How to maintain your (and your kids') healthy eating routine while on vacation

This last week, my husband and I enjoyed an 8 day long beach vacation away from the kiddos.  Although it was very hard to be away from them, it was MUCH needed!

 Beautiful sunsets!

 Love!

The only things I had to worry about were which bathing suit I was going to wear and where we were going to eat dinner.  No crying babies or dirty diapers..it was AWESOME!

So how do you go on an 8 day vacation and not gain 10 (or more) lbs?  Especially with this type of temptation:

Do you like pina coladas?  Well I do... it is my drink of choice when I'm at the beach.  I don't even want to think about the amount of sugar and calories in them.  But these drinks were the only things I splurged on all week.  I think you should splurge a little...you're on vacation after all!

Making good choices on food while on vacation is REALLY hard.  Wanna know what motivated me to make better choices?  This:

I am the one there on the left....I knew I was going to be donning a bikini (or tankini at the least) every day.  The last thing I wanted was to feel bloated.  I knew that if I even gained 5 lbs, it would show on my 5'4" frame in that bikini.  There is no place for the fat to hide!!  Plus, I know that when I make good food choices, I just feel better.  When I eat poorly, I get heartburn, feel bloated, retain water, have headaches, and have no energy.  So here are a couple of the choices I made this week:

1.  At the hotel breakfast buffet:
Of course I had my fill of coffee..with a little sugar in the raw and half & half

 And every day I had oatmeal topped with granola, berries, nuts, and cinnamon.

 At dinner one night I opted for a salad with goat cheese and vinaigrette dressing.

Here was my lunch at Margaritaville (home of lots of fried foods and cheeseburgers):

Greek chicken wrap (with vinaigrette dressing) and subbed out the fries for a side salad with oil & vinegar for dressing.

Besides the food choices, we did lots of walking.  And although we never made it to the hotel gym, we did lots of dancing at night!

We drank TONS of water.  While we were at the beach, I was filling up my cup with water every 30 minutes.  And I brought water bottles with us everywhere we went!

Also, I packed several bags of my homemade trail mix (this batch had raw almonds, sunflower kernels, pepitas, walnuts, and dried cranberries!) to munch on while we were sight seeing or at the beach.

Sure enough, I stepped on the scale this morning and found that I didn't gain 1 lb while on our vacation!  Woohoo!  

Now what about the kids while we were gone for 8 days?  Did I just let them eat whatever they wanted while they were here with their grandparents?  You know me better than that!  Of course not.  I knew that the grandparents were probably going to be more lenient than I am but it didn't stop me from writing out our home food rules and coming up with some already put together meals.  It was 4 pages, to be exact.  I had 5 meals pre-made, in the freezer, for them to easily prepare.  I found this great website, RingAroundTheRosies.net, where there are tons of recipes.  You take all of the ingredients, throw them in a freezer bag and store until you're ready to defrost and throw in the crock pot.  I used 4 of these recipes and prepared them and had them in the freezer for grandma & grandpa to easily prepare.  Here is one of the recipes I used and was SO good:

Teriyaki Chicken

Medium bag of organic carrots

Red Onion into Large Chunks

1 large can pineapple (undrained) - no added sugar

2 Garlic Cloves

2 organic Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

Brown rice

Follow directions above, and put everything into 1 gallon freezer bag. Shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. Instructions for Bag: Add 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce to crock pot, Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours. Serve over hot rice.

Try it out with 3 or 4 recipes and prepare them all at the same time so that you only have to clean up once.  Stick them all in the freezer in a nice stack.  Make sure the directions are easy to read.

Here are some other things I pre-planned and had on hand for the kiddos:

• In addition to these freezer meals, I also had plenty of my homemade spaghetti sauce and whole wheat noodles (of different variety) on hand so that they could whip up a quick meal.  

• The Saturday before we left, I went to the Farmer's Market and bought TONS of fruit for the house while we were gone, including 3 huge bags of grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a fruit drawer full of apples.  
• I stocked up on cereal and organic dairy so that they wouldn't need to worry about replenishing. 
• I bought 1 lb or applegate turkey and had some uncured hot dogs on hand for lunches.
• I made sure I had plenty of my Whole Foods preservative-free wheat bread and hot dog buns.  
• I made another batch of homemade Lara Bars for snacks, see recipe here on 100 Days of Real Food

•  Pre-portioned out oatmeal with directions on the bag how my kids like it cooked

•  Homemade trail mix (as seen above)

•  Homemade granola for snacks (with or without yogurt), recipe found here in this blog

• I made and froze some pizzas about a month ago in anticipation for this trip, see recipe here on my past blog
• I made and froze some chicken nuggets for lunches (or dinner with a veggie/fruit side), see my updated recipe here on my facebook page.

I also made sure to outline for grandma & grandpa exactly what our food rules are at home.  I didn't expect them to follow them perfectly (after all, they were the ones doing us a HUGE favor and watching our 4 kiddos!)  But, I did let them know that the kids' moods and behaviors are directly linked to the foods they eat.  If they follow the rules I listed, the kids would just be better behaved and therefore be easier to care for.  So, here is an excerpt from my 4 page Food Rules and Meal Plan sheet I made up for the grandparents:

"...Drinks

Kids drink water exclusively throughout the day.  NO juice or soda period.  However, babies are allowed milk in tippee cups.  I try to limit 1-2 cups per day and do water the rest of the day.

Addy & Eli can get their own water with the plastic cups from the pantry. 

Sweets

I limit their sweets throughout the week.  On special occasions we take the kids for Orange Leaf or get a cookie from Target or Walmart.  This is not an every day occurrence.   

Other Food Rules

It’s ok to do take out.  I prefer no fast food but I understand that sometimes it is necessary.  If you have to get drive thru, make sure no French fries and substitute with fruit of some kind (such as banana or apples if they have it).  

If you eat out with the kids (God bless your souls), NO SODA!!  Waters all around.  And again, try and sub out the side with fruit, if available.  Also, babies can share a meal.  In some cases, the 3 smallest kiddos can share if the portions are a good size or if they’ve had chips and salsa or something. 

I try and make sure kids don’t eat processed foods with chemicals, preservatives, or artificial colors (such as froot loops). 

All carbs are complex (whole wheat/whole grain), such as brown rice, whole wheat breads and pastas. 

All milk and dairy are organic and all meat is organic/grass-fed...."

I know it may seem obsessive...but if nothing else, it made me feel better about leaving my babies for a week, knowing that I had done everything in my power to ensure they ate healthy while we were gone.

So taking a vacation doesn't mean taking a vacation from eating healthy!  Just try and make the best choices you can.  And if you're going to splurge (like I did on my fruity beach drinks), do it consciously and plan ahead of time for that.  

Thanks for reading and I hope you are all having a great summer!!