This was originally posted on workshifting.com but thought it might be useful and interesting over here too.  If you haven’t checked out workshifting.com yet, please subscribe and let me know what you think.

As a web commuter we spend most of our time in cafes, airports, hotels, flying, driving, or a number of other places and modes of travel.  This means that we’re usually at the mercy of whatever is closest and fastest for food.  We’re also constantly surrounded by food which leads to the temptation to snack more than usual.  Before web commuting became a regular part of my life, anything that included traveling was excuse enough for me to eat anything and everything I could find.  Fast food at the airport. Check. Multiple snacks on the plane.  Yup.  A cookie at the cafe. Uh huh.

Now that I spend most of my time away from home, I’ve had to re-evaluate that strategy.  It was great while it lasted.  The temptation is always there for us though, isn’t it?  If you work in a traditional office, you only have to worry about the vending machine or bowl of candy at the receptionist desk.  Not us.  We have to be even more conscious of it because our offices are places where there’s normally food of some kind being served.

So, what can we do to make sure we’re eating healthy as a web commuter?

6 Tips to Healthier Eating as a Web Commuter

1. Pack trail mix or granola.  There are a ton of varieties out there now so you can find the kind that fits your taste.  I find some of my favorite at Trader Joes.  Alternatively, you can make your own easily.

2. Don’t fall victim to fast food restaurants at the airport.  More and more airports are taking the time to bring in local fare, celebrity chefs and other nice touches that allow you to avoid fast food.  Looking for a list of some of the top airport restaurants in the country?  Frommer’s recently published their list of the 13 Best U.S. Airport Restaurants.

3. Avoid the super grande mocha double espresso frothy chocolaty drink that you always get.  Starbucks has a great nutritional guide to help you out.  Hint: Go skim.  You can’t really taste the difference and it lowers the calories and fat by a lot!

4. Just because you’re there, doesn’t mean you have to eat.  Save on the cost of a couple cookies and make a small donation to charity.

5. Step away from the peanuts! If you’re flying, and have the choice, opt for one of the healthier options.  I happen to like the Terra Blue Chips available on JetBlue.

6. Get outside! We’re so trained to go work from a cafe, hotel lobby or sandwich shop but why not go out to the local park and do some work for a little while?

Do you spend most (or all) of your time working from coffee shops, airports, bookstores, cars, trains or anywhere else that’s not a typical office?  There is now a new place for you to hang out.  Today I’m super excited to announce the launch of workshifting.com.  workshifting.com is a New Marketing Labs project on behalf of Citrix Online (you know, the folks that make GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar).  The design was done by our good friends, Eric and Justin Rasmussen of CoffeeHouse Ideas.

As Chris Brogan explains in the introductory post:

workshifting exists to swap stories with others (like me) who make their office in some pretty interesting places when not back at the mother ship. Sure, I’ve got a cubicle-style office like lots of folks (thanks, Herman Miller), but I also shift my work to several dozen other places, like coffeeshops, airports, hotel desks, and pretty much anywhere I can sneak some power (we’ll talk about that a lot).

We hope that you’ll stop by and hang out with us.  Over the coming weeks you’ll see more announcements about workshifting.  Are you a workshifter who’s interested in being a contributor?  Shoot me an email (jlevy [at] newmarketinglabs [dot] com) or fill out the short form over on the Contact page.

Also being launched alongside workshifting.com is a report that Citrix Online put together properly entitled “Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative”.  You can download the free report here.  It’s really an excellent document with all sort of pretty charts and whatnot for us stat geeks (you know who you are, don’t hide!).

You can also join the workshifting crew over on Twitter: @workshifting

What say you about the concept of workshifting?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to receive future articles delivered to your feed reader.