” Healthy body, healthy life!”
How to stay healthy while you travel a lot? This is probably one of the most frequent questions I get asked! And I’ll try to answer today in this post and give you all my recommendations. We have been traveling together for 8 years now and we have not always had this healthy lifestyle, we learned during the process! To stay healthy while you travel a lot, you need to have a good routine. But it is not only during your travels, but during all year that you should care about your body, and your mind to keep healthy and feel good with yourself!
Today, I will share all my suggestions about things you should do and the ones you should avoid during your travels and in your daily life! So, if you are looking for tips to set up in your life to be more healthy, this post is for you! Obviously, we are also talking about feeling confident with your body! Here we go! 😉
How to stay healthy while you travel a lot?
Sleep at least 8 hours per day
The very first tip I would give you is to make sure you sleep enough! Even during your travels, you need to sleep at least 8 hours per night. This is one of the most important things to do to keep healthy. Indeed, your body needs to sleep between 8 and 9 hours per night to rest and regain strength for the day after. Also, you should go to sleep before 9 pm. You won’t feel rested enough if you are sleeping late and waking up late. The best time for the body to rest is from 9 pm to 0 am. Have you ever slept after a party around 5 am and even when waking up around 1 pm, you don’t feel good right? Now you know why!
Eat healthily
Eating healthy is also one of the most important things to do to stay healthy during your travels and feel good with yourself. As much as you can, you should avoid processed food (everything that is not raw: pizza, cakes, sweets, sodas…) and cook your own meals. It is the best way to avoid to much salt, sweet, fat, pesticides, dyes and preservatives. That is a real disaster for health.
Obviously, it can happen sometimes to buy this kind of food when you really don’t have time. But cooking your own meals instead of going to Mcdonalds is really funnier and will save your health! It will make you sure to know what’s inside and eat only good things! You just need to organize yourself, make shopping groceries in advance and plan your meals. When traveling, try to avoid processed food and try to eat in small, local restaurants that serve homemade local food. The smaller the menu, the better the restaurant!
Cut meat, eat more veggies!
Talking about eating healthy, you should definitely cut meat and eat more veggies! Meat is horrible for health, it causes heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases. Also, when eating meat, it is hard to stay fit, meat is very fat. When you are eating a burger, most of the calories come from the steak/ the bacon. I remember when we became vegan 3 years ago, I lost easily fat just in cutting meat. Obviously, the main reason to become vegan is to protect the animals and the environment. But certain people do it to stay healthy and lose weight. You should read my post about “why and how we became vegan“.
Moreover, eating more fruits and vegetables will help you to have more vitamins, good fat, minerals, and antioxidants. For example, avocado has good fat, lemon and orange are a source of vitamin C, carrots contain vitamin A, spinach contains calcium. Also, fruits and veggies contain much water, which is good to hydrate your body.
Avoid sugar
Sugar is your worst enemy to stay healthy (no I’m not exaggerating!) Ok, a bit! But you need to know that serious scientific studies have proven that sugar is much as addictive than drugs and alcohol. Sugar is a real danger for health. Experts believe that sugar consumption is a major cause of obesity and many chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.
First of all, sugar has drug-like effects in the reward center of the brain. When you are eating sugar, it increases the insulin pic and dopamine (that is the pleasure hormone) is sent to the brain that becomes slowly addicted. Scientists have proposed that sweet foods, along with salty and fatty food, can produce addiction-like effects in the human brain, driving the loss of self-control, overeating, and subsequent weight gain. Have you ever had an irrepressible desire for chocolate or sweets? I think we all ever have this sensation! Now you know what’s happening in the brain!
Unfortunately, from sauces to sodas, cakes or pizza, sugar is added everywhere. The best way to stay healthy is to avoid this kind of food as much as you can. You can still buy dark chocolate or cook your own cakes!
Drink enough water
You have probably already heard the advice “drink enough water”! We need around 1 liter per day. It is easy to remember and it is a reasonable goal. But you can also find water in fruits, vegetables, teas or juices. It is important to drink enough water to stay hydrated. To stay healthy while you travel, make sure you drink enough water. You can take your reusable gourd and always have it in your bag!
Intermittent fasting
When you’re at home, you should try to do intermittent fasting. It’s harder to do when you’re traveling because you need a good breakfast. Scientists have proven through different studies that intermittent fasting has amazing effects on the body and brain. It is helping to lose weight, improve health and help to live longer.
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat. It is not a diet, but more accurately described as an eating pattern. Common intermittent fasting methods involve daily 14 to 16 hours fasts. It can appear a lot of time but in reality, it is really easy to do. When you’re having dinner around 9 pm you just have to lunch around 1 pm.
Eat breakfast when you travel
When you are traveling, don’t skip breakfast, you need it! Especially when you are planning to wake up at 5 am to do a hike or any sportive activity. You need enough calories to do this kind of activity. Don’t worry you will easily burn them during the effort! A good breakfast includes cereals and fruits.
Exercise
By the way, you should try to exercise to stay healthy while you travel! Any sports activity is welcome! Swimming or surfing if you are at the beach, hiking if you are in the mountains, walking, running, or biking. The important is to do something you like and that is good for your health. Cardio is really good for the heart!
Take time for yourself
But, don’t forget to take time for yourself! Taking time for yourself is the best favor you can do to yourself! It’s so important to take care of yourself and take a moment for you, just for you. Whenever it is during your travels or in your daily life. It can be doing meditation, take a yoga course, having a massage, reading a good book, cooking a healthy meal, or even going to the hairdresser. It is all about doing something good for you, destress and forget the rush of daily life! Comment if I have forgotten something you love!
Don’t rush
Talking about rush, you should not try to visit everything in one day! Don’t plan to visit a huge number of places in the same day/week. First of all, you won’t be able to enjoy the places where you are going to, connect with the locals and feel the essence of this place. Moreover, you will be stressed and you won’t enjoy your trip. Accept that you won’t be able to see everything and it’s totally ok! It’s a good reason to go back! It has already happened to each of us!
Take a day off
Don’t feel guilty to take a day off and breathe! It is necessary to destress and enjoy your trip. It can be the last day of the trip or when the weather is not that good. Take the time to enjoy the moment present!
Protect your skin
Always take sunscreen and a hat with you! It’s really important to protect your skin and your head from the damages of the sun. It’s so quickly happened to stay too much time under the sun and get a sunburn or insolation. You can be sick for several days, it can really impact your trip! Don’t forget to buy a sunscreen that is ocean-friendly.
Wear comfy clothes
Don’t forget to take comfy clothes for your flight, good shoes for sports activities, or a jacket for the evenings. It’s important to plan your clothes accordingly to not have bad surprises during your travels and always feeling good!
Enjoy the journey!
All these recommendations can seem pretty hard to follow but I promise you it’s easy when you’re used to this! The most important to stay healthy while you travel a lot is to enjoy the moment present, and feel good with yourself! Health is not only about the body but also the mind! Being happy is the best way to be healthy!
Follow our adventures on Instagram! @chiarabarrasso @jelafaille
