“What’s a vacation without food?” you’re probably thinking, imagining yourself sitting in a café in the middle of Paris right in front of the Eiffel tower munching on a carrot stick instead of an ooey, gooey chocolate éclair. Keeping your waistline trim while you’re on holiday doesn’t mean total deprivation of all things delicious; it just means you need to be smart about it.
Here are our top tips for staying in shape while on holiday:
“Bed and breakfast, please.”
It’s cheaper and healthier to avoid all-inclusive resorts. That way you won’t be tempted to stuff your face all day because you “paid for it!”.
Photo by Cliff Muller
Navigating the open buffet
Use the one-trip-only rule when it comes to open buffets. Usually the plates are tiny enough that even if you only choose hotdogs, buttery pancakes and French fries the portion still won’t do a whole lot of diet damage (See? No deprivation here:) ).
Photo by Fastin8
Breakfast, lunch or dinner?
There’s no rule that says you have to eat three square meals every single day. Use your noodle (sorry, bad pun), if you have a huge breakfast then have a salad for lunch. If you don’t eat all day then you can indulge a little at dinner.
An assortment of Italian food
Use that fridge!
That small fridge in your hotel room may save you a couple of holiday kilos. Stock up on some healthy snacks like fresh fruit and wholegrain cereal for when you get attacked by the 1 a.m. munchies. That way you won’t be tempted to reach for the room service menu.
Photo by Corrie Howell
Food for the road
Pass by the neighborhood supermarket on your way to that sightseeing tour. Buy some portable fruits (bananas perhaps?), raw nuts and wholegrain sandwiches so that when it’s time for lunch you can skip the fried stuff with cheese everybody else on the trip will be buying (because really, what kind of restaurant sells healthy food in a touristic area?).
Photo by Franz Jachim
Move!
Try not to spend your whole vacation laying in the sun like a beached whale. Get out there and do stuff; take long walks in beautiful places, go crazy at the mall (no matter what they say, shopping CAN be good for you), climb mountains…the sky is the limit. Think of it this way, the more you move the more tasty, delicious food you can gobble up and not gain weight.
Photo by Peter Theony
Choose wisely
Much as we would love to eat everything in sight and not gain an ounce, sadly we sometimes have to sacrifice the pasta so we could eat the pizza. If you are faced with a table full of all your favorite foods pause before you fill your plate. Try to choose just one sinful dish and then add some salad and vegetables to the rest of the plate.
Photo by Alpha
Split dessert
No need to avoid that chocolaty, creamy éclair after all. Order one and split it with someone (or two, or three).
Photo by Alpha
Go for the healthy option
All international cuisines have dishes that are lower in calories and fat than others. Scan the menu for the words baked, grilled and steamed. Otherwise you can just order whatever you like and ask the waiter if you could have vegetables instead of rice on the side or to bring you the burger without the bun and cheese.
Photo by Carmen Eisbar
Don’t deprive yourself
An integral part of being on vacation is to have fun with food, so it’s totally fine to give in to your cravings a bit more than you normally do in your everyday life. Enjoy that pizza; just don’t have pasta, ice cream, a burger, nachos, chips, pancakes, cake, some peanuts and a chocolate bar on the same day;).
Photo by Yelp Inc.
Great job ya Poussy
انتي بتجيبي الأفكار الحلوه دي ازاي
Just in time
🙂