Eating Healthy and Staying Fit on Vacation

Written By Davita Cooper

Have you ever returned from vacation and felt like you needed another vacation right away? Going on vacation should be a time to refresh and re-energize. An escape from busy life. For some, returning from vacation can feel like it never happened - exhaustion, fatigue and the effects of travel stress set in shortly after arriving home.

If you’re trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle while on vacation and find it difficult, you may just give up and “binge” in the spirit of having fun. But, you can have fun, maintain your healthy lifestyle on vacation and return home feeling more energized than when you left!

Fit, Green and Fun!

If you are searching for tips to support healthy lifestyle choices while on vacation, you’ve landed in the right place!

Flying and Your Wellness

Traveling by plane comes with its own challenges: tight spaces, potential delays, sitting down for hours, the list can go on.

Taking care of your body while flying is important to handle the stress of travel, but also to feel energized when you reach your destination and find your way back home.

Below are some tips when traveling by plane:

  • Drink a lot of water, stay hydrated! Your body is made up of about 60% of water. Adequate water intake helps to keep a regulated body temperature, supports healthy joints, aids in the transportation of healthy nutrients to the cells in your body, maintains healthy organ function and supports your immune system.  Signs of under-hydration are headaches, light-headedness, dizziness and fatigue.  When you’re traveling on vacation, staying hydrated can make the difference between a pleasant flight and arrival and a difficult flight with a headache and fatigue to follow after.

  • Avoid coffee and alcohol during your flight. Coffee and alcohol are diuretics that can increase your urge to urinate, promoting water loss, and you may experience signs of dehydration while inflight. The next time you fly, drink water only while flying and note the difference in how you feel!

  • Go for healthy and nutritious snacks, avoid the sugary snacks and greasy meals. Here are some ideas:

    • Fresh Fruit: Clementines, tangerines, blueberry and blackberry mix

    • Plant-based protein bars (The Aloha Protein Bar is our personal favorite)

    • Fruit bars (That’s It! Just Fruit Bars)

    • Hummus cups and carrot sticks, pretzels

    • Almond butter and apple slices

    • Instant oatmeal pack (you can ask for cup of hot water to mix in!)

    • Soy or almond-milk based yogurt and granola

    • Trail mix (almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds and no sugar added dried fruit)

  • Stretch on the plane.  Stand up and stretch your arms and legs when you can, especially during long flights!

Eating Healthy & Fun Food!

Just because it is healthy does not mean it will not taste good!  It is possible to dine out, have a fun experience with food and maintain your health goals. 

We use the HappyCow app to find plant-based restaurants.

You can choose to search for 100% Vegan, 100% Vegetarian, or restaurants that serve Vegan/Vegetarian options on their standard menu. 

We found some amazing restaurants that were fun, creative, delicious, healthy food and provided an awesome experience on vacation. (We met some awesome people too!)

Here are just a few of our favorites spots:

In addition to dining out, we love to visit the local farmer’s market to buy fresh produce.

We also recommend visiting the local supermarket to purchase your favorite healthy snacks and food to cook, if you are staying at a rental. We often make breakfast at our rental (healthy oatmeal packed with flaxseeds, hemp hearts and berries) to kick-off the day with energy boosting nutrition!

Surround Yourself With Nature

Spend time in nature to bring forward mental clarity and mindfulness. Find a quiet natural space and soak in the scenery, meditate or just appreciate the natural beauty of the land around you.

Other ways to spend time in nature during vacation include:

  • Sign up to learn a new outdoor skill in the local area

  • Find the local national or state park and enjoy a mindfulness walk

  • Stay at an Eco or Wellness lodge

  • Book a rental in a natural setting versus a standard resort or hotel

Video features a 1-bedroom rental on a coffee farm surrounded by natural landscape, avocado trees, mango trees, banana leaf trees and frequent visits by chickens.

Maintain Your Exercise Routine: Get Moving!

According to the 2023 Global Travel Trends Report published by American Express, 82% of the survey respondents stated that they enjoy walking as their favorite activity to stay healthy while on vacation.

We enjoy exercising early in the morning and outdoors as much as possible, before enjoying a relaxing day on the beach, sight-seeing or exploring the night-life.

Take a break from your work-life and un-plug, but don’t take a break from exercising. When you return from vacation, you’ll feel more energized if you were able to include any level of fitness and physical activity into your trip!

Here are some tips to stay fit during vacation:

  • Find places to hike and enjoy the outdoors

  • Walk or ride a bike to the beach

  • Many beaches have outdoor gym equipment, great to use while enjoying the sunshine

  • Stand-up paddle boarding or kayaking

  • Travel with resistance bands to keep your strength training routine

  • Sign-up for fitness or yoga classes that you can drop in to during your stay

  • Swimming is a great way to exercise while on vacation!

Don’t forget to have fun and adventure! Trying an activity out of your comfort zone is a great way to face a new challenge.

During our travels through Hilo, we enjoyed a hike via Hawaii Zipline Tours through the beautiful agricultural landscape of a farm that grew apple bananas, taro, Hawaiian ginger and pineapple. The hike included 7 ziplines that started with an easy low-to-ground line and ended with an incredible 1/2 mile line over a 440 ft ravine with a captivating view of the 240 ft Kolekole waterfall.

Ziplining in Hilo, Hawaii 🌺

When planning your next vacation, we hope that you consider some of these tips to include in your plans.

You can enjoy your vacation and maintain your healthy lifestyle!

To stay connected with us to learn more tips along the way in support of your lifestyle goals, sign-up to receive our blog posts, news and lifestyle tips to your inbox.

Stay Fit and Green!

- Davita & William

Davita Cooper
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