Ahh vacation. Just saying the word usually evokes visions of relaxing by the pool, drinks with tiny umbrellas, a plethora of succulent foods, and a beach-ready body.
Staying Healthy on Vacation?
It’s funny, but rarely do you ever hear talk of post vacation syndrome—you know sun burnt skin, chlorine damaged hair, and 10 extra pounds that magically appears.
It can be very hard to pass up delicious brownie sundaes or deep fried…well…ANYTHING, especially when you are on vacation (we’re only human), but for the most part we try to put good things into our bodies. At the end of our hectic day real food helps our body’s to function properly and give us energy (and may also help protect skin from the sun).
I don’t know what it is about sleeping in a hotel room, but somehow on vacation, it is easy to leave our rational, nutritionally savvy selves at home and replace them with wide-eyed tourists without any regard for healthy eating. It can be challenging to stay focused and not get temped by the local cuisine (especially when smothered in bbq sauce).
After years of trial and error, I’ve found some tried-and-true tips that allow us to enjoy ourselves on vacation, without falling into overindulgence or gluten hangover.
1. Plan, Plan, Plan
My husband is fond of saying that “proper prior planning prevents poor performance” and never do I find this more true than in the kitchen!
Meal planning is the single best thing I do each week for my sanity and for our food budget. Since I started using Real Plans, (the best meal planner period), I am able to plan seasonal meals in less than 5 minutes a week (and save money doing it). I use this system regularly at home, but realized that there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t use it on vacation too!
The beauty of meal planning (especially with Real Plans) is that my computer (and my phone with the app) go everywhere I do, so I have them when we travel too. I can plan around regional foods, like fish at the beach, and buy only what we need without wasting anything or leaving food behind when we leave.
Most of the time when we travel, we drive to our destination, so I’ve also started pre-making as much of the food as possible. I pre-make entire meals like casseroles, pre-cook meats and make big batches of chicken salad so that I don’t have to cook much on vacation (which makes it an actual vacation for me!) I also plan a few meals that we will eat out of prepare local ingredients and know ahead of time exactly what I’ll need at the store.
The pre-planning allows me to only bring what is needed and not have to pack things like spices and condiments since meals are pre-made.
2. Pack (Healthy) Snacks
Whether your destination is a short car ride or a 3 hour flight, having an arsenal of healthy, non-perishable snacks on hand can be the difference between processed airport (or gas station) food and a fresh alternative. Most hotels only offer continental breakfasts with highly-processed foods (like cereal and pastries) and having better alternatives on hand saves time in the mornings and keeps us from feeling terrible.
These are some of the snacks I bring for the kids (or buy there) on vacation:
- Apples
- Bananas
- Trail mix (Almonds, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, raisins)
- Reusable insulated water bottles for holding smoothies, ices herbal teas and other drinks)
- Pre-made energy bars like these chia seed bars
- Various types of almond butter, pecan butter and coconut butter for serving with fresh fruit
3. Pretend you are Eating at Home
For some reason, many people (me included in the past) feel like vacation is a time to completely disregard normal eating habits and budget constraints and spend enormous amounts of money eating processed foods at overpriced restaurants.
If I wouldn’t put it in my mouth at home, I probably shouldn’t put it in my mouth while in another state or country, but this is easier said than done.
Pre-making food helps a lot with this, since I don’t want to have food leftover that goes to waste. I also realized that much of the reason I like to eat out on vacation is that I want a break from cooking, so pre-making food helps with this as well. Most of all though, I just don’t think of vacation as a time to eat junk and mentally plan ahead of time to eat as we do normally (with occasional healthy treats).
4. Still Skip the Sugar (or limit to one day)
Though I think rules are important, it’s also important to know how to break or bend them without completely falling of track. If you are going to have a treat after a long day of sight seeing or laying on the beach, make an event out of it! Maybe it’s at the end of your trip or even in the middle, but pick one day where you plan on eating a special treat. Just don’t make it a breakfast, lunch and dinner occasional the whole time and you’ll be ok!
I’ve also found that especially in summer months, I prefer a fresh smoothie (that may or may not also include Rum) to any type of processed dessert anyway, but if our family does go out for a special treat, we limit it to one meal.
5. Have a Picnic
Nothing says vacation like packing up a cooler or basket filled with delicious foods and copping a squat on a blanket overlooking a beautiful view. Instead of hitting up a local restaurant, go to a grocery store and have your kids help pick out what they’d like to eat (with your final approval of course). It will be just like eating at home, but in between yummy salads and sandwiches the kids can toss a football or play tag, all while soaking up some Vitamin D.
6. Pack the Remedies
Unfortunately, bug bites, sunburns and ear aches can happen just as often on vacation (or even more often) than they do at home. I’ve learned the hard way the remedies I always need on vacation and now make sure to pack a small kit with all of these:
- Healing salve (I use for bug bites, stings, rashes, etc)
- Ear infection remedies (and some diluted hydrogen peroxide/rubbing alcohol to use after swimming)
- Sunburn remedies, especially lavender and apple cider vinegar
- Homemade hand sanitizer – because while I don’t mind the kids playing in dirt, the germs on playground equipment and public restrooms really grosses me out!
7. Don’t Stress
So you fallen off the proverbial real food food wagon; filled with all its antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and proteins. Instead you decided to do a running dive, face first, onto the processed food cart. So what! Vacation is supposed to be a time to relax and rejuvenate, not make yourself crazy by counting every calorie. Don’t beat yourself (or your kids) up if you don’t adhere to your usual fantastic regimen. Just try to make the best food choices you can and above all ENJOY YOURSELF!
Do you have any tips to eating healthy on vacation?
Continue Reading...7 Tips to Eat and Stay Healthy on Vacation
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