Eating Healthy During Travel

One of the most common things that throw people off their routine of eating healthy is travel. Ask any family who travels most of the summer for tournaments or anyone whose work has them flying to different states frequently to do their job. My wife and I have spent more time traveling and honestly, it used to be something I hated doing because of how I would feel around the travel.

We hear of people all the time gaining 10 or more pounds because they went out of town or went on vacation and in addition they usually feel more lethargic and inflamed when they return. This is avoidable and I won’t say I have all of the travel answers for every situation, but here are some things that we've picked up over the years that have helped us a lot in our travels. Traveling is fun, whether by car or plane, but shouldn't take you off your plans of improving your health. This like many things in health and fitness will take some trial and error to see what works best for you but will be well worth the time.

Pre Travel - Starting the day before, be sure to drink some extra water and avoid things like pop, beer, and energy drinks. The extra water will help with the travel and being more sedentary than normal and also it will account for the fact that your water intake might get thrown off in travel. Starting the day before, eat foods that will not cause you to be bloated or inflamed. Some foods to avoid would be pizza, candy, and processed foods. Try to stick with foods that are normal in your normal nutrition to lower the risk of an upset stomach during traveling. The better you feel while traveling, the less likely you will be to resort to fast food options that are less than ideal. On the morning of travel, have a meal high in protein and fat, this will keep you fuller longer and give you longer sustained energy. Carbohydrates should be complex carbohydrates that will give you long-term energy so you avoid having a “crash” and feeling tired during travel. Lastly, before you leave, figure out what snacks you can bring on the plane and have a rough idea of how you will eat healthy meals ahead of time. While this might take some time getting used to it, you will become more efficient and it will become easier. For me, I will pack two protein bars, cashews, and dried fruit for plane rides and have a plan of what I will eat once we land. Planning ahead will curb the desire to binge eat on the first overpriced airport food you see.

During Travel - I will usually stay somewhere that will allow me to make close to my normal breakfast as it helps me stay in a routine. If we’re in a hotel, I will make sure that they have a good breakfast option (most have this now). In some places, this might be an extra cost, but to start my day feeling healthy, it’s more than worth it. Throughout the travels, I will keep my meals as close to normal as I can and have one meal where I will eat a few items I don’t normally eat. If I know I’ll be having deserts or drinks later, I will be sure I pull back on some food leading up to that. This doesn’t have to be measured, just be aware that you plan to take in more calories than normal later in the day. Another big thing during travel is trying to get adequate sleep. This will take care of so much as far as normal appetite, energy, and mental sharpness which will decrease your chances of splurging on junk food. Also, most hotels have at least a mini-fridge which will make it possible to run to a store to buy some fruit and snacks to have in your room.

After Travel - Write down what worked for you and what didn’t. This will create something you can reflect back on each time you're getting ready to travel to find trends of what you found helpful. As far as eating once you’re back, try to make sure you have food available once you’re back home that can be easily made but still healthy to avoid going to the phone to order the default pizza just to get by. We will usually leave some food in our house that will still be food during the duration of our trip so that we can eat mostly normal until we get back to the grocery store. This has been very beneficial since everyone wants to eat once they’re back home, but most don’t have food to eat.

Those are a few of the tips we have, if you have found some helpful tips for this topic, please let us know. If you have questions about getting help with your fitness around travel, message us at nick@showtimestrength.com and learn how we can help!

Nick Showman

Showtime Strength & Performance

www.showtimestrength.com