Travel Tips & Tricks to Keep You Fit & Fab on the Road.
Healthy Travel: It is possible. You know you want to stick to your Fit Life habits, but you may not know the lay of the land.
Here are my 6 tips to guide you through your travels.
#1 Travel Fit Tip: Prepare yourself
Healthy travel preparation begins before you even leave home. I like to spend a few minutes searching on the internet for healthy restaurants, grocery stores, and even farmers markets in the area I'm traveling to. For example, try searching "gluten-free" to find health conscious restaurants and cafes.
Eating out can get really expensive. That's why I like to find healthy grocery stores that carry lots of clean and healthy foods like fresh fruits, avocados, nuts and seeds and almond milk.
Knowing about healthy eating options can relieve a lot of stress for me, and it's fun to try something new.
#2 Bring your fit life travel tools
Every adventure requires the right kind of tools, and it's no different for clean eating while you are traveling. Sadly, the world is not currently built to provide the best food choices for you and your family while vacationing. So, a little creativity is needed.
Here are a few items that I always take with me when I travel:
Shaker bottle. A shaker bottle is a must have for me. It's perfect for creating a quick snack, meals, and pre and post workout shakes. A shaker bottle comes in handy especially when you are staying in a hotel. Having 1 or 2 shaker bottles with me helps me keep to my 1- to 2 shakes-a-day habit and then I feel light and energized for whatever fun plans I have each day.
Shake packets. Carry a few shake packets with you in your bag and fix a quick snack with your shaker bottle. I'm so excited because my favorite plant based protein now comes in individual serving sizes, making it so easy to keep them in my purse at all times.
To-Go utensils. These beautiful bamboo travel utensils are my favorite because they are so compact and versatile. And, not that it's important, but I love how cute they are too.
#3 Fit life snack reserves
Making sure you have some smart snacks and supplements with you anytime you venture out makes you a Fit Life pro! It's one of my favorite tips to share with my clients because it ensures success and can create a sense of comfort and regularity wherever you go
Whole or ground chia seeds can be added to anything like salads or yogurt to provide more protein and fiber. I also love this Greens Blend that also comes in single serving sizes too. You just mix it with water and it tastes amazing. It provides boosts of energy, protein and phytonutrients that might not be easily available otherwise.
Dont skimp on the snacks. When you find a good place to purchase them, stock up with more than you think you will need. You'll be happy that you did when you are exploring a museum, or walking a new city with no food in sight.
Protein shake packets, nuts, dried fruit (sugar-free and artificial sweetener-free), seaweed snacks, dark chocolate, and whole fresh fruits that travel easily like apples and pears are some of my favorites. Almond and coconut squeeze packets travel well just about anywhere and are perfect for an energy boosting snack.
#4 A few supplements
It can be annoying to carry a lot of supplements when you are traveling. Here are my must haves.
Multi. A high quality multi-vitamin is useful to make sure your bases are covered because you may not be eating as well as you do when you are home.
ProB's. Probiotics help balance the gut. Often times we can get upset stomaches when we
travel from eating new foods, and being in new locations.
#5 Stay fit and take care
Self care is a must when trying to travel healthy. It's very easy to get out of our routine and our health can quickly suffer. If you're changing timezones, your internal clock may need a little help to get you back on track.
Give yourself the best chance to get a good nights sleep by wearing your sleep mask and minimizing your exposure to bright light at nighttime.
To help with jet lag, when you arrive at your destination, do a little light cardio or weights. Or bring a jumprope, it's the perfect ultra light fit travel tool.
Finally, we often eat more when we travel. Try doing a workout before you have a big meal. This will help increase your insulin sensitivity, motivate healthier eating, and keep you from packing on the pounds.
#6 Do your best
Sometimes we may try to skimp on meals while we are traveling and then we end up not eating enough. The added stressors can lead to hangry binge episodes. To keep this from happening, make sure to eat enough healthy snacks and food each day.
Even in areas that have never heard of or seen a protein shake or chia seeds you can find good enough food to keep you going.
Fast food joints. If you're stuck in a place where fast food is the only option, most have oatmeal for breakfast, and something like a chicken salad (that means chicken and a salad, not chicken salad). You can even get a burger without the bun and load on the veggies.
Gas stations. At gas stations, you can often find fruit, nuts and seeds, protein bars, hard boiled eggs, and juice.
Airports. It's a new age for airports. Many have decent healthy items like salads, fish and veggies, baked potatoes, tacos, fruit cups, and dark chocolate. If you're really in a pinch, like really, almost every airport has Bugles snack bags. You'll be surprised to see that they contain only a few ingredients (corn & salt) and they are cooked in coconut oil. Who knew?
My final thoughts
If you want healthy travel to be something you can actually accomplish, simply continue the Fit Life habits we have already established. use your travel time to not only explore the world around you but also make it a time to dive into self-care. A little prep and planning can turn the challenge of traveling while staying fit & fab into a great adventure.
P.S. Returning from your trip is the perfect time to consider doing my Body Balance Method 21 day detox. It'll help you feel your very best. I'm almost ready to release my new and improved version mid-july. If you're interested, email me and I'll be sure to let you know when its ready to send your way.
Safe travels everyone!
Cody Jean