Keep Your Diet on Track While Vacationing

Coming home from vacation wearing a few extra pounds can be a disappointment. Luckily, there are easy ways to maintain a healthy diet while away from home. Here’s some tips for to help you stay healthy while on vacation.

Keeping your diet on track:

Flying

The meals offered during your flight are often prepackaged, processed meals that are full of sodium. To avoid consuming unhealthy foods during your flight, eating a healthy meal beforehand is critical. If you are too rushed to eat before your flight, packing healthy snacks like raw almonds or protein bars is a must. Other ways to stay healthy before and after your flight include taking the stairs instead of the escalator and staying active during layovers.

At Your Hotel

Another factor that tends to impact your diet during a vacation is the meals offered by your hotel. Instead of indulging in sugary, starchy items like pancakes, waffles, pastries, and cereal included in the hotel’s continental breakfast, come prepared. By simply loading up on things like fruits, veggies, and nuts from a nearby store, you can be sure you’ll avoid unhealthy meals.

Another way to dodge diet disruptions during your hotel stay is to pack easily microwaved foods like oatmeal or soup. You can even bring a small crock-pot for quick, healthy meals. Whey protein powder is another nutritious, travel-friendly item that can be simply mixed into a glass of water or milk. If you choose to give room service a try, be sure to provide specific requests like salads without creamy dressings or a fresh fruit bowl.

Locating a Healthy Restaurant

When trying to find a healthy restaurant or hotel in an unfamiliar town, doing research is imperative. I recently took a trip west to Vegas and was worried that I wouldn’t be able to maintain the beach body that I worked so hard to get. With a little research I found restaurants and hotels in Las Vegas that allowed me to gain all the needed information on the area. Simply looking up local restaurants online can allow you to browse the menu and determine if they have sufficient healthy meal options.

Seafood restaurants are a great choice because they have a plethora of fresh fish to choose from that can be easily customized to preference, like salmon lightly drizzled with olive oil and grilled. Avoid restaurants that have mascots, as they usually represent fast food joints or places that serve bar food. Snacking on a handful of nuts or some fruit can help keep your hunger in check prior to the meal.

At the Restaurant

Generally, sticking to spinach-based salads, grilled or baked meat and fish and most vegetarian options will be diet-friendly. Easy ways to spot diet-friendly meals include locating words like baked, boiled, grilled, light, marinated, roasted, steamed, vegetarian, whole wheat, and more. At the same time, avoiding menu items that include words like battered, buttered, country style, covered, creamy, fried, loaded, smothered, stuffed, and more. Replacing side options with grilled veggies will boost the nutrient content of your meal. Finally, taking a multi vitamin with meals will up your nutrient consumption and keep your diet on track.

Clearly, eating healthy on vacation can be accomplished. By simply doing your research and coming prepared, you’ll be able to keep your diet on track while vacationing.

Guest Post with thanks to Cole Millen, an avid traveler and foodie who never forgets that life’s best memories are made through real life apprehension of legitimate “experiences.” Follow his blog at Cole’s Mill.