Summer is not over yet! If you are like me, summer means taking as many adventures as possible whether they are hours away or close to home. Road trips, camping, hiking, and going to the lake are all my favorite things to do during the summer.
Even though summer makes me feel lazy when it comes to cooking, eating healthy is always important, especially to fuel all of these adventures! Since I have a couple different foods that I avoid (gluten and dairy) packing food ahead is KEY for my success in making sure that I don’t go hungry and don’t end up eating something I know will make me feel like garbage.
Now, let’s chat about 5 easy ways to stay healthy all summer long!
HYDRATION
There is a reason why this is listed first, because it’s easily the most important thing we should be focusing on every single day of the year. Summertime heat makes it even more important to make sure that you are properly hydrated and replenishing your electrolytes from all of the sweating you are probably doing! An easy way to figure out how much water you should be drinking is to drink a minimum of half of your body weight in ounces of water PER DAY. Water is not something that we can hold on to in the long term so you must be consuming at least that much everyday.
Example: I weigh 160 lbs = 80 oz of water per day is my minimum goal.
Things get a little tricky when we are also drinking diuretics and sweating a lot. Diuretics are liquids you drink that make you pee but don’t hydrate you like coffee, soda, tea, etc. For every ounce of diuretic beverage you drink, you need to replace it with 1.5 ounces of water.
Example: 8 oz of coffee = 12 oz of water.
Be sure you are sipping your water throughout the day and not just trying to chug 40 oz in two sittings to make up for not drinking water all day. As most people know from experience, chugging a lot of water at once makes you have to pee and then you are basically losing it all along with electrolytes.
What are electrolytes? They are minerals like sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride and calcium. These minerals are capable of conducting electricity when they are dissolved in water (your body) and they control things like blood pressure, muscle contraction, cell to cell communication, your body’s ability to hold onto water, and more. Replenishing electrolytes is the second most important aspect of drinking water. We lose them in all sorts of ways like sweating, peeing, stress, etc. If you are drinking a good amount of water and peeing ALL THE TIME or getting headaches frequently after exercising it’s a good indication that you need more electrolytes. My favorite way is to add a pinch or two of Redmond’s Real Salt to my water or use Concentrace Trace Mineral Drops by Trace Minerals Research. You can read more about hydration here!
CAR SNACKS
Road trips just scream snacks. The typical trap that most people fall into is not packing their own and relying on gas stations along the way to provide them with snacks. This usually means chips, who knows how old sandwiches on white bread and lots of candy. Luckily, there seem to be healthier snack options popping up at gas stations, but packing your own is always cheaper and more reliable. My requirements for car snacks are convenience, easy to eat, doesn’t make a mess and really all you need is a small cooler.
- Fresh veggies. They are easy, healthy snacks but also provide you with some hydration!
- Carrots
- Radishes
- Celery
- Cucumber
- Bell peppers
- Mini sweet peppers
- Dips for the veggies:
- Guacamole (you can even get small single serving cups at most grocery stores and Costco)
- Healthy salad dressing, meaning ones without poor quality vegetable oils or ones that are “low fat,” because fat is your friend.
- Favorite brands: Tessemae’s & Primal Kitchen
- Hummus – just watch your ingredients for poor quality oils again!
- Favorite brand: Hope Foods
- Fresh fruit:
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Apples – cut them up into a container and add lemon juice to keep from browning
- Pair these with some nut butter to provide steady energy, the fat helps your body absorb the sugar slowly instead of one quick uptake. This will keep your blood sugar more stable as well as satiate you, keeping you full longer.
- Favorites: Justin’s & Nutzo – they come in packets for easy travel
- Hard boiled eggs:
- I will forever suggest hard boiled eggs for any and all adventures.
- Bring a high quality salt to add or a mixed seasoning one!
- Quality Lunch meat:
- Check your labels – most lunch meat is filled with preservatives and additives.
- Salami
- Proscioutto
- Favorite brands: Applegate, True Story
- Nuts, Seeds & Dried Fruit:
- Make your own mixture or find a good one at the store that is just raw or roasted with salt.
