Summer is the time of year I look forward to the most – the warm weather, the beaches, the long nights, the barbeques and many more. One of the best parts about summer for many people is vacation – but it can be difficult to stay on track with your health and weight loss goals while away. Therefore, here are some helpful tips for staying healthy on vacation.
- What are you looking forward to MOST?
Are you looking forward to eating at a certain restaurant? A certain type of food in general? Whatever it is, you should absolutely plan to eat it on your vacation – enjoy yourself! But, it is helpful to plan around the food you are looking forward to the most. For example, a good rule of thumb is to stick to 1 starchy food per day. Starchy foods include grains like bread, rice, pasta, and quinoa, but also starchy vegetables like potatoes, beans, peas, corn, hummus, French fries, etc. Here’s a list of starchy foods and non-starchy veggies. So, if you’re looking forward to a certain burger, let’s stick with the bun as the starch. Or, if you’re looking forward to a certain pizza place, let’s stick with that as our starch for the day.
- At Buffets: Survey the scene to pick the BEST choice.
Pick the foods that you LOVE and don’t waste calories on mediocre foods. Therefore, a good thing to do is to really check out the scene of the foods that are available – look around and then make the best choice – or choose the three foods that looks the best and tastiest to you. For dessert, the same thing, pick what looks the best to you and take ONE with you on the way out so you won’t be tempted to go back for seconds or thirds.
- Alcohol.
Alcohol can add A LOT of extra calories while on vacation to here are some tips to help…
- Alternate alcoholic drinks with seltzer or water
- Stick with alcohol that doesn’t have sugary mixers like wine, prosecco, champagne, light beer, and hard alcohol + seltzer/water
- Ask the bartender to make you “weak” or “half” drinks
- Bring snacks.
Bring some non-perishable, healthy snacks with you for when you get hungry and there are no healthy options available. Here are my favorites:
- Single-serving packs of nuts
- Nut butter packets
- Baked cheese “crackers”
- Jerky
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Look at menus ahead of time.
Before heading on vacation, check out the menus for the restaurants you plan to go to. This is a strategy I always use whenever I am going out to eat! I look over the menu before I get there and choose what I am going to order, that way I am not tempted to order the entire menu once there. This method can save on calories and money!
Most importantly, enjoy your vacation and enjoy the food!
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