Enjoy Trip and Come Back Without Excess Baggage

Whether your travels take you out of Orange County for business or pleasure, they can mean an interruption in your exercise routines and greater temptation to indulge in sinfully rich foods.

Don’t resign yourself to weight gain or cancel your trip, though. It’s possible to keep fit when traveling, say area nutrition and fitness experts.

Kay Smith, 57, a travel agent in Newport Beach, says she travels about 40 days out of the year and manages to stay in great shape.

“I just got back from a two-week cruise and only gained half a pound while I was gone,” she says.

Eat well and exercise while you’re away and not only will you ward off unwanted pounds, you’ll also keep your energy level up and recover from jet lag more quickly, says Lisa Gibson, a registered dietitian and Irvine-based nutrition consultant who teaches various nutrition classes.

To stay in shape, but still enjoy your vacation or business trip, keep the following in mind:

Control jet lag before it controls you. You can minimize the effects of jet lag by watching what you eat, Gibson says. Food is one thing that affects our biological clock, which regulates when we’re awake and asleep. To realign your biological clock to the new time zone as quickly as possible, some experts suggest eating a special diet the day you travel and the day after you arrive, she says.

The diet requires that you eat primarily high-protein foods early in the day and high complex carbohydrates for dinner. “Protein will stimulate Adrenalin and make you more alert during the day, and complex carbohydrates will make you sleepy at night,” Gibson says. “You should also have caffeine early in the day to keep you alert and none later in the day.”

It is important that the high-protein foods you eat are also low in fat, because fat is hard to digest and will tend to make you feel sluggish, she says.

Good high-protein choices include poached or boiled eggs, grilled fish, chicken or turkey, low-fat yogurt and low-fat milk. Complex carbohydrates to eat later in the day include pasta with tomato sauce and no meat, vegetables, potatoes, rice, breads without a lot of fat and fruit.

This diet is not healthy in the long run and should not be followed for extended periods of time, warns Gibson. The second day of your trip, return to a normal, low-fat diet.

Watch what you eat when you’re in the air. Airlines now offer diet choices, which makes it easy to eat healthy foods when flying, Gibson says. “The major airlines have a variety of special meals such as low-calorie, low-fat, low-sodium, low-cholesterol, seafood plates, vegetarian and diabetic . . . . These can be ordered in advance and will help you stick to your diet plan,” she says.

If you don’t order a special meal, Gibson says, cut fat by removing chicken skin, avoiding sauces and margarine and using salad dressing sparingly.

Avoid succumbing to high fat snacks offered on the plane, such as peanuts, by taking snacks when traveling, suggests Gibson. Good, easy-to-carry choices include dried fruit, low-fat crackers, graham crackers, fig bars and dry high-fiber, low-fat cereal.

While flying, avoid alcohol and caffeine-containing beverages, Gibson says. “Because the air in the cabin is dry, flying is very dehydrating,” she says. “Don’t make matters worse by drinking caffeine and alcohol, which will further dehydrate you. Stick to water.”

Once you land, don’t stop drinking water--it will help combat jet lag.

Beware of the vacation mentality. Many people gain weight on vacation and lose important fitness gains because they get into the mind-set that anything goes, Gibson says.

“While one of the pleasures of traveling is experiencing and enjoying foods from other locations, you don’t want to get carried away, especially if you travel on a regular basis. Treat yourself in limited amounts, not every time you sit down to eat. This includes not overdoing it with alcohol. Also go light on sweets, which are high in fat and sugar; they will give you a sugar high and then make you tired.”

Smith treats herself, but in moderation, when she travels. “I enjoy some new foods and have a few drinks, but I don’t overdo it,” she says. “If you eat or drink to excess, you’re not only going to gain weight, you’ll also feel bad.”

When sampling different foods, Gibson suggests trying healthier specialties that a country or state has to offer. “If you’re visiting Hawaii, for example, eat some of their fresh fruit and fish,” she says.

Exercise when traveling. Even though you may be leaving your gym behind, it’s really easy to work out when traveling, says exercise physiologist Leon Skeie, who is director of sports medicine and exercise science at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa and owner of Leon Skeie’s Health Club for Women in Newport Beach.

But, says Skeie, it’s unnecessary and actually not advisable to keep up your normal exercise regimen when traveling. “Whether your trip is for business or pleasure, you’ve got a lot going on,” he says. “Those people who don’t go overboard, but do a little exercise while they’re away, feel great and stay in shape. The most important thing is to be consistent.”

Skeie suggests doing something aerobic two to three times a week for a half an hour. If they have a hotel gym, ride the Lifecycle or Stairmaster or take a swim in the pool. You can also rent a bike if they’re available, or take a walk.

Smith generally stays in shape by walking when she’s on vacation, which she really enjoys. “Compared to the indoor workouts I get at the gym when I’m home, it’s a really nice change of pace,” she says. On her most recent trip, she says, she spent two days walking in Paris.

If you don’t want to leave your hotel room, you can even jog around the room for 20 minutes and then stretch out.

Include a warm-up and cool-down in any aerobic workout and don’t forget to stretch. Stretching should be done at least once a day, Skeie says. “Flexibility helps maintain your muscle tone and strength,” he says.

Strength training away from home. People who have been weight training for six months or more may be pleasantly surprised to find that they can go six to eight weeks without lifting weights before they’ll begin to lose strength, Skeie says. This means that you may be able to just do cardio-conditioning when away and return to weight training when you get home.

If you would still like to get some weight training while on vacation and don’t have access to a gym, there are a variety of things you can do in your hotel room, Skeie says.

“Use your body for resistance and do a variety of lower body exercises such as squats, lunges and calf raises,” he says. “For upper body work, use one arm as pressure against the other so you can work your triceps and biceps. Sit-ups and push-ups are also easy to do in your room.”

You can also strength train wherever you are by using exercise tubing and rubber bands, which can be purchased at sporting goods stores. These are lightweight and small and easily carried anywhere, says Skeie.

Other exercise tips. After arriving at your destination, get up and walk around a little to get the blood flowing, but wait at least a day before doing a workout, Skeie says.

If you plan to do any outdoor exercise, check out air quality and terrain, Skeie says. For sea-level Orange County residents, a switch to a higher altitude can have an impact. “When you’re in a higher altitude, there will be less oxygen, so you’ll want to go easier with your aerobic workout,” he says. “You should also check out the condition of any areas where you’ll be walking or jogging. Look to see if the area is hilly or flat,” he says.