7 TIPS FOR TRAVEL NUTRITION

Nutrition is very important! It helps with physical fitness, contributes to your appearance and affects your mood. It can seem hard to keep yourself nourished while traveling, but with these tips, I kept myself going all day long!

1. When I ate out, I ate “healthy” street food – pork tacos with sliced avocado and lemon juice on top, or I bought chopped fruit and veggies. If it’s expensive to eat out where you are, cook at home – this helps keep your food bill down, and you have more control over the ingredients you eat!
2. Buy eggs, beans, potatoes, and broccoli, and sautée them all in a pan with olive oil for a healthy meal. Makes a great breakfast. Pair with an orange. Carry a ziploc bag of spices with you to season your veggies so you don’t have to buy the big bulky seasonings or have bland home-made food. I always carried a bag of garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt and pepper.
3. Eat only when you’re hungry. Do not eat when you’re not hungry. Sensible portions. Eat light. Eat slowly. I had tacos al pastor (pork tacos) all over Mexico I would buy from local food stands. They were small and cost 0.50$ USD each. I’d buy 4 at a time and fill up on them for $2. They came with a tortilla, lime juice, pork, cilantro and sometimes pineapple. I’d add avocado. Yummy!
4. Not every food stand has avocado to sell with their tacos, so carry an avocado with you to pair with the tacos. I also had chicken vegetable soup for lunch at the food markets. Be smart about what you order when you’re out to eat. For dinner, after a long hard day of traveling and walking for miles, replenish yourself. It’s fun to go to a restaurant and sit down and order a nice meal, but order one plate of food, and make it a healthy combo. Some type of lean meat and veggies is perfect!
5. If you eat healthy, then you’ll feel good and have more energy to travel and do more everyday. I never ordered more than one plate of food at a sit-down restaurant and I never ordered any drinks. Always water and one entree and that worked very well for me. No appetizers or desserts. They’re not nutritious and they take away from your travel budget! For dessert, I had 5 bites of dark chocolate or a piece of fruit, or both.
6. Don’t eat processed sugar or ice cream. You can buy dark chocolate from the grocery store & carry it with you to snack on during the day or wait until you get home to have a bite of dark chocolate and a piece of fruit. Don’t eat junk food. It’s tempting, but in the long run it’s not worth it. Save your money and spend it on adventures and your health. Your body will last longer and be healthier and even little things count! Trust me.
7. If you’re going to snack (and I did it all the time, because I was walking, hiking, swimming and exercising all day and was hungry often) then snack on nuts, seeds and dried fruit, such as raisins! Bananas are good too! You can buy healthy trailmix (no added sugar or preservatives) from the grocery store and carry it with you. You can also break up dark chocolate and add it to the mix. It’s delicious and this way you won’t want to tempt yourself with junk food in a pinch!

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