Healthy eating on vacation isn’t always a thing that happens.
Unlimited buffets, amazing local foods you can’t get at home, treating yourself to a couple extra desserts are all reasons we can come home with a few pounds more than we left.
Vacation is the good life.
A fabulous life made up of lounging, eating and drinking. Maybe there’s some activities peppered in there. Usually between the lounging, eating and drinking.
All bets are off when vacation starts.
Pancakes AND 4 mini croissants for breakfast? Sure! Ice cream after lunch AND cake after dinner? Yes! Day drinking by the beach EVERY day? All in!
We start with a fabulous pre-vacation weight loss and end up with a not-so-fabulous post-vacation weight gain.
But there is a better way.
Use these 5 simple tricks and you’ll come home as healthy as when you left.
Start with fruits and vegetables
It doesn’t matter if you’re faced with an all-you-can-eat buffet or an a la carte menu.
Always put the fruit or vegetables on your plate before anything else.
We naturally put more food on an empty plate, so start with the good stuff. Save the cheese platter, fried foods and starchy items for whatever room is left on your plate after half is full of fruits and veggies.
So even if you end up putting chicken wings and pizza on your plate at the same time, at least half of what you’re going to sit down in front of will be nutrient and fiber rich.
They’re also the foods that are highest in water content, so you get the added bonus of starting with the foods that’ll keep you hydrated after spending the last 6 hours drinking cocktails in the sun.
Picked baked, roasted or grilled over anything deep fried
If you’ve got a choice, don’t choose fried.
And definitely don’t choose fried more than once in a meal. Like fries and chicken fingers.
Fried foods are not only high in saturated fat, but they’re usually pretty salty. This is the kind of combination that will cause puffiness and bloating 99% of the time. High fat foods also take a good and long time to digest meaning they’ll keep you feeling full and heavy, instead of light and satisfied.
Not a good look if you’re heading back to the beach immediately after lunch.
Healthier picks are basically anything else. If there’s a grill going, that’s better. If there’s a baked options, also good.
Remember none of this means that food will be low in salt (which causes lots and lots of bloating), but with the fruit and vegetables taking up the other half of your plate you should have enough potassium to combat all that sodium. Which is exactly what potassium does.
Stick to only 1 carb per meal
This means not bread AND pizza or burger AND fries. Pick one and stick to it. That includes dessert too. Your beach body will thank you.
Eating a serving of carbs is just fine.
But vacations aren’t known for making sure meals are well balanced. The mac and cheese is most certainly not made with whole wheat pasta. Neither is the pizza or the pastries or the burger buns.
Refined carbs (meaning anything made from white flour) is translated by the body as straight sugar.
This means puffiness and energy crashes.
So pick one per meal, and go easy on it. Don’t think just because you’re ordering the pancakes, you’ll feel good after eating all 5 with syrup. Which brings us to the next point…
Share. Whenever possible, split something
There’s no rule that says we have to eat everything ourselves. There’s also no rule that says we have to eat everything that’s put in front of us.
Give yourself permission to eat things you know you shouldn’t be eating too much of by sharing them.
Getting salad with your burger, but really really want the sweet potato fries? Share with the table. Want to try those blueberry pancakes you saw at the buffet? Bring back a couple pancakes for the group to share and so everyone gets a couple bites only.
It’s also ok to ask a friend to share an entire meal.
You don’t always have to be starving just because the clock says lunch time. Eating less means you give your body a chance to decide if it’s still hungry. Which is a way option over shoveling it all in just because it’s put in front of you.
Pick one special thing a day
Maybe your resort does sundaes on Sundays or has a cocktail hour every Thursday on the beach with passed goodies. Maybe you’ve heard about a restaurant in town that you’d be insane not to hit up before you go home.
All this is fine, just don’t do all of it on the same day.
Pick one special food thing, plan for it and then enjoy it. If you’ve got a special lunch planned, have a smaller breakfast and a light dinner. Have only one big meal in a day. Not 2 or 3.
These rules aren’t just good for vacation, they’re good for every meal of every day. Vacation just takes it up a notch.
Make sure half your plate is fruit and veg, keep the fried foods to a minimum and pick one carb at your meals. Share whenever possible, and keep it down to one special meal in day.
Follow these simple rules and you’ll make your way through your trip and come out on the other end just as healthy as you went in.