Traveling is something that everyone looks forward to — except for people on a diet, of course. It’s not that eating is the only thing that people can do when they travel, but the reality of the matter is that eating while traveling is something that gets emphasized on just about every travel guide possible. This can make the new dieter feel like there’s really nothing else to do on a vacation except eat, and eating is often the last thing that they really want to do. It can be hard to be surrounded by people that don’t have the same weight loss and fitness goals as you — you might feel like it’s completely hopeless, but that’s not the case at all. Contrary to popular belief, it’s really possible to eat well and still not blow your diet — even when you’re on vacation.
The simple fact that you must pay attention to is that you must give yourself time to enjoy all of the foods that are around you. A good diet should have plenty of “wiggle room”. This doesn’t mean that you can go overboard and visit the cruise buffet five times in a single meal — but it does mean that you can let yourself experiment with food and try things in moderation. If you want a slice of chocolate fudge cake, you should feel free to have that. Now, having three or four pieces is excessive, and you will want to make sure that you don’t go to the extreme trying out new things.
Balance your diet choices with exercise. Even though this is advice that everyone has heard at least five times in their lives, the reality of the matter is that a good exercise program will make it that much easier to try new foods and like them — there’s nothing that says that you can’t enjoy good food, as long as you keep it balanced with plenty of exercise.
If you have special diet needs, you might want to join a travel community online filled with people that have the same needs that you do. This is even more important with certain groups, such as people that require a gluten-free diet. If they stray away from this diet, they could get very sick and very uncomfortable — two things that you don’t want to experience in a foreign country! Going online is fast, and you will also get the ability to really customize your trip based on the experiences of other people. When you finally have the chance for the vacation of a lifetime, you will want to make sure that everything will run smoothly and to your advantage. The only way to achieve this consistently is through planning.
Does that mean that there’s really no room to have fun? Absolutely not — it just means that you will need to think carefully about the things that you do while you’re on vacation. Other than that, you should have nothing standing in your way of a wonderful trip — have fun!
