Travel Fit

Are you someone who travels frequently?  Living life out of your suitcase as you hop one flight to the next for that urgent sales meeting, conference or client presentation?  And most seasoned frequent flyers understand that maximizing this lifestyle can be tough and if they're not careful can lead to poor eating and fitness habits.  We're looking out for our road warrior customers have rounded up a few healthful eating tips and simple exercises that can keep you on the road to "wellville!"

While plentiful food choices may not always abound in small and medium hub airports, we think you'll find these tips universally applicable when traveling.  When ordering off the menu, visiting the grab and go kiosk, or even packing your own snacks; we recommend considering the following:

• Ordering a slice of veggie pizza instead of the pepperoni.
• Selecting a baked potato as your side in lieu of the french fries.
• Pack raisins to nosh on instead of a candy bar.
• Purchase a bottle of water, not the bottle of soda.
• Ration yourself some carrots instead of cheese puffs.
• Need some cereal?  Choose the whole-grain, no sugar option instead of the sugary variety.
• An apple will be better for you in the long run instead of the fruit pie.
• Want dairy?  How about low-fat yogurt instead of ice cream.
• Opt for the turkey sandwich instead of the fried chicken.
• Have a plain bagel with your morning cup of coffee instead of the donut.
• Pretzels can provide a salty fix instead of the potato chips.
• 1% milk has less calories per glass than whole milk.
• Have a sweet tooth?  Try graham crackers as opposed to the chocolate chip cookies.

Couple these healthy food selections with these on-the-road exercises and you may just have a bit more energy than you planned on when returning home from that week away.  The best part about these exercises?  You don't need equipment to do them!

• Take the steps instead of the elevator.  Get that blood flowing.  If you're up to it, take two steps up at a a time!
• Lunges, if you do these in the hotel room after taking the stairs, you're sure to get a great leg workout!
• Sit-ups and push-ups are a great floor exercise.  Any reasonable hotel room will have enough floor space for you to throw down a bath towel as an exercise mat after you get back from meetings, dinner or the like.
• Hold up the wall!  Lean against an empty wall in your hotel room as though your sitting in a chair with your legs bent at a ninety-degree angle.  Hold this position as long as you're able without falling.  The more you practice, the longer you should be able to hold this position. 
• If you have time to visit your hotel's fitness facilities, add it to your trip agenda!  If you schedule the time and make a point to consider it a "to do," you may be more likely to stick with the healthy routine while on the road.

Bear in mind that these fitness tips are suggestions and may not be applicable for everyone.  We hope you're able to find something useful and apply it toward your healthy travel pursuits!

What tips do you have to share?  Do you have favorite healthy food choices that you've discovered in airports and hotels during your travels?  Do tell! 

Guest Blog: 7 tips for making healthier food choices when you travel

Today guest blogger Barbara Searles, CMT, NCTMB, HHC, AADP, a Holistic Health Coach and Nationally Certified Massage Therapist shares healthy eating tips for road warriors! Her practice, Bodyworks Integrative Health, LLC is just outside Lancaster, PA.  Find her on Facebook or Twitter too!

She enjoys travel by car and by air, and spends about three weeks out of every year on some kind of trip. Her most adventurous travel so far involved serving as team massage therapist for a 4-person team competing in the ultra-distance, cross-country bicycling adventure called Race Across America.

Lots of us use routine and discipline as key elements in our effort to stay healthy. But when we start a trip, all of our usual routines can go out the window. Discipline is easy when you have control of your environment, but travel generally puts us out of control and into unknown territory.
What can you do to stay as healthy as possible given these factors? Here are seven simple tips to incorporate into your trips:

1.     Try not to use the trip as one giant “treat meal.”
I remember when a weekend trip was my opportunity to “cheat” for 2-3 days. I also remember when it was easy to recover from that trip … it’s not so easy now.  There’s a lot to be said for keeping a degree of discipline while you travel. How much discipline is up to you, but it can make you feel more “at home” in unfamiliar places.

2.     In airports, find a quiet(er) place to eat.
Make the experience as much like a regular meal as airports are so full of busyness and constant noise and movement. Eating in this type of environment can often make us eat extremely quickly, which results in overeating or digestive issues. Since neither of those things are comfortable during a trip, try to find a quiet (or at least quieter) spot for your meal. Get your food to go, and walk all the way to the end of the concourse. You’ll get some space plus a few extra steps of exercise. Find the least busy restaurant (which sometimes is the one with healthier choices!) and eat there. Sit at a table as far away from the edge of foot traffic as possible. Remember to breathe and to chew your food.

3.     Make water your main beverage for air/car/train travel.
Plain bottled water has so many benefits for our bodies. No calories, no sodium and just pure hydration. It supports healthy digestion and fills us up so we snack less. Stick to water during your travel days instead of soda, alcohol or juice.

4.     Look for fruit & vegetables
A lot of fast food stops are offering fruits and vegetables as a part of their menu selection. Pick up a banana or an apple in the airport terminal to replace the snacks on the plane. Or choose a salad with limited cheese, fried toppings, and dressing – focus on the vegetables in the salad instead.

5.     Think about and plan ahead for the entire day’s meals.
Whether you’re traveling or have reached your destination, make your meal and snack choices mindfully. If breakfast is the only meal where you’ll be able to choose the source, then choose the healthier options for breakfast. If every meal choice is up to you, then enjoy some new and healthy options in your travel location. (see tip number 6)

6.     Use available online and smart phone apps to get review & suggestions that lead you to healthier choices.
When I was a kid, we always took a guidebook from AAA on our vacations. We used the book to find things to do, but also restaurant choices. It’s pretty wonderful when you imagine how far we’ve come from that static information! There are so many fantastic resources to find healthy quality food choices on the road. In airports, I like GateGuru. In a new city, I use Yelp almost exclusively when choosing restaurants. The reviews from real people are an incredibly helpful resource.

7.     Pack one small bar of decadent delicious dark chocolate and use it as you sweet treats – for the entire trip!
For me, sweets are the ongoing temptation. Now before I travel, I pack a bar of fantastic dark chocolate in my bag. After choosing to skip all the overly indulgent sweets during the day, I will often treat myself to just one square of that dark chocolate at the end of the day. I find it helps me when I aim for “healthier” instead of “perfect” while traveling.

Do you practice good eating while traveling?  What lengths do you go to, to make sure your diet is consistent when you're on the road, in the air, or on the rails?

Go Red!

HIA employees turned the office red in support of National Wear Red Day.

When you think red in February what first comes to mind?  While many of us may associate this fiery hue with blushing roses and heart-shaped candy boxes for cupid’s favorite holiday, I would encourage you to think again.

The American Heart Association is promoting the Go Red For Women initiative. An effort to not only promote awareness of women’s struggles with heart disease, Go Red seeks to empower all Americans to actively fight back against this killer.

Today, supporters of this initiative were asked to rummage through their closet and wear their brightest, boldest red on National Wear Red Day to spread the word about this #1 killer of women. But don’t fret if you forgot to sport your crimson apparel during the work day, you can always show your passion with fashion tonight by wearing that little red dress or sharp dress shirt if you’re hitting the town.  And if you’re staying in wear your favorite cherry-colored pajamas while you lounge.

If you’d like to do more than just wear red, be red by joining The American Heart Association’s effort to “Tell 5 Friends” about the disease that’s taking the life of 1 in 3 women.

If you like what The American Heart Assocation is doing, you can ‘like’ the non-profit on Facebook, watch their videos on YouTube, or learn more by visiting the Go Red For Women website. 

By taking this one simple step today, we can work together to strengthen America’s hearts tomorrow.