It's been quite a while! I was on vacation for a few weeks and decided to take some time off from job hunting and technology to refresh and rejuvenate myself and my senses. I ended a year-long contract job in May and have since been trying to hone in on my mission of self discovery and purpose. Traveling is always something that makes me feel alive and puts me back in touch with my true self. A lot of people view travel as a means of escape or deviation, but I actually think it helps people circle back to discover what they love and value at the core of themselves. Oftentimes, those are defining characteristics of who one really is. I learn a lot about myself and what I really want in life when I'm immersed in another culture and I think it's good to revisit that perspective every now and then. :)
I've been really fortunate in my life and have been able to travel a lot. I've been to Europe seven times and Asia twice. Although vastly different, I consider both continents to have such a natural richness and beauty about them. On this most recent trip, I went to Greece and Italy. I'll share some travel pictures in another post but I wanted to use this post to talk about maintaining a healthy diet when traveling!
Let me start by saying that when I'm on vacation, I have very few rules or restrictions. I think vacation is a time to relax, indulge, and enjoy yourself. I find ways, but still find it difficult to workout when I'm on vacation. Not because I don't have the sufficient space or resources, but because my brain just doesn't seem to think it's right for me to be at the gym for two hours/day when I'm in a beautiful foreign country with so much to see. I also usually eat and drink just about anything I want. I was in Italy and probably had pasta (no, not wheat. *gasp!*) at least twice a day in addition to wine, gelato, pastries, and whatever other fabulous staples are a part of the Italian diet.
However, even with this lifestyle for three weeks, I really didn't see a huge difference in my body. I was expecting my waistline to explode but it honestly stayed more or less the same! Sure, I was walking a lot and that definitely plays a HUGE rule in me maintaining the body I did, but I picked up a few valuable eating tips that I think helped too...
Let's start with the airplane ride over. To make a ridiculously long story short, we had a number of delays on the way to Athens and ended up have a travel time of over 24 hours. Kill me. It was terrible. Although I didn't anticipate the trip being that long, I knew it would be lengthy and I wouldn't have any healthy options on the plane. And I wasn't going to be given a lot of food so I wouldn't be able to eat in 3-hour increments like I like to. So I brought my own food! And my huge Gatorade bottle so that I could refill water in the airport and stay hydrated. (Who really wants to pay $3 for a little water bottle anyways?)
I brought apples, unsalted almonds, carrots, questbars, and grilled chicken! I made it the night before and seasoned it with Mrs. Dash's Southwest Chipotle I believe... no sodium and very flavorful. :) I definitely didn't want to be caught starving with my stomach eventually beginning to gnaw at my ribs. Nor did I want to be caught scarfing down every single bit of the airplane dinner they served. Those things typically aren't the yummiest or healthiest meal options. It really doesn't take a lot of plan and prep to maintain clean eating when traveling. When traveling, especially on long trips, I would recommend prepping some healthy food and bringing it with you. If it's around you, you have no excuse to not eat clean.
After eating this deliciousness on the trip over (I shared some with Mama too, don't worry), what's next was the eating during the actual vacation portion. As I mentioned before, I don't believe in having diet restrictions when traveling but the rule of eating in moderation should still apply. You can have your panna cotta and eat it too, but I would recommend really tasting and savoring each bite. Take your time eating (which is something they do in European cultures anyways that we busy Americans don't do) and really try to taste every ingredient and the true texture of your food. That will make your meal last longer and you most likely won't eat as much as if you had scarfed it down without a second thought.
I truly feel that it's good to give into food temptations from time to time. When you restrict yourself and say, "I can't have this..." "I shouldn't eat that...," it's almost as if you're making it taboo to eat certain foods. And then for whatever reason, our twisted minds continue thinking about that specific food item and crave it more and more! We want what we can't have! It sucks, I know. When you're traveling and allow yourself the freedom to try and taste whatever foods, you'll eat the foods your body really craves, but won't feel such a need to rebel against your brain and have everything your stomach can handle.
At the end of the day, you're on vacation! Enjoy yourself and relax. Enjoying the food and cuisine is a part of enjoying the culture. This means you should definitely taste and try what you want and are curious about, but there's still no need to go overboard and devour an entire Italian pizza by yourself -- you've tried slice one, and slice two, but no need to go for slice 6.
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