Sometimes certain situations arise that really make eating healthy quite challenging. Recently I experienced one of these challenges when we moved out household. The move itself wasn’t really difficult. It was in the same city, just a different house. What complicated things was that we had a few days between the time our new place was ready and the date we needed to be out of our previous residence. This meant we had to stay in a hotel temporarily. It also meant the temptation to eat unhealthy food was ever present. My family decided to make it an adventure and we were quite successful in keeping our eating habits relatively intact during this transition. Here’s how we did it:
The first challenge was the food in our fridge. I had pretty much scaled down trips to the grocery store so we wouldn’t have to toss out a bunch of perfectly good food while we were in between households. I stocked up on a lot of healthy but not overly perishable items. I bought Larabars, dried fruit, nuts, bananas and apples. I also kept a cooler with us so we could have cheese, yogurt and veggies while we were at the hotel.
Speaking of hotels….
ALWAYS choose a hotel with at least a fridge. If it has an oven, dishes and utensils that’s even better. Fortunately these are pretty commonplace. The easier it is for you to cook or at the very least throw together a sandwich the less likely you’ll resort to fast food.
Now let’s talk about those free continental breakfasts. I’m always happy to have these at a hotel. It just makes life much easier to have at least one meal a day paid for and convenient. Navigating this can be a challenge though. Many times you aren’t presented with many healthy options. My first suggestion is to get there early so you at least have more choices. The good thing is that it really is possible to eat clean in this situation. Most breakfast buffets in hotels will have some fruit, usually bananas or apples. You can occasionally find oatmeal and yogurt also. You’ll probably want to avoid the cereals they offer. (The hotel where we stayed gave you a choice of Fruit Loops or Corn Flakes – yuck!) Also stay away from the “make your own” waffle/pancake stations. These are pre made mixes full of artificial sweeteners and all kinds of unhealthy ingredients. I think it goes without saying that you should avoid the muffins and pastries.
Moving can be stressful but it doesn’t have to be unhealthy! Packing a cooler will not only save you money, but it will keep you from getting derailed from your healthy eating lifestyle.