Staying well on the road can be a challenge, but the healthy family travel ideas below can make it happen for you and your family!
Proper planning ensures you don’t have to give up healthy habits or gain pounds just because you’re vacationing.
10 Tips for Healthy Family Travel
1. Be Smart at Airports
Being in airports and flying can make it tempting to eat unhealthy foods, as junk foods are everywhere.
Make it a point to choose water, 100% juice, unsweetened coffee, tea, or milk at airports if these options are available.
Steer clear of soda, sugar-sweetened coffees, sugary energy drinks, and other sugar-sweetened beverages.
Say no other unhealthy snacks offered to you by staff when you’re on the airplane.
Bring your own healthy snacks with you or make nutritious choices at cafes, snack shops, and airport restaurants.
Purchase bottled water to have on hand as soon as you pass through airport security.
2. Bring or Purchase Healthy Snacks
Whether you bring your own snacks for healthy family travel or purchase snacks during your journey, make it a point to choose nutritious options.
This can sometimes be difficult when you’re at an airport cafe or gas station, but you can often still find nutritious choices.
Healthy snacks to pack or purchase include:
- Dry-roasted nuts
- Reduced-fat cheese
- Dried fruit without added sugar
- Fresh fruit
- Applesauce without added sugar
- 100% fruit juice
- Vegetable juice
- Fresh veggies with hummus
- Healthy protein bars
- Low-sugar protein shakes
- High-protein milk
- Plant milk
- Coffee
- Tea
- Peanut butter or lean meat sandwiches
- Meat bars
- Cottage cheese
- Greek yogurt
- Plain kefir
Snack on whole, fresh, or minimally processed foods whenever possible and be aware of nutrition labels on packaged foods and drinks.
Make sure they aren’t loaded with added sugar, sodium, or saturated fat.
The types of snacks you pack depends on whether you’re flying or driving, and if you have room to take a cooler with you while on the road.
3. Take Vitamins and Supplements with You
Don’t forget to pack multivitamin supplements and other dietary supplements with you during healthy family travel.
Doing so reduces the risk of nutritional deficiencies and keeps your energy levels high.
Whether you take vitamin supplements, vitamin D, probiotics, omega-3 supplements, protein supplements, or supplements designed for disease prevention, don’t leave them out of your suitcase!
Maintain as much of your at-home routine as possible while on the road.
4. Maintain Proper Sleep Habits
Getting a good night’s sleep is more important than ever, especially if you’re driving during family travel.
Keep the same nighttime routine as you normally do, even when you’re away from home.
If you need a white noise machine to get a good night’s sleep, bring one with you or use a white noise app on your phone.
If you usually participate in guided sleep meditation before bed, continue doing so when you’re on the road.
Make it a point to sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room.
5. Always Have Water on Hand
Keep filtered water with you during healthy family travel to prevent dehydration, keep energy levels high, and reduce the urge to choose sugar-sweetened options.
Carry water in a drawstring bag, purse, or backpack when planning active family outings.
If your pee is bright yellow or dark in color, it’s time to drink more water! Urine should be light yellow or clear in color.
6. Keep Active
Staying active is sometimes difficult when you’re traveling or on vacation.
However, doing so keeps you in a healthy routine, improves your mood, and enhances your overall wellness.
Find creative ways to keep your body moving, even if you walk around or shop inside of an airport, to avoid sitting down too much.
When you’ve reached your destination, go for a run or walk outside, swim laps, climb stairs, or check out a nearby gym.
You can even do workouts in small spaces, such as a hotel room.
Consider:
- Jumping jacks
- Burpees
- Squat jumps
- Running in place
- Jumping lunges
- Rope jumping
- Pushups
- Sit-ups
- Wall squats
- Plank jacks
- Mountain climbers
- Pushups with plank jacks
- Shoulder-touch planks
- Plank holds
- Yoga
- Pilates
You might bring with you a few simple pieces of workout equipment, such as a jump rope, dumbbell weights, or resistance bands.
Schedule active adventures during family vacations, such as hiking, biking, kayaking, paddleboarding, laser tag, swimming, or rollerblading.
Plan active sightseeing outings, such as shopping, walking along the beach, or going to a zoo or museum.
If you’re planning to ride a long time in a car, take periodic breaks to walk around, swim, or do something else that’s active.
Proper planning is the key to success!
7. Make Lists
Making lists is crucial when planning healthy family travel.
