It can be quite depressing to return from a vacation to find you have gained 5 or more pounds. And if you have health related issues, taking a break from your diet and exercise plan, may not be feasible. As many of you know my kids and I have Celiac Disease and my oldest son cannot consume dairy or soy. We can’t take a vacation from our diet, even if we want to, because it is essential to our overall health.
Tips for Maintaining Healthy Habits While on Travel
You don’t have to drop all of your healthy habits just because you are away from home. Below are tips for including exercise, a healthy diet, and some much needed rest into your next vacation.
Tips for Fitting in Exercise While on Vacation
You can easily fit exercise into your travel plans by scheduling some physical activities that you enjoy. Water based activities are popular with my entire family, so oceans, lakes, and rivers are common destinations for us. Swimming, running on the beach, and canoeing are often incorporated into our travel plans.
Everyone in our family enjoys nature, so we plan hikes in the mountains, around streams, and near tide pools. We also schedule activities that will include a lot of walking like visiting a zoo or a botanical garden.
Instead of touring a city on a tour bus, rent bikes or plan out a walking tour. Bring a stroller if you have young children. Even if they don’t ride in it, you can use it to hold the diaper bag and water bottles.
Vacationing somewhere where it will be miserably hot and humid? Check out the facilities before you make a reservation. Many hotels have a small gym, so you can squeeze in a workout in an air conditioned gym.
Tips for Eating Healthy While on Vacation
Since we have food allergies and intolerances, it is very important that we maintain our healthy diet, even while we are on vacation. Accidentally consuming dairy or gluten can ruin our travel plans. One of the ways we maintain a healthy diet while vacationing is by preparing some of the meals ourselves in our hotel room. This requires a little bit of advance planning, but is actually not that difficult. It is healthier than eating fast food and can be more relaxing than going to a restaurant with children. Bonus: depending on where you are vacationing, you may enjoy a much better view from your cabin or hotel room than from any of the restaurants in town!
I usually reserve a suite with a kitchen or rent a cabin when we go on vacation. If you plan in advance renting a vacation home is usually not that much more expensive than a traditional hotel room. If you can’t find a reasonable price on a cabin or vacation home, then reserve a hotel room with a refrigerator and microwave. You can create an amazing number of meals with a microwave and mini-fridge.
Once you plan your activities, plan which meals you will eat at your hotel into your schedule. Will you only be eating breakfast and dinner in? Will you pack a lunch and snacks? Will you want to eat a few meals out? If you will be eating out, research restaurants in the area in advance. You can often find menus online, go over them to find which restaurants that serve healthy dishes that meet your dietary requirements.
Google grocery stores near your destination before you leave, so you know where to do your grocery shopping once you arrive.This makes it easy for you to stock up on your family’s favorite foods. I know my kids could not go very long without Silk Vanilla Almond Milk! My kids have always enjoyed Silk Vanilla Almondmilk, I recently switched to Silk Almondmilk with Protein and Fiber to get a little extra protein and fiber into my 7 year old who is a picky eater. I was thrilled that neither my kids nor I noticed a difference in the flavor that we all loved. And even happier that my 7 year old is getting 5 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber in every cup of Almondmilk!
To save money on our grocery shopping while on vacation, I sign up for the local grocery store’s club card and bring a few coupons along to use. If you want to find coupons for Silk Almond Milk with Protein and Fiber, visit Silk’s Facebook Page.
Tips for Relaxing While on Vacation
Relaxing is the hardest part of vacation for me. I am still responsible for feeding and clothing kids, but I have the added stress of keeping track of them and keeping them safe in unfamiliar locations. So I must go out of my way to build some down time into my vacation.
Plan some down time. There is not a rule that you have to be on the go your entire vacation. Plan a few late starts, an afternoon off, and a quiet evening in, so you don’t arrive home in need of a vacation to recover from your vacation.
Limit electronics. If you don’t disconnect, you will end up answering emails and texts from work, the PTA, church, and neighbors. Just because you can be available to everyone 24/7, doesn’t mean you have to be.
Enjoy some old-fashioned family fun. Pack a puzzle, a few board games, and a pack of playing cards.
Get 8 hours of sleep. Think carefully about the sleeping arrangements before you make your reservation. You may think you can share a bed with your toddler for a few days, but after the third night of sleeping on the floor rather than being kicked all night you are not going to feel very rested. Make sure the hotel has cribs and roll-away beds available, so you can all get a good night sleep.
How do you maintain healthy habits while you are on vacation?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.
