Staying healthy and traveling at the same time seems impossible sometimes. But just because your traveling, doesn’t mean your healthy lifestyle has to suffer.
Today I’m going to be going over five tips on how to stay healthy while you’re traveling. I had multiple requests for this article, and it’s something that I have to juggle and manage often.
I think it’s something thats difficult, especially if you’re traveling a lot, or you’re even going out to restaurants. How do you navigate that and how do you stay healthy?
I know after my injuries, gaining a lot of weight, and being all over the place, I had to be strategic about this. Especially when I was traveling, what were these strategies so that I could stay on my path and not get distracted? Let’s go over these five tips!
#1. Plan ahead for supplements and snacks. I carry this little baggie wherever I go. I put it in my bag and it is full of my supplements and little nutritious snacks.
The hardest thing is when you’re starving when you’re traveling, you end up eating something you don’t want to eat. I try to prevent that the best I can.
What are my nutritious snacks? One snack I have is protein powder. I really like vegan protein powder and egg white protein powder, so I do a combination and that’s saved me a number of times because all I have to do is add water and have a cup.
Also, I have a little baggie of oatmeal that has pumpkin spice and stevia in it. Just needs some hot water and a cup and I have a little snack. I also have a few different nutrition bars that are healthy because a lot of nutrition bars can be like a candy bar. I have ones that are healthy and don’t have added sugar. They’re just really, really basic.
Other things I have are supplements like Spirulina. Spirulina’s a blue-green algae and it is about 65-70% protein, so it’s going to stabilize my blood sugar. If I have any cravings I know I can just pop some Spirulina tablets and that’s going to help me! I always have these little snacks and supplements ready to go.
#2. Have a bland diet. Any change on the body, especially traveling is stressful. When people are traveling, they’ll have this decadent meal or they’ll be eating this huge meal while they’re even flying. This puts a lot of stress on the body. I need to work with my immune system and I need to work with my body versus against it. When there’s a little bit of stress, a lot going on, or I’m not sleeping that much ’cause I’m traveling, I make sure that I can have a bland as diet as possible.
What do I mean by that? I really stick to five ingredients or less at meals. I look at whole foods like vegetables. They have a lot of fiber, that’s going to fill me up. Just basic foods that I know my body is going to do well on and that I can predict the outcome of how I’m going to feel.
#3. Eat breakfast. I know this was always a challenge especially when I was traveling a lot corporately. I had no control, I didn’t know what I was going to have lunch, dinner, or the snacks.
The snacks were terrible because they come at 3 PM and it was always the worst things, like quesadillas and fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.
I always got into the mind frame of eating a nutrient dense breakfast. What I mean by that is I would always have eggs, spinach, and avocado. Even if I had extra, I would take a little for later on. I had control over that which would set me up for success for the rest of the day.
#4. Risk-benefit analysis. I do this even when I go to restaurants. You have to do the best with what is in front of you. I’m always looking at how to make sure I have this nutrient dense meal. I always look at where can I put in vegetables. I know vegetables, especially if I chew them very well, are going digest very well. Vegetables will also keep me full.
It’s always this risk-benefit analysis. What can I do with everything that’s in front of me. If I can’t do that well, let’s say, I get into my mind, “Okay, next meal or tomorrow, this is when I’m going to do this strategy.” What happens to most people is they have one bad meal, they get taken off and then they’re just off. You have to have these strategies, mentally too. Think of how you can stay on your health routine and lifestyle.
#5. Hydrate. Especially if you’re on a plane, you get really dehydrated and we need to hydrate. If we have cravings or we’re starving, this is going to help. Most the time when we’re starving or having cravings, we are craving the water in the food.
What I recommend is to start your day right with two glasses of warm water before anything else to hydrate. Then drink water in between meals. I’m constantly drinking water.
Soda is not water. Your body wants water because you’re around 70% water. We’ve got to keep hydrated.
What are some strategies you put into place while traveling to stay healthy? I would love to know, comment below!
