It’s difficult! You will find no lies here. So let’s be completely honest and transparent with each other!
Seriously…it’s difficult! Especially if you are living in a city with exceptional cuisine, you just want to try everything!
Oh and don’t forget about the life of a busy ESL teacher with morning classes and private evening lessons.
Your kitchen can go from this:
To this in a week:
ummmm hmmmm *sigh*
So how do you stay focused for eating healthy during travel?
Here are my suggestions as well as personal tips!
Make a meal plan!
No says you can’t eat out and indulge in the delicious tapas Spain has to offer. Or even the extra banchans (side dishes in South Korea). But let’s make a meal plan to keep things under control. One helpful rule is to try to eat 80% clean and leave 20% for “cheat meals”.
Meal plans are great, if you stick to them! Here is a snap shot of a weeks worth of meals from one of my older plans.
During this time there were specific macros I was trying to meet. So it may look a little extreme.
This is just for example purposes. Whipped up using the Pages program.
I can create a document for downloading if you guys want! Let me know!
Visit the farmers market!
At the local “farmers market” in Puertollano, there were hardly any temptations for purchasing junk foods like Oreos and Frosted Flakes. Two items that have become my weakness…disgusting…I know 🙁
Go to the market with a list because it can get very overwhelming!
From my meal plan (above) creating a simple grocery list was easy. A list allows you to buy only the food you need and nothing more!
Truth be told though I stopped going to the farmers market after one lady told me her peppers were from China. I thought I was supporting the the local community ha ha. And some venders tried to give me the “foreigner price”. So after November I resorted to biweekly visits to Mecadona.
Eat out with friends
What say you?! Thought we were talking about trying to eat healthy? OK hear me out. No one is perfect and of course you’ll want to indulge in an evening out with your amigos.
But instead of ordering an entrée for yourself, split it with a friend. Communal family style meals are common in Spain so don’t worry. Oh yea….you’ll have to get use to double dipping ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Also skip the hard liquor and order a sangria instead. Or better yet…water with a lemon.
Mono or liquid meals
Another idea for eating healthy during travel is carrying a mono or liquid meal. You can find a market on just about any street corner. So why not buy a couple apples or mangoes to curb your hunger pains until you reach home? Or even better make a smoothie to bring with you on the road. Trust me, it’s way better than stopping into Burger King!
One liters worth of banana, dates and green apple. Yummy!
Next let’s look at some options to buy in the market to create quick and easy meals.
These meals are “busy english teacher” friendly too!
Did you find this post helpful? Leave a comment below with your thoughts!