In a recent post, I had to type up a brief healthy carbs list, giving a few examples of those “good” carbs we should include with our regular eats.

I got a few down and then got stuck. I didn’t want to keep listing whole-wheat pasta, whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat crackers, etc.

While whole-wheat foods are less processed and better for you (more fiber, more nutrients, less of a blood sugar boost, and longer-lasting energy), they still are processed. Dough is mixed with additives and preservatives before being baked.

This got me curious about the carbs that are actually unprocessed. Or at the very least, not so processed as breads, crackers, and the like.

Ever feel like almost every food is unhealthy? You think, “I’m hungry. What should I eat right now?” Only to feel like most options actually hamper your clean eating goals.

Imagine this scenario.

You’re hungry. You go to the pantry for lunch ingredients and find bagels, pasta, and rice. You had cereal for breakfast, so you decide not to grab any more of these high-carb foods.

Vegetables! You should eat some vegetables! You open your fridge and peer inside. No, please not another cold salad today. You’ve got to have something tasty stocked.

You look in your freezer. Well, you could heat up the frozen chicken veggie stir-fry…but that has soy sauce and tons of salt. You have frozen peas… Oh look! A Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwich. Wait, those are high carb, high fat, and high salt too.

“Ohmahgerd! What should I eat right now?!?

Your head is spinning.

Nowadays, it feels near impossible to eat healthy while traveling.

Whether driving, flying, taking a train, or riding a bus, the experience is usually exhausting. Couple it with the fact that there’s a huge lack of healthy fast food options, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to end up with a greasy hamburger and sugary coke. Or a Taco Bell burrito. Or Panda Express general Tso’s chicken.

While flying home this past week, I found myself surrounded by fast food restaurants that left something to be desired.

I’m a personal trainer and self-proclaimed fitness fanatic. So while you’d think I’d have figured out how to circumvent these unhealthy temptations, I found myself very ill-prepared.