Live in the body you deserve

Want to know what I do to stay healthy when I travel? Most of us have end of year trips coming up to see family and friends for the holidays, which can be a double whammy: travel and holiday crap food. Bah humbug.

Here’s what I do when I’m on the road:

- Start the morning with a mug of hot water with the juice of ½ a lemon on an empty stomach to cleanse the liver and optimize fat metabolism (if you take medication first thing in the morning please check with your doctor first).

- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day, no exceptions! A lot of the time thirst is masked as hunger.

- Commit to moving your body every day by doing something that makes you sweat - this doesn’t have to be traditional exercise. Don’t have ideas or time? Change that story! Try the 7-Minute Workout (blast your own music and use this video as your timer).

- Bring your journal with you and make sure you are setting aside time first thing in the morning for your self-care and reflection.

- Breakfast in a hotel or airport can be tough. Go with the eggs (might need to buy an egg sandwich and just eat the egg), then grab a piece of fruit, or look for eggs and oatmeal. Starbucks has oatmeal (don't add the brown sugar) as well as bananas - and don't try to tell me the airport you're in doesn't have a Starbucks! My basement has a Starbucks. Just kidding, I live in Texas, we don’t have basements.

- Lunch / Dinner: Salad, salad, and did I mention order a salad?

- Snacking: plan ahead and have a large bag packed with snacks (ideas below). Make sure to pack enough for every day you are away plus some that your family will eat.

- Hotels (even the crappy ones) have exercise rooms. I like High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), which is an exercise strategy alternating periods of short intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. For example, sprint for 30 seconds and then walk for 1-2 minutes and repeat. 15-20 minutes of this will rock your world!

- Pack your water bottle so you can fill and use it once you arrive. Many airports have "Hydration Stations" where you can bring an empty water bottle through security and refill it at the airport with filtered water. Also, any coffee shop will fill your water bottle if you just ask (and leave a tip).

- If driving, pack a cooler and re-stock when you pass through towns. Great cold snacks include turkey slices, carrots, hummus, babaganoush, guacamole, pre-chopped veggies, and hard-boiled eggs.

- When you’re in restaurants, always choose a protein and vegetables. Most importantly, eat small portions (remember, eat only what you can carry with your two hands).

- Substitute with green or herbal tea instead of coffee when available.

- If you are in a place for longer than 48 hours, search for the local natural grocer (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, Natural Grocer, etc). Go once and stock up on pre-made goodies. Ask your hotel to hold them in a fridge for you if your room is not equipped with one. All hotels must put a free mini-fridge in your room if you tell them you need to store refrigerated medication, and food is our medicine!

-Be mindful of your choices. Ask yourself “Am I really physically hungry?” Seek to soothe yourself in other ways.

- Eat like I’m sitting there with you. A little good ol’ fashioned pretend accountability never hurt nobody!

✈️ Travel Snack Ideas

• Nuts/seeds or trail mix
• Fresh fruit
• Bars: Oatmega, KIND (5g of sugar or less), Epic Bars or Epic Bites
• Brami’s Snacking Beans
• Coconut flakes
• Seaweed snacks
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Protein pancakes
• Raw/dehydrated veggie chips (watch out for the brands that cook these in oil)
• Spicy roasted chickpeas (can buy these already made as well, I buy Saffron Road).
• Again, Starbucks always has a few options. Pick from the oatmeal as I mentioned above (get the toppings, hold the sugar!), hard-boiled eggs, and nut mixes.

Safe travels!!