Why do we tend to put on the pounds during vacation? Don't get me wrong, I consciously let myself indulge in the local fare, knowing this would reflect itself later. That very kind of relaxed, laissez-faire approach is what vacation is all about, right?
Mostly right.
If you, like me, dread the post-vacay weigh in, there are a few things you can do to keep extra weight gain to a minimum. [And, yes, I'm writing from experience.]
1) Get up and move. At the airport, walk through the terminals instead of sitting and waiting for hours at your gate. Never miss a chance to condition. Opt out of the escalator and moving path--take the stairs instead. Once you're at your destination, take a walk to check out your surroundings, go for a swim, or start each morning with a light jog.
2) Plan your meals. Just because you're out of town doesn't mean you need to skip meals or eat at wacky hours. Stick to your normal-size breakfast, light lunch, then enjoy a fancy dinner. Keep an eye on your watch. Is it really time for a snack, or have you just been tempted by the smell of those kiosk cookies?
3) It's especially important to stay hydrated while traveling. Take a water bottle with you on your journey and be sure to drink at least 32 ounces of H2O each day. We often mistake hunger for thirst. Drinking water at least 1 to 2 hours before a meal can prevent overeating.
4) We all know airline food can leave a lot to be desired, so it's an extra challenge to pick healthy options at the airport and during flight. Here's how top airlines rated in the 2009 Airline Food Survey conducted by DietDetective.com.
Continental Airlines
Health Score: (4 ½ stars) Continental provides a variety of options and offers free, low-calorie, high-impact meals / snacks to hungry passengers. Best Bet: For flights of 2 to 3 hours, both the Petite Cold Sandwiches are good options, and Continental even offers light mayo. For breakfast, skip the calorie-laden muffin and have cereal with low-fat milk and a banana. On flights of more than 3 hours you get a hot sandwich, a salad (Lite Ranch dressing is offered), as well as a fun-size candy bar.
American Airlines
Health Score: (3 3/4 stars) American is actually improving -- slowly, but improving. They got rid of the calorie-heavy oversized 3 Musketeers bar, revamped their Breakfast Café by taking away the high-calorie muffin and replacing it with oatmeal (OK, it has brown sugar; but it's still better than a muffin), and the Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bar is now a box of healthy raisins. Good job AA. Best Bet: Your best bet is the Cheese & Cracker Snack Tray. Just skip the cracker packages. The Premium Nut Blend is a strong nutrition choice, but make sure to split it with at least two other people. If you're traveling alone and don’t have a lot of willpower, take a third of the nuts and give the rest back to the flight attendant. Nuts are very high in calories, but the remaining choices don’t offer much in terms of nutrition, and they’re just too high in calories. If you're on a longer flight, the Boston Market Chicken Caesar Salad with SunChips and dressing is a pretty good meal choice. Also, it's nice that the dressing is on the side (use it sparingly). If you’re flying for 3 hours or more during breakfast, your only choice (other than the snacks) is the Breakfast Cafe, which offers some healthful options.
United Airlines
Health Score: (3 ½ stars) United still has the best variety, but their healthful offerings have been reduced. Their individual snacks are very high in calories. If you’re traveling more than 5 hours, they offer snack boxes, fresh salads and sandwiches, but the sandwiches and salads are much less health-oriented than the snack boxes. Best Bet: For flights longer than 2 hours, go for the Active snack box. Even though it has more calories than the Organic, the Active has better food choices, and if you want to save calories eat only half the chips. For flights longer than 3 hours, United has a plethora of choices but not very many that are healthy. For breakfast, your best bet is the low-fat yogurt and fruit. Or you can have the ham and Swiss croissant. At least you'll be getting a good supply of protein, and it's not high in calories. For lunch and dinner, you’d think the turkey sandwich would be a good choice, but it's the highest in calories. The roast beef sandwich isn’t bad in terms of calories, and the salads are both fair choices for a full meal. They’re served with dressing on the side, so try to use only half. As far as the individual snacks are concerned, wow, those are some pretty high-calorie items! Stick to the energy bars: At least they're portion controlled. Clearly these snacks are meant to share, but typically we eat whatever we’re given, especially on a long flight.
JetBlue Airways
Health Score: (3 ½ stars) The individually packaged snacks are portion-controlled; however, you can ask for as many as you want, and many people do. JetBlue is improving slowly. All their snacks are under 140 calories, which isn’t bad. I like the fact that they've lowered the overall calorie count of their snacks and added a Stella D'Oro Breakfast Treat for 100 calories as well as the Fiber Gourmet Cheese Snacks, which are only 50 calories. But JetBlue could be more creative and come up with a few healthier, more innovative snacks. How about a Larabar energy bar? Best Bet: If you’re really hungry, try the nuts: They have protein and good fat that will satisfy you. Eat them one at a time. The animal crackers are OK but not very nutritious. Try to stick with no more than one snack. Just because they offer more doesn’t mean you have to take them, especially if you’re not hungry.
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines
Health Score: (3 ½ stars) Delta's individual snack choices are not very good, but their meal choices on longer flights are reasonably healthful. They can do much better. Best Bet: If you're traveling 1 ½ hours or more you can have one of two snack boxes, chips and M&Ms or trail mix. Your best bet is the Flight Delight snack box. For breakfast options (on flights of 3 ½ hours or more) Delta offers a fruit and cheese plate. The cheese is high in calories, but it’s still a nice option if you skip the crackers -- at least you're getting some nutritional benefit from what you're eating. Skip the egg salad wrap at all costs: Between the layered cream cheese and the egg salad, you might gain weight right in the middle of your flight. Ditto for the blueberry muffin. For lunch/dinner options, Delta again offers a fruit plate, which is not a bad option. The Asian shrimp salad is also a good choice, especially since the dressing is on the side so you can use it sparingly. Another pretty good option would be the roast chicken sandwich with cheese and dressing, but the honey-mustard dressing can be high in calories, so don’t use too much.
US Airways
Health Score: (2 ½ stars) There are some decent choices in the snack box, but overall the choices could use a health tune-up. On flights under 2 ½ hours they offer only pretzels. Not much nutrition there, but at least they’re not too high in calories. Best Bet: The fruit and nut mix is very high in calories, so don’t eat more than one or two small handfuls and give the rest away. The chicken salad snack box is not a great choice, but if you must have it, skip the cookies. The salami and cheese box is not much better.
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We've decided to eliminate red meat from our diets for the entire month of March. We're using this break from beef and pork to help us track sources of saturated fat in our diets—and to test if we feel any differently health- and energy-wise. This is not a vegan diet. We will still be eating chicken and turkey breast, eggs, and all types of seafood. If we like this pre-test, there may be a chance that we'll go completely Meatless in May (but I haven't told Chris about that yet). I'll let you know how it goes.
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