Anyone in Luxembourg who is going on holiday this summer and tend to get out of their healthy routines?
As a lifestyle coach I meet a lot of active, dynamic and hard working people throughout the year. I love meeting them and working with them all.
I think you are all amazing.
What a commitment you are showing week after week! And this commitment has given a lot of good results.
But what surprises me among a lot of people, is when they are off on holiday, all healthy and good routines seem to be forgotten.
I keep asking myself WHY?
Ok, I admit it, I am a health freak. But I always aim and try to find the balance in life. Sometimes it takes so little to maintain good and healthy routines.
To me, going on holiday doesn’t mean eating unhealthy and being lazy. To me holiday means being able to do what I love. I fully understand that we have different priorities and passions. But you are just as important as your family!
Don’t stop doing what’s important to you just because it’s holiday and you have your family around you. You aren’t being selfish! Take some precious YOU TIME! Remember that! Don’t give up yourself and what’s important to you. You deserve to take care of yourself and live healthy.
The holidays are a great opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends, celebrate life, to be grateful, and reflect on what’s important. They are also a time to appreciate the gift of health. Without our health we are nothing. I think we can all agree to that! Life is a constant work in progress and nothing comes for free. Be grateful for the people in your life, for having the choice to continue staying healthy and being able to travel, move and live!
So my question to you is… Would you like to continue healthy routines on your holiday? If yes, then you should continue reading…. I will try to tell you how you easily can maintain some of the good habits you have throughout the year. But first we need to find the obstacles. Is it hard because you aren’t cooking yourself? Or maybe you don’t have a gym in the area? Is it because you have your kids around? There can be many reasons and I hope I can help you to find some solutions to keep up your healthy habits or even start some!
NOTHING WOULD MAKE ME HAPPIER!
Firstly, it’s always easier if you do your healthy routines because you want to not because you have to. Good health and healthy routines don’t have an expire date and living healthy isn’t boring and without joy and fun. You have to trust me on that one. You will feel happier, more energetic and better about yourself. Good routines that both you and your family and friends will benefit from. So let’s start the journey towards a healthy and active holiday. Are you ready?
TRAVELLING
Chances are, you’ll be traveling during the holiday season to reconnect with family and friends or take a much-needed vacation. While holiday travel can be great for your psyche, it can take a hefty toll on your health. The journey itself can be filled with stress. Traffic, flight delays, jet lag can cause a disruption in your sleep schedule and eating habit. All of these can lower your immune system’s ability to fight off cold and flu germs, making you more prone to getting sick. Once you arrive at your destination, you’ll likely face large festive meals combined with a lot of sitting and schmoozing, not great for your waistline. Having a healthy start to your holiday might higher the odds for continuing staying healthy so with a smart action plan, you might be able to clear some of these hurdles to stay healthy already from day one!
You will always travel with hand luggage. Make sure you are prepared and have easy access to your bag filled with peeled carrots, apples, nuts, almonds, dried brown apricots… These delicious snacks will keep you off the crisps and chocolate bars in case of pro-longed travels or cravings. Airport food isn’t always unhealthy. There are so many airports around the globe that serves healthy options like crispy salads, grilled vegetables and chicken, freshly pressed juices. And when you get your not-always-so-delicious-airplane-food, avoid the pasta, bread and dessert and replace it with the healthy snack you have in your bag! Trust me, nothing beats the feeling of starting your holiday the healthy way already from day one!
And for the sleep… Let’s hope for quiet children, busy reading, playing with the little surprises you have in your bag and that will that nicely fall asleep in the seat next to you.
EATING
Being a guest in someone’s house isn’t easy. Normally we don’t do the cooking but if there are certain food you don’t eat due to allergies, intolerances or digestive issues, please tell them. I have to say it’s so much easier to cook when my guests tell me what they can’t eat rather than not eating what I cook or eat something they shouldn’t just because they are being polite… Offer yourself to cook one evening. You can easily set the standard and show what kind of food you appreciate by doing that.
Renting a house and being able to cook for yourself makes it so much easier to stay healthy. A lot of villages in Europe have local farmers market one day a week. It’s such a treat to go, explore, smell and taste the local greens, olives, cheeses, fruits, nuts and take it home to prepare something good for you and your family.
Before you book your hotel for the holiday, pay attention to their kitchen. You can come to a hotel having buffets filled with cakes, meat, pasta, bread, but nothing really nutritious. Other hotels might have a wide selection of all your favorite salads, vegetables, freshly grilled fish and chicken, lovely fruit desserts… These hotels are heaven for waist lines and hearts.
As I said, hotel food and buffets can be fantastic or very frustrating! Just remember, whatever you put on your plate, you will eat… Very often the joy and satisfaction of eating that cake is very short!
When going to a restaurant, check the menu before sitting down. Make sure they have something healthy for you. Many of us always put our children first. Great, but I think most restaurants might be able to come up with a portion of pasta, rice, some meatballs or grilled chicken for the little and picky ones.
If there is anything I can recommend you to avoid on your holidays, my number one is fried food! Don’t order yourself one and don’t eat your children’s. Another one is the ice cream… Do we need an ice cream per day? Probably not! A big class of water from a jar filled with cucumber, menthe and lemon is absolutely refreshing and delicious and so much better than an ice cream. Not to mention all the sweet and ripe melons, strawberries, cherries! That is really yummy for tummy!
FITNESS
A healthy body mainly starts in the kitchen, no doubt about that! But fitness gives so many other important benefits to our physical and mental health.
Many of us don’t have time to do a lot of fitness during our stressful and busy daily life. Then holidays are the best time to get started. And routines that are started during holiday are so much easier to continue doing when we are back to daily stressful life. The word routine is the clue. Everything that is a routine and habit, we very often do without having the endless discussions with ourselves… should, shouldn’t, should, shouldn’t…
I meet a lot of people who keep going to the gym week after week throughout the year and when holiday comes…. ZERO. All that effort and then you stop!
I try to understand but I don’t. Don’t you hate starting all over again after the holiday? Don’t you feel better when you have done your sports? Did you know that so little effort is needed to maintain your muscles and condition?
During summer we tend to go to warm destinations. There are multiple activities to do. Again, when choosing your holiday hotel, make sure they have a fitness room, they might even have fitness classes you can join. Or maybe try something new. Try yoga, learn how to windsurf, powerwalk along the beach, swim, go for a run in the morning, rent bikes and explore the area. So many exciting things that will widen your horizon and add so much more to your holiday. You will love it. To those of you who are used to go to the gym or would like to have a small fitness program to have a home, in your hotel room, next to the pool, in the garden, I have added a small 20 –minute program to my website. No weights are needed, it doesn’t take much time and you can do it whenever and wherever.
Give it a try. You won’t regret it. And you will feel your body saying thank you for taking good care of it.
I hope I have now started a few ideas in your head. And hopefully you will give some of them a try over the holidays. It’s not complicated, it’s not difficult, it’s only your choice and decision! The feeling of staying healthy, fit and active is just wonderful and keeps the after holiday blues away.
I wish you all a happy and healthy holiday!
Cecilie Rigneus
Owner at Lifestyle Optimiser and HealthyLux Passionate Contributor
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