Top 5 Nutrition Tips for Family Vacationing

Our family spent a very fun, active 9-day vacation in Disneyworld down in Orlando this month right before school started.  Parents often ask me how to do a vacation without destroying all the healthy habits you worked so hard on at home. My answer? Vacations occur in brief timeframes so they should not completely de-rail any efforts made. However, there are 5 things you can do to make your next vacation as healthy as possible:

Remain strong like The Incredibles
on your family vacation by practicing
food and activity balance.  Here, my
family poses with the crew that are
surely eating their vegetables!

1. Rental with a kitchen. Not only is this choice more economical, it enables you to have your own food choices that can continue some normalcy for your family. The same day we checked into our condo, we headed up to the local grocery store and stocked our kitchen with nutrient-rich foods. Each morning, we got up and had our family breakfast and then packed snacks and waters into our backpack for the long day at the park. We were thankful to know that Disney allows you to bring food and drinks into the park, so you could even pack your lunches for the day.

2. Seek out healthier options.  Yes, there was plenty of what Americans call “kid food” at the park (chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, French fries, etc.), but there were also healthier options at many of the eating establishments.  Kudos to Disneyworld!  They have publicly committed to doing their part to make children in the U.S. healthier through the Let’s Move Initiative started by First Lady Michelle Obama. Allow yourself and your children to enjoy higher calorie faire in moderation, especially if you are remaining active throughout your vacation. Take advantage of those times when you can order healthier foods. At Hollywood Studios, we enjoyed a lunch at a diner with Handy Manny & Little Einstein characters that had a wonderful buffet with lots of fruits, vegetables, grilled meats and whole grains. At Epcot, we enjoyed other fresh options such as teriyaki stir fry and fish with steamed carrots at a cafeteria. Many times, the options are there and you just need to search them out.

3. Make your vacation active. Believe me, I am all about some down time! As a mother of 2 very active young children, there must be some time to just relax and unwind. But do make time to continue your physical activity. My husband and I estimated that we walked about 100 miles altogether on this Disney trip, which equates to over 6000 calories for a woman of my size (I am very thankful for the double stroller rentals at the Disney parks!). As you can see, if you make your vacation active then you can experiment with a variety of cuisines and flavors that might be a little higher calorie and you will still not destroy your healthy lifestyle efforts. Balance can take its course naturally.

4. Teach your children along the way. We did eat out much more than when we are at home, so I took the opportunity to empower our children to be satisfied with healthier foods that were being served. Although our 3 year old is a bit young to fully grasp this concept, our 6 year old understood that long park days required extra “super powers” to be able to have energy and stay happy while having lots of fun. She was happy to get a salad or mixed vegetables with her meals. Besides, she wants to have “princess” skin and she knows that healthy foods assist in this goal! We saw lots of Disney princesses on this trip so our home discussions about this really helped seal the lesson further.

5. Seek out nutrition education. Visiting a rural destination? Make a point to stop at a local farm that might be offering a tour. Going into a city? Try and visit a food manufacturing plant that might produce certain types of foods. Go shopping at one of the destination’s local farmers markets and show your children what the local people eat. At Disney’s Epcot, they have an amazing riding tour that I highly recommend called, Living With the Land. It is a family-friendly informative ride that discusses unique and sustainable ways food is being produced all over the world. Both our children loved picking out the food plants that they recognized. It was fun to see the 9 pound lemon that can produce a gallon of lemonade! If the this tour interests your family, you could go on an additional Behind The Seeds tour that provides further detail into the nutrient film, hydroponic and waterponic growing techniques. Fascinating! I included a video that I found of the entire Living with the Land tour (the greenhouse portion begins after about 5 minutes).



Just as in your everyday life, take some time to plan out ways to keep your vacation healthy and balanced. That way, you can have fun knowing that you will coming back home feeling great and energized, which complements the great vacation memories to fuel your busy lives. Although our vacation was extremely busy, we are still relishing in all the sites, sounds and experiences we were so fortunate to be a part of at Disneyworld.