Sunday, February 22, 2009

Healthy Travelling

My recent (1st) business trip has made me realize how difficult it is to stick with a healthy eating/exercise regimen. It also made me start to think about various ways to make it easier to stay on track while away on business. I Googled "how to stay healthy while travelling" and came up with numerous articles providing advice on how to stay healthy while travelling. I decided to summarize some of the things I read as well as add in my own opinion/tips. *These tips are mostly related to business travel but could also apply to leisure travel as well.

The Difficulties
-Full days followed by busy nights which doesn't leave much time for exercising.
-Dinners with clients and/or colleagues that are paid for by the company making in more tempting to splurge.
-Rushed meals which often lead to grabbing some unhealthy fast food.

Tips
-Pack your own healthy snacks for the car or plane ride. This will be much more healthy than what you would get on the plane or pick up at the gas station.
-When you do eat out, make wise choices and pick something healthy on the menu. Limit alcoholic drinks, choose wine over beer or mixed drinks.
-Bring your workout clothes with you on your trip. At least if you have them you can't use that as an excuse not to do your workout.
-Hotel Room Workout I would suggest adding some bicycle crunches to get in a quick ab workout.
-Make sure to get some sleep. While I know it is important to catch up on your emails and other work it will do you no good to be tired for the next day. Try to get enough sleep each night so you will be refreshed in the morning.

Bottom Line
-You know what you should be doing....the same things that apply every day still apply when you are travelling.
-Eat healthy, exercise and get the proper amount of sleep.
-These things are more difficult when away from home and when you are trying to keep up with a busy schedule, just like everything else, it comes down to willpower and personal responsibility.

1 comment:

Paul said...

OK so here is the problem...I love to eat. And being in a new place while traveling I want to try EVERYTHING! For Susan and my last several trips we have eaten way to much and drank too much also (no limiting the alcohol or choosing wine over beer for us). We have taken our workout clothes and worked out though. Gotta do something to feel better about all that eating.