Smarter Eating While on Vacation

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Related Episodes:

• The Right Way to “Cheat” (Cheat meals and cheat days, that is.)
• Is Food a Reward?

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Full Episode Transcript:

Hi, welcome to the podcast. I wanted to share some tips for smarter eating while on vacation today because this is the season where many are taking summer vacations to destinations, or holidays if you are in Europe and not the United States.

There are a few things that come up for people when it comes to how and what they eat while on vacation and I wanted to give some options to you that will help you to remain in a positive mindset about your food choices after your vacation, but also still be able to indulge somewhat while you are on vacation.

You’ll be finding out what I do when I’m on vacation that enables me to indulge AND not feel like I over did it or gained any weight. I promise you it isn’t anything as boring or mathematical as counting calories.  

Before I get onto today’s topic though, I just want to personally invite you to join me in Eating Habit Overhaul, my program for career women who need personalized help with breaking their bad eating habits. Doors open tomorrow, July 15^th and are open until next Thursday, the 21^st until midnight.

I’m only accepting 5 career women into the program this month. It’s a program that fits nicely into any lifestyle or schedule, no matter how busy. There are do-at-your-own-pace video lessons where I teach you what you need to know to break your bad eating habits, effectively and not just temporarily. It’s tailored to career women, so includes the normal challenges and tools that benefit anyone, but then additional ones that are more specific to career women.

You also get the Overhaul Method, which is my framework that has the specific steps you go through to break any bad eating habit and with a few simple changes to some of the steps, create any new eating habit you want, so it actually “sticks.”

You get a beautiful workbook and Overhaul Method planner, that help keep you organized and make the process even more simple and clear. Additionally, you get 1:1 direct messaging coaching, meaning access to me any time during the 6-month duration of the program. I will help you through any challenges you’re having. Through the 1:1 direct messaging coaching, we also work on your mindset around food, your body, and your current eating habits.

I chose 1:1 direct messaging coaching rather than traditional video or phone coaching, because it can be really difficult for you to fit in a one-hour coaching session several times a month. Also, it’s sometimes tough to commit to these appointments because things can come up in your schedule that were unexpected. So, this is just a more convenient way to get the 1:1 coaching you need along the way.

First, I want to start off with one of the most common ways that people tend to look at vacation and food, which is that mentality of “it’s vacation, so I’m going all out. “

So what are some reasons that this mentality is a common one, or even exist at all? And I’m not saying that there is something “bad“ about having this mentality, I just want to examine it and also present to you some things to consider.

One of the reasons is that vacation is usually a time when you can just let loose and really enjoy yourself, right? Well, of course that’s absolutely true and one of the ways to let loose and really enjoy yourself can be in the form of eating whatever you’d like, or drinking whatever you like. I do agree that this is one way to “let loose.“ However, I am going to challenge the idea that the food is what provides the enjoyment, which many people believe to be true.

There is this misconception that food equals excitement and fun and pleasure. Food can provide a short-term pleasure that doesn’t last very long, but it actually doesn’t provide any true pleasure, fun, or excitement. When you are in the mindset that food equals fun, or drink equals fun, you’re not seeing that you create the fun.

You end up missing out on some of the ways that you can create the fun and enjoyment, without feeling like the food needs to create the fun and enjoyment. Same thing goes for alcohol.  Both food and alcohol are really just external substances that you’re putting into your body and, that make you feel temporarily “good.“

When you are counting on food as being a large portion of your fun during vacation, you’re not as focused on how you are going to create the fun yourself. And what I mean by this is that if you’re expecting food to provide you with so much enjoyment and then let’s say the food lets you down at a certain restaurant, then what? You are essentially giving that control away to the food, which is something outside of you, rather than you being in control of the fun and enjoyment while on vacation. Remember, you create the fun, the food does not.

The other not-so-great thing about that mindset of “going all out while on vacation,“ is that once the pleasure that’s gained from the dopamine hit from the food and even from drinks, whether they be alcoholic or nonalcoholic, wears off, the negativity sets in. You’re left with some negative thoughts and feelings about over-eating or over-indulging. You may even be left with some physical discomfort like an uncomfortable tightness in your belly, or lots of bloating, or even nausea or heartburn.

Once your vacation has ended and you’re sort of out of that “vacation high“ that’s when reality sets in the end you start regretting over-eating. You might even see that the number on the scale has increased. The negative thoughts you have about what or how much you ate, cause negative feelings about yourself and this is completely unproductive. It also doesn’t feel good. So the bit of pleasure that the food provided is really counteracted by the pain of the negative thoughts and feelings afterward. And even potentially the weight gain or the physical pain that the food caused to your gastrointestinal system.

