How Do I Maintain A Healthy Diet And Fitness Goals When I'm On Vacation?

February 1, 2009 -- Question: How do I maintain a healthy diet and fitness goals when I'm on vacation?

Answer: One of the key elements in eating well, being physically active, is to make these priorities, and really, just a part of your life. I object to the notion of going on a diet, because it implies you're going to go back off the diet. If you like being physically active, it's tempting; you actually want to make it part of everything you do. When you go on vacation, you want a physically active vacation.

So, for example, for me, physical activity and vacations simply go together. I can't be physically active enough when I'm at work, so, when I'm on vacation, that's when I can hike and horseback ride and ski, and do those kinds of things.

Now, of course, to do those kinds of things, you need a healthy, vital body. And being physically active all the time, and eating well all the time, helps you achieve that healthy, vital body.

What we often overlook, I think, when we think of eating well or being physically active as challenges and chores, is how rewarding the results of doing those things actually is. There is nothing that can substitute for a sense of vitality. Once you achieve that -- and most of us can -- it does take work, it's an investment, but it's a richly rewarded investment. Once we achieve that, you really want to relish it, you want to hang on to it, and you take it with you everywhere you go. You take it with you when you go out to eat; you want to love the food, but you want food that loves you back by cultivating that vitality. You take it with you on vacation. You want to have a good time, but using that vitality you built up to do things, is part of the enjoyment.

Basically, healthy people have more fun and they have more fun all the time, on vacation as well.