Staying in Tip Top Shape on Vacation
By Yevgenia Baranska
The author on vacation: stay fit by riding a bicycle
Travel expands our horizons, gives new emotions, inspires and generates drive for new achievements. Summer is a wonderful time to go on a long-awaited vacation.
It does not matter which type of holiday you choose: a weekend in a new city, an all-inclusive package, glamping, or hitchhiking - changing places, environments and the people around you all provide "useful stress" for your body and mind.
If you are now in the process of switching to a healthy diet, traveling is also an excellent tool for losing weight. On vacation, there is a great opportunity to replace the emotion of enjoying food with the emotion from new impressions.
How to do it
Go on excursions, swim, play team games, go to discos, meet new people.
If on the beach - play volleyball, swim, dive, kick the sand, build sandcastles with children. Read books on the beach.
Plan your day - saturate it as much as possible with events interesting for yourself and for your company.
Think of food as a necessary fuel for new discoveries of the world and yourself, and not as food-pleasure.
Plan one evening on holiday for a festive dinner and let yourself eat new dishes from the local cuisine.
In order to relax with pleasure, rest morally and physically, and do not bring home a souvenir in the form of extra pounds of fat and a ton of disappointment. The following rules will help:
Choose food and dishes that are close to your type of food and with the ingredients familiar to you.
In stores, carefully read the contents on the packaging and choose products with the least amount of harmful (or unfamiliar) ingredients.
On the product package, study the amount of sugar and nutritional value per 100 grams: energy value - calories - Energy - Kcal, proteins - Proteins, fats - Fats, carbohydrates - Cardohydrates or carbs. Pay attention to the weight of the product and evaluate the benefit / harm before deciding to buy it.
What's in the restaurant?
In a restaurant, give preference to low-fat dishes from the meat and vegetable groups. Ask the waiter not to add butter / sauces to the dishes. Ask to bring the sauce for the salad separately (if you are in another country and the waiter does not understand - say the word DIET and ALLERGY - then he will most likely become more attentive to your order).
Choose carefully for breakfast: oat flakes or muesli (preferably whole grains), bread with bran (rice, oatmeal), low-fat cottage cheese, omelette with vegetables (without butter), salads, eggs any, cereals: rice, couscous, macaroni from hard varieties, fruits and berries are limited and selective (do not forget about sugar)! Replace dessert with dried fruits and fruits.
Lunch - low-fat soups, vegetable salads, any meat (not fried), cooked cereals, fish.
At dinner, indulge yourself with seafood + green vegetables, avocado.
2 pm for the holiday period, allow yourself a cocktail: 50 grams of wine with 100 grams of water + grapefruit, lemon - slices or fresh 30 grams.
Sauces only clean - olive oil, mustard, balsamic vinegar.
Prohibitions and taboos
I do not like to talk about taboos, but I'll give you a red list:
FORBIDDEN!!! Just do not go into theses sections and do not even look to the side where you can see:
• Desserts, croissants, pastries, cakes, etc.
• Honey, jams, fruits
• Fatty meat - lamb, pork, or any fried meat
• Fat traditional local dishes
• Alcohol (and in cocktails too)
• Sweet drinks: lemonades, cocktails, dairy, syrups, cold fruit teas with sugar - there is sugar everywhere!
• Sauces all
If you really want to relax with sweet and delicious items - eat - grapefruits, lemons, green apples, nuts and seeds (a handful).
Make berry cocktails with mint, water and ice yourself, without sugar.
Before dinner, you can have a bit of popcorn or sorbet (ice cream on fruit juice, sugar-free).
Remember - you are what you eat - and - calories in, calories out!
Fill yourself with a clean and healthy meals and snacks to have energy and strength to get pleasure from life and every bright moment.
Have a nice and healthy rest for your body and soul!
Yevgenia Baranska is a fitness coach, master of sports, Ukrainian champion of fitness and bodybuilding, and a savvy traveller. Folow her on Instagram by clicking here