Healthy Vacationing

Darren Rieck


Many people must travel for work, and at some point almost everybody travels somewhere for holidays and vacations. This is the time of year people consider their upcoming vacation plans and,therefore, is a good time to consider factors that allow them to vacation healthfully. There are 2 approaches for maintaining health and to continuing to improve fitness during these trips: one includes being active and the other concerns your diet. Previous articles have addressed the main concerns for those traveling for business and ideas to consider for keeping fit while on the road, but here vacation travel is covered.

Let's consider some of the issues to keep in mind for those times we take 1, 2 weeks or even longer vacations that put us on the road. One school of thought is that a vacation is a holiday from all normal consideration of what must be done or is required, including exercise. Yes, being physically active is part of what is required each day, and taking a break from high levels of training has been traditionally recommended, but taking a break from exercise is a mistake for most of us.

We need, at the minimum,1 hour/day, 6 days each week and, though this may be a great change of pace compared to our previous level of activity, it is far from the high intensity training of many athletes. Before you take off there are 2 considerations to evaluate: the planning phase and the activity level you maintained the week before leaving.

Planning:

The first step is to consider where you are going and where you will be staying. An Internet search can help with both by locating fun activities that the local area provides and that you can make part of the whole getaway and by researching the facilities at your accommodations. Plan your trip so that each day or nearly each day puts an hour or so into being active throughout your stay.

Just before the trip:

The 7-10 days before you take that trip, try to step-up your activity level from 20-50%. There is no question that there will be up to several days during your travels, mostly while en-route, that exercise is simply not possible or feasible. This extra-time that you put in
before the trip can help to make-up for these lower energy periods and provide a little cushion for the days that you will not be able to be active.

While En-route:

During travel, it is important to find short breaks that you can spend a couple of minutes walking about, stretching and getting out of the chair or seat. This is not only important for your comfort during the traveling portion of the trip, but it makes you less stiff and makes it easier to move around the days following.

The Vacation:

Once there, if you don't have any activity planned for the day, use the mornings to get a workout in, either in the room, walking around inside or outside of the hotel, or going to the workout room or swimming pool. If there are no facilities for you to exercise, do some push-ups, crunches and/or isometrics in the room before starting your day. This allows you to use the rest of your day for your plans and rejuvenates your body to get the most out of your next several hours while giving your mind the satisfaction that you already got your workout behind you. Being active will also help your sleeping at night and getting used to changing time zones.

Stretching:

If workouts are limited in intensity and duration, don't be discouraged. At the least, spend 15 minutes or so doing a series of stretches that include both upper and lower body muscle groups. This will maximize your comfort and is the easiest type of exercise to fit in when options are limited.

A few words about meals:

It is often much more difficult to eat healthily during a trip, especially those that are centered around major holidays when tasty food is offered by friends and loved ones who tempt you into eating some of their special recipes. Don't feel obligated to eat everything that is offered, and use some restraint when eating some of the higher calorie foods. It is definitely okay to indulge; just keep in mind that over-consumption is just going to make your healthy quest that much more difficult.

All restaurants have healthier options to choose from, and your server is probably the best one to ask to steer you in the right direction. One very helpful suggestion is to concentrate on eating one bigger meal each day when you allow yourself to have greater freedom of choice and be less stringent about foods. The other meals of the day should be lighter, more healthfully oriented: lower fat, more vegetables and fruits. Another suggestion is to avoid munching on non-nutritious snacks that friends leave out on tables for nibbling. If snacking helps you to curb your overeating, plan to keep healthier foods like fruits, health bars and the like close by.

Have a healthy vacation!