Everyone loves to take vacations. It’s a time to relax, explore, and get away from the day to day stress of life. You don’t have to think about anything. You simply get to enjoy where you are and the people you’re with. What’s not to love?
The problem many people struggle with while on vacation is practicing good food habits. When we are away from home, we’re apt to eat and drink more than we should. The bad thing is our results usually take a hit.
I’ve seen this quite often. A person will have lost weight and dropped inches off their waist. They feel better and look better, then vacation time comes around. They leave for a week only to come back five pounds heavier and in need of some looser fitting pants.
One of the reasons this occurs is we aren’t on a schedule like when we’re at home. You can eat whenever you want and whatever you want. The thought process becomes, “I’m on vacation, so I can eat this.” What tends to happen though is this statement is taken too far.
Is it ok to indulge while you’re on vacation? Absolutely! Enjoy some new meals and delicious desserts. But you also have to be mindful of how much you are eating.
To help you with that, I wanted to share 4 nutrition tips to use while on vacation. Use these strategies to enjoy some food and drinks without worrying about hindering your results.
1. Eat protein with every meal
I have talked about protein many times on this blog. It is important for building muscle mass and getting you lean. In this case, however, the protein is more for its satiating effect.
Studies have shown that when protein intake increases, total calories decrease. This is because it feels you up for a longer period of time. It takes longer to digest than fats and carbs so it stays in your system for longer.
This makes it the perfect nutrient to keep you full and prevent you from overeating. Most people get into trouble when snacking. They have a dessert here and a drink there. Eventually these calories add up.
If you aren’t hungry, there will be less chance of you eating more than you need. A bonus tip would be to take some protein powder with you, which would make it even easier to get all the protein you need.
2. Rehearse ahead of time
We can blind-sighted be food. Think about the last party you went to with a lot of food. When there are so many options to choose from it becomes easy to have one of everything. This is exactly what we come across while on vacation.
When you are in a new place and see a lot of new foods, you don’t want to have just one thing. This is a great situation where rehearsing ahead of time can be helpful.
This is simply deciding what you will eat before you eat. For example, let’s say you are heading to Hawaii and love tropical drinks. It can be easy to drink 3-4 drinks throughout one day. Since this is a weakness for you, you decide you will have 1-2 drinks per day.
Deciding this ahead of time leaves nothing to chance. You are in control of your actions and how much you eat and drink.
3. Have good snacks on hand
This tip goes hand in hand with the first one. When you are hungry, it’s easy to overeat. The food you eat needs to be satisfying. However, there will be some instances where this isn’t the case.
You may eat and be hungry 1-2 hours later. This is where having good snacks on hand can be key. Things like fruits, veggies, and nuts will save you calories in the long run compared to eating another full meal.
Pack things that don’t have to be refrigerated so you can carry them around anywhere. Things like berries, halos, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper slices, cashews, and almonds are all great examples. Snacks like this are nutritious and calorie saving.
4. Eat less the next day
This tip is helpful on days where you overeat. If you’re on vacation for 5-7 days, it can be hard to do well nutritionally every single day. Sometimes bad days just happen. Fortunately, there something simple you can do about it.
Eat less than you normally do the next day. Here’s an example with calories to make it easier. Let’s say at home you normally eat 2,000 calories every day. One night on vacation you end up eating 2,500 calories. The next day you can eat 1,500 calories to get back on track.
In this example, you are still averaging 2,000 calories. It’s essentially like playing damage control, but it will balance things out.
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I believe everyone should take at least one vacation per year. Like it mentioned earlier it always helps you de-stress and enjoy life. The challenge is doing well with food while away from home.
It’s easy to lose track of how much food you eat when you’re enjoying new and exciting things. But you have to be aware of this. Use these four tips to help you enjoy your vacation, enjoy your food, and maintain your results!
Photo Credit:
1. http://www.keepitplanned.com/three-ways-make-extended-vacation-affordable/
