Hello my friends! I’m back in DC after a crazy few days of travel. As you know, I flew off to Houston, TX on Sunday morning for the annual Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) put on by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and then on Monday night I flew to NYC for a fun meet up with Brooks and my fellow blogger Run Happy Ambassadors. Yesterday morning, I took the train back to DC. I’ll share recaps of my adventures in Texas and NYC next, but for now, I thought this would be an appropriate time to talk about staying healthy while traveling! Plus, I have a fun giveaway to share. 🙂
Keeping up healthy habits is key for me when traveling so I don’t arrive home feeling like a total hot mess. Obviously, it’s unlikely that you’ll get home feeling 100% awesome after lots of planes, trains, and automobiles, but taking a few simple steps to take care of yourself when you’re on the road will go a long way. Here is how I keep my health and sanity in check while I’m traveling.
Healthy Travel Tips
1) HYDRATE!
Bring a reusable water bottle with you and drink LOTS of water. My water bottle comes with me everywhere! When I’m flying instead of driving, like I was this week, I simply bring it through security empty and fill it up at a water fountain on the other side. Saves you from spending a fortune on bottled water, too!
2) STAY ACTIVE!
When traveling, I always feel a thousand times more like myself if I make sure to stay active. In Houston, I got my sweat on during a boot camp on Monday morning that was put on by one of the conference sponsors. It was really early to wake up for but totally worth it! In NYC, all of us got in a great morning run on Tuesday with gorgeous views of the Hudson River. Running (and walking!) is my favorite way to see a city when I’m traveling.
- Other ideas:
- Use your hotel gym
- Bring resistance bands, a jump rope, printable workout moves, or exercise DVDs
- Always take the stairs
- Check out local workout studios – I especially love finding local yoga studios to try when I’m in a new city. Stretching always feels amazing after sitting on planes or in cars!
3) PLAN AHEAD!
When I’m traveling, I like to pack lots of snacks so I can stay healthy in between meals.
Favorite packables:
- Bars (Larabars, KIND Bars, Clif Kit’s Organic Bars, etc.)
- Homemade trail mix or unsalted nuts
- Fresh fruit (bananas, apples, etc. — these can also be “borrowed” from hotel continental breakfasts for mid-day snacks) and almond butter packets!
For quick meals on the road, I like to hit up Subway! I’ve written before about how Matt and I love Subway on road trips and in airports, so I’m happy to share a fun giveaway from them today.
Did you know there are 40,000+ Subway Restaurant stores around the world? That’s a lot of Subway! No wonder it’s always easy to find one.
I usually go for turkey on honey wheat and have them pile on the veggies – I love that they have baby spinach! I also love that you get to select all your toppings as you go. My fave sauce, to finish it all off, is their honey mustard. SO delish.
At FNCE this weekend, Subway was there exhibiting and giving out fun “Subway On-the-Go” messenger bag kits to the dietitians who stopped by.
And now one lucky fANNEtastic reader will get one, too! Aiming to help you to more easily be healthy on the go, the kit includes the following:
- $20 Subway gift card
- Notebook
- Water bottle (love how it flattens out when empty – perfect for travel!)
- Workout cards
- Cute running headbands
Want to win your own Subway On the Go kit? Simply leave a comment on this post with your favorite tip or way to stay healthy while traveling. Good luck! U.S. Residents only, please. I’ll randomly select and directly notify the winner on Friday. Thank you to Subway for sponsoring the giveaway and this post! This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who entered!
I’ll leave you with a random fun fact: Subway uses enough avocado in a year to fill one and a half Olympic sized swimming pools. That sounds… delicious.
