You know, sitting in the back of our blog drafts folder, I recently found a post we had drafted several years ago with a placeholder title like “how to eat healthy on holiday” or “how to stay fit on vacation.” And you know what? It made me laugh. Because in the time between writing that post and rediscovering it last week, we’ve taken a big trip almost every quarter, seen some amazing places, and had some incredible meals. And our eyes have been opened to the fact that health is always important, and eating in a way that supports long-term health ~should~ be a consideration about 90% of the time. But for the other 10%, we’ve found it absolutely essential to open our taste buds AND our eyes when we visit somewhere new. So, we book food tours, research restaurants and traditional dishes, and splurge on at least one decadent meal. Basically, we don’t keep a diet on vacation because we simply don’t see the value in it for a number of reasons.
Table of Contents
First and foremost, food and culture go hand in hand.
We both went into traveling with the viewpoint that we wanted to stay super healthy while immersing ourselves in other cultures as much as possible. But we discovered that there’s a bit of friction there. How do you experience Terceira without trying alcatra and Dona Amelia cake? Or Iceland without eating hearty soups and full-fat skyr? Or France without croissants and pain au chocolat? Or even the US West without Tex Mex, or the Pacific Northwest without sushi? We have fully come to believe that to eat like your neighbor is to better understand your neighbor. Are there limits we both accept? Sure. I’m not going to eat anything that makes me feel morally bankrupt, like whale (which I tried before I understood the impact of and wholly regret) or horse meat. So far, Luke mainly draws the line at bug-like animals (i.e. he flatly refuses escargot).
Boyfriend Perspective: Limiting food and beverage intake is no different to me than limiting where we visit. It would equate to not visiting Notre Dame in Paris because I’m not Catholic. I don’t want to miss out on any world wonders, tasty or otherwise.
A vacation is a time to take a break, not buckle down.
Self-care involves more than just bubble baths and spa days. It’s a matter of taking care of your mental and physical needs in whatever way works best for you. For us, whether we go on a trip (active) or a vacation (chill), we do it to take a break from our regular routines and habits. We do that by trying new things and letting go of all the thoughts and worries that weigh down our everyday life. And let’s be honest, trying to stick to a strict eating plan when you’re away from your regular grocery stores and go-to restaurants is stressful. We’ve tried. And we’ve given in because, at the end of the day, life’s too short and the trip is even shorter. All this means that we don’t even attempt to spend stress or brain cells on calorie counting on any trip we take.
Involuntary dietary restrictions are hard enough.
Speaking of stress, as a gluten-intolerant traveler, meal times often feel very stressful. I have tons of GF foodie options at home in Richmond, VA, but other cities and other countries are a whole different, unpredictable ball game. And while there are more gluten-free and gluten-friendly restaurants and bakeries popping up across the Western world (we even found very good GF baguettes in Paris!), it’s still damn near impossible to go into a new restaurant without being inundated with things I can’t or shouldn’t eat. Why on EARTH would I volunteer to restrict myself even more?! Spoiler: I wouldn’t.
Boyfriend Perspective: And I wouldn’t want her to, either. She already gets hangry – we don’t need stressed on top of it!!
An active trip needs tasty, tasty fuel.
I promise, this is far more effective than going “whoops, that cookie broke, so that means all the calories have flown out!” But seriously. On our first trip to Paris, we walked 141,000 steps, which equates to over 20,000 steps per day (including a pretty hardcore trek through the hills of Montmartre). In Belize, we hiked through caves, climbed Mayan pyramids, and swam in choppy open water. On Terceira, we hiked along cliffs, traversed a challenging tropical forest rock scramble, and had a 30 minute urban walk (one-way) every time we wanted to get to Angra do Heroismo. Literally none of that would have felt possible without delicious food, made even more delicious by the fact that we worked our asses off for it.
Boyfriend Perspective: Honestly, I think we’re the only people I know who go on vacation, eat like crazy people, and still lose weight. Do we lay on beaches? Sure. Does Meagan also make me walk until my feet fall off? Absolutely. I guess it all evens out?
We won’t remember the things we didn’t eat.
Continuing with the Paris theme, I vividly remember an early morning sitting at a cafe in Paris in June, feeling a slight breeze as we watched traffic pass. But what I really remember? Leaning on a red checked table cloth and looking at an Art Deco Metro sign as I sank into the buttery, flaky sweetness of my first Parisian pain au chocolat. It sounds terribly corny, but that chocolate-filled croissant tasted like my lifelong dreams of France coming true. And now it’s become an integral part of how I remember that trip. Would I have enjoyed Paris without pastry? Probably. It’s hard not to enjoy a city that’s so beautiful and dynamic and full of history and wonder. But when I bite into croissants or pain au chocolat from our favorite French bakery in Richmond, years and many other trips later, I wouldn’t have the same pleasure of feeling completely transported back to that wonderful moment in time.
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