I've presented my travels in the previous 2 blogs (part 1 here and part 2 here) and I was delighted to report that despite all my travel stress and diet violations, I still managed not to gain weight. Moreover, I lost 2.5 pounds! Today, I would like to talk about my own set of rules, or ways, to mitigate the detrimental effects of travel on your diet and weight loss efforts.
Here is the list of my 10 rules:
Rule #1: Don't stress
Travel is quite stressful on its own - jet lags, sleepless nights, broken circadian rhythms, new environments… all these things affect you to some extent and if you stress you produce cortisol, which is our main stress hormone. Cortisol makes you mobilize all your resources to "get through" difficult moments in your life, but it is highly catabolic - it increases your muscle breakdown and also it leads to central adiposity i.e. deposition of fat around your belly and hips. Also, I would recommend focusing on your main trip goals whether it is a vacation or a business trip. You don't want your diet ruin your experiences.
Rule #2: Sleep well
Sleep is often overlooked, but it's absolutely critical for our health and our body composition. When you sleep our body produces growth hormone that is anabolic - it helps you to rejuvenate your body, to build muscle and to use up all the nutrients that you consumed during the day. Also, when sleep-deprived you are much more likely to slip up on your diet as it compromises your decision-making process.
Rule #3: Hydrate
I know that some people are obsessed with hydration and I am not one of them, but when we're talking about traveling, I simply must say that drinking enough water helps with diet a lot. And not having enough fluids will likely make you feel not only thirsty and tired, but will also make you feel hungry - it's funny, but our brain sometimes have problems discriminating between hunger and thirst.
Rule #4: Minimize alcohol intake
If you are a drinker, and most of us are, travel seems to be the perfect scenario for alcohol consumption - you meet with your friends and colleagues, attend some parties, have some wine, beer or cocktails with your meals… It is ok to have some, but please remember that alcohol a) clouds your judgement, b) is highly calorific, and c) leads to dehydration. So, if you choose to drink, do it in moderation, no more than 1-2 drinks per day.
Rule #5: Plan your meals when possible
It might be a hard thing to do, but in most of the cases you can take a look at your itinerary, times of arrival to different places and plan your meals effectively. You can study the menus of restaurants you are about to go and pick the dishes that meet your nutrition plan the best, choose the portion sizes you think are good for you and also foresee potential slips (and avoid them).
Rule #6: Be ready for unexpected
When we travel there are a lots moments when things can go South easily - you arrive to your hotel late at night and their kitchen is closed, the restaurant you are at doesn't have anything that fits your diet, your friends or colleagues invite you to a party or a dinner and there is nothing you can have without jeopardizing your diet. It's almost impossible to predict all of these moments, but you can have a contingency plan - portion control, skipping meals the next day, working out if possible, etc.
Rule #7: Stay away from free food
In my experience, free food is the worst part of the travel - it's everywhere and it almost never meets my dietary needs. Every time I go to a conference, there are buffets full of donuts, croissants, sandwiches and other high-glycemic-index foods. And everybody seems to enjoy them! The same with airplane foods. It's very tempting to have some of them, but if you want to stick to your diet, my recommendation is to stay away from them. Have a glass of water or a coffee and enjoy your nutritional integrity.
I had a funny exception to this rule: when I was leaving Israel, I ordered an Israeli meat platter in the airport and it turned out to be a free meal - a complete stranger, Zach Davidson from Mad for Miles, had some extra travel points, so he covered that breakfast of mine. Technically, it was a free meal, but it was in line with my diet, so it doesn't count.
Rule #8: Fast or simply have one meal a day
In many cases it will be very difficult to control portion sizes and your caloric and macronutrient intake, so I would recommend avoiding having any snacks throughout a day. Just have one good meal per day and make sure that the time period between meals is at least 12 hours. Effectively, you will use intermittent fasting and no matter what you eat, your endocrine system will be able to handle it between meals.
Rule #9: Be mindful while eating and don't overindulge
Often when we taste some local foods or enjoy a dinner in a good company, we lose track of how much we've already eaten and that's how we tend to overeat. I think it's important to listen to your body when you eat and ask yourself whether you're satiated or not during your meal. If you practice this technique effectively, you'll be able to enjoy all kinds of foods without getting into caloric excess.
Rule #10: Move a lot
Physical activity is our main way to increase our daily energy expenditure and when traveling often we can't go to a gym or there is simply no training platform available. I suggest trying to move more - go do some sightseeing, shopping, walk to your meetings if they are not too far from your hotel and in general try to use ground transportation minimally - it will allow you to burn some extra calories.
A bonus post-travel rule: Give yourself a chance to regroup after your trip and plan to get back to your routine right after your trip ended. When you return home have a modest meal or skip it completely if you aren't hungry, have a good night sleep and restart your regular diet right the next day. Having this strategy in mind will keep you focused and will help with not turning your minor slips over the course of your journey into a major nutritional relapse.
I used these rules while traveling and my personal experience was good overall - I managed not to gain weight and to enjoy my travels. I hope that my suggestions will help you too. If you have any other ideas you'd like to share with me, don't hesitate to do so - subscribe to my newsletter, to my YouTube channel, leave comments, ask your questions… I'm always happy to hear from you!
Sincerely Yours,
Dr.Sam
Video: My Epic Journey and Travel Diet Part 3 - Travel Diet Rules