In today's fast paced and mobile world, few folks eat all their meals at an actual table. If they get one meal a day at home it's a lot. In New York City, where I live, food stands do a brisk business and it's not uncommon to see people rushing through the streets, chomping furiously on anything they can hold in one hand, signaling for a taxi with the other.

It's not all that much different in less frenetic cities. There are kids to chauffeur around, schedules to meet, meetings to attend, games to cheer at, ballet classes, the gym, board meetings that last all afternoon, committees to chair and families to spend time with. For those trying to eat well, it's a veritable minefield of potential disaster.

There seems to be an unwritten law that I'll call "the law of inverse quality." It states that the quality of food goes down as portability and accessibility go up. In other words: There ain't no organic fruits and veggies at the food court, folks.

Instead we're faced with crummy, sugar laden "pick-me-up" treats, processed meat sandwiches, stagnant salad bars, office snack machines, bad deli food, coffee and donut stands, fast food take out, hot dogs, burgers, pretzels, bagels and other standard "take me with you as you travel" food. And let's not even mention airplane food.

So what to do? Unless you've got access to a time machine, eating on the run, or at least on the move, is likely to remain a fact of life. The opportunity here is to become master of the circumstances rather than victimized by them. We need to learn to create healthy, nurturing meals out of commonly available "porta-foods." This food needs to be stuff that travels well, is available everywhere, and still passes nutritional muster.