Eating healthy while traveling – Maggie Heyn Richardson offers a few choices for on-the-road snacks

It used to be near impossible to find anything quick and healthy on the road or in the air, but thankfully, there are better choices today in airports and interstate convenience stores.

My family road trips frequently to see grandparents, and we fly at least once a year to destinations outside of the South. I’m constantly on the hunt for anything decent to cram into my purse to keep the kids—and us—from getting hungry and grumpy. Here are a few items I’ve come to rely on.

Hummus. Before a trip, load up on a bag of whole wheat pita, a small bag of baby carrots and packages of hummus-to-go. It’s a neater snack than fries with messy ketchup packets, and it’s infinitely better for you. Baton Rouge has been in love with hummus for years thanks to our high proportion of Lebanese restaurants. Think of this protein-packed heart healthy snack as an extension of one of our favorite local lunches.

Fresh fruit. You can usually count on running into portable fruits, such as apples, bananas and oranges at hotels, convenience stores and airports. Take advantage of them!

Packaged apples. So they may not be as pure and perfect as a fresh apple you slice yourself (and yes, they contain preservatives), but packaged sliced apples sold with peanut butter, yogurt or caramel are tasty. Plus, they’re a better choice than chips or candy.

Nuts. It’s always been easy to find nuts, but now you can find broader selections, including lunchbox-sized variety packs of nuts with or without salt. Pick up a box of these from the supermarket and hand out packets when someone gets the munchies.

Bottled water. Even if all else fails and you end up noshing on high-calorie, high-fat foods, you can pledge to drink only water while traveling. Sitting still in a car or in an airplane cabin naturally dehydrates you, and a steady diet of water rather than Diet Coke or Sprite is an easy ace-in-the-hole.