So what can you do instead so that you can indulge on vacation, without over-indulging, and still come back home feeling good about your decisions? I’m going to tell you a few things that you can do that I would classify as more actionable tips, rather than mindset tips first. Then, I’ll give a mindset tip for afterward.

The first thing that I recommend is determining which meal of the day is going to be the most important to you to be able to indulge in? Basically, what’s your favorite meal that you like to eat out? Is it breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert? Yes, in this situation I would classify dessert as a meal since it is something that many people on vacation or holiday end up indulging in later in the evening a couple of hours after dinner.

So, let’s use the example of choosing dinner as your favorite meal or the meal that you would prefer to indulge the most with. And if you feel like you would like to change it up and also indulge at brunch one of the days during your vacation, or maybe dessert, then that’s totally fine. What I recommend is picking one specific meal for each day that you’ll be on vacation. Then just decide ahead of time, even before you leave on vacation, which meal each day you are going to indulge with. Then, for the other meals that day choose foods and amounts that you would normally choose while you’re at home and not on vacation.

Now being that you’re on vacation and you’re not at home, You may not be able to find exactly what you would eat at home, and that’s fine. I just recommend finding something that is similar in nutrition, calories, and amount. You can usually go to a grocery store that you find nearby in your vacation destination.

Or you might even find some options at a nearby café that are more similar to what and how much you would eat for that particular meal on a routine basis at home. This way if most of your meals are fairly similar to what you would normally eat at home, and then you just indulge with that one meal that you chose ahead of time, you are not going to be “over doing it.“

Now, the reason for choosing ahead of time is that you are using your prefrontal cortex when you do this, which is that higher-functioning portion of the brain that is involved with much better decision making that’s more future-focused. The prefrontal cortex is really concerned about your future goals, as well as your health and wellness, rather than that more primitive portion of the brain, which is concerned more with that instant gratification, or “in the moment“ short-term pleasure.

Also, when you decide ahead of time, it’s like making a promise to yourself. When you make a promise to someone else, you try to keep that promise, right? Well, you should do the same with yourself. Keep that promise to yourself to indulge in that dinner, but eat foods that are not quite as indulgent for your other meals. You’re respecting yourself more by doing this. And when you keep that promise to yourself once, you’re more likely to do it again, and again, and again.

So I can personally tell you that this is exactly the way that my husband Paul, and I eat while we are on vacation and neither of us ever feels guilty afterwards. In fact, we feel proud of ourselves for not “over-doing it” on vacation and I can tell you that I’ve never once gained a single pound after a vacation. Never. In fact, we tend to be a little bit more physically active while on vacation since we aren’t sitting at our desks working all day, so we tend to lose a couple of pounds every time we go on vacation.

Another big benefit that we’ve both experienced is that because we aren’t over-indulging at every single meal while on vacation, we are really looking forward to that meal that we decided to treat ourselves with. For us, it’s usually dinner. It’s more enjoyable that way.

What we tend to do is, once we get to our destination, we find the nearest grocery store and pick up the foods that are pretty close to what we would normally get for breakfast and lunch at home. Since the grocery store options in another destination tend to be different than what we have at home, sometimes we do change it up a little bit, which makes it kind of fun, just because it’s different. But, the key is that we keep our eating habits pretty similar with those breakfast and lunch foods as well as snacks, as we would at home on any other routine day.

Just a little sidenote here, you will find that you end up to saving a ton of money if you don’t eat every meal out while on vacation and you get some groceries instead. Also, I just want to mention when it comes to groceries, we keep in mind if our hotel or Airbnb has a mini fridge or a full-size fridge. That way, we can know ahead of time what the refrigeration situation is for foods that need to be kept cold. Also, we don’t want to cook while on vacation, so we won’t buy anything that needs to be cooked. Oftentimes, there is a toaster oven if needed and certainly a microwave if you needed to heat up water for something like oatmeal. If you’re staying in an Airbnb, there are typically plates, bowls, cutlery, things like that that will make it easier to not have to get those meals from a restaurant.

Also, if you are going to be packing some sandwiches to bring with you to the beach, or while hiking, or touring a city, then be sure to pick up some aluminum foil to wrap them in to bring with you. It doesn’t take long at all to make a few quick sandwiches, and certainly doesn’t take much effort to eat breakfast in your hotel balcony overlooking the scenery.

