It’s my first time visiting Denver, Colorado, for a continuing education trip to enlighten a few of my fellow coaches and me to become smarter, more skillful, and better informed on the best practices in the cutting-edge research being presented at the ACSM fitness conference. Honing my skills as a fitness professional, mentor, and consultant to our beloved personal training clients and marking a sash on my belt in my journey to visit all fifty states in the US were just a few highlights of this cherished voyage we’ve been looking forward to.
Presentations featuring key topics such as “exercise is medicine,” “you can still teach old dogs new tricks,” and “the power of play” was the most sought-after topics to observe and take notes on throughout this four-day conference. It was a rewarding experience seeing that practicing specific topics like adherence to a regular exercise routine, bridging gaps between patients graduating from physical therapy protocols and merging into a fitness routine, and tactics to avoid injury were all models of our current program we apply to our personal training clients.
One of the most alarming observations we noticed among our fitness professional peers was the number of chips, cookies, and sodas present at the conference that was given out as a complimentary meal. While attending a national conference gauged toward enhancing the integrity of the overall health of our society, we were surprised by the selection of food available to the attendees. As skilled coaches holding certifications in nutritional consulting, this highly processed and pre-packaged food was the last thing we wanted to ingest. We encourage our clients to consume processed and packaged high-carbohydrate foods sparingly. This unmasked a significant issue reported by a fair amount of our clients who travel to industry events that are out of state in convention centers or hotel conference rooms; the need for more selection of healthy foods available at these events.
With three more days of learning and interacting with my peers, the last thing I wanted was to feel sluggish, bloated, and overall ill from consuming nothing but chips, cookies, and sodas. Therefore, I chose to abstain from the snacks available to attendees. While I appreciate the gesture of free food and feel incredibly fortunate to have a source of free food as a resource, I ventured elsewhere to see what my options were.
After opening up Google Maps and searching for a restaurant that had lean sources of protein and veggie-based dishes, I found the only restaurants available were Bubba Gumps, Chik-Fil-A, and Starbucks. Even though our hotel had some salad options, paying over forty dollars for a salad and a portion of salmon didn’t justify my protest of veering away from the free highly-processed food at the convention center. So, what did I do? I went to Target.
You read that correctly, Target. Usually, people can identify the compartment store Target as a place to acquire sunscreen, toothpaste, and body wash. However, Target is equipped with a reasonably priced selection of bagged vegetables and lean protein sources. As I cruised around the refrigerated section, I discovered bagged raw baby carrots, raw broccoli in a steamable bag, and snap peas. In another cold goods section, I found roasted red pepper hummus, one of our “go-to” snacks we recommend to our clients looking to add to their “skillful snacking” inventories. Additionally, I perused past a few selections of Greek yogurt and blueberries. One last trip through the dried goods section led me to the nut shelf. Within the shelves of nuts, shaved almonds and shelled walnuts caught my eye. After procuring those items, I passed by a small container of honey that cost under three dollars. Could this accent the plain Greek yogurt, blueberry, and shaved almond dish I had in mind? You know the answer to that.
I now had a dish of lovely raw veggies, antioxidant-loaded berries, and a few protein sources to create an award-winning, delicious, and filling meal during my lunch break in my hotel room between seminars. On the menu were carrots dipped in hummus and a homemade Greek yogurt blueberry parfait with shaved almonds and honey. I was comfortably satiated after a fifteen-minute food escapade in my hotel room. I traveled back down to the convention center and attended the remainder of our meetings and seminars.
Could I be seen as an outcast who takes the extra effort to take a five-minute walk to the Target store next to my hotel and compile my meal? Perhaps. However, taking this extra effort to explore the food choices immediately available within a mile radius reinforced my habits of putting nutritious food in my body while avoiding the unhealthier options within arm’s reach. If we can take that extra step to explore what options we have around us in circumstances where we might not have the healthiest resources available, we can maintain our healthy lifestyle efforts in environments where suboptimal food isn’t immediately available.
Sean McCawley, the founder and owner of Napa Tenacious Fitness in Napa, CA, welcomes questions and comments. Reach him at 707-287-2727, napatenacious@gmail.com, or visit the website napatenaciousfitness.com.
