5 ways to stay healthy when on holidays

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New location? New routine? Here are some simple tips to help you stay healthy this holiday.

When it comes to holidaying, keeping your health goals on track is something many people may struggle with. A change of regimen, lifestyle and venue can send your healthy routine out the window, here are a couple of simple ways to stay on your way whilst still enjoying the holiday.

1. Exercise

Just because you’re on holidays it doesn’t mean you need to watch months of hard work go down the drain. Aim to keep your body moving for at least thirty minutes each day. Incidental exercise (aka exercise that doesn’t feel like an intense HIIT workout at the gym) is your BFF this summer. For example you could make your family outing a little more physical, for example a hike with the kids, playing cricket in the backyard or a swim at the beach.

2. Nutrition

When it comes to making smart nutrition choices Shivaun Conn, Senior Dietitian and Health Coach at Life First, recommends being mindful and choosing food deliberately. A few questions to ask yourself are “Am I hungry? Do I need to eat? How will I feel afterwards? Will this nourish me? Will I thoroughly enjoy it and can it fit into a healthy diet? If you decide to eat it, do I want/need to eat all of it? Or will just a taste or half suffice?”

Most importantly Shivaun wants people to “bin the guilt associated with food. No food is good or bad, however eating the right proportions of different types of food will ensure we get the nutrients we need to feel energised, happy and to live long lives!”

From being organised to choosing healthy snacks there are a stack of ways to keep your nutrition in check on holidays. Here are a couple of Shivaun’s healthy snack ideas:

Unsalted mixed nuts
Fruit
Carrot/celery/cucumber/capsicum sticks
Small packets of roasted chickpea/fava beans
Natural popcorn.

3. Sleep

It’s really important to make sleep a priority, not only will you feel better for it but a lack of sleep will have you reaching for the hot cross bun. A study by Michigan State University¹ found that, after just one night of lost sleep participants were hungrier, had increased food cravings, and ate larger portions of foods than those who had a good night’s sleep.

Try to keep your sleep to a schedule as much as possible and keep your bedroom cool, you can read on here for our top tips on getting a good night’s sleep.

4. Alcohol

Research² suggests that even with moderate drinking (1-2 standard drinks per day) any possible small health benefits are outweighed by the increased risk of other health-related harms, including cancer.

Here are a couple of suggestions from Shivaun on keeping your alcohol intake in check:

Start with a glass of water or sparkling mineral water
Dilute wine and spirits with ice or mineral water
Have a light beer instead of a full-strength beer
Alternate alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic options e.g. lime and soda, sparkling mineral water, water.
Watch your serving sizes – restaurants can serve wine in a glass that is 3 times the standard serve.
Be careful with top-ups. Finish your glass before you accept a refill.
Have a plan to exercise with a friend the next morning – a good incentive not to drink too much and to get to bed early!