How To Stay Fit & Healthy On The Road
When you let yourself loose on the world and opt to travel via roads, the amazing experiences you’ll have come at the cost of a steady routine. When routine is lost, our bodies can lose focus too.
Part of travelling is the feeling of freedom and not wanting to hold back with whatever we decide to do. Whether it’s eating your body weight in Italy or hiking at high altitudes in Peru, travelling will make your body go through changes, both internally and externally. With dieting, staying fit and keeping healthy firmly in the world’s spotlight, a lot more people are wondering how to stay fit and healthy on the road.
1. Remember To Eat Healthy
Hitting the road with money in our pockets can make being unhealthy too easy at times. Since we can buy whatever we want, especially whatever food we want, it’s a little too easy to spoil ourselves everyday and justify it by saying ‘we’re on holiday’... Guilty!
It’s definitely important to get into the local culture and cuisine, however if you're wanting to eat moderately healthy, try and find opportunities to eat vegetables, even if they’re not the kind you’re used to seeing at home. It sounds rather lame, but for you to be on top of your game mentally and physically, it’s essential to give your body what it needs. If you’re always on the go and don’t have the time or opportunity to plan your meals, look for healthy snacks, from organic juices or replacing your side of deep fried chips with something a little more green. This will help your body stay on track.
2. Exercise Through Excursions
Some of you may love the gym and some of you may hate it. When the word exercise is uttered, we often associate it with lifting weights or jogging on the treadmill. If you’re visiting a large city, or staying in a hotel, you might have access to a local gym. For everyone else, it’s important to find ways to stay active and work off those food comas.
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I’m personally not a huge lover of the gym, but I do love sport (football) and hiking. If you’re the same, why not take a hiking trip for a few days? This will fast-track you into pushing them muscles and keeping your body in shape. It’s fun, it’ll probably be exciting, and it’s a common thing to do when travelling! If you need some inspiration, think of Machu Picchu in Peru or Mount Tongariro in New Zealand. If hiking isn’t your thing, you could always look into kayaking, or any other way you can explore the local area whilst still being active!
3. Find your zen
It’s no secret that the whole yoga movement has hit the travelling trend hard. Believe us though, it's a good thing, even if you’re not a fanatic. I remember practising a lot of hot yoga throughout my travels in Asia. It put me in a healthy mindset for the day, so I had healthy meals, healthy drinks and the yoga to top it off. It gives your body a little breather – pun intended – and you get to reset for the adventures ahead.
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In fact, a lot more people are travelling purely just to do yoga, so you could even make it solely about your trip if that's your thing!
4. CATCH ENOUGH ZZZ'S
One of the biggest things that is affected while travelling is your sleeping pattern. Those long bus rides through Vietnam, the jetlag you’ll incur from timezone hopping and, let’s be honest, the three (or more) drinks you'll consume at times all contribute to you getting less shut-eye.
When you can, get some rest. Power nap at the airport, have a kip on the bus or maybe prepare in advance. For the latter, if you have an upcoming journey that staggers your sleep, make sure you get an epic, sleep-right-through kind of rest two night before. Your body will thank you by providing you with energy to keep exploring. You don’t want to turn down a new adventure because you didn’t sleep enough!
5. Stay On Budget
Doing everything cheap certainly has many benefits. You can travel longer, further and usually more authentically, thus leading to more local experiences.
However, due to the world becoming absolutely OBSESSED with healthy foods (which is totally a good thing), I can tell you first-hand that the prices have shot up for anything associated with being good for you.
That means, if you’re on a tight budget you’re more often than not going to have to eat cheaply, and that means a lot more fast or processed food. From pastries and burgers to pizza and crisps, the cheap food is the worst food for your health most of the time. But if you’re planning ahead and staying on budget, you can have the money to spend on your good food choices to get your healthy top-ups.
6. The Mark Zuckerberg Way
The kingpin of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has his own way of exploring a new country. He goes for a jog! What better way to see a new country and keep fit at the same time?! Wind, rain, sun or snow, once you start jogging, you’ll soon warm up. You’ll cover a lot more ground by running, so you'll see more and if you’re in a place that may have a high rate of theft, like in South America, there’s probably more chance you can get away! Jokes aside, taking a jog in a new city or country on the first day will become a fun and healthy routine to stick to.
7. The Weight Debate
It is often debated amongst backpackers, especially in Southeast Asia, that going travelling helps you lose and gain weight, depending on your sex. The myth is that men typically lose weight, whilst women tend to gain weight. I can say from experience I lost a ton of weight in Asia, but I did tend to be influenced at a party or two. That being said, drinking can suppress your appetite that will lead to less food consumption.
On the contrary, it has the opposite effect for some and the main thing to know is what works for you. You should know what kind of food you can eat and how it may affect you personally, and the same goes for drinking. Don’t overeat or drink if it leaves you unable to do the activities you want to do! Enjoy everything in moderation and you should be okay!
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below!
If this kick-started your wanderlust, we think it’s about time you got out that itinerary, cashed in those annual leave hours in and rode the travel buzz all the way to better health.