Highway to Health Member Testimonial: Bob Baumgardner

As we continue to celebrate our drivers during Driver Appreciation Week, we’d like to specifically honor one of our Highway to Health members, Bob Baumgardner, as he has a health story that will move and inspire you. From having open heart surgery to becoming a vegan, Bob is proof that you CAN indeed practice good health while you are on the road. As an active member of our Highway to Health group, Bob inspires us every week by sharing his favorite healthy foods and tips. Thank you, Bob, for your commitment to good health!

Here is Michelle Cartmel’s (our health and wellness coach) interview with Bob:

How do you stay healthy while you are on the road? What are your healthy go-to foods?

I have a Coleman cooler and so I can keep many things in there like vegetables, Cashew Milk, Cashew Yogurt, Vegetable noodles, and fruits!  If I have to eat I try to stop at a sit-down restaurant or a microwave to heat some food.  Taco Bell will make me Black Bean tacos which are very good and salads are also very healthy!  Take healthy food with you so you don’t have to eat the fast food!

I like to bring organic bananas, berries, strawberries, pineapple, apples, which can use as snacks also!  I eat nuts for a snack I bought at Costco, I eat carrots the small ones for a snack, If you like potato Chips make your own if you have time but the baked ones are better for you than the fried ones are!  If you want ice cream try Costco’s Yogurt ice cream it’s pretty awesome!  Also, they have many almond ice cream from SO Delicious very good tasting and healthier than milk!  I know it’s tough to start but your taste buds will love you for it!  Eating healthy is better today than in the past as so many Americans want healthy food!  Remember keeping a list will help you start to be healthy when making choices, and ask your wife or significant other to help you with it!  Make it fun!  

Do you ever exercise on the road? What is your exercise routine at home? 

On the road I like to go for walks, or jog at the truck stop or the rest area, and at home I have a tread mill I use daily for walking and running, and I signed up at LA Fitness because they have a pool and water exercise is very healthy and low impact on the body! I know that some drivers that will stop at the health club for a brake and get a 20-minute workout so three really no excuse not to exercise while on the road so make it fun and keep it as a habit and you will feel better for doing it! Tip: my hands cramp from holding the steering wheel all day so I bought the ball you squeeze and it helps the fingers and the wrist take turns and the cramps go away!

What advice do you have for your fellow drivers who want to get healthy but might not know how to start?

For me it was simple, but you have to realize that processed food is meant to kill us, so I recommend that you start with a list of healthy food to buy and take with you, the cooler was $96, and a very good investment, and if you like to snack like me bring carrots, celery, almonds, nuts, something simple to snack on!  At home you can make healthy cookies, organic peanut butter for the celery, just beware of chemicals, and by products they use in processed food!  I know we have to move and the ELD made it worse but keeping a list of healthy foods is a very good start and if you want to cheat remember it’s not what you eat it’s how much you eat!  Eating healthy will also let your body lose fat if that is one of your goals because we sit a lot but the walking or jogging will help and I also like to do some exercises in my truck like pushups off the bed, crunches for the gut in the bed, and just doing steps up and down off the truck steps is a very good start!  Any exercise is better than none so stay healthy and start your food lists!

Cheers to your health! Michelle