So the next main thing that I wanted to suggest as an option for you for smarter eating while on vacation, is your food choices during the actual travel time. It’s very easy to forget about what you’ll eat when you’re traveling to your vacation destination and traveling back home.

If you’re going to be in an airport, the airport options are usually pretty unhealthy, and many times, you can feel like you’re stuck with these options. I just want to offer to you that you don’t have to be. What you can do, is pack some snacks and even a sandwich ahead of time, so that you don’t have to eat any of the food in the airport if you don’t want to. Nor do you have to go hungry while you’re traveling either.

I’m not sure if you realize this, but you can actually bring food on an airplane, or at least in the United States you can. So before you leave home, pack some snacks, or pack a sandwich to bring with you to eat at the airport or while on the plane. If you’re leaving really early in the morning, then pack them up the night before and put them in a spot where you’ll see them, so that it’s easier to remember to bring them with you as you’re running out the door.

Also, for when you are returning home by plane, if you go grocery shopping while on vacation, remember to get some extra food for the airport and plane. You can even pack a little bit extra for each trip, in case there are any delays, which there often are, especially these days it seems.

If you are traveling by another mode of transportation, either car, bus, or train, then I highly recommend doing the same and packing your snacks, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and plenty of drinks to stay hydrated. This will help to limit having to stop at a convenience store along the way, where there tends to be minimal options, and even less healthy options. It can also save you from being tempted to stop at a fast food place along the way, or feeling like you have to find a restaurant to stop at.

So, now for the mindset tip that I have for you. You’re going to like this one. It’s really easy and it’s so powerful.

Let’s just say that you planned things out in advance and found that you didn’t stick to it. What happens next? Do you talk negatively to yourself and punish yourself for not sticking with what you intended? Do you throw in the towel and say “well I’m just going to overeat and gain weight with every vacation I take, no matter what“?

Or, do you give yourself a little bit of grace? Do you maybe tell yourself something like “hey, you had good intentions, but you weren’t perfect, and that’s OK”?

Absolutely.

You’re going to be tempted to talk negatively to yourself, because there’s a very high likelihood that you’ve been talking negatively to yourself about your food choices or eating habits for a long time now. When you’re in that habit of doing that, your brain is going to want to stick with that habit of talking negatively. Your brain loves habits, because they make things easier and your brain loves conserving energy. The interesting thing is that your brain loves habits to much that it will continue the habit of talking negatively to you, even though it doesn’t feel good.

What I’d like for you to do instead, is just simply add the phrase, “and that’s OK” to the end of any statement that you’re making in your head about what happened during the vacation.

So for example, say you started out on track with packing some snacks to bring with you to the airport, and you did a great job and ate those snacks instead of the fast food at the airport. Then you stuck with a healthier breakfast and lunch, and indulged in the dinner that you had chosen ahead of time that you were going to indulge in.

But then, you got caught up in that vacation-mode and your former vacation-mode eating habits. This resulted in you getting completely off track and overeating or overindulging with the remaining meals on your vacation. You came back home feeling bloated, and you even gained a few pounds on the scale.

What you would do here is say to yourself or out loud, “I started out doing really well, but I didn’t keep it up, and that’s OK.” This is going to feel so much better than some of those negative and very critical thoughts that you may be used to after something like this occurs, right?

When you add that phrase “and that’s OK,“ you are sort of forgiving yourself for the simple fact that you’re human and you’re not going to be perfect all of the time. Especially if this is the first time you were trying to make healthier food choices while on vacation. You do have to remember that if you’re used to always overindulging with every meal while on vacation, then it may not be perfect the first time that you try to do the recommendations that I taught today.

And that’s just an important thing that I want to point out here too. It may take a few vacations until you really have this down. But if you’re going to be vacationing anyway, you might as well start practicing this way of doing things. Even if you want to start out with choosing two meals out of the day that you’re going to indulge with if you’re used to indulging with every meal, every day that you’re on vacation. Then, if you feel that you can go from choosing two meals a day to indulge in, down to one meal a day that you can indulge in while in vacation, then you’re really making some great steps forward.

So, my lovely career woman, that’s what I have for you today on healthier food choices while on vacation. If it helps, then jot down some of these recommendations on a piece of paper or put them into your phone, so that you can remember to try these for your next vacation. Otherwise, it’s really easy to forget, or at least for me I find it useful to write things down for future reference so I don’t forget.

Take care, enjoy that vacation, and I’ll talk with you soon.