Make Vacation Eating Healthier
Vacation Eating
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
It is especially important to maintain a healthy eating plan while away from home on vacation. Traveling can be stressful, especially dealing with airport security and the uncertainty of air travel. But eating a whole foods diet can help you be more relaxed and have less trouble sleeping in strange beds.
Prepare an eating plan before leaving home. Start your plan a few days before traveling by focusing on eating foods that will help you to relax. Search the internet for restaurants with healthy foods or for vegetarian menus in the cities where you will be visiting. Make reservations ahead of time. Know where to find the Whole Foods Markets where there are always healthy items on their buffets. You can request that a small refrigerator be placed in your hotel room so you never have to worry about being hungry.
Before heading out to the airport, pack a few healthy snacks like a couple of couple of rice cakes spread with nut butter or hummus. Even a sheet of toasted nori can be a satisfying snack. Having enough healthy food on the plane will help you forego those packages of chips and salty nuts. Throughout the flight drink bottled water to keep hydrated in the stuffy, dry environment of the plane. Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink as by then you are already on your way to dehydration.
It is always fun to eat out and a real treat to experience someone else’s foods. However, restaurant food tends to be saltier, which can have adverse consequences.
Breakfast is both the most challenging and the most important meal of the day. Because breakfast comes after a night of not eating, it should be gentle on the digestive system as well as nutritious enough to give an energy boost for the day. A healthy breakfast should be light and uplifting rather than sweet and heavy. Look for high fiber and low sugar options for breakfast. Stay away from doughnuts, bagels and cold cereal. Most restaurants that serve breakfast can accommodate with a bowl of hot oatmeal. Eat a small portion of fruit at breakfast. Fruits are simple sugars and can play games with blood sugar. If you are able, leave the coffee for others; instead bring along bags of tea and ask for a pot of hot water.
A vegetarian soup is a good start for a midday meal and you can get a veggie burger almost anywhere. Substitute a salad with oil and vinegar for the fries. If you go to an Italian restaurant order pasta with olive oil and garlic, and of course, a side of vegetables.
By dinner time, exhausted from a day of sightseeing, a dinner that is both nourishing and satisfying is important. Look for ethnic restaurants. When eating in a Chinese restaurant look for steamed items and request that they not use MSG. A healthy favorite on Chinese menus is Moo Shu. In Middle Eastern restaurants you can find lentil soup, hummus, tabouli, falafels, vegetable kabobs and much more.
Because you planned well in advance, you’ll be able to return home from vacation having eaten healthy foods on your trip.
Frances Abrams
Guest Writer
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