Eat Healthy While On Vacation

By Nicole I. Henderson

Published October 29, 2019 at 4:35 PM EDT

It is not easy to eat healthy while vacationing, but it absolutely is possible.

Plan Ahead

Typically, on vacation we want to go for what is easy and convenient. Unfortunately, it seems as though the food that is easy and convenient to purchase is not always the best food to eat.

The key is to plan ahead. Just as you plan your hotel stay and the best airline ticket to purchase, you should also take a look at the local eateries before you take on your adventure. Trying some of the ‘off the beaten path' restaurants can be an adventure in itself.

Tips And Tricks

Plan ahead when you take a family vacation. Use the internet to search out healthy eating options prior to your visit.

Call the restaurants ahead of time. Make sure they have things on the menu that each of your family members will enjoy. There is nothing worse than going to a restaurant and having someone left out from enjoying their meal.

Contact the hotel and determine if you will have a refrigerator in your room or a mini kitchen. If you will not have either of those items, you may want to have a cooler in your room to keep some of your healthy snacks cools.

Chat with the attendants at the front desk of your hotel. They are typically a wealth of knowledge about the city that you are visiting.

Have healthy snacks and drinks readily available. Kids consume a lot of wasted calories via unhealthy drinks. Eliminate this challenge by planning ahead.

Drag And Click Research

I thought that I would put some of my own advice to the test to see what I can find as far as healthy eating establishments in cities that I may visit this year. I will start off by doing a Google search on the city. Once I pull up some local eateries, I will check to see if they have a web presence and a social media presence. I love to read the reviews that people put about restaurants before I make a decision on dining at the establishment.

Below are 3 cities that my family may visit this year:

Washington, D.C.

I was pleasantly surprised at the options that I found in Washington, D.C.

I simply searched for "eating healthy in Washington, D.C." and I was able to pull up pages of great sites with a variety of options. VegDC gave great suggestions of places to eat including their web address and their physical address. This information is helpful when planning our site seeing routes.

When I searched the site a little more, I noticed that this site also has sister sites for Portland, Oregon and Baltimore, Maryland.

Boca Raton, Florida

Many people travel to the beach over the summer and our family is no different. Boca Raton is beautiful and to my surprise, Happy Cow has a web site for the Boca Raton area with several restaurants that we can add to our list.

The great thing about going to many of the beaches in the South is you are constantly passing farmer's markets en route. It is great to pick up some of the local fruits and veggies to have on hand in the condo/hotel.

Los Angeles, California

It was not as easy for me to find a current list for the Los Angeles market of healthy restaurants, but I did finally find one. The list is actually on the website of the CBS affiliate in LA. It looks to be a pretty good list from a story that they covered in May. Since the addresses are listed along with the phone numbers, I will be sure to give them a call prior to our visit.

Have fun and eat healthy!