How to stay on diet during a vacation travel

Introduction

Some people give up dieting during vacations because they believe that they are doomed to fail anyway. Meanwhile, following the rules of healthy eating while away does not have to be that difficult. We have a wide choice of ready-made products with good ingredients that we can easily take on a journey. Preparing healthy meals by yourself is also easier than you think. A lot depends on our organizational skills, and on developing some healthy habits that will stay with us permanently.

Healthy meals during travels – what is important?

What to look for when planning healthy travel meals.

• Appropriate containers – if we want to prepare healthy meals ourselves, we must remember that they are well packaged. This will reduce the risk of the products spoiling, as well as spilling their contents on clothes or the interior of the car. It is worth having containers with cutlery attached. Thanks to this, we will not have to worry about buying disposable ones every time. You can also buy containers that will allow us to transport liquid dishes, such as soups or cocktails.
• Avoiding bloating products – none of us would like our journey to be disturbed by problems with unpleasant digestive ailments. Therefore, while traveling, it is better to limit or eliminate dishes based on bloating products. These products include onion, broccoli, legumes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Carbonated drinks are also inadvisable.
• Avoiding heavy or fatty foods – this type of food should be eliminated from the menu not only during the journey. Eating them during the trip can effectively spoil our rest, leading to unpleasant ailments from the digestive system.

It should also be ensured that the products that we take with us on the road do not belong to those that are easily perishable. Therefore, it is worth considering whether dishes based on meat or fish will be a good solution for a trip (especially long, at high temperature). You can replace them, for example, with a quinoa-based salad (or brown rice, groats) with steamed vegetables, pumpkin seeds, and your favorite spices.

What to pay attention to when reading the ingredients of the products bought in stores

There are more and more ready-made products in stores that we can easily take on a trip. When deciding to buy them, it is good to read the list of ingredients first. For some of them, the fact that they have the word “fit” or “fitness” in their name has nothing to do with their nutritional value. Good quality products should not have ingredients such as:

• sugar,
• glucose-fructose syrup (and other similar additives, e.g. sugar, corn, glucose, sucrose, maltose syrup),
• monosodium glutamate,
• Palm oil.

The list of ingredients on the product packaging is given in descending order. Therefore, the first ones are present in a given product in the highest amounts.

Ideas for healthy meals

We do not need much time to prepare simple and healthy meals that we will take with us on a journey. We know the ingredients, and that we will like their taste. Products that are worth paying attention to when preparing meals for a trip include:

• wholemeal bread, from which we can prepare healthy sandwiches in just a few minutes;
• brown or wild rice, groats, quinoa (these types of products can increase the nutritional value of salads);
• vegetables (preferably raw, steamed, or briefly in water) – zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, carrots;
• nutritional supplements (e.g., pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds rich in zinc and B vitamins, linseed and chia seeds rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids);

Healthy meal ideas to take with you on the go:

• wholemeal bread with vegetable paste (e.g. carrot with black cumin and sesame, or the Mediterranean with eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes);
• brown rice / quinoa salad with dried tomatoes, olives, zucchini, and arugula;
• homemade oatmeal cereal bars with the addition of dried fruit, sunflower seeds, nuts;
• homemade oatmeal cookies;

Summary

Following the principles of a healthy diet should not be something that we decide to do only in comfortable conditions. Remember that a properly composed menu is not only a matter of a diet for a month or two to lose unnecessary kilograms for vacation. It is good if the principles of healthy eating accompany us every day (also when traveling) because by following these rules we care about our health.