54: 7 Tips for Staying Healthy While Traveling

 Have you ever gone on a trip for work or for vacation or maybe to visit family, and you said F IT to your healthy habits?

Healthy habits felt so restrictive and you just wanted to let loose and have fun.

Or maybe you didn't want to disappoint the people you were with so you just did what they wanted to do.

Sleep went out the window.

Nutrition went out the window.

Your daily workout went out the window.

And then when you returned home from the trip, ya just didn't feel so great.

Maybe you got sick.

Or maybe you were exhausted and it took a few weeks to catch up on sleep.

Maybe you felt bloated from all the indulgences and wanted to do a Whole30 to rid yourself of it all.

Maybe you felt resentful towards your travel buddies or angry with yourself for doing this again.

Maybe you don't even look forward to trips anymore because they completely throw you off, and it's not the same YOLO fun like when you were 22!

This is a shame. This isn't how travel should be.

Wouldn't you like to be able to travel, have fun, stay healthy, enjoy the trip, and not be pissed at yourself when the trip was over?

Today I am going to teach you 7 tips to staying healthy while traveling and also not miss out on the fun.

Tip 1: Identify your BIG 2: Pain and Pleasure!

Pain- You have something you want to move away from. It might be a physical pain. It might be an emotional pain. You're sick of feeling a certain way and you don't wanna feel it anymore! Pain is often a bigger motivator than pleasure... 

Pleasure- You have something you want to move closer to. Again, it might be physical or emotional. Make sure you do this part. So many people only identify the pain they want to get away from but never identify the feeling they do want. It's important to name what you DO want and not just focus on what you don't want.

Grab a pen and write: Everytime I travel, I say F IT to healthy habits and end up feeling _____. You know what? I am so sick of feeling _______ when I travel! I'd love to feel _______ when I travel.

Tip 2: Identify your currenty identity and aspirational identity.

Current Identity- Who are you usually being when you travel? Are you usually an all-or-nothing yo-yo dieter? Maybe when you travel, you're that person who eats all the things past what feels good because you *know* that when you get home, you're going to have to do a cleanse. Classic all-or-nothing eater. Classic yo-yo dieter.

Aspirational Identity- Who do you want to be when you travel? What does that person do? Maybe when you travel, you want to be a moderate eater. A person who practices self-care. Maybe you want to be that person who does the things that feels good but is also able to have a beer or 2 or have cookies or pasta and not feel absolutely gross. 

Grab a pen and write: Everytime I travel, I end up being a _____. When I travel, I'd like to just be a _____.

Great! You have your motivation. You want to get away from a pain, you want to feel a pleasure, and you want to be a different person.

To be a different person, you have to do different actions.

Cool, you have your motivating factors. Now let's talk super easy ACTIONS.

Tip 3: Sleep. Get sleep. Go to bed. 

My friend Marisa holds these amazing activity retreats where you get to go on an adventure and not feel like shit when you get home. She'd been on trips before where you feel like garbage at the end of the trip and she was aware of all these cool yoga retreats. She was like, hey it would be cool if there were adventure retreats too where you did cool things and didn't feel like garbage. So she made them! 

And you know what? Getting sleep is really important to be able to go on the adventure. Without sleep, you're going to feel irritable, and you're going to reach for caffeine and carbs. If you don't get sleep at night, you're probably going to try to take a nap during the day and miss adventures. Without sleep, you're more likely to get sick while on the trip or when you get home.

Sleep is just 1/3 of the day. You still get 2/3 of the day to adventure.

Seriously, if you sleep for 8 hours, you still get 16 hours of adventure.

Getting sleep will help you move away from your pain, move you closer to pleasure, and help you be that healthy person you want to be while on your trip.

To do: Decide what time you need to wake up in the morning for your activities. Count back 7 or 8 hours. That's your bedtime while on your trip. 

Tip 4: Hydrate. Drink water. A lot.

Back in 2007, I went with a college professor to Kenya, and we visited his hometown, a village called Meru. It was hot out. We were moving around a lot. I remember this so vividly- there were just times we felt absolutely awful and his remedy was water. He'd just tell us to go drink more water, and 9 times out of 10, you felt better.

I think when you travel, small habits like sleep and water can easily get thrown out the window because you're not in your normal environment and on your regular schedule.

