How to Intuitively Eat While on Vacation
Today is my last day on vacation in Austin, Texas. We came into town last Wednesday and spent 6 full days in “Bat City.” We had a blast! We walked all over the city, explored each part, and went to the United States Grand Prix for Formula One racing. We had such delicious food! So many tacos, I’ve lost count. Truly a great food city.
While this sounds amazing, and truly was a trip to remember, I have not always been able to focus on the good things when it comes to eating and vacations. I used to get anxiety about the fact that I was not going to be on the routine I had worked hard on. I would be uncomfortable with unfamiliar foods and restaurants, and I mostly got anxiety because I would be in a place that was difficult to work out the way I thought I needed to.
Thank goodness I found Intuitive Eating and have moved past these anxieties I created. There are a lot of uncertainties and chaos that comes with traveling. For example, my boyfriend and I were driving to the airport and got caught in traffic. We were at a standstill for a good while. Finally, we got moving, but we were 30 minutes away from the plane taking off. We hustled to the airport, hopped out of the car, and ran to security. Thankfully, there was no line in security. We got through, heard our name paged on the overhead for last call and made it to the gate right before they shut the cabin door. Chaotic right?!
Like I said, there can be a lot of chaos and moving parts out of our control while traveling, but eating does not have to be one of them! Here are a few reminders while preparing for and on vacation to eat more intuitively!
Be Flexible
Flexibility while on vacation, especially if traveling with friends and family, is important when it comes to food and meals. If you are planning to spend the afternoon at a gallery or museum that doesn’t allow food, make sure to plan ahead and eat a rather filling meal before. Having a meal with all three macronutrients - carbs, protein, and fat can help you stay fuller longer.
Be flexible when it comes to trying new foods and restaurants. Austin is known for their “tex-mex” and BBQ. I was super excited to get to try some authentic Austin meals. There were several times though that these restaurants were super packed and couldn’t fit us in. Being flexible allowed us to search other restaurants nearby and eat something totally unplanned. Some may find this anxiety-provoking. Oftentimes, if you are in the diet mentality, you are researching restaurants and meals ahead of time to make sure there are “healthy” options that fit within your diet. Having flexibility can allow for so much more enjoyment in all aspects of your meal.
Eat for satisfaction
The satisfaction factor is huge in terms of eating. Eating food that hits all of your senses and provides satisfaction gives your brain the “ahhh” moment. You don’t constantly be thinking about that food because you allowed yourself to have it and hit those receptors. Traveling and being in a new city is a great place to allow yourself to be satisfied food wise.
As mentioned above, I ate so many different kinds of tacos. I was craving tacos and so glad that I ate for pleasure. I ate so many tacos that I truly did burn myself out. Which is exactly how the satisfaction factor works. I didn’t deprive myself of tacos in a “famous for tacos” kind of place. I created habituation with tacos in the sense I had them for several meals that I eventually lost the excitement for tacos that I had before so I then started to have other food options that sounded great.
This can apply to dieting. If you restrict, restrict, restrict and deprive yourself of a food item, naturally you will only think about that one food item until you give in. It truly is inevitable. Once you allow yourself to have the satisfying food you’ve been craving, the food eventually becomes habitual and not as exciting. As described above. Eating for satisfaction can make any vacation memorable, because how often do we remember trips because of the memories created during a meal?
Let go of the “I’ll start tomorrow mentality”
Before a vacation many people will work super hard on staying on their diet and intensely working out to prepare for how they will over-indulge on their trip. After the trip it is standard to have the “get back to it mentality” and compensate for what you did have on the trip. I am here to tell you that you don’t have to do that!
Part of Intuitive Eating is listening and trusting your body. Of course, that is easier said than done and the journey of Intuitive Eating is having ups and downs so if you are in this compensating mentality right now, don’t beat yourself up. We learn from each decision and move forward in a self compassionate manner.
Your body is awesome!! (I know I have said this before, but I geek out over the body!) You won’t gain weight because of one week of eating to satisfy your cravings. You won’t gain weight because you were rather sedentary or you didn’t hit the gym like you typically do. Your body knows how to react and adapt to traveling. The same goes for you won’t lose weight after one salad and you don’t lose weight after cycling for 2 hours everyday for a week.
Weight is so subjective. Hydration, sleep, weather, food, mood, stress, etc can affect your weight, so putting so much of your value in your weight loss process, especially after vacation, will inevitably leave you feeling low, because as stated above- almost all of those categories that affect weight are adapting while traveling. So, let go of the compensating mentality. The best way to show self care is to trust that you can return back to your normal routine and your body can take care of the rest. So enjoy yourself!