Healthy travelling? Yes, it can be possible, fun and no-stress at the same time! Be sure to read Part 1 if you missed it. Below are some more tips on how to stay healthy whilst travelling and/or on holiday!
2. Stay in self-catering accommodation where possible. This is self-explanatory, but I’ll explain anyway. You make your own food, you determine the ingredients. This also enables you to pack some of your own meals for daytrips. What we usually do is to have our breakfast at our accommodation, pack lunch or have lunch out somewhere, make dinner at home. We usually have one meal of the day out at a restaurant. It saves us money and keeps the food interesting, and allows us to enjoy local restaurants. I realise this schedule works for us since we have a small child, but you can play with it based on your travelling preferences.
3. Have leftovers, at least for the kids. We always make sure to have a container with either sweet-potato and avocado, or something fatty, starchy and vegetably that counts as lunch and will keep our son’s hangry at bay. An avocado or two works well here, as it is full of healthy fats, and easy to pack. Obviously we must all eat, but my husband and I can maintain our positive attitudes a bit longer (usually) than our son during those times that we haven’t packed lunch for everyone and we are battling to find an acceptable restaurant.
4. Stay away from non-organic meat in restaurants. This is your choice of course. Non-organic meats are often from animals who have been given hormones, antibiotics and/or pesticide grown GMO feed.
5. Decide your compromise and be OK with it – in our family, we don’t eat a lot of high-sugar fruits like mangos or grapes on a daily basis. On holiday, we are much more lenient with this. Same with fresh-pressed juices, which we rarely consume at home but are much more open to during vacations. Don’t just tolerate these, but enjoy them instead!
6. Don’t get hungry. And by don’t get hungry I mostly mean don’t allow anyone’s blood sugars to drop. This often leads to ‘I need something, anything NOW!’ or ‘MAAAMMAAAAA I’m hungry!’ which is not where you want to find yourself when surrounded by confectionaries and Italian restaurants. Make sure you and the kids snack every two hours, and stay hydrated. Which brings me to my next point.
7. Stay hydrated. Dehydration makes you feel poorly, often times gives you a headache and foggy mind. Drinking water clears your mind, it helps your body detoxify, improves your circulation, and so much more. Also, it will help you snack less as people often tend to think they are hungry when in fact they are thirsty. For our family, we usually spend a lot of time walking, and drinking enough water is very necessary to replenish what is expelled.
8. Continue with your healthy habits as far as possible. As you know, creating healthy habits often don’t come easy. Stick to your guns, if you know gluten makes you feel bloaty and groggy, stay away. If you know pasteurised dairy causes a nasal drip and sneezing, stay away. Eat dried or fresh fruit instead of processed sugar, drink your supplements, include things like ginger, turmeric and apple cider vinegar in the food you make to assist digestion, drink those ginger shots at the restaurant, etc. Don’t throw all your healthy disciplines down the drain for 2 or 3 weeks because they are harder to sustain.
And finally, I want to challenge you with this thought. Do you take a break from the small disciplines that you learnt by making the 100 000 correct seemingly meaningless choices daily, determining the direction of your hour, your day, your week, your month and eventually your life? No, of course you don’t. Let’s try and keep our bodies as healthy as our souls and spirits whilst on vacation and instead of coming back in need of a detox, return home refreshed in spirit, soul & body.
This ancient proverb sums it up very well! Hold fast to discipline, for it is your life.
Enjoy your travels!
To life & in good health,
Riandi