Make a list of what to pack in each of the following categories:
- Healthy meals and snacks: fresh fruit, veggies, nuts, yogurt, protein shakes, etc.
- Nutritious drinks: water, coffee, tea, 100% fruit juice, milk, vegetable juice, etc.
- Workout gear: workout clothes, exercise shoes, jump rope, resistance bands, or dumbbell weights
- Dietary supplements: multivitamins, protein shakes, or other health supplements
- Oral health supplies: toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, etc.
- Personal hygiene supplies: soaps, hand sanitizer, deodorant, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, razors, etc.
- Entertainment: cards, board games, active video games, bikes, scooters, skateboards, rollerblades, or other items for kids’ entertainment
- Sleep: white noise machine for sleeping if you need one
Make a list of the activities you’d like to participate in during your trip and stick with a pre-planned schedule as best you can.
If your goal is NOT to have a set schedule during healthy family travel, that’s perfectly fine too!
Simply prioritize staying active, eating nutritious foods, and getting plenty of quality sleep.
8. Eat Smart When Dining Out
Dining out is often inevitable when you’re on the road with family but eating at fast-food or sit-down restaurants doesn’t have to equal unhealthy eating habits.
Keep a few tips in mind when ordering from restaurants:
- Choose water, coffee, or unsweetened tea
- Avoid soda, lemonade, and other sugar-sweetened drinks
- Fill about half of your plate with vegetables
- Choose a (non-fried) protein food at each meal, such as grilled chicken, turkey, very lean red meat, eggs, or non-breaded fish or shrimp
- Skip processed meats (regular bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, etc.)
- Order broth-based soup instead of cream soup
- Limit or avoid sugar-sweetened condiments (barbeque sauce, honey mustard, ketchup, etc.)
- Order sauces and dressings on the side
- Limit or skip the gravy
- Order fruit instead of dessert
Eating healthy while dining out certainly is possible, as long as you’re familiar with what and how to order.
But don’t feel guilty if you have a cheat day or two while on vacation, simply get back on track the following day!
Don’t feel bothersome about personalizing orders by asking your server to skip certain ingredients or put sauces on the side.
You and your family’s health are worth it!
9. Don’t Overindulge in Alcohol
Alcohol might be a way to relax for some people, and alcohol in small amounts (if you enjoy it) is OK.
However, don’t turn to excessive alcohol when healthy family travel is your goal.
Having a drink now and then to unwind is perfectly fine.
If you’d like to give up alcohol entirely, do so as it’s a known risk factor for certain types of cancer, accidents, and poor judgment.
It can lead to addiction in some people too.
Maintaining superior health and wellness, even during family travel, means not giving in to excessive alcohol.
Drink smart or avoid alcohol altogether.
10. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
When traveling with your family, unexpected events can happen.
Plan for the best but don’t stress if everything doesn’t go as planned.
Stress can take a toll on your health, diminish sleep quality, or make you turn to junk food or alcohol.
Brush off minor stresses as best you can and know that no family vacation is perfect.
Be flexible to change your original plans if needed.
Do what you can to keep up with healthy family travel habits and have fun spending time together with the ones you love!
Resuming a Healthy Lifestyle at Home
Despite your best efforts, healthy family travel is sometimes difficult and vacations, in general, can feel exhausting.
When you return home from family travel, get back into your normal wellness routine.
Weigh yourself regularly, get at least seven hours of sleep each night (resume a regular bedtime), do something active daily, and plan nutritious meals and snacks for your family.
If you need help with meal planning, fat-burning workouts, or health education tips, try the Fit Family Bundle!
The bundle includes the Fit Mother Project for busy moms and the Fit Father Project for busy dads — especially those over 40.
Both of these healthy living programs can help you lose weight, get fit, have more energy, and keep chronic disease risks low.
Upon joining you receive custom meal plans, highly effective workouts, online health coaching, social support from other fit parents, recipes, and more.
In addition to planning healthy family travel this season, sign up for the Fit Family Bundle to enjoy the many benefits of living well!
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If you’re a busy mom who wants to finally lose weight,
get healthy, and actually keep the pounds off for good,
this is the simple program you’ll love sticking to…
*Please know that weight loss results and health changes/improvements vary from individual to individual; you may not achieve similar results. Always consult with your doctor before making health decisions. This is not medical advice – simply very well-researched info on healthy family travel.