A Healthy Trucker is a Happy Trucker

One of the biggest things I hear our drivers talk about is how hard it is to stay healthy while out on the road.  So today we are going to take a look at easy ways to eat healthy and hopefully be cost effective while out on the road. 

*Disclaimer*  I am not talking about a weight loss diet plan, eating healthy side effect can be losing weight, depending on your portion size.  Please understand eating healthy does not always mean weight loss will happen.  You need to consult your doctor and determine the best way possible weight loss program for your body type. 

I will say this, eating healthy will make you feel better.  Anytime you start to cut out fried, sugary and processed food and put vegetables in your body after a couple of weeks you will notice a difference.  So here is the start of some simple steps you can make in your day to day routine.

1.     Let’s start with the most important thing you can put in your body.  WATER! WATER! WATER! Put down the soda, juice and coffee and start with a bottle of water each morning, then go get your cup of joe.  Each day you need to drink half you body weight in water.  So put down the water bottle and get you a couple of water gallon jugs to refill your cup.

2.     Don’t skip breakfast, eating in the morning is fuel for your body. You need the fuel to keep you going all day.  Take the time to eat a healthy breakfast: eggs (best if not fried in grease), nuts, protein shakes, real fruit smoothies, oatmeal, low fat cheese or Greek yogurt. 

3.     During the day make sure you have some healthy snacks: Apple slices, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, almonds, bananas, mangos, watermelon, etc.  These are all things that can be put in Ziploc bags for easy storage. Don’t starve yourself if you are hungry, like stomach growling put some food in your belly.  Just be smart about it.

4.     Next thing is you don’t have to have a huge lunch.  Try an open faced sandwich on a slice of whole wheat bread, a bowl of soup, tuna with wheat cracker or lean meat wrap. 

5.     If you are on your 30-minute break get out of the truck and move around and I don’t mean to the restroom and back.  You are in your truck driving 11 hours of the day most days of the week.  You need to get up and move anytime you can for at least 10-15 mins.   Make some time at the end of your 10 hour break to do a lap around the truck stop, use the steps on you truck to get up and down 15 or 20 times.  Get your heart pumping before you climb back in the seat.

6.     Dinner time should be you smallest meal of the day.  Try eating a little a very lean meat such as chicken or turkey.  Once again an open face sandwich or wrap makes a fast and easy dinner.  This is also where a crockpot will come in handy because you can make a meal that will last 2 or 3 nights.  Saves time and money.

Here are some great simple recipes to help get you started.

PB&J Whole-Grain Toaster Waffle

Prepare a whole-grain toaster waffle and slice in half. Spread with 2 tablespoons nut butter and jelly of your choice, and layer sliced strawberries on top. Whole-Grain Toaster waffles can be purchase in the freezer area and are super simple to make in small toaster.

Overnight Oats

This is the ultimate lazy-person breakfast. Before you go to bed combine oatmeal and almond milk in a sealed container the night before, mason jars work best.  I normally add a scoop of protein powder, 2 tsp of peanut butter and some fruit (blueberries, strawberries, apple, banana, etc) shake it all up and put in fridge. By morning, you’ll have delicious overnight oats! These can be heated in the microwave for 1-2 minutes if you're in the mood for something warm.

Avocado Egg Salad

Ingredients

1 egg (Hard-boiled)

½ Avocado (diced

2 slices bacon(crumbled)

 Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Slightly mash the avocado.

Dice the hard-boiled egg and add it to the avocado.

Add the bacon, mix gently to combine.

Season with sea salt and black pepper.

Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken

Ingredients:

§  2.5 pounds boneless chicken breast

§  1 can Campbell’s condensed cheddar soup

§  Salsa (16 oz jar)

Instructions: Add all three ingredients to your slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4 hours. Stir periodically. Stop for the night and enjoy a delicious, idiot-proof home cooked meal! Serve over rice or eat alone with some veggies. Switch up the salsa spiciness for some zip!

Sweet Potato-Kale Stew

Ingredients:

§  2 large sweet potatoes, diced

§  1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

§  2 tomatoes, diced

§  1 red onion, chopped

§  1 can of low-sodium red kidney beans

§  1 tbsp chili powder

§  1 tbsp chipotle sauce

§  2 cups kale, shredded

§  2 cups orange juice

Directions:

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker except for the kale. Cook on low for 12 hours. In the last 20 minutes, add the kale.

Fresh Lemon Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups long grain white rice

2 cups water 3 Tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 pound total) 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons lemon zest 1 teaspoon garlic 1 whole lemon

 Directions:

1. Place rice and water into slow cooker.

2. Place cubed butter evenly into rice and water.

3. Place chicken pieces into the slow cooker, on top of rice. Pour lemon juice over chicken. Sprinkle lemon zest and garlic evenly over top.

4. Cut whole lemon into thin slices. Arrange slices on top of each piece of chicken.

5. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Remember if you are looking for healthier crockpot recipes it is easy to search online to find plenty.  It just takes a little prep and you have to go to the grocery store. 

Unsafe Driving- Protect your CSA score.

