1. Don’t Skip Breakfast
It’s true what they say – breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
First, it’s important to set yourself up for success. If I choose to not eat breakfast, I am way more likely to snack throughout the morning and make rash decisions about what to eat simply because I’m hungry. This statistically also commonly leads to binge eating when you finally do sit down for a meal.
Second, it is important to fuel your body for what you’re about to do. Whether that’s going to a business meeting, walking, sight-seeing, etc., food is fuel and most of your morning is fueled by your breakfast. Just by eating breakfast, you can eliminate brain fog, irritability, and so many more negative symptoms and feelings! Even if you aren’t hungry, try drinking some calories (i.e., a protein shake, a smoothie, etc.).
Lastly, it’s important to set your hormones up for success! Traveling can put a lot of stress on your body. Being in a new environment and out of your normal rhythm can sometimes throw a curveball to your hormones. Eating in the mornings can help regulate your hormones and leave your body feeling it’s best!
2. Stay Hydrated
I cannot overstate this enough! It is SO common for people to stop drinking water on travel days. No one want to have to use the bathroom on the plane or stop a million times at gas stations – I get it! However, when you get to your destination, it is important to rehydrate your body and drink water.
The most common research says to drink at least half of your body weight in ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, a good goal for you is at least 75 ounces of water. This number probably won’t happen on accident – you’ll need to be intentional and make sure you’re drinking throughout the day! Make sure to take a water bottle with you on your trips. You can take an empty water bottle with you through airport security and just refill it when you get where you’re going. This is one of the easiest and cheapest tricks to staying on track!
3. Eat Protein Packed Snacks
This is important for many reasons, but I’ll touch on the most important one to keep in mind while traveling:
Protein is largely responsible for triggering your satiety cue. Have you ever eaten a bowl of pasta or a plate of sushi only to find yourself hungry again half an hour later? That’s because those meals don’t have a lot of protein. It’s totally okay to eat a croissant in Paris or a bowl of pasta in Italy – just make sure to grab a quick protein bar or include a full serving of meat with your meal. This will make you feel fuller longer, and will reduce the feeling of needing to snack more often.
It’s important to note here: snacks aren’t a bad thing! Snacks that you’ve planned on having or snacks that are more health conscious are actually a good thing. The “bad” snacks are the ones that you eat out of desperation because you’re hungry – those snacks are usually whatever is most readily available and therefore are probably less healthy.
4. Plan to Exercise
You all know the saying: “fail to plan, plan to fail”. I don’t usually like cliches, but this one is pretty accurate in this situation. If you take the time to plan ahead and block off time to exercise on your travel schedule, you are more likely to follow through and do it. Just saying “I’ll exercise later” usually isn’t going to work on vacation – all the other things you could do on your trip become way more tempting, and it becomes a lot easier to just skip. Instead, block off time in advance and research your options!
If you like to workout in a gym, research the facilities in the area you’ll be visiting and choose one. If you’re in a hotel, look online to see if there’s a hotel gym. If you’re a runner, look at map and plan a tentative route.
Another important thing to remember here is that it does NOT have to be a lot! If you usually workout for an hour at home, you don’t have to spend a whole hour working out on vacation! Something is better than nothing. Knock out a quick 20 minute workout and check off the box for the day!
5. Research Healthy Options at Your Destination
This one goes hand in hand with tip number 4, but I think it’s important to touch on it separately. Researching your options ahead of time doesn’t have to be hard. Just sit down and spend ten minutes googling. Your body will thank you for being healthy while traveling! Here’s a couple of ways you can plan ahead before you leave:
As I stated already, you can research your gym/workout options. This will make you more likely to actually go and workout.
You can also research food options. If you’re staying somewhere more than just a couple of days and have access to a kitchen or kitchenette, look at grocery stores in your area! Not only can you buy and prepare healthy options, but this can also help you stay within budget (eating out for every meal while traveling gets expensive!).
You can also research airport restrictions. You can pack certain snacks and they will be just fine going through security. For example, I always pack a box of my favorite protein bars when I travel. It’s cheaper and it provides a healthier, cheaper snacking option!
You could research your restaurant options. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t eat any good food at all and enjoy some dessert or a drink on vacation – you absolutely should! However, doing that for every single meal the whole time you’re gone will knock you back a step or two on your health journey. An easy tip is to allow yourself to splurge for one meal per day while on vacation, and for the other meals try to make a few more health conscious choices. That could look as simple as choosing to drink water instead of soda, or choosing to include protein in your meal instead of just eating a bowl full of carbs and fats.
Lastly, you can research your transportation options. One of the easiest ways to get in some exercise to be healthy while traveling is to walk! When it’s possible, make the choice to walk to your destinations instead of taxiing. I also think it’s a great way to explore where you’re visiting!
6. Get Enough Sleep
This one is actually sometimes easier on vacation than it is in your normal life, but still important to talk about. Sleep is the time when your body recovers, heals, and resets itself. It is important, easy, and FREE to make sure that you’re getting enough sleep on vacation! The recommendation is at least 8 hours a night. You don’t have to do anything crazy or go overboard (no, you can’t “catch up” on sleep), but try to be conscious about limiting the late nights and go to bed instead!
I hope this was helpful! As always, if you guys have any questions you can contact me at anytime or book a call to talk about this in a more 1-on-1 individual setting! Have fun traveling and as always, your health should be your priority! Always be healthy while traveling.
