Keep your diet on track while traveling

One of the things you learn quickly when adopting a healthy lifestyle and diet is finding healthy indigenous food on the go is a challenge. So what to do? Here are a few tips on how you can stick to the Healthy Roots Indigenous Wellness Challenge when traveling and still enjoy yourself.

Set your intention. Adaptability is key to maintaining a long-term change for healthy eating. If you know you are going to be traveling to an area where it will be difficult to stick to your eating plan, consider a compromise. You might have to aim to alter your commitment level down to 80% during your travels. Maybe even down to 50% if you are planning on attending a wedding banquet with served meals where you don’t get to pick what goes on your plate. If you decide ahead of time on the compromise you can avoid the post-vacation diet guilt that can sometimes shipwreck a person’s journey.

Plan ahead of time. If there is opportunity to pre-pack for your trip, head to the grocery store and pick up portable fresh foods such as fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds and dried fruits. Most grocery stores offer healthy snack options like hummus, hard boiled eggs or protein bars that also travel well.

Safe bets when dining out. Salads and soups are typically options that you can depend on and most restaurants, including fast food chains, do offer fresh choices. A lot of restaurants now offer turkey burgers. Order it without a bun and its still a delicious option. Best to avoid Italian or Chinese restaurants in favor of Mexican or Seafood spots.

Don’t forget your exercise. Working out when you are traveling can be a minor setback that is easily fixable. If you are caught in a hotel during your challenge and want to keep going, take a walk through the halls, climb the stairs, hit the hotel gym or take a swim in the pool.

Stay hydrated. Drink, drink, drink. Now keep in mind if you are drinking a lot of water and driving a long distance this might not work out well for you – unless you are okay with stopping every half hour. But once you get to your location make sure that you get re-hydrated. A refreshing option for this is coconut water, which is high in calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and sodium.

Get good sleep. As tempting as it may be to stay up late watching movies and eating pizza when you’re staying overnight in a hotel – make sure that you everybody is tucking into bed on time. Every night children up to five need 11-15 hours, ages five to twelve need up to 11 hours, teens need between 8-10 hours a night and adults anywhere from 7.5-9 hours every night. The right amount of sleep can make for more pleasant travels, strengthens your immune system, and helps to maintain a healthy metabolism.

Be good to yourself. In the event that you can’t stick to the plan – don’t beat yourself up! Learning how to cope with how to incorporate a healthy lifestyle into your everyday is all part of the journey. The awesome part about committing to living a long term healthy lifestyle is that every day is a new day, every meal is a new meal and every meal is an opportunity to choose whole indigenous foods that will nourish your body.  If you find you went completely off track – take a look back at what went on and next time you run into a hurdle like that you’ll have a better idea on how to cope through it without derailing your plan.

Related Posts