Healthy Travel Tips
Summer is the time of travel and whether you are taking a relaxing vacation to the beach or jetting off to Europe, there are certain tips and tricks you can use to maintain your healthy habits and come back feeling relaxed and refreshed.
Decide your goals. The first thing is to determine how you want to approach your travel. For me, I travel often and turning every trip into an all out free for all leaves me feeling exhuasted and sluggish, and it ends up taking me a few days to recover and get back into the swing of things. So I have found ways to maintain certain habits so I can feel good and keep hopping on planes. But maybe you only take one trip a year or you have an exciting trip to Italy so you want to spend all week eating and drinking whatever you want and not working out - that is totally fine! Just think about how you want to feel after your trip and whether or not you want to maintain some healthy habits during your trip.
Incorporate some movement. An easy way to incorporate some movement on your trip is to walk everywhere. It is a great way to get out and about and explore a new city and helps you get some added exercise.
Watch the booze. There is no sugar coating it - alcohol has a negative impact on nearly every aspect of our health. It is also often very prevalent while traveling. If you choose to drink while you are on vacation, just be aware of the impact it is having on your sleep, gut, and food choices.
Focus on portion size. When I know that I am going to be eating and drinking things that I normally do not have, I often like to focus on portion size and have a smaller amount of those things instead of cutting out completely. It can help you still feel satisfied and partake in the local cuisine, but not feel overly full or uncomfortable.
Pick one habit. It can be helpful to pick one healthy habit that you will fit in no matter what. It can be drinking water, meditating, working out, eating vegetables, anything that helps you feel good and you enjoy doing. For me that is exercise and I love the feeling of getting in an early morning workout before continuing my day. Decide what that one habit is for you and continue it each day while you are traveling to help maintain some sense of routine.
Meditate. This one is for those inevitable travel delays and snags. Traveling is truly the ultimate test of your stress relief habits. I am currently typing this from the airport as my flight delay drags on to hour three so this is one thing I have definitely had to practice.
Enjoy! Traveling is one of the great joys of life and can help us to relax, destress and create more happiness in our lives. No matter what choices you decide to make while you are traveling, have fun and enjoy the moment!
