KEN'S KORNER - JUNE 2009
ROAD COOKIN' FOR DRIVERS
BY AUTHOR, EDUCATOR & DRIVER KEN SKAGGS
The more I work, the less I work. That may sound funny but it’s true. I usually spend about three weeks on the road every month. Most of the runs I do are about 1,500 to 2,000 miles so I spend most of my time driving and very little time doing any kind of physical activity. When I’m at home I automatically get a fair amount of exercise. With an old house, a family of seven and two older cars, there’s always a lot to do. But when I’m on the road, all I do most of the time is sit. I sit when I drive all day and I sit when I eat. And that’s about all I do, drive and eat. The only time I’m not sitting is when I’m sleeping. I go from sitting to laying, that’s it.
I hardly burn any calories when I’m on the road, and I feel it, too. A small meal can sometimes leave me feeling full all day, simply because of my inactivity - I’m not burning it off. When I get like that, I’ll take a long walk or something (if I think about it, or have the time). But it’s not easy to get exercise on the road. You have to make a conscience effort to do it. Well, I do. And I need to be reminded sometimes, too.
The same is true about eating - it’s so easy to eat all the wrong food on the road, and too much of it. That’s why I like to listen to Pam Whitfield and Don Jacobson’s Roadcookin’ Express on the Evan Lockridge show. Nobody understands the trucker’s lifestyle, diet or food choices available better than they do. And they tell it to you straight, no beating around the bush. It’s like déjà vu listening to them - they always seem to know exactly what I ate that day and how little exercise I got.
Pam is a registered dietitian (which is a lot better than just being a nutritionist) and Don is the cook. Pam did all of her research on truckers years ago, and concluded that some 86% of drivers are overweight (and looking around every day, I can believe it). Compare that to the general population, which is 66% overweight (which is too high as well). Don’s recipes are designed for truckers on the road. There are some great recipes on their website at www.roadcookin.com, healthy recipes a driver can prepare in his truck, with a lunchbox oven or any portable cooker. And their book, Roadcookin’ a Long Haul Drivers Guide to Healthy Eating, is actually a reference guide to healthy eating. You’ll be referring to it for recipes, creative cooking techniques, alternatives, and, of course, expert advice.
I recently got to talk to Don Jacobson on the phone. It was like getting a free consultation from (the husband of) a registered dietitian. Just like he does on the radio show, he proceeded to explain everything I do wrong, exactly as I do it (wrong), and what I should be doing instead. He was very informative.
While talking to Don, he told me that eating one meal a day is the easiest way to gain weight. And eating three meals a day is the easiest way to lose weight. The problem is, we think we are saving time and money by eating once a day. But, too often, we go for the buffet in that case. Then, we eat too fast, eating beyond the point of being full. He said it takes 20 minutes for your brain to figure out that you are full. So, when you eat a lot, and eat fast, you actually get full before your brain knows it. Usually, by the time you realize you are full, you are so full you can barely move! So, eat slower and you’ll enjoy it more and be able to quit when you’re full.
Don also told me about some of the e-mails they get. Too often, they get letters from people who are 350 pounds, diabetic, and thirty-three years old. They also hear from family members with sick relatives who say they feed Grandpa the “special diet” while the rest of the family eats “regular” food. When we get older and our health starts failing, the diet they put us on is the diet we really should have been eating all along.
You have to take charge. It’s all about portion control. Your meat portion should be about the size of a deck of cards and your portion of potatoes should be about the size of a baseball. And always have your vegetables steamed - it’s easy to do with any one of those lunchbox cookers, and even easier when ordering food at your favorite restaurant.
Pam and Don understand that driving OTR can be a lonely experience, and it’s so easy for us to get buried in our work. But, as Don said, “Don’t work for a living, live.” Learn to cook for yourself. You’ll never run out of recipes with their book. You’ll eat less, exercise more and keep more money in your wallet.
Another thing Don said, which I’ve never heard anybody else say, is don’t use any of those colon cleansers out there. They bring up a good selling point, saying there is food stuck to our colon walls like paste, but Don says that’s all bunk. All we have to do is eat more fiber and we will clean our colons naturally. There are also a lot of health problems associated with being overweight. There is even new data that suggests that macular degeneration (vision loss) is caused by being overweight.
Don gave me more information than I could possibly relate here, so please, go check out their website, listen to some of the MP3’s from their show, and check out some of the recipes. It’s at www.roadcookin.com. Or, you can go to www.youtube.com and find some Roadcookin’ videos there. You’ll be glad you did. Tell them I sent you. And do yourself a favor - lay off the soda!