Biz traveler's guide to smart eating

By Shivani Vora

updated 4:57 p.m. ET May 4, 2007

Over-the-top breakfast buffets, three-course lunches and boozy client dinners at top-notch restaurants.

Decadent, sure. Disastrous for your waistline? Uh huh.

"Business travelers eat out three meals a day and are at the mercy of others when it comes to their eating," says Lisa R. Young, a New York City-based registered dietitian and author of The Portion Teller Plan: The No Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating and Losing Weight Permanently. "They could be picking up anywhere between 500 to 1,000 calories each day more than they need."

What's more, many business travelers are so accustomed to multicourse meals with alcohol and dessert that they don’t even realize they’re eating so much. And if they do, they’re usually too exhausted or too busy to do anything about it. Often, Young says, "They eat whatever is in front of them. And there isn’t always healthy food to pick from."

But before you throw in the towel and chow down on the 16-ounce steak with creamed spinach at your next dinner meeting, realize that small changes pay off big when it comes to warding off pesky pounds.

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These include getting salad dressing on the side, using skim milk instead of cream in your coffee and limiting the amount you eat from the bread basket. These three changes alone will save you a few hundred calories a day, says Young.

What's more, you don’t need orange juice with breakfast, soda with lunch and a glass of wine with dinner. These drinks are usually the status quo at business meals, but liquid calories add up fast and don’t keep you full. If you must have a calorie-laden drink, only do it at one meal.

Jen Andrus, R.D., a nutritionist in New York City, says that having a stash of snacks stowed away in your carry-on is crucial.

Comstock You don't need orange juice with breakfast, soda with lunch and a glass of wine with dinner. These drinks are usually the status quo at business meals, but liquid calories add up fast and don’t keep you full. If you must have a drink, only do it at one meal.

"Always have energy bars and raw nuts," she says. "If you're stuck on a plane, in meetings all day or there is no healthy food available, it's important you have something on hand to tide you over." She says that when choosing energy bars, the key is opting for an all-natural one that isn't loaded with sugar and has a combination of fiber and protein, which leaves you feeling full longer. Gnu, Kashi, Balance Bars and Zone Bars are all good choices.

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Of course, if you're at a lunch or dinner meeting and healthy food is nowhere in sight, there’s no need to starve. Andrus advises keeping your portions small--that means a palm-sized amount of protein and a fist worth of carbohydrates. Unless vegetables are buttered or creamed, enjoy them in unlimited amounts.

Pretty soon, these healthy habits will become second nature. And you'll be happy, when you get your next pay raise, that you don't have to use the cash to buy bigger suits.

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