Stay on Track: How to Eat Healthy While Traveling for Work

There aren’t a lot of jobs that require zero travel. Conferences, sales meetings, trainings…it doesn’t matter if you travel a few times a year or a few times a month.  It doesn’t matter if you travel hundreds of miles by airplane or an hour by car. The last thing you need while keeping track of your passport and itinerary is to worry about how to eat healthy while traveling.

Stay on track with these healthy eating tips:

#1: Remember that you are traveling for work, not vacation.

You pack your bag, check in for your flight and slide through security then all bets are off, right?

Wrong.

Reminder: you’re traveling for work, not leaving for vacation. Your company is holding you accountable to get a job done. You should hold yourself to the same amount of accountability.

Vacation (n): an extended period of leisure and recreation.

Vacation comes with the expectation of a chance to break from the rules of your everyday life. On vacation, you should get up late, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, worry about nothing and have an extra glass of wine at dinner. By definition, vacation is a time to let go an recreate without your normal obligations.

You might be settling in to the same airplane seat, but work is not a vacation. You’re still setting your alarm, preparing for your day, expected to show up on time and be ready to present your best self.

Your best self doesn’t come from throwing your fitness goals and plans to the wind. Hold yourself accountable to your exercise routine and healthy eating habits in the same way that you hold yourself to a certain standard of representing your company.

Related article >> Healthy Eating Habits for Busy Women

#2: Every trip is a chance to break free from your at-home habits.

Half, if not more, of the actions you take on a daily basis are habitual. That means that a lot of what you do (like finishing the food on your kids’ plate or grabbing a pint of Ben & Jerry’s after dinner), you do on auto-pilot.

Not only can you eat healthy while traveling, you can adopt healthier habits to take back home with you.

Trips pull you away from your norm. You can’t push “auto-pilot” in a space that you aren’t used to…it doesn’t exist. You’re not in your normal habitat, following your normal routine or surrounded by the people you are normally surrounded by. Use it as a chance to break from the normal habits that aren’t serving you.

Small changes can make all the difference.

Maybe you typically overeat when you’re with your boyfriend. Use a work trip as a chance to reset the way you serve yourself food and get in tune with what “full” feels like for you without him next to you.

Or perhaps falling onto the couch with a bowl of ice cream is your normal, bored, post-dinner routine at home. When you’re traveling for work, neither your favorite bowl, nor your couch (nor your ice cream), are around. Try a different post-dinner ritual. Because you aren’t surrounded by your normal habitat and going through your normal, rote actions, it won’t feel as hard to break away from them.

#3: Treat yourself as the person you want your business associates to know you as.

Action has a way of making your dreams a reality. If you imagine yourself being someone who works out while traveling, who orders healthier options without qualm from restaurants and who refrains from ordering that third drink, act like that person.

There is no “can’t” in this situation. You’re in charge. You make the decision.

When meeting new acquaintances or business associates, most of us want to be viewed as strong, smart, responsible and able human beings. The best way to present that to someone new, and have them believe it, is to act like that human being.

The easiest way to eat healthy while traveling is to trust what you already know. Make smart, responsible choices. Start your day with a workout so that you feel strong and able. You have the power to make who you want to be, become a real person.