Five tips for healthy travel and holiday eating

Travel presents its own problems when it comes to eating in a healthy fashion. Not having one’s favorite foods at the ready, coupled with the excitement (or stress) of being in airports, hotels, and with often-unseen relatives, can cause even the most dedicated person to toss his health regiment out the window.

Staying healthy when on the road is not impossible. Follow these simple suggestions:

1) Set realistic expectations.

The definition of success when traveling or on vacation might be different than the one you use when at home. Whereby, when you are surrounded by familiar surroundings, you might be trying to lose weight, it might be more practical to set a goal of maintenance while traveling. Setting an unrealistic goal can be an excuse for giving up altogether.

2) Drink your water!

Cold weather and airline travel can dehydrate you so you need to drink extra water anyway. An added advantage of having a glass of water prior to every meal is that it slows down how much you eat and fills you up faster, causing you to eat even less. (Don’t like ice in your water? You’re not alone. Feel free to ask for water without ice. Just make sure to drink what you get.)

3) Walk!

Find excuses to beat your feet; don’t worry about how long. If you find yourself with ten minutes and nothing to do, take a walk. When you’re at the mall or grocery store, park at the far end of the lot. Have a choice between the stairs and the elevator to go up one floor? Use the stairs.

Many people feel they have to do a great deal of exercise in order to ward off “travel tummy.” That’s not necessarily true. Small steps done regularly will generate more results than big steps done intermittently.

4) Say “Not right now.”

Skipping those “special” holiday or travel foods might cause you to feel deprived; the end result being that you’ll decide to reward yourself by going on an eating binge. Instead of saying (to yourself or to others), “I can’t have that,” say, “Not right now.” Give yourself ten minutes before you change your mind. Many time you’ll simply decided it wasn’t that important and you’ll get to feel great about your willpower. If you do change your mind, the food will still be there – and you will have at least delayed your eating by a short while.

5) Have only one.

No matter what you eat, limit it to one serving. The reality is very few people have to lose weight due to eating one serving of their favorite food while traveling. It’s usually the second (or third, or fourth…) trip to the buffet table that gets us. Make yourself a promise that no matter what you do, you’ll only do it once.

Everything is easier when you have the time to plan it out and you are surrounded by all the benefits of being in your own place. But, that doesn’t mean you can enjoy the feeling of success – even when far from home.

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