Gray Nomad,  gray with an a for active seniors lifestyle.
 
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Most gray nomad, senior travellers are very health conscious these days,  one of the first requirements for many travellers is an adequate size fridge in the caravan  or motor home so they can store sufficient vegetables to allow them to prepare and eat, healthy not too high in calorie or overladen with salt, meals.

If you were striving to slim down and get fitter, before you leave for your trip, are you able to continue towards this goal successfully, while on tour and if so, I would love to have you share your tips to fellow travellers, via the comments  section.

Do you arrive home from your travels wishing you had weight loss supplements, to help recover from having eaten more food and perhaps exercising less than you do when home?

 If so, what is the pit falls you would suggest other travellers might try to avoid?

Here are a few of my travel tips to staying trim and healthy while travelling.

Healthy holiday ideas that also help trim the waistline.

*Holidaying where you can swim and or hike

*Holiday where you can buy fresh vegetables and keep up your 5 serves of vegetables and two fruits even while travelling.

*Continue to eat from all the food groups, and consider portion size of servings.

*Watch the serving sizes of food. A serving size of fruit is one cup, a serving size of beans, pasta or rice, is half a cup. A serving size of salad vegetables is one cup but of starchy vegetables like corn, peas and potatoes, it is half a cup.

*BBQ’s are a part of outdoor life.. Enjoy them while still taking great care of you. It is best to trim off excess fats, limit fatty and highly processed meats as much as possible and limit your protein serving size to around the size of a pack of cards, or your own palm size, a measurement that makes allowance for larger framed people generally being able to consume more calories.  A very high animal protein diet can hinder the absorption of calcium into your bones so if you are wanting more protein food in your diet, can I suggest adding lentils to your stews and serving mixed bean salads with the BBQ’s.  Unless you are exercising vigorously, seniors do not need as high an iron diet as younger people, especially women, do. We do need more bone minerals however..

*Pack an extra travel fridge if the existing one in the caravan is not large enough to hold your fresh vegetable, supplies, between restocking trips to the store.

*Pack a water filter or buy water to encourage you to drink sufficient fresh water rather than calorie-laden beverages.

*Keep up your buddy system, stay in touch with friends who encourage you to live a healthy lifestyle, while you travel.

*Enjoy a healthy, happy hour, try one alcoholic drink and the remaining drinks filtered water.

*When dining out, order wine by the glass instead of by the bottle and don't worry if the food is more calorie laden than what you would cook yourself, enjoy it, eat slowly, and stop when you are satisfied, not stuffed full.

*Low fat yogurt is a great substitute for cream, fruit is a great dessert.

*Inexpensive, powdered non-fat skim milk powder and rolled oats are two lightweight staples we stock up on before we leave home and always make sure we have in stock. Rolled oats is our basic healthy breakfast, at home and on tour, it is high fibre and low salt and sugar.

*Cooking healthy is the way to go, while travelling. Sometimes we pack the thermos cooker and make stews and soups, removing all the fat, before eating, it also cooks a healthy whole grain creamed rice, desert. I use a non stick pan with no more than 2 teaspoons of a good oil, (example olive oil), per day, per person.  I also use a large George Foreman grill and I cook all the vegetables on this, along with the fish, poultry or meat. One appliance cooking is easy and can also be healthy. 

*To cut back further on fats, Reg and I have stopped buying butter and margarine type spread, gives up more space for healthier food in a smaller caravan fridge, as an extra bonus.  We buy the low fat tasty cheese, it’s an easy lunch and with milk, yogurt and a serve of cheese, vegetables like broccoli, and one calcium supplement in the evening, with a few almonds, a senior can get sufficient calcium in their diet to help protect their bone density.

*Holidays are an excellent opportunity to walk. Wear a pedometer and try to get in 1.000 steps. On days when you have long drives, stop and walk every two hours, if not more frequently and do a few press ups agianst the trees or the car bonnet,.

*No need to obsess about your weight or carry bathroom scales, just have at least one pair of tight fitting jeans or a tape measure with you so you can check each week that you are maintaining or achieving your personal weight management goals.

Enjoy your holiday and do not worry excessively about weight, focus on fitness and good health, have heaps of fun and bring back a healthy you and wonderful memories. :-)

 
 


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