You just can’t beat leaving the stress of work and daily life behind and spending some quality time traveling and taking in new experiences. If you are traveling on a week-long holiday, then it’s usually fine to let your diet slip for a few days and enjoy yourself but if you are traveling for a few months or even more then being able to maintain a healthy diet becomes much more important but often it can be a challenge to achieve this. So, what can you do to keep eating healthy when traveling?

 

How To Maintain A Healthy Diet While Traveling | This is a great way to feel like you're not dieting while remaining healthy.

Do Your Homework

Before you set off on your trip it’s important that you do some research into the local cuisine of the place you are visiting. If you are spending a long amount of time in one country then you will want to know what local food is healthy and what isn’t great for you. That way you will know what to order when out in restaurants, what to buy when grocery shopping and this knowledge will also make you more confident in eating the local food and avoiding the temptation of eating from well-known fast food chains.

Eat Light But Regularly

How To Maintain A Healthy Diet While Traveling | This is a great way to feel like you're not dieting while remaining healthy. This is a great way to feel like you’re not dieting while remaining healthy. By eating small amounts of healthy snack regularly throughout the day you can actually fool your body into thinking that you are getting lots of food and it will, in turn, burn off the excess calories that you are taking in. This is also a great way to keep your energy levels strong and consistent throughout the day which is important when traveling.

 
 

Prep Your Snacks

Following on from eating regularly, it’s important to be prepared with your food while on your travels. If you pack plenty of healthy snacks and keep them with you on the road hen you won’t be tempted to go elsewhere when hunger strikes. Having control over the food you take with you is important as even if you think that you are ordering a healthy meal in a restaurant you may find that it is being cooked with unhealthy oils or that it contains hidden ingredients that you weren’t aware of.

Eat Lots of Proteins

Protein is a fantastic source of energy and as it keeps your blood sugar levels stable for long periods of times. Egg whites, lean white meat such as chicken and turkey and nuts such as almonds are particularly good sources of complete protein. Having you energy spread out evenly throughout the day is particularly important when traveling long distances in hot climates with few breaks. When you’re tired you are more likely to crave junk food to give you a quick sugar boost to get you through the next couple of hours. Try to include at least one source of proteins in every meal and snack you have.

Stay Hydrated

How To Maintain A Healthy Diet While Traveling | This is a great way to feel like you're not dieting while remaining healthy. Although it’s well documented it’s surprising how many people still don’t realize just how much your water intake can affect your hunger levels. Drinking lots of water throughout the day, especially if you are in a hot climate, will ensure that your body doesn’t mistake thirst for hunger. When you are hydrated your body craves both food and water so it’s obvious that you don’t want to feel hungry when a bottle of water will do the trick. Drinking lots of water will also leave you feeling more energized and less bloated so there’s really no reason not to keep your water intake up.

 
 

Don’t Stress

One of the main things to remember is that you can only do your best when trying to stick to a diet while traveling. If you slip up and eat some junk food don’t stress it, you can always do some exercise to make up for it and remember that you will probably be walking a lot more than usual, so you probably do need more calories than you normally would. It’s also ok to treat yourself to a meal out every so often, at the end of the day life is for living, and as long as everything is done in proportion then there will be no need to stress over the odd meal out or treat.

 

Meet the Author

Stuart Cooke

Guest Blogger

Written by Stuart Cooke of Uni Baggage in Belfast. They provide a luggage shipping service for travelers all around the world.