Unsafe Driving

Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA)

    Unsafe Driving is one of seven BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories) used in the CSA scores. Unsafe Driving includes violations for speeding, improper lane changes, following too closely, failure to obey a traffic control device (sign or light), seat belt violations and radar detector violations. Using a hand-held cellphone, texting and unauthorized passengers are also violations found in the Unsafe Driving Basic. The trend is showing that more and more drivers are not given citations or warnings for a violation. Instead the violation is noted on an inspection form and thus cannot be disputed in court.

    All violations that pertain to a BASIC are assigned a severity weight that reflects crash risk. The severity weights range from 1 to 10, where 1 represents the lowest crash risk and 10 represents the highest crash risk relative to the other violations in the BASIC. Scores are also time weighted from 1 to 3, with the most recent violations having the most effect on the scores. Points are updated to our BASICs scores in CSA and a drivers’ safety records in PSP each month. We are required to stay under a threshold of 65% in the Unsafe Driving Basic. If we go above 65%, we are subject to interventions which includes our equipment and drivers being subjected to more frequent inspections by law enforcement.

    There are no excuses in the CSA environment. Things like “the officer said he wasn’t giving me a ticket so it wouldn’t count” or “I was running with traffic” or “I didn’t see the sign saying they were inspecting in the rest area” will not cut it. In CSA, the only thing that works is to not violate rules, regulations or laws. CSA scoring is based upon any “defect” an officer “observes.” If he or she sees it, they write it and both the driver and the company bear the consequences. It is imperative that all drivers understand CSA BASICS and comply with all traffic laws, state and Federal regulations at all times. Drivers who fail to understand or who just don’t care will simply not survive in the world of CSA. EVERYTHING COUNTS!! Safety is our number one priority. Stay in compliance and stay safe.  

Happy Mother's Day!- To Our Office Mother!

So this week we are going to have a special addition of the blog for Mother’s Day.  At Hurricane we have 8 Mothers the work in the office, so of course we want to wish them and all the Mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day. 

Today, this blog is going to cover a very special Mother at Hurricane.  Many of you are wondering who is this person, well that would be Kadeon and Sheldon’s mother, Kathy.  I would personally consider Kathy the Office Mother, if you don’t feel well she is checks on you though out the day.  If you are having a bad day, she seems to always show up at the right time to just ask how you are doing.  When she hears you having a rough time, she just happens to walking by and has words of wisdom that always hits the right spot. 

Many drivers don’t always get the joy of talking with Kathy because she works very hard in her office and normally gets to the office before anyone else.  So today I have asked Sheldon to give me some stories about Kathy. 

Here is a little bit that Sheldon shared with me-

            Kathy was born in Utah, grew up in New Mexico and went to Santa Clara University in California. She has lived in California, New Mexico, Utah, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia, Pennsylvania and in the jungles of Mexico.  She had children born in California, Oregon, Kentucky and Arkansas. She came to Arkansas with Eddie and their 3 young children in a small school bus with bunk beds.  They lived in the school bus and an army tent for almost a year while Eddie was building their house.  The school bus is still on their property where it was parked over 40 years ago.  For approximately 20 years she lived on 40 acres (outside of Pettigrew) that was surrounded by National Forest on 3 sides.  All four of her kids were raised there.  They didn’t have indoor plumbing, hot running water or electricity.  Our closest neighbor was 2 miles away on a private road that was originally a logging road.

She homeschooled all of her 4 children for varying amounts of time.  Her oldest daughter was homeschooled through 11^th grade, her other daughter was homeschooled through 9^th grade, Kaedon was homeschooled through 8^thgrade, and Sheldon was homeschooled through 4^th grade. She helped found an alternative school (Headwaters) in Pettigrew, Arkansas and taught there.  The school is still in operation.

Kathy loves gardening and plants.  She enjoys crocheting, she has crocheted blankets for all 9 of her grandchildren. She enjoys hiking and takes breaks during the day to just step outside to enjoy the sun for a minute.  She is an active Catholic.  Once a month she delivers Communion to the sick.  Many of the recipients are elderly people in nursing homes.  At one point she had her CDL learners permit.  She has driven a loaded tractor trailer on our highways.  She said that the greatest thing about it was that the trailer followed her wherever she went.

Here are some quotes by office staff-

You can tell that Kathy’s is a strong, loving and wonderful person by the way her kids have grown up to be kind, respectful and hard workers.  Her kids have their own families now and they are being raised the same way.  There is no greater compliment I could think to give a mother. -Deborah  

Kathy is one of the most honest and nicest people that I have ever known, even if she tries to keep it a secret.  When my mother passed away, Kathy was there.  She didn't leave me while I was waiting on a ride, she cried with me and afterwards she was the sincerest and caring person in a sea of condolences.  She always remembers the little things going on in people’s lives and inquiries about them long after others have forgotten.  I consider her to be one of the most interesting, caring and beautiful souls that I know. -Christie

I love the fact that she always asks about my kid and how she is doing in life and takes the time to listen about my family.  Not many people in a work place do that, so it is very special that she come back weeks later to check on them. -Amber

So as you can see, Kathy is very important person here in the office.  She can be the calm in our storm, the light when it is cloudy and to be honest she can be very funny and blunt about what she has to say. There is nothing better than to her hear giggling.

           I feel like this blog gives you a better look at everyone in the office and sometimes it gives me a look into their life I would have never seen.  I have had lots of drivers come into the office and tell me they never knew such and such did that.  I found writing this piece about Kathy that most interesting thing I have written so far.