Do you often travel or are in a hurry? With a bit of planning you can still eat healthy.
Eating healthy whilst on holiday or on the go can be tough at times. Travel can break down our daily eating pattern, we might be finding ourselves in a less familiar environment or we can be facing a jet lag. In all these situations keeping healthy food habits might be more challenging. Nevertheless it is not impossible to eat healthy whilst traveling provided we keep a few simple things in mind. In this article we will give you some tips and tricks how to keep healthy nutrition on the go.
Nutrition while Traveling: Tips for choosing nutritious food in restaurants
- Be careful about condiments. Instead of Southwest Chicken Wrap which comes with a ranch or mayo sauce which are high in saturated fat, order healthier option such as salmon and cheese bagel.
- Try to avoid all you can eat restaurants which always offer temptation to eat more than one should. Instead opt for ala carte menu and ask how big the portions are ahead of ordering.
- Be careful about high calorie alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages and smoothies with added sugar. Instead try to get water, unsweetened iced tea or water infused with fruit and herbs.
- Order a side of vegetables whenever you can and eat it with your meal if the meal does not offer enough of vegetables itself. Choose steamed veggies or fresh side salad over fried vegetables as you cannot usually determine which oil was used for frying.
- Make healthy swaps. If a restaurant offers, go for whole meal pasta or bread over white pasta or bread. Dip your bread in olive oil rather than spreading butter on it. Get boiled meals over fried meals. Ask if they offer boiled or mashed potatoes instead of fries.
- Stay hydrated and drink a glass of water before tucking into your meal. If you drink plentiful, you will feel fuller and are less likely to overeat.
- If not that hungry, order a starter instead of a main course. Many times it might be just what you need, especially in hot temperatures when we much more crave drink than actual food.
Healthy nutrition whilst staying at the hotel
With a bit of read about what your hotel offers ahead of time you might prepare yourself better. That way being healthy on the go might be that one step easier. Take advantage of what your hotel offers.
- If you have a fridge in the room and it is convenient, when eating out and starting to feel full, ask for a takeaway container and take the remains of your food to go.
- Prioritize hotel rooms that have a small kitchen or check if the rooms at least have a fridge so you can keep some fresh and healthy snacks refrigerated and are less likely to reach out for some less healthy options. Avoid eating food from the minibar.
- Read reviews of the breakfast that the hotel offers and use it when you can. You can be in charge of what you put on your plate. Choose protein, fiber rich foods and fruit and veg over breakfast muffins and unhealthy breakfast cereal. Great option is eggs with veggies and whole meal bread or a bowl of white low fat yoghurt with high fiber bran and fruit. Avoid sugary fruit drinks and hydrate yourself with for instance water or a green tea instead.
Healthy nutrition in social situations
People around us impact what we eat more than we might think. Surrounding ourselves with friends with healthy food habits or being with a partner that supports our healthy food choices will make an incredible difference to what and how much we eat. To a large extent we do mimic food choices of people we are surrounded with.
Also when we are in social situations and travel with family and friends might be such an example, we might notice that we eat more than when we eat on our own. This is quite normal. Even though being social is great for our mental well being, we have to be careful if it impacts our health by tempting us to overeat.
- We can suggest meeting friends and family in situations less likely connected to food and drink. How about going for a walk or a bike ride together rather than going out to eat from time to time?
- If everyone is having a desert, it might be difficult not to have any. If you like coffee, you might find that a cup of coffee after meal might be just perfect and will make you not to crave the desert as much.
Walking
Walk whenever you can. Ensure you have comfy shoes so you feel great and will more likely stay active throughout the day. This has a few benefits. Firstly a walk straight after we eat keeps our blood glucose level in check. Secondly walking during the day means that we are less likely to spend time sitting in various yummy restaurants and coffee shops with tons of temptation lurking at us. Also if you have a blip in your nutrition and we all do when travelling, you can ‘walk it off’ and feel instantly better again. This will help you not feel guilt and spiral out of your healthy routine towards more unhealthy choices.
Keep a log of what you eat each day
Log your food choices or make a habit to talk about what you ate that day. You can either write it down or recap in your head at the end of each day. It will immediately make you feel more accountable.
Count how many fruits and veggies you have eaten and see how many veggies you can pack in a day. Once you put numbers to your food choices you might be more motivated to keep them up just like you would do with for instance with you step count. For extra motivation involve your partner.
Aim to eat in once a day even when you travel
Eat in once a day. Not only it will keep your budget in check, but also it will ensure that you can be in control of what you have on the plate. Load your plate with fruit and veg purchased in a local shop. Make yourself a low sugar oatmeal or white low fat yoghurt with fresh fruit, whole grain bread or cracker with hummus or low fat cheese and tomatoes or cucumber…
When in the hotel with breakfast, you can choose nutritious breakfast. Just skip the area with muffins and croissants (however hard that might feel) and aim for eggs, veggies, white yoghurt, nuts and fruit instead!
Healthy snacks on the go
Snack smart. Healthy snacks can provide you with an excellent nutrition very easily. Don’t rely on airline’s snacks or food. And skip the classic airport bagels loaded with emulsifiers and saturated fat. Or airplane meals which are in large long shelf life products with tons of additives. In addition they are heated in plastic containers on the flight which means higher chances of inhaling harmful microplastics. Prep can go a long way when trying t be healthy on the go. See if you can pre-pack some of the food for the trip.
- Dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries are a great snack of you are craving something sweet. But best is to combine them with unsalted nuts and seeds to avoid blood sugar spike. Check that dried fruit doesn’t have any sugar added. It is sweet naturally but some producers load it with added sugar on top! Typical case is cranberries.
- Fresh fruit and vegetable which is easy to transport, washed and cut if needed. That way it is a convenient snack. Great examples are whole apple, pear, bell pepper or cucumber.
- Dark chocolate will give you a boost without too much sugar. Check out our article about dark chocolate and which one to choose!
- Boiled egg is a great source of protein and healthy fats whilst being pretty easy to pack for a trip out. For added health, add some spinach leaves to it. This will increase amount of fiber you consume but also allow some fat soluble vitamins from spinach be effectively absorbed.
- Bell pepper and guacamole. Guacamole gives you healthy fats whilst peppers are low calorie but rich in vitamin A and C. Both give you a boost of fiber and keep fuller for longer.
- Whole meal crackers are easy to store. These are a great alternative to white bread that is readily available when we travel. Choose low sodium alternative.
- Carrot or cucumber and hummus is a popular combo that is fairly easy to get many places. It does not only taste delicious but also provides us with fiber, vitamins and minerals.
- Apple and unsweetened peanut butter is not only great tasting but helps regulate blood sugar and supports digestion and heart health. There are big differences between various producers of peanut butter. Always choose 100% peanut butter so you avoid added sugars and emulsifiers.
- Olives are a perfect nutrition for your heart health as they contain high levels of monosaturated fats. Nevertheless they need to be eaten in moderation due to their high sodium level.
- Leftovers from last night’s healthy dinner. They may even taste better than when freshly prepared as some spices develop stronger flavor when left in the fridge overnight. Ensure that you avoid plastic containers to store or heat food. Use glass instead to avoid microplastics getting in your food.
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