Balance on holidays

 

When it comes to holidays routines sometimes fly out of the window and it becomes hard to adhere to usual eating and exercise patterns, especially when we are in a new place, perhaps with an exciting food buffet, and a beach to lie on or all the hearty meals during a skiing holiday. 

 

For some of us this is totally fine but some of us stress about not having their routine which defeats the purpose of a holiday! Firstly the most important thing is to understand that life is all about balance and the pleasure we take out from eating some perhaps-not-so-healthy food once in a while is totally ok. It is also absolutely acceptable to take a break from working out, in fact a rest may not be a bad thing. It is worse to constantly stress about what we eat and what we do, forget about guilt and enjoy the limited holiday time being reasonable.

 

Having said that there are some easy ways to try to stick to healthy habits during holidays:

 

• Try walking to places as much as possible, take advantage of fresh air to go for walks 
• Take the stairs whenever possible
• If possible, do a 15 min warm up / mobility routine in the morning. Keep it short and efficient so it doesn’t become a chore or an obstacle to do anything else  
• Try a fun activity with friends or family, even dancing counts
• If you have the chance to exercise, take some exercise bands with you
• Exercise can be swimming, playing ping pong, football, hiking and so on
• If you are keen on exercising but don’t know where to being, find a video on YouTube 

 

• Start the day with a glass of room temperature water or hot water with a slice of lemon in it
• Stay hydrated
• Take it easy on the caffeinated drinks
• Allow yourself treats without overdoing it
• For lunch and dinner, increase veggie intake and try to eat vegetables first before carbs or desert
• If you are drinking alcohol, you can choose less calorie options (as in maybe swap / limit the pina colada) and also increase water intake
• Drink herbal teas

 

• Try to go to bed min 2 hours after the last meal
• Try to sleep well by keeping curtains closed and maintaining an ideal room temperature
• Take the time to rest and appreciate giving this time to yourself and your body 

 

Most importantly enjoy the break, our minds and bodies need a break from the routine. It is perfectly possible to be on holiday, totally enjoy it and still be reasonable about what we do.