Tis the season. It’s January – time when everyone reflects on the past year to see where we can improve in the new one ahead. New years resolutions, new gym memberships, dry January, and the whole 30 diet are on everyone’s mind to shed that dreaded holiday weight gain. Today, I am sharing a few tips for a healthy lifestyle to incorporate into your current routine so you can stay healthy while traveling and at home.
The goal is to make healthy lifestyle changes that you can sustain on your next vacation and most importantly, throughout your life so you can continue to have the physical abilities to travel. It does not need to be complicated.
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How to Stay Healthy on Vacation
The first rule is to not deprive yourself or take away things you love. Life is short and you should be able to eat pizza or whatever it is your heart desires. So let’s add some health promoting tools into your routine for travel and at home…..
1. Drink More Water
I know you’ve heard this a million times, but it truly is so important. That is why everyone says it! Water helps to flush out all of the harmful toxins in your body. It keeps things moving and will improve digestion. Try to add one more glass to your normal routine and go from there. It can even be fizzy water or teas. Drinking water is even more important for air travel which dehydrates you.
Stop by a store and stock your hotel room if you need to!
2. Eat Lots of Plants!
Try to add fruits and veggies at every meal especially on vacation. Get creative and see where you can sneak some in. Maybe it is chopping celery and mushrooms into your spaghetti sauce at home. Swap pasta noodles for banza chickpea pasta or zoodles (or mix the two). Try cauliflower crust on your next pizza order. Maybe it’s swapping your breakfast for avocado toast. Maybe you hate broccoli when it is steamed, but you might like it crispy in the oven. Experiment to find what you do enjoy. Focus on plant diversity and your gut will thank you!
3. One Smoothie a Day
One of the easiest tips to stay healthy while traveling: try to start your morning with a smoothie or juice. I like to add berries, half a banana, spinach, flax seeds, and protein powder to make it filling. Aloha is my favorite as I prefer protein powders to be plant based. This will help fuel your day and control cravings to set you up for success. This was a game changer in maintaining my blood sugar and hunger levels. It is easy to find a healthy juice or smoothies almost anywhere in the world.
4. Dessert – have it!
Yes, you can have dessert IF you are craving it! It is vacation and you should treat yourself (responsibly). If you want dessert, order one or even better, split it with your travel companion. Just try not to do it for every meal, okay?
5. Cravings & Healthy Snack Options
When you have a craving to eat a snack, breathe through it. Have a glass of water. Are you really hungry right now? If you are by all means, EAT! But don’t pack on extra calories if you aren’t. Sometimes your body is truly only thirsty.
If you need a snack, try to find something healthy. I like to travel with these protein bars because they are filling and easy to throw in a purse. It’s good to travel with healthy options so you aren’t tempted by greasy airport food.
Speaking of airplane food, sometimes you have to eat it on a long haul flight. I try to avoid it as much as possible by packing healthy, shelf stable options. Pre-packaged protein bars, nut butters, whole fruit (apple, banana) and popcorn are great options.
6. Exercise – Move Your Body Somehow
I try not to stress about exercising on vacation. Sometimes it is nice to take a break from my normal routine. I am naturally more active when traveling whether walking around a new city, swimming, paddle boarding, hiking etc. As simple as it sounds, walking really is so good for your body and long term health. I find that I naturally walk WAY more when I am on vacation – it’s a great way to see the city you are in!
Weight lifting and building muscles is very important too, but for weight loss, it is all about the foods you consume. You can not out work a poor diet! So on vacation, I try not to stress about exercise. It does make me feel better, so if there is a hotel gym I try to go a few times or a do a workout in my room. I usually pack one of these exercise bands because they take zero space in my suitcase and can intensify a hotel room workout. Ankle weights are a great option too!
7. Take Your Vitamins
Sometimes it can be hard to eat all of the things we need to stay healthy while traveling. Vitamins help fill the gaps of what your diet does not provide. I recommend a daily vitamin to help make sure you are getting all the nutrients needed especially on vacation when your meals may vary.
8. Limit Your Meat Consumption
I no longer eat meat, only local fish occasionally or when traveling. But I like to look at meat as the accompaniment to your meal. Your plate should be mostly veggies and whole grains with a small portion for your meat. This is actually a component to the popular Blue Zones Diet – how the longest living people on Earth eat.
9. Don’t be Afraid of Carbs
We are all afraid of carbs. We’re told they make us fat. The truth is, your body needs the nutrients found in carbohydrates and whole grains. Brown rice, oats, quinoa, sweet potato, farro, dave’s killer bread are all great in appropriate portions. Try to do one serving of starch per day. Sometimes it might be four servings, but if most days you do one, then that will help tremendously. Avoid refined carbs like white rice, white bread, and white pasta – they process out all of the nutrients and you’re left with nothing helpful to you.
10. Easy on the oils
Instead of vegetable or canola oils, stock your pantry with olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oils! Be mindful of how much olive oil you cook with – 1 tbsp is 100+ calories!
It’s harder to manage this on vacation if you aren’t cooking for yourself, but if you do prepare your own food at a vacation rental this tip is for you! And, don’t be afraid to ask restaurants what they are cooking your food in.
11. Don’t drink your calories
This is a huge one for vacation. So many calories come from drinking whether it’s alcoholic or not so try not to drink your calories. Craft beer has 150+ calories per 12oz. It’s not just the calories though, watch out for the sugar too. A bud light lime-a-rita has 29g of sugar and 220 cals in an 8oz can! And, a Mountain Dew has 170 cals per can and 46g of sugar. Healthier alternatives: prosecco, tequila soda, light beer, or water.
Healthy Snacks for Travel
Here all the best snacks to put in your suitcase!
Protein Bars
I take these everywhere and usually pack one per day of my trip!
Collagen Packets
Great to add to coffee or a juice.
Almond Butter Packets
Squeeze this almond butter on a banana for a filling snack!
Hydration Tablets
Boost your hydration with these tablets.
Individual Oatmeal Bowls
These are fairly small and easy to combine with hot water on plane for a healthy meal. You can usually find them at an airport convenience shop, too!
Other healthy ideas for air travel
- whole fruit like bananas, apple
- popcorn
- trail mix
- sandwich from home (use tupperware so it doesn’t get squished!)
- kind bars
- jerky
- granola
- dried fruit
- individual string cheese
Final tips for a healthy lifestyle while traveling
This may sound like a lot, but it is not taking anything away from your lifestyle. It is adding things – whole grains, veggies, and fruits! Small changes make the biggest difference. You do not need to do all of these at once. Try adding one or two healthy lifestyle tips at a time so you can sustain these changes.
Look at this as a way to truly be healthy so you can live a long life free from disease. That means eating a diversity of whole foods (foods as close to their natural state) to support your body – your immune system lives in your gut, after all! You truly are what you eat, so try to make good choices at every meal so you can enjoy a long life traveling the world.
Disclaimer – I am not a doctor. These are personal tips that I have learned on my own wellness journey the past 30 years. I am deeply interested in learning as much as possible about nutrition and have read tons of books and listened to many podcasts on these topics.
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