fast food hamburgers I've tried...McDonalds are the saltiest...

I don't really like a lot of sweets anymore either...infact I heard cancer feeds off of sugar...

I haven't the scientific explanation right now...something about glucose...ect ect...I just know I read somewhere that cancer cells accelerate off of sugar...