Springtime is in full swing, and so is my travel schedule for my day job. As I write this, I’m sitting in my hotel room in New Orleans listening to the partying crowds and booming music on Bourbon Street. As you’re reading this, I’m already in Chicago with a packed schedule of meetings and holding the fort at my company’s exhibit booth. While I thoroughly enjoy traveling for work, it is exhausting and can take quite a toll on my health, both physically and mentally. As I’ve racked up more and more frequent flyer miles (you’re welcome, American Airlines 
), I’ve discovered a few tactics that help keep me healthy AND sane while I’m away from home that I would advise for my fellow road warriors:
- “Do as the Romans do”—When you’re traveling, especially if it’s a place you’ve never been before, go ahead and take advantage of the local cuisine if you so choose. I feel it’s one of the best ways to experience a new or different city. You can imagine what I’ve eaten while in New Orleans (Crawfish cakes, anyone? How ‘bout some shrimp ‘n grits?). It might not seem very “health coach-y” of me to indulge in these types of dishes, but it’s all about moderation, balance, and blissful enjoyment of where you are in the moment. Savor each bite and balance things out with healthier options (fresh fruit with breakfast, salad with lunch or dinner, etc.) to keep guilt at bay.
- Plan ahead—If you have a defined itinerary for your trip, whether it’s for work or play, schedule a block of time to exercise so you can keep up with your fitness routine (another vehicle for keeping food guilt at bay). Same thing goes for any other healthy habits you have at home that you want to maintain on the road (i.e. supplements, water intake, meditating, breathwork, etc.).
- Adapt—Sometimes, as well as we plan, things will inevitably come up that seemingly throw our plans out the window. Case in point, I had planned to workout in the hotel’s fitness center first thing in the morning at least twice on this trip. Upon my arrival, I learned that the fitness center was closed for renovation. So, instead, I did yoga in my room which turned out to be a great way to start each day of long periods of standing at a trade show booth.
Of course, there are many other things to do to keep healthy while traveling which I will address in a future blog post, so until then, stay well and enjoy the journey!
Not only is this the inaugural blog post of my new website (yay!), but it’s also the beginning of a new season (spring) and a new quarter (give it up for Q2!).
That means…wait for it…spring cleaning!
Yes, as much as the media is brimming with articles and news segments about this ubiquitous seasonal task, as a holistic health coach who helps people deal with transition and reinvention (among other things), I feel it’s only apropos to throw my hat into the tulip-trimmed ring.
The thought of undertaking a spring cleaning project is overwhelming as it is, whether it’s within the home or within our bodies. So, I’m going to start you off with something that will help accomplish both:
- Go into your pantry and refrigerator
- Look at the ingredient list on each packaged food item
- Throw out those that contain the following:
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Anything with the word “hydrogenated” (even “partially-hydrogenated”) listed on the label
- Artificial sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame, sucralose)
- Artificial colors (i.e. anything that lists a color followed by a number)
- Artificial flavors
- Refined or bleached white flour
- Any ingredient you can’t pronounce or haven’t seen since your 11th grade chemistry class
I understand that it might be too much to eliminate all these things at once, just start with clearing out items with one offending ingredient per week. It’s likely you find foods containing more than one, so if this is the case, then those food items are the first to get thrown out.
If you need extra support in spring-cleaning your diet and lifestyle, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below.
Happy Spring Cleaning!
