Taking a trip can often be one of those ideal scenarios for everything to go off the rails. At home, you eat healthily and get out and exercise. Of course when it comes to travelling it is so easy for everything to change or not be quite as easy to maintain. Healthy travel does not have to be a thing you dream of it can be a reality.
The healthy food options that you are used to at home may not be quite as easily available. You may not even have access to prepare your food. Likewise, you may find that the exercise you regularly do at home goes out the window. Hotel gyms are often fairly basic if they even have one.
I have three tips for each that might help you stay fit and Eat right while aiming for healthy travel. If you have another tip or trick that you use, I would love to hear it. Just head down to the bottom of the page and leave a comment. Just keep in mind that you are on holiday and you are looking to replace what you are missing when you are at home. Below are just some suggestions, and you need to consider your situation before taking any on.
Staying Fit
What you do in the way of exercise when travelling can vary widely to when you are at home. But often our fitness is not even considered when we travel. But there are some ways to keep fitness up and pursue predominately travel.
1. Get Walking
One of my favourite things when travelling is exploring a new town or city on foot. So many cities offer such a cast range of experiences that you can only see when you are walking. Jumping on a tour bus can be an option and maybe even essential to a bigger city to some degree
Jumping on a tour bus can be an option and perhaps even necessary in a larger city to some extent. But at some point, it is great to put the feet on the ground, walk, and explore. You might just be surprised at what you can find, plus the bonus is every step adds to your exercise for the day.
Personally, when travelling and walking cities, it is very easy to get that 10,000 steps a day. Often I will end up walking more like 20-25,000 steps most days.
2. Body Weight Exercises
Obviously, a big downfall of travelling can come if you frequent the gym. Although some hotels do have a gym, they can often be quite lacking in the facilities available. A treadmill, bike and maybe one or two other machines are often all that is available.
Using something like body weight exercises is something you can do just about anywhere. In a hotel room, in the park or even a carpark. Think about exercises like pushups, situps or squats, maybe adding pullups if you find the right area.
You could also look at alternatives if you did want to consider a way to get some weights in as well. Often furniture may have some weight to it and picking up a 5kg chair might meet your needs.
3. Take The Stairs
Stairs can be a great way to exert yourself a little more. So many places there is often an option of stairs, escalator or elevator. If you have the choice, consider taking the stairs, or just keep on walking on the escalator.
You do not always have to choose the stairs over another option; it comes down to considering the situation. If you need to go between 1 or 2 levels and stairs are available why not take them. It could even be quicker considering how long you may wait for an elevator. However, more than five levels definitely might be better in an elevator.
If you are unsure about stairs for example at a hotel or such, it is always best to ask first. The last thing you want to do when you are trying to get a little exercise is trigger an alarm.
Eating Right
Eating right can be an essential part of healthy travel. Just because you are doing more exercise either incidentally or on purpose does not entirely offset bad eating. The two need to work hand in hand to maintain something similar to what you might do at home.
1. Enjoy in Moderation
Eating in moderation is something we should be thinking about anyway. However, when there is a lot of options at times on holiday, it is one thing we need to keep in mind.
Moderation is not necessarily something you need to apply to every single meal. You can go and enjoy an experienced meal one night. But keep in mind if you indulge in every meal while travelling you might notice a difference in weight by the time you get home.
2. Limit Snacks
Having snacks available when you are travelling is something that tends to happen. Eating to a schedule similar to at home is not always possible. While being more active can see you needing more food to keep exploring and enjoying your holiday.
It is important though to consider what you are snacking on and if the snacks are healthy or unhealthy. Snacks that are predominently sugar are good to avoid. Things like chocolate bars, lollies, biscuits and cakes are better left out of the travel bag. While you might like to consider other options like fruit, nuts, seeds, trail mix or raw food bars.
3. Plan Meals
An excellent way to avoid poor eating choices all the time while travelling is to plan your meals. Planning your meals helps to avoid getting to a meal time and just eating whatever is available nearby.
If you are going to be eating somewhere specific for dinner you can plan a light lunch. Eating a lighter meal like this can also save money and help avoid wasting food.
Also, keep in mind that if you do want to indulge in some treat while travelling, you don’t have to feel guilty. You just have to be aware of what you eat and how to offset that through other meals.
Aim For Healthy Travel
The above are just a few suggestions, to help you towards healthy travel. But at the end of the day remember you are on holiday. Eating a little more than you should or moving a little less than expected is not the end of the world. It just means that you might have to do a little extra to catch up when you get home.
If you are travelling for a longer period, healthy travel becomes more important. How you eat and exercise is worth keeping in mind. The longer you let things slide, the more difficult it will be to catch it up later on. Most of all though enjoy your holiday.
