This season of our lives has been full of bachelorette weekends in new cities, date weekend get-a-ways and family vacations. While we love the travel, we know first-hand that maintaining a healthy diet and staying on track with fitness goals can be a challenge on the road.
Long road trips promote fast food consumption and gas station snack hauls. Similarly, airports supply nutrient-dense foods and TSA restrictions don’t exactly promote healthy eating due to specific and confusing limitations. When you add the stress of traveling, making flights on time and keeping track of your luggage, being prepared with healthy options may be the last thing on your mind.
Choosing unhealthy options, especially those high in sugar, will make you crash faster and effect your mood which can lead to more stress. Despite the above factors, you can eat healthy while traveling and save some money for your final destination! What more could you ask for? Here’s how Maryl and Rachel from Chocolate & Greens maintain their diet and their budget while traveling!
Photo courtesy of @chocolatengreens on Instagram
Hydrate! Airplanes are full of dry, pressurized, germ-filled air. It’s bad for your skin and you’re more susceptible to getting sick. Bring a big, reusable water bottle to refill at the airport drinking fountain. Save money by skipping the $7 16 oz. water bottle, and use your own. Our current favorite bottles are Yeti or the 40oz Takeya bottle. Both of these keep your water cold.
If you are one that gets easily bored of water, pack lemons or tea bags for some added flavor. We also recommend getting some ‘Emergen-C Hydration’ packets for flavor and added electrolytes!
@chocolatengreens
Substance! If you’re traveling all day, look for protein rich options to hold you over until you get to your destination. Protein bars are a great snack option to hold you over. Our current favorites are LARA, RX bars, Cliff, of Perfect Bars (stay good out of the fridge for up to 3 days!). They’re packed with protein and have delicious flavors to feed your cravings.
Protein powder or collagen peptides are other great options for protein on-the-go. Pre-portion your servings out in small Ziploc bags. Combine with water (or purchase low-fat milk at the airport) and you’ve got a meal replacement shake.
Snacks! We try and eat a homemade meal before heading to the airport so we don’t need to buy a full meal while waiting for our flight. In this case, all we need is a healthy snack to hold us over. Although the protein bars that are listed above are great options, we usually have plenty of options.
Packing pre-cut fruits and veggies is a staple. Apples, bananas, grapes, carrots, celery, broccoli and hard boiled eggs are easy to put in a baggie and squeeze into that carry on. With a 3oz container we can pack nut butters or hummus. One of our favorite nut butters right now is Wild Friends butters and they come in single serve packets that make it ideal for traveling. Packing these items in your bag before you get to the airport will save you time, money and your fitness goals! By failing to plan, you are planning to fail.
Whether we are going on a family vacation, heading out on a girls weekend trip, or heading back home we like to save our “treat and cheat” calories for fun and not in the airport. Most importantly, we like to give ourselves a little grace and enjoy vacation with family and friends without obsessing over food. We strive to live by the 80-20 rule and vacation is always a good time to indulge a little bit. Plan ahead, make good choices when you can and… have fun!
Photo courtesy of @chocolatengreens on Instagram