BUT your body needs sleep and water, and you need your body.

In order for your trip to go well, you need your body to cooperate, so you gotta give your body what it needs.

To do: Bring a water bottle or a few and fill them up for your day. You can read more about my easy plan for water here. 

Tip 5: Do a short self-care session every morning. Include moving your body!

I know you're going to want to skip it. It seems silly to waste time on "chores" when you're traveling. The trip is going to come to an end at some point, you don't have a ton of time, and you don't want to inconvenience your travel buddies. I get it.

But let's connect back to your pain, pleasure, and aspirational identity.

If you want to be different, you have to do different things. You can't keep doing the same old things and then wondering why things aren't changing.

My suggestion for morning self-care sessions: keep 'em short! When I meet with clients, I teach them how to spend just 40 minutes on themselves in the mornings. I have them do the work in the morning so it actually gets done! Once you open your day to the world, it's really hard to do anything for yourself. You can also use the 7 Minute Self-Care Session if you're really short on time. Go here to grab your own copy.

Doing a daily morning self-care session will ensure you keep up the habit of morning workouts and journaling, and it will help you feel good/not gross while on your trip and when you get home. It will remind you that you're not saying F IT to everything and you are that person who does self-care while traveling.

To do: Go here to download a free copy of The 7 Minute Self-Care Session.

Tip 6: Use the 5Ps for meals while traveling. 

I get it. You're going to be tempted to say F IT to eating healthy while traveling, but that's what this whole blog is about, right? In the past, you've said F IT to vegetables while on a trip, and then you get home and feel the physical pain of eating crap and the emotional "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THIS AGAIN, WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME" pain.

Use the 5Ps. You still get to enjoy foods you don't get to eat at home, but also, you don't have to feel like shit from the food. Read more about Imperfect Eating and the 5Ps here, defining your personal food values here, and learning to have some pizza without all the pizza here.

Can we be adults and talk about poop for a second?

This past month, our 14 year old pup Jameson had an "old dog syndrome" episode which is basically like vertigo for pups. She couldn't walk for a while, was super dizzy, and just wasn't herself. Paul had to carry her up and down the stairs. She was refusing her dry kibble, so we made boiled chicken and rice for her. She gladly ate this new food because it was soft and easier to eat. Great! Well, a few days of eating this way, and she had explosive diarhea for almost 2 days. It was terrible! You could hear the rumblings in her poor belly, and yeah, we had to throw out out sheets and towels. Switching food up completely messes with you. Thankfully, she is back to eating her regular food and her poop is normal again.

Remember, you need your body to cooperate with you so make sure to give your body what it needs. Saying F IT and not eating any veggies and protein is going to result in bathroom issues eventually.

I've used the 5Ps on trips. Because how I eat is just a part of who I am... Being a healthy, imperfect, and moderate eater is just part of my identity and beliefs about myself.

Click here to see a roadtrip in the south.

Click here to see a hotel salad while in Portland.

Click here to see our honeymoon in Thailand.

To do: When you build a meal while on a trip, look for some plants and protein. It will be pretty easy to find the processed fun food. So keep on the lookout for plants and protein!

Tip 7: Affirm your wins and learn lessons from your losses. 

Ok, you are home from your trip. Did you stay healthy? Did you get sick at the end of the trip? Did you feel fine at the end of the trip? Did you get enough sleep? Eat enough veggies? What went well? What didn't that you need to learn from?

Grab a pen and write: Cool. Just finished my trip. Here's what went well that I want to repeat:_______. And here's what didn't go so well that I want to change for the next trip: _____.

The 7 tips to staying healthy while traveling:

Motivating Factors Before the Trip:

1. Name your pain and pleasure.

2. Name your current identity and aspirational identity.

Daily Actions While On the Trip:

3. Sleep! Set a bedtime and get sleep while traveling.

4. Hydrate! Drink water!

5. Do a self-care session every morning that includes a short morning workout.

6. Use the 5Ps when you pick your meals.

Affirm and Learn After the Trip:

7. Affirm your wins and learn lessons from your losses.

When you use these 7 tips, you'll feel good and not gross while traveling! You'll feel healthy while on the trip and feel good with yourself after the trip.

Want a little scoreboard to make sure you're doing the daily actions?

Grab the 365 Habit Tracker.

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xo,

Jaclyn