Eating Healthy On Vacation

Eating a healthy diet on vacation can be difficult. If you stay in five star hotels you are inevitably offered an overabundance of food to tempt you from your normal routine. Last year I stayed in Corfu, Greece where the choices at each meal were extremely mouth watering, and many people were carrying pyramids of food back to their table and, to my surprise eating everything and, on occasion returning for more.

Currently I’m on vacation in Tenerife, Spain, using a friend’s apartment in Palm Mar, so I’m self-catering and can choose what I want from the Supermarket. However not speaking Spanish does present a few problems. Most packaged goods are visible or have a picture on them, but inevitably  it takes a lot longer shopping than usual.

I have now stocked up with canned and packaged ingredients for a couple of weeks, together with fresh produce for a few days. Saturday I intend to visit the local farmer’s market to restock on fresh fruit and vegetables.

I love to buy local produce whether at home or on vacation to get that “fresh picked” quality. Here I can buy fresh oranges and bananas that grow all year and boy are they good. They may not look pretty, with market skins and strange shapes, but who cares about the skins?

Back in my home town in the UK it is difficult to buy fresh fruit that is worth eating. My local supermarkets are full of great looking oranges and apples that are inedible, having traveled thousands of miles and been stored for months.

Vegetables are not such a problem as they are produced very locally and may be no more than a day old, but you have to buy what’s in season. I still prefer to purchase these from the local market, generally cheaper.

So I’m here for several weeks, where it’s possible to eat my evening meal on the sun terrace at 6 pm in January. A far cry from the frost, snow and dark days of winter in the UK and benefiting from the warmth and sunshine.

So with a little thought and planning it is possible to maintain a health balanced diet while on vacation and still maintain your “five fruit and veg a day” routine when living 4000 miles from your normal habitat.

Related articles

• Healthy Tip: Eating on the Holiday Go (wholefoodsmarket.com)
• Only 8% of Americans Eat Enough Fruits (Veggies – Even Worse) (fooducate.com)
• Many Reasons to Love Mediterranean Diet (justslimming.com)
• Shopping & Cooking from the Winter Farmers Market (livinglocalnh.blogspot.com)

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