I’ve been away HEAPS lately. Nothing crazy far away, just little trips up and down the East Coast of Australia for weddings, mini breaks, visiting family and seeing my beautiful friends. It’s been amazing! But it’s been really a good little experiment for me to work out the best way to stay feeling good while completely out of my comfort zone. And I can safely say that as your guinea pig over the last two months, I can tell you what’s worked for me and what definitely hasn’t.
So coming into the busy few months ahead, I’m going to help you with the best tips to feeling good on the road, in the air & away from home.
BODY
This might sound obvious, maybe even ridiculous, but we spent quite a bit of time in cars and transfer buses during our trips and I noticed a recurring theme. Whenever I had a lazy slouch down in my chair and cuddle my legs or slide my bum to the end of the seat and cower into the gap ride, I would end up with an awful headache, sore lower back or achy legs.
Sitting up straight will keep good energy flowing through your body, assist in digesting your food with more ease and leave you bounding out of the plane/bus/car with much more vitality and smooth movement.
Speaking of moving with ease, there is nothing better than finding fun ways of incorporating incidental exercise into your holiday. We just got back from a family vaycay up north and we went Stand Up Paddle Boarding almost ever morning. That's a workout! There were also some hikes that my husband did (my pregnant butt wouldn't have lasted an hour up a rocky hill, then back down again, so I stayed by the pool).
Plus, I'll never forget when I went to New York with Hugh 6 years ago, ate ALL of the food (yes, all of it) and came back lighter on the scales. I put it down to the fact that we were walking everywhere we went. We caught few taxis and didn't understand the subway so it was just the way we got around. Thanks to all that walking, I came home fitter and healthier (looking) despite all the greasy food. Imagine if you did that while you were eating well on a trip!
Speaking of...
FOOD
It’s not always easy to stick to your clean eating plan or keep off gluten (unless you’re coeliac) while you’re travelling. You’re most likely eating out at most meals and snacking on things in between that you wouldn’t usually have in your kitchen pantry.
I would never recommend that you miss out. You’re on holiday! But I’m sure you know as well as I do how much fun it is getting home and realising that your pants not fitting so well weren’t because the hotel laundry put them in the drier when you requested they didn’t. It doesn’t feel good when you get back and it’s a wonder if it’s worth it while you’re away to indulge in the Paddle Pops that your friend purchased for everyone on the bus driving home from the wedding. Not that that happened to us after a wedding in Port Douglas, or maybe it did. But I definitely didn’t have one, or maybe I did… Can’t remember, baby brain.
BUT… There is an option that will leave you feeling light and absent of the post holiday bloat while also letting you eat delicious food and indulge during your time away.
It’s one rule and it’s so ridiculously simple that you’ll wonder why you weren’t doing it all along -
Always pick the healthiest option, but splurge when you REALLY want to enjoy it.
Groundbreaking. All this means is when you’re at that cute tapas bar you stick with the vegetable and lean protein options instead of loading up on fillers (bread, fries, potato, rice). And if everyone is stopping off at a junk food drive thru during a road trip, you don’t miss out on eating, you just pick the absolute healthiest option on that particular menu, a wrap or a salad with a bottle of water instead of fizzy drink. And of course allow yourself some wedding cake if it’s a triple layer chocolate sponge with strawberry cream and a buttercream frosting, but have one piece, skip the cream and ice cream and be sure to check in prior to see if you’re really hungry or if you could share a slice with your plus one.
MIND
Holidays seem like those times when we have literally nothing to do but the days fill up quite fast. Meditation and mindfulness exercises like Yoga and stretching seem to go missing because we’re busy relaxing. But I’ve never come out of a meditation feeling overly stressed, so why not enhance the zen goodness by adding that into your day.
It would be like relaxation overload, in a really really good way.
We always pack a thin yoga mat that we can roll or fold and fit easily into our luggage and we have it rolled out in our hotel or where we’re staying all the time as a little reminder that our spiritual practice doesn’t go astray. My husband does his stretching after he hits the hotel gym and I use it as a little zen space when I'm up early and Bo is fast asleep, exhausted from #holidaylife.
It really can be that simple! But, I would absolutely LOVE to hear your ideas for staying healthy while travelling. Plus I'm sure all the readers would love some more tips from you.
