Health on the run: How to stay healthy while traveling

One of the challenges we face in trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle, is what to do when traveling. How do we eat healthy when we’re limited to airport food and business dinners? How do we keep up our exercise routine when we’re on a plane most of the day or in meetings?
Business vs. Leisure Travel
First, let’s separate out vacations from business travel. In a vacation you typically control your own schedule. This means that you should have time to work out if you choose to. If you choose not to, that’s your choice, but remember that taking a vacation should not mean abandoning all your healthy lifestyle choices. Also, while on a vacation, you’re typically in control of your eating selections, much more so than while traveling for business. Again, you can choose to eat unhealthy while on vacation, but why would you do so? Once you realize that eating healthy can be very enjoyable and does not have to consist of a green salad for each meal, you’ll be just fine continuing your healthy eating habits while on vacation. Basically, staying healthy on a vacation is a matter of choice. It’s your choice to do so or not.

The Challenges of Business Travel
Business travel on the other hand, is different. Your schedule is not your choice when traveling for business. There are meetings to make, business dinners to attend and deadlines to meet. Time is off the essence when traveling for business and it seems like there’s never enough time for health. So how can you meet your work obligations while still staying healthy?
On the Plane
It starts on the plane. A few tips for healthy plane travel which also apply to vacations.
Don’t eat the airline food - Yes, it’s very tempting to take those peanuts or cookies or whatever the flight attendants are passing out, but don’t. Those snacks are nothing but sugars and junk carbs. The same goes for most full meals on a plane. They’re low quality and unhealthy. Pack some food ahead of time and munch on it if you get hungry. Good choices are fruit or healthy sandwiches. For example, I usually try to find a Subway sandwich store at the airport I’m flying out of. I order a veggie wrap or two to go. These are low calories (about 200 to 300 each) and relatively healthy. Much better than the junk food on the airplane. Takes me zero additional time since I’m waiting to board anyway.
Get up at least once an hour - Get up once an hour and stretch. In fact, you should do more than stretch, you should actually do a very light workout. You can in fact exercise on a plane. It requires a bit of improvisation and a friendly flight attendant, but it’s possible. Exercises like squats, lunges and calf raises can all be done without any equipment. You can also go through the movements of other exercises like shrugs, curls and triceps extensions without any weights. Is this as good as a normal workout? No, of course not, but it will keep you alert, active and moving.
Try not to sleep - Sleeping on a plane is bad. It’s usually very poor quality sleep in uncomfortable positions. You’ll wake up feeling unrested and your body will ache. Do something more productive instead. Work, read, watch a movie, whatever it is, do that instead of sleeping. You’ll feel better.

At the Hotel
Bring your gym gear - Most hotels do have a gym. It may be small and underequipped but it’s still a gym. A simple workout doesn’t have to involve much equipment. Pushups, situps, lunges, squats and other exercises can be done with just body weight. Plus most hotels have cardio gear. It’s not ideal, but I usually find enough time in the evening to catch up on my workout. I won’t do a full one since I have emails to catch up on but I’ll spend 30 to 45 minutes in the gym on a short (15 to 20 minute) weight workout and a short (another 15 to 20 minute) cardio workout.
Get some sleep - Resist the urge to stay up all night working. You’re not being productive, you’re being destructive. You’ll be sleepy and tired the next day, preventing you from doing actual work. Get your work done on the plane if you can and hold off those emails for later. You need a solid 8 hours of sleep a day for both your health and your productivity.
Watch that room service - It’s easy to overeat while traveling on business. Everything is paid for by the company, so why not splurge with that big steak and the cheesecake. Well, because your health is not covered by your expense check. Traveling on business is not an excuse to overeat. Keep your portion size and selection normal.

Business Meals
Business meals come in two flavors, slow meals with customers or other coworkers where you spend hours at the dinner table or fast meals on the run where you’re in a hurry and need to eat something fast.
Slow meals - You’ll usually have a good selection of food here so there won’t be a problem choosing something healthy. However, you’ll also have the temptation of dessert and that endless wine bottle. Yep, it’s hard saying no to those, especially if you’re with important clients or coworkers who expect you to indulge with them. If you cannot avoid it, at least minimize the damage. Go with the lighter desserts like fruit and cheese platters. Order a wine instead of a mixed drink or beer. It will have less calories and you can easily nurse it along for hours.
Fast meals - You’re on the run, you need to catch a plane and you only have 10 minutes for lunch. You need food now and you have no time to look for something healthy. What do you do? Two things to remember here. First of all, healthy food does not have to be slow. There are a wide variety of things that can be had quickly and are still healthy. The Subway wraps I mentioned before are fast. A Taco Bell bean burrito, not exactly the paragon of good health but still better than a giant burger, can be had quickly. Mexican food in general can be healthy while still being quick. Also, even if you go to a fast food place, learn to minimize the damage by picking healthier options. Chicken sandwiches for example, are almost always better than hamburgers. Fries are not a good option so lay off them, and don’t even think about the large soda. Get your sandwich on its own with a bottle of water, and ask for your sandwich without all those special sauces, they’re nothing but fat. As I said, it’s not exactly a healthy meal but neither is it a gut buster.

Summary
Travel, especially business travel, can be a bit of a strain on your healthy lifestyle, but it doesn’t have to break it. Yes, you can be healthy while traveling and it doesn’t really take that much more effort. The key point is to make smart decisions and not allow the travel to become an excuse for unhealthy habits.