Vacation! What great images this word can conjure up. Maybe it’s a nice sandy beach with blue water, a quaint village ready to be explored, or the peace and quiet of a back to nature hiking trip. Whatever your dream vacation might be it’s a time to relax and unwind your mind and body. However, if you’re trying to eat healthy while on vacation you may find yourself feeling a little bit stressed. Well, have no fear because I’m here to tell you that it can be done and fairly easily too.
We just got back from a relaxing week in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, Florida. While I did exercise some, I spent most of my time relaxing on the beach getting lost in the clear to the bottom blue water. I love to eat, so gaining weight while on vacation was something I used to worry about. However, you can easily maintain that weight with a few of these simple suggestions for how to eat healthy on vacation.
How To Eat Healthy On Vacation – Bring Your Own Snacks
If you’re flying to your destination, make sure to have a hearty healthy breakfast. This will keep you from buying those fattening airport biscuits or expensive Starbuck’s Danishes. Pack your own snacks for the trip and even pack a peanut butter sandwich if you’re flying during lunch without a connection. I get the snack and sandwich baggies for nuts, goji berries, dried unsweetened mangos, carrot and celery sticks, pretzels, whole grain crackers, fresh washed berries or other fruit, and homemade dry popped popcorn. Other snacks that travel well are homemade vegan cookies, protein bars, and homemade granola.
If you have to have a meal in the airport, opt for a salad with grilled chicken and the dressing on the side, fresh fruit, or a grilled chicken sandwich. Sometimes you have to search for something decent, but it will be worth it in the long run.
On our trip, our breakfast was included with the hotel. However, it was only a continental breakfast, so each morning we had a pain au chocolate and a bowl of fresh fruit. We then went back to our room and had our Shakeology, which kept us plenty full until lunch time.
How To Eat Healthy On Vacation – Stop At The Local Grocery Store
If you’re staying in a room with a kitchenette, or even just a refrigerator, then find the local grocery store and stock up on fresh fruits, vegetables for salads, hummus, and oatmeal. If there is a Whole Foods, you can get a relatively cheap lunch and dinner if you make your own salad from their extensive salad bar. One day my husband and I split one of their big sandwiches from the deli and a Greek salad. For dinner we loaded up on the different types of grain salads, lettuce salads, and hummus. The grain salads have lentils, quinoa, black beans and many other protein rich items. With a little Naan bread it was a filling meal. We munched on that while enjoying the ocean view from the rooftop deck at our hotel.
How To Eat Healthy On Vacation– Don’t Splurge Every Day
When you do go out to lunch or dinner, try not to splurge on fatty or carb laden foods. Always ask to see the menu before going in and sitting down. This way it’s easier to walk away if there isn’t anything you want to eat. If possible, eat at a sit down restaurant so you can find out what’s in the food and how it’s prepared. This also gives you the chance to ask for foods to be cooked differently or with a sauce on the side. Don’t be afraid to ask how something is cooked and if it comes fried see if they’ll grill, broil, or bake it for you. Many restaurants will accommodate you if you just ask. All they can say is no, and then you can find something else to order or pick a different restaurant. A Mediterranean restaurant is a good healthy option. The Front Porch was the restaurant next door to our hotel. We ate there for lunch at least three times and had a variety of healthy meals. Each day we were going to take a picture of our meal, but dug in as soon as it showed up and only remembered the picture after it was half eaten.
However, here were our healthy options to give you an idea of things you can eat that are good but won’t sabotage your weight loss: hummus platter with cucumber slices, tomato slices, and whole wheat pita wedges; couscous salad with mixed garden salad and a delightful red onion dressing that was so good and light that we must try to duplicate it; grilled chicken and hummus platter which came with two grilled chicken breasts, hummus and a mixed green salad; veggie burger in a whole wheat pita with cucumber and tomato and a mixed green salad; and these totally yummy fish tacos with an avocado sauce.
We loved the fish tacos so much we decided that we’d go back one night for dinner not realizing that their dinner menu would be totally different from their lunch menu. So, what did we do? We told them that we’d had their awesome fish tacos and could we have them for dinner too? They said sure! See what happens if you just ask? We ended up having their olive appetizer which was a variety of delicious olives and the fish tacos. It was a light dinner, but totally satisfying.
How To Eat Healthy On Vacation
I’m not going to say don’t drink alcohol, but remember that it contains lots of calories and no nutrients whether it’s a mixed drink or beer. On vacation you have the double whammy from drinking – high calories and very expensive prices. So try not to splurge too much on the drinks. If you’re strapped for money an $8 lunch is better than a $9 alcoholic drink that has no nutritional value.
Try to eat the local ingredients as they’ll most likely be fresher. One night we went to a Peruvian restaurant and had seafood ceviche, spinach and basil pesto, and a hangar steak. It was plenty of food and not too heavy. Our ceviche had fish, calamari, squid, and shrimp. It was absolutely delicious and quite filling.
If you decide on a dessert, try not to have one every night and if possible share it. This way you’ll get to splurge without making your waistline surge.
Also remember to stay well hydrated. Refill your water bottle in your hotel room and take it with you everywhere. You want to feel good on vacation, so don’t eat junk. When you eat junk you feel sluggish and tired, so eat healthy so you can go out there and have fun and be active on your next vacation!
