How to Travel and Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
Bonjour!
Love to travel? Need to travel for work?
The following is how I maintain a healthy diet when I travel and it makes a world of difference. Otherwise, you may be saying you need to detox when you get home, and honestly, that’s fine too! But if you like to travel a lot or have to for work, I got you covered.
Here’s what to bring:
Green Powder, personally I use AG1. It tastes great and all I need is water. It comes with a small wide-mouth bottle to shake it up and you’re good to go.
Chlorella tablet – 20 per day. Great for alkalinity and heavy metal detoxification as well as to offset the radiation from going through security at the airport.
Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds. Great source of protein and for satisfying hunger so you don’t find yourself overeating when you get there.
Download the Happy Cow App to find restaurants, juice bars, and health food stores. I’ve used this App for many years. It’s found me some amazing places to eat close by wherever I am, including Europe.
In fact, many cities now have A LOT of healthy options. If you have a little time before going, hop on Google and scout out a few restaurants you’d like to visit while you’re away. You may be surprised at how many options you can find.
When you arrive:
To maintain a healthy diet when you travel find your local grocer and get a few apples, grapefruit, berries, bananas, or any other whole foods that are easy to have around in case you need a snack in a hurry or to fortify your breakfast.
I’ve always heard that the French are known for their food, but I never imagined the plethora of vegetarian and vegan options. I’m currently in Paris and there are over 60 vegan restaurants and hundreds of vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants with amazing fresh salads and bowls spread out all over the city! We haven’t even had to look for one. Whenever we’re hungry there’s always a great restaurant on the next corner and each of them has vegan items on the menu. The food has been so fresh and amazing that my travel companion often eats the same way I’m eating, just because it’s just so delicious!
It’s true, Paris is known as a gastronomical paradise and not all cities have as much to offer; although, it is expanding. Here are a few detoxifying dinners straight off the menu!
Breakfast:
If you’re at a conference, sometimes you’re stuck with a buffet breakfast with the basic ingredients of eggs, meat, cheese, sugar, and flour. If this is the case, look for plain oatmeal, topped with blueberries (or other fresh fruit), and leave out the brown sugar and raisins it typically comes with. Or, have an apple with nut butter and a cup of tea.
Avoid fruit juices, instead have herbal teas or water with lemon. Fruit juices are not usually fresh and are often loaded with sugar.
As another option for breakfast, have a couple of pieces of fruit with some nuts, such as 1 or 2 oranges, 1-2 apples or red grapefruit with 8-10 raw walnuts, 6 or 7 raw brazil nuts, or 8 -10 raw almonds. Just be careful to count them out, because it’s easy to overeat them.
Lunch and Dinner:
Big salads with beans or lentils, avocados, and olives are my favorite go-to’s. Many restaurants are now offering quinoa bowls or big salads with hearty toppings, but if you’re stuck in a town or city where that’s not an option, the following are easy to find and work well.
Mexican restaurant ideas:
Order beans (& rice if you like) and put them on top of a big green salad
Indian restaurant ideas:
Aloo Gobi, Yellow Dal w/ Seasonal Mixed vegetables, or Channa Masala
Standard American:
Order a green salad with sides, such as broccoli, baked potato, green beans, or other steamed or sautéed vegetables. Use olive oil and lemon wedges or vinegar for dressings.
Extra optional idea: Bring sunflower or pumpkin seeds with you and sprinkle them on your salad.
Pizza:
Order it without the cheese. Get it with mushrooms, onion, peppers, garlic, broccoli, spinach, or whatever they have for veggies. Order it with a salad.
If you’re still heading toward your weight goal or if you just want to continue eating light, try to maintain an either/or mentality. By that, I mean either the fish or the rice, not both at once. Have the salmon or Side of Rice with a salad and/or a side of vegetables. Avoid the bread, unless you have a salad with a roll or a couple of pieces of bread as your dinner. When you eat this way your body has an easier time digesting and can focus on maintaining good health by fighting intruders and cleaning up what’s already stored there.
Maintain your exercise with the 3, 2, 1 method to start the day. This is Jillian Michael’s method of 3 minutes of resistance, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs, three times with a couple of minutes of warm up and cool down. Conferences and meetings can be sedentary, so be sure to get in as many steps as you can during breaks and when the day ends.
Morning and Evening Rituals
Give yourself at least 5 minutes each morning to check in with your body. When you wake, rub your feet, legs, torso, and arms, stand and shake everything out.. Take a few minutes to focus on feeling your body and your breath. Breathe deep into your belly a few times and set your intention for the day
When you get into bed at night, check in with your body again, feel your feet, your legs, up your torso, hands and arms, neck and face, and feel what it feels like to be you. Watch your breath and rest. Think of all the good things that happened to you today. If your mind wanders to something unpleasant, redirect it toward the good. Give thanks for another day on this beautiful planet and send love and blessings to someone you love.
I hope you have a great trip wherever you go. If you find a great place you want to share, please let me know!
xx
Victoria
