How to eat healthy on vacation is about so much more than what you eat– it is also about how you think of your weight, your diet, and the fabulous food. In this post, you’ll learn 5 ways to master your mindset so that you can have your best vacation yet!
Vacation! You wait for it all year long. As the day approaches, you put a lot of effort into preparing for your time away. From travel arrangements to shopping for a new outfit, much of the joy of travel is found in the excited anticipation.
For many, getting “ready” for vacation involves at least some weight loss effort– oftentimes dieting strictly in an effort to quickly shed a few pounds before hitting the beach.
But then, just like trying to keep that beachball under the blue water, overindulge inevitably pops up in response to the previous restriction and vacation celebrations.
Thankfully, there is a way to approach both the preparation and the travel in such a way that leaves us healthier and happier than before.
The Preparation
One of the biggest pitfalls when planning a trip is the “I have to lose weight” panic mode. While you may have desired to lose a few extra pounds for months, the looming plans of a getaway crank up the urgent need to lose weight NOW.
This panic can cause us to resort to some pretty extreme behavior. Drastic diets, quick fixes, supplements, and body wraps. Nothing is off-limits when we are on the vacation countdown.
The problem with extreme diets is that they tend to be very restrictive– and that deprivation doesn’t go away unanswered.
The restriction rebound will find us on a cruise surrounded by unlimited sweets or on the road hitting up fast food joints near our latest exit. Not a very nice setup, is it?
How to Manage the Desire for Weight Loss
If booking airfare has you Googling diets, what’s a girl to do? Below I will present two options for you to ponder. Just remember to keep your priorities in mind. What route will allow you to glorify God most?
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
I Corinthians 10:31 (NKJV)
1. Choose a “Diet”
If you are bound and determined to go on a diet, make sure to choose a healthy eating plan that feels 100% doable to you.
Should you choose to limit your food choices for a period of time, do so with the full realization that this is, in fact, your choice. One of the biggest issues with diets is that we can look at them as outside boundaries- rules.
Rather than taking ownership of our choices, we feel as if we “can’t”, “shouldn’t” or “have to eat” certain foods. Please don’t do that. This takes the responsibility out of our realm of control and can cause us to feel as if we are “off” or “on” our diets. Not good.
Here is where we find all-or-nothing thinking that can cause one cookie to turn into an entire box. The outcome of one slip changes drastically when we are focused on rules vs. our desired outcome.
If you choose to do a diet, choose wisely and remain thoughtful.
–OR–
2. Choose a Lifestyle
The second way to approach the desire to lose weight is to broaden your goals. Yes, you want to feel great on vacation, but is how awesome you feel based solely on what the scale says when you embark on your adventure?
Even if your initial reaction is “yes” take a moment to really think about it…
How do you want to feel mentally and physically? Is it possible that you could reach your weight loss goals and still be an unhappy camper?
Entirely.
So, while you’ll want to eat well and exercise before you set sail, consider what other personal characteristics you could polish that would make your family vacation even a little more awesome.
Then you will already know how to eat healthy on vacation!
A Mental Game Plan for Your Vaca
What do you picture when you imagine yourself on holiday? If you notice pervasive food thoughts coming to mind, it will benefit you to work on reframing your time away.
Embrace what vacation is all about- family, rejuvenation, and fun. Food DOES fit into that equation, but at some point, it can detract from the overall enjoyment.
If we allow ourselves to overeat and feel uncomfortable, food isn’t a joy. When we obsess over the buffet, food is not enhancing our enjoyment. If we get home and mourn our eating while away, that’s the opposite of fun.
RELATED POST: End Weight Loss Deadlines and Live Your Purpose
Rather, envision how you want your vacation to be…
How do you want to eat?
What do you imagine your ideal family meal time to look like?
How do you want to feel your first day back to the “real world”?
Take a moment, think it through, and paint the actual picture that you WANT to meditate on.
How to Eat On a Healthy Vacation
While this post is about eating healthy on vacation, it is NOT about eating bland diet food. You do not have to crunch on a salad while everyone else is enjoying the authentic local cuisine. That would be a bummer.
However, you do want to be mindful. If you want to honor your goals and feel good when you return home, you’ll want to think ahead.
1. Balance Your Meals
When looking at the menu, try your best to find some balance in your meals. This means avoid meals that are ALL one type of food. For example, all fried food, all carb-based, all sweet eats, etc.
Balance looks like some protein, some starch, some veggies, and some fat. Now there is no need to measure, just try to have a little bit of everything on your plate.
