Hey guys! Today I want to touch on a topic that is HUGELY responsible for you staying on track with your health and fitness while you’re traveling: eating out at restaurants.
First of all, let me be clear: when you’re traveling, especially if it’s out of the country or a new culture that you’re experiencing, I WANT you to eat out! What’s the point of traveling to experience new things if you’re going to deprive yourself of the experiences?
With that in mind, I don’t think it’s realistic to say “don’t eat out at all!” – instead, I want to try to help you navigate what to order when you do eat out. These tips are nothing crazy, and they’re nothing new. They’re just very simple ways to make a few healthy choices without sacrificing that big bowl of pasta in Italy (or wherever in the world you are!).
Tip #1: Order Water!
This one is so easy. Just make sure you order water! That doesn’t even mean that you can’t also order a drink. You can! The key is ordering water with your drink and actually drinking it! Your body is composed of roughly 60-70% water. Imagine what you’re doing to your organs if you aren’t hydrating them. Have your dinner and have your drinks – but make sure you’re drinking your water to keep your body feeling best and running like a well-oiled machine!
Tip #2: Order you sauces and dressings on the side
In a lot of cases, the sauces and dressings on your plate account for almost all of the fats in your meal. An easy way to cut back a LOT of calories is to get the condiments on the side of your dish. You can still enjoy them and put them on your food, but do it in moderation! We’ve all had a salad that has come out absolutely drenched in dressing. Ordering the dressings on the side will prevent that from happening and will give you more control in how many calories you’re actually consuming.
Tip #3: Make sure each meal has a full serving of protein and try to eat that first
This one is HUGE. First of all, we need to make sure that every meal we consume has a full serving of protein (i.e. chicken, steak, etc.). Protein is largely responsible for triggering your satiety cues, and this is important for a few reasons. If you can eat most of your protein first, you will get full faster. On the other hand, if you eat all of your carbohydrates and fats first, you might get full and not have room to eat all of your protein. This will lead to you feeling hungry again very quickly, because your body burns through carbs quickly and they don’t “stick”. This can also be bad because the protein is arguably the most important thing on your plate – you don’t want to not eat it!
Like I said – nothing new or intense here! These are just some very simple ways that we can make sure we’re making the most of our meals. I want you to be able to travel without missing out on any experiences, while still making sure you’re prioritizing your health and fitness. It IS possible and it doesn’t have to be hard!
As always, if you guys have any questions about this stuff you can book a call with me to discuss it in depth.
Happy travels!
