How to Eat Well While Traveling

If you’ve spent any time abroad, you may have noticed that some countries enjoy a slightly less healthy cuisine than you may be used to at home. Mexicans like their deep-fried empanadas, Indians love bread and heavy curries, Italians can’t get enough pasta and Americans are famous for their fast-food cuisine and big portions. It’s nice to indulge in the local food while you’re traveling, but if you’re eating fatty foods, three times a day, it can be a bit of a shock for your system, especially if you typically eat healthy at home.

But you don’t need to eat unhealthy while traveling!

People seem to have just accepted the fact they they will put on weight while they’re on the road, and it doesn’t have to be that way. You can eat well on your holidays, you just need to make an effort.

Of course, the best way to a fresh and hearty diet is to travel to a country where that type of food is the norm. If you're really concerned about your health, consider traveling to a country like Japan, where you can indulge in sushi for weeks and still feel good about your diet!

If you happen to be heading to a place with notoriously unhealthy food, have a look on the menu and try to find things you enjoy, but that aren’t full of fat. If you’re in Mexico, maybe try a taco salad instead of a taco (although salads can be hard to find). In India, hold the naan (I know, hard to do right?), and if you’re in Italy, eat pasta all you want (I won’t be able to tell you otherwise), but try to accompany it with a salad.

Another way to ensure that you maintain a healthy diet while traveling is to rent an apartment, or get a hotel room with a kitchenette. This can do wonders for your travel waistline. You don’t need to go out and eat a heavy breakfast every morning. Make yourself a fruit plate and a hard-boiled egg.

If you don’t want to spend the extra money on a suite or a place with a kitchen, then consider picking up a heating coil. These tiny little gadgets can boil a cup of water in just seconds. You can use them to hard boil eggs, make tea and even cook pasta! Accompany this with some plastic plates, bowls, utensils and a pocket knife and suddenly you’ve got your own, portable kitchen wherever you go.

Many travelers often claim that they enjoy the community and the ambiance of a restaurant, and that’s why they don’t cook at home. But have you ever stepped into a fish market, or browsed a fruit stand in a foreign country? It’s a blast! It will also give you a chance to practice your local language skills and barter a little bit for your goods.

Eating with local families is another way to eat well. Just like in North America, the food on the streets is often less healthy compared to delicious, home-cooked meals. Make some friends and try to get invited into a family's home for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You may be surprised at what you see! Tables are often covered in foods that you’d never find in restaurants, and they’re often more healthy then the food that is found on the streets.

If you do decide to eat out at restaurants, it will pay to learn a few key sentences that will help you order healthier food. Learn to ask for less oil, or what food has the least amount of fat. Locals often ask the waiters the same kinds of questions so don’t feel too weird about it. You’re not the only one around who’s trying to be healthy!

If your language is not strong enough to ask full questions, then ask your hotel staff which meals are the healthiest, and freshest, ones to order. Or maybe even ask if there’s a vegetarian or vegan restaurant in the town that you are visiting. You may be shocked at how many healthy places are available that you had never even heard of.

Food is definitely an important part of travel and you should enjoy it wherever you go. But you can enjoy the best of a nation’s cuisine, without scarfing down deep-fried food and empty calories. Ask around, look online and be open to new foods and you’ll have an amazing trip, without the weight of unhealthy eating. Enjoy!

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