Eating When Traveling with Your Kids on Family Vacations
I have to admit that one of my favorite things about travel is that it’s the only time when I really indulge in fast food.
� But, I also know from experience that the highs and lows of “road food” aren’t very good for either the body or the state of mind when traveling.
� So, when traveling with kids, I make extra sure that we’re all eating right.
� By making healthy eating selections, we all have a happier time traveling together.
� And by making smart eating decisions while traveling, we avoid spending an abundance of money that is better spent on other fun travel things.
� It’s tempting to go for the fast food when you’re traveling because it’s all around and it’s easy to access.
� However, the energy that comes from eating high-sugar, high-carb foods can wear off quickly.
� This can create a lot of spikes and lows in the travel experience for families which tends to make for some bad times during travel.
� Instead of going this route, I’ve learned to pack the right snacks and choose the right restaurants so that we have a healthy energy level throughout the day.
� We might still grab some fast food at the end of the day as a bit of a treat but the bulk of travel finds us eating well and feeling right.
� The main thing that we do to eat healthy when traveling with kids is to bring a lot of our own food along.
� We have snacks and mini-meals throughout the day.
� This allows us to eat relatively healthy without spending money, effectively killing two birds with one stone.
� However, for this to work right, we have to have a good breakfast and a good dinner to balance out the throughout-the-day snacking that we’re enjoying.
� We do a combination of in-hotel breakfasts (such as oatmeal and healthy cereals) and restaurant breakfasts to keep costs down while still getting in good, healthy meals.
� Then we eat our snacks throughout the day and enjoy a sit-down meal again at night.
� If we’re going to eat fast food, dinner is the time that we do it.
� Of course, sometimes we do eat meals throughout the day.
� It’s too tempting to be out among all of a travel destination’s restaurants and to be hungry and then not eat there.
� But we choose our restaurants wisely and we always share lunch meals to reduce the cost.
� This allows us to try the foods at different locations without spending a lot of money on our meals.
� We also make use of the grocery stores when we travel.
� By having some easy meals that we can eat on the road (sandwiches and such), we further reduce our costs and don’t cut as much into travel time as we would if we stopped for a sit-down meal.
� Picnics at rest areas make an excellent break in road travel and get everyone fed and feeling happy.
� By coming up with creative approaches to the meals we enjoy our travels, we can make sure that our kids get the nutrients they need at a cost that doesn’t compromise the travel plans.
� We all like to indulge sometimes and there’s a place for “road food” on every trip, but if we sprinkle it in with some wise decisions, we can have our cake and eat it too.
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