Healthy Travel Tips: Summertime is the season for travel and time spent away from home and your routine. Traveling can frequently make it challenging to stick to your health goals. That’s why today, we’re going to share with you 5 tips to make this your healthiest summer yet.
Tip 1: Plan ahead
Do you have an idea of where you will be staying and what you will be doing while traveling? If so, you can create a clear plan of the resources you will have available for eating, places to exercise, and what to pack in your luggage. If you are staying at a hotel, most hotels will offer mini-fridge accommodations if you call ahead. This can help for the storage of healthy snacks that can complement your heavier meals while on vacation.
Tip 2: Go prepared
Preparation is the key to success! Pack items that you know will be challenging to find at your destination. Bring some of your favorite healthy snacks, vitamins, and a reusable water bottle.
Tip 3: Keep your structure
When traveling, we have a tendency to sleep in and stay up later. Aim to keep some semblance of structure to your days by starting your day with 30 minutes of activity. This could be a brisk walk outside or some bodyweight exercises. This will help motivate you to continue with healthier behaviors later in the day.
Tip 4: Practice the 80/20 rule
You may have heard of the 80/20 rule before- choose healthy behaviors 80% of the time and allow for balance, 20% of the time. Vacation is a time to enjoy yourself but that doesn’t mean you should throw all of your healthy habits out the window! Try to stick to the 80/20 rule by including vegetables and a lean protein at each meal (80%) and allowing for a small treat (20%) after eating. If you choose to enjoy an unhealthier meal or sweet, limit this to only 20% of your total daily consumption.
Tip 5: Hop back into your routine
Hop back into your healthy habits immediately upon returning home. The longer you wait, the easier it will be to not get back on track. A good place to start is to write a grocery list or use an online delivery service on your way home so that the groceries are prepared for you when you get home.
Traveling can make sticking to your healthy routine challenging, but it’s not impossible. With these 5 tips, you are sure to make this summer the healthiest one yet! To learn more about healthy tips when traveling, join us for our patient-exclusive group session on Thursday, July 27th at 5 pm. You can register here.
Private Physicians Medical Associates (PPMA) knows that healthy changes require healthy knowledge. In that light, we are pleased to share health news and information, including healthy recipes, with our patients and guests. We invite you to browse our blog.