Eating Healthy While Traveling
The Health-Conscious Breakfast Bar
When we travel, we often forget about healthy eating and instead allow ourselves to focus on saving time or enjoying luxury, novelty, and the cultural experience. These behaviors are all important to getting the most out of traveling, but it is also important to keep at least marginally aware of healthy eating patterns and avoid high risk behavior that leads to raised blood pressure and high cholesterol.
It can be difficult to maintain a healthy eating balance while traveling simply due to time and availability. Although it would be cheap and effective to bring our specialty and diet foods with us in our luggage, this is not always possible and hardly advisable. However, for the truly health-conscious traveler, especially those with a high risk of heart disease, there are a few marketed items that make good traveling companions for use at the hotel breakfast bar.
If you are at risk for heart disease and intend to enjoy meals at the breakfast bar, it is almost certain that you will want a healthy margarine spread to go with your toast, oatmeal, or bran muffin. People who are at a high risk for heart disease need to eat foods with high fiber content and avoid products that contain high levels of trans fat and saturated fat, both of which lead to high cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease. For alternatives to eating both fast and healthy, consider packing a cholesterol-lowering margarine to ease worrying about medical consequences while traveling.
If you are in the market for some state of the art traveling technology, it is generally a good idea to compare options and choose the products that are most likely to benefit the kind of business you do in the places you need to do it. In making a decision, it can also help to know more about the company. After all, you probably want to select products from a company that is on the forefront of innovation and mobile technology.
Benecol
Benecol is a useful accessory for a health conscious traveler because of Benecol's proven ability to lower cholesterol. Benecol margarine spreads contain zero carbs and no trans fat. When consumed as part of a low fat, low cholesterol diet, Benecol margarine spreads lower total cholesterol levels due to the infusion of plant sterol esters. One serving of Benecol margarine spreads contains 0.85 grams of plant sterol esters. Two-three helpings used as a substitute for regular butter or a less healthy margarine containing trans fats, may lower cholesterol over time. Benecol margarine spreads can also be used into conjunction with statin medication to further reduce cholesterol levels.
In addition to margarine spreads ideal for the breakfast bar, Benecol offers an even more transportable product to help lower cholesterol in people with high cholesterol who are at risk for heart disease. Benecol's new product is called Benecol Smart Chews, which are candy caramel tablets that contain plant sterol esters, which have been shown in clinical trials to lower cholesterol when consumed consistently for an extended period of time. Benecol's Smart Chews begin lowering cholesterol levels within two weeks when Benecol Smart Chews are taken twice a day with meals. Benecol Smart Chews are sold in 120 packages that last for two months.
Smart Balance
Smart Balance produces several buttery spreads that are healthy for the heart. Smart Balance's Original Buttery Spread combines vegetable oils for a healthy, butter-tasting margarine. Smart Balance's line of butter substitutes also include margarine spreads with flax and margarine made with Omega 3 oils, both of which are natural additives shown by scientific studies to be good for the heart. In addition, Smart Balance butter substitutes and margarine spreads are fortified with Vitamins A and E, which increases the nutritious content that is lost in margarines (as opposed to natural butter). Smart Balance is free of saturated fat and trans fat.
In addition to its buttery spreads with flax and Omega 3 oils, Smart Balance offers Smart Balance Butter Blend Sticks, which combine real butter and healthier margarine alternatives for cooking and baking. Smart Balance's Butter Blended Sticks contain 28% less saturated fat than pure butter and is a healthier alternative for the heart.
Additional Resources
Compare margarine spreads
Look up healthy cookies recipes
View recipes using alternative ingredients
View information on plant sterol products including margarine spreads.
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