2. Choose Only the Best
Don’t settle for less-than-awesome. No, not every meal is going to be a home run, but when choosing the richer, less “healthy” foods, make sure they are worth eating.
One way to apply this is to rate the food on a scale of 1-10 and choose to only eat treats that are an 8 or above. This way you are not depriving yourself AT ALL because you are only leaving the sub-par behind.
3. Listen to Your Body’s Cues
Ah, your trusty hunger and fullness signals. Regardless of what foods you choose to eat, your body’s cues are excellent resources to draw upon.
While meal schedules will often be unpredictable, do your best to try to be hungry before you eat and stop while you are still comfortable. Yes, I know the food is amazing but there is some pretty incredible food in your hometown too!
A person who is full refuses honey, but even bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry.
Proverbs 27:7 (nlt)
4. Eat Your Meals Mindfully
The easiest “cheat” for eating a proper portion at meals is to simply pay attention! Yes, eating slowly, savoring your food, truly enjoying it to it’s fullest leads to the greatest mental satisfaction possible.
If you eat while distracted, you may get to the last bite on your plate and realize you didn’t taste the tastiness at all. What a bummer! While the conversation may be bustling, when chewing, pull a bit of your attention away to really taste the food.
You know how quiet a hungry table gets when the food arrives. Those first bites are ah-mazing!
5. Avoid Mindless Snacking
Meals on vacation tend to be heavier than our homemade fare. This is a great time to focus on simply eating 3 meals a day. Snacking will throw off your hunger and fullness and often be unnecessary when meals are heartier than what you would typically eat.
Of course, if you get hungry between meals, it’s ok to eat! If you have more than an hour or two before your next meal, choose something small that will still allow you to feel good-and-hungry for your next meal.
Eat Healthy On Vacation: The Plan
Now, I have thrown a lot at you, so please don’t get overwhelmed! If it all feels like too much, pick an idea you like and practice it for a week.
Be it a mental habit like the way you frame your healthy vacation eating or a more concrete habit you can practice like eating slowly, try it on for size and get yourself ready to set sail!
Vacation is about treating ourselves well. Food and exercise, before, during, and after can support those efforts. When we focus on enjoying the true reasons we are on vacation, making healthy choices comes into perspective.
Rather than fostering the urgency to lose weight, why not cultivate the skills you can use for a healthy vacation now and when you return home!
Read part 2 of this series: The Best Healthy Travel Tips and Tricks You Need to Know
Brandice Lardner is a Certified Personal Trainer, Nutrition Coach, Amazon #1 Best Selling Author, Homeschool Mom, and Jesus Girl whose mission in life is to help women ditch the diet mentality and find peace with food and their bodies so that they are better equipped to do the great things God has called them to do.
Brandice,
I have to tell you I really enjoy your “Grace Filled Plate”. Sometimes I don’t get to read it right away; but when I do take time I read it all. I find it informative, gives me some good ideas, and love the recipes. I really enjoyed the vacation part.
Thanks for your hard work.
Thank you, Diane! I thought of you and your kitchen remodel when I wrote this 🙂 I so appreciate the support and comments!
Thank you for such excellent and practical advice! I had never considered viewing healthy eating as a choice rather than a diet of can and can’t or should and shouldn’t. Thank you for offering an alternative way thinking!!
You’re welcome, Maxine! That was a pivotal lesson for me– that ol’ diet mindset of all-or-nothing thinking kept me trapped for years. I hope you join my email list (you can do so at the top of the site), the email Welcome Series will give you a lotto think about 🙂
I’ve been practicing intuitive eating for a few years now, but have only followed secular IE dietitians and nutritional counselors online besides the original IE book and resources. I decided to google faith based IE because I am hoping for something I can share with my Christian friends who are steeped in diet culture, and took a gander at your site. I was hoping for some real Intuitive Eating advice from a Christian perspective, and while you do have a lot of good points and encouragement, you still have a lot of diet culture wrapped up in your advice, even condoning choosing restrictive diets, just with a caveat that it feel like it’s your choice and not an outside restriction. But this is still dieting and inherently not intuitive eating. I’m going to keep looking for a Christian Intuitive Eating resource that is truly Intuitive Eating. Anything that has weight loss as the primary focus, even just a little bit, is not truly Intuitive Eating and is still, unfortunately, just Christian dieting. I hope your subscribers can learn true freedom from diet culture where they don’t feel like they need to restrict, worry, or micromanage their body or food choices at all, and they are happy in the body God gave them, moving and eating with purpose, grace, and love.