Healthy Living

Creating a Vacation Diet Plan

Your vacation shouldn’t be bogged down by food restrictions. You should be able to cheat on your diet while enjoying your vacation, right? Well, maybe…but unfortunately, falling of the bandwagon can lead to problems both on your vacation and when you get home.

First, when you’re still actually on your vacation, switching up your diet to enjoy fatty foods and sweets, when you normally would avoid these things at home, can make you sick. Your body isn’t used to these foods anymore, so it is common to have tummy trouble if you go nuts with food during your vacation.

Even if this doesn’t happen to you, when you get home, you could face a second problem – the inability to find the willpower to get back on track. You aren’t going to gain 50 pounds while on vacation, no matter how poorly you eat, but if you cheat on your diet there, chances are that you’ll continue cheating here and there while at home. Over time, that can really ruin your fitness plan.

So instead, if you have a vacation coming up, simply modify your diet to fit your vacation needs. You can enjoy yourself without going overboard! Here are a few tips:

Be realistic

Although you don’t want to eat too much while on vacation or overindulge in foods that are bad for you, it is unrealistic to assume that you’re going to stick to a perfect diet while away from home. Put a little wiggle room in your diet plan for small treats here and there so you don’t attempt to avoid them all and feel disappointed when you fail.

Plan your meals before you go

You don’t have to decide everything you eat before you even get to your destination, but at least come up with a plan as to where you’d like to chow down while vacationing by visiting local tourism websites or even calling your hotel to find out what’s available in the area. If you have a plan that includes some healthy options, you’ll be less inclined to deviate and choose fast food.

Settle for light drinks

Alcohol and even non-alcoholic drinks can be filled with calories. Instead, pack tons of water and energy drinks and say no to milkshakes, beer, mixed drinks, and other concoctions, like frozen lemonade or slushies. If you want to have some alcohol, choose light beer, mixed drinks made with seltzer water, and wine.

Basically, your vacation diet plan should simply be a modification of your normal diet.

You already know how to stay healthy when navigating restaurants, so just use those skills and apply them to your vacation destination. Remember, cheating once or twice, especially to try local cuisine, is okay, but don’t overdo things and come home with nothing but regret!

This guest post comes from Allison with TravelInsurance.org, where you can go to pick up a travel insurance policy before leaving on your next healthy vacation.

Karla Urwitz
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