- Be careful eating dried fruit on it’s own, it’s super easy to over eat and lots of sugar!
- Favorite brands:
- 180 snacks, Thrive Tribe Paleo bites and lots of good options at Costco.
- Real food bars, meat sticks and Jerky:
- RX Bars, Epic, Duke shorty sausages, etc
- Drinks:
- Kombucha- extra probiotic help while traveling is always beneficial since you’re under more stress and likely not eating exactly the same as you are at home.
- La Croix, Spindrift or other sparkling water
- WATER
CAMPING/ HIKING
For camping and hiking you can also use all of the same recommendations listed above for car snacks. If you’re not hiking far I recommend real food bars or mixed nuts. For longer hikes you can easily still pack a little lunch bag with an ice pack, veggies, meats, HB eggs, etc. Eating healthy while camping is actually a lot easier than it seems, if you have a grill or a pan to put over the fire you’re basically set! We have an awesome Coleman camping grill that is the perfect size for camping as well as taking over to friends’ houses who don’t have grills.
Keep it simple when thinking about meals to prep while you are camping:
On the grill:
- Protein:
- Sausages & quality hot dogs: Applegate, Aidell’s, Grand Tetons brands
- Steak, burgers, chicken, bacon
- Eggs (in a pan)
- Veggies:
- Zucchini and other squash varieties
- Asparagus
- Cauliflower
- Bell Peppers
- Onions
- Corn
- Potatoes, easier if you have a pan
- Carrots
Sides:
Lots of great sides can be prepared in advance and eaten cold all you have to do is keep them in the cooler:
- Potato salad
- Coleslaw
- Fruit salad
- Egg salad
- Salad with arugula, mixed greens, spinach, etc
I have a box for camping filled with a little cutting board, extra utensils, tongs, spatula, a couple mixing bowls and spices so I can chop up veggies super easy and throw them on the grill. Bring along some pre-made sauces or condiments for extra flavor. Also bring along a good high quality oil for cooking on the grill, I’d recommend Avocado oil.
My fave condiments:
- Homemade Avocado oil Mayo
- Primal Kitchen Mayo – they have regular and chipotle lime flavor
- Sir Kensington’s – they have a bunch of different types, ketchup, special sauce, mayo, etc
- Tessemae’s dressing
EATING OUT
These tips apply for any time that you are eating out, but it can be especially important if you are avoiding certain ingredients while on vacation. When we go somewhere I research restaurants in advance like a mad woman! I love knowing which ones are great before I get there and, don’t worry also pop into ones we may stumble upon that look good. One of my favorite things to do is ask for recommendations from the locals, they always know the best spots! Here are my tips for eating out:
- Check out the menu beforehand.
- I strongly dislike being pressured by mostly well-meaning wait staff to place my order as quickly as possible after I sit down. Checking out the menu in advance gives me plenty of time to look up ingredients and to see if I need to modify anything.
- ASK QUESTIONS and don’t apologize for it!
- So many times I hear people at restaurants ask the server: “sorry, but can you tell me what is in X.” There is no need to apologize, you are being a consumer and you have a right to POLITELY ask what is in the food! Typically if a server doesn’t know, they will go ask someone who does and report back, no big deal.
- If you need modifications, politely ask if that is possible.
- I’ve never had anyone say no, but there are certain restaurants with menus that state that they don’t allow modifications. I would still call the restaurant to clarify what that means.
- If you have a true allergy, don’t hesitate to let the server know.
- At some restaurants when you order gluten free menu items they ask if that is a preference or an allergy. Personally, I say that it’s a preference because I do not have celiac and don’t need to worry quite as much about cross-contamination. This is a personal decision for me and you may prefer to say it’s an allergy because you can’t handle any cross-contamination. There is no right answer here, but be sure to be upfront with the server to ensure that you have the best experience possible.
- Don’t drive yourself too crazy.
- You can spend days looking over menus and stressing about what to eat. Especially if you are along for the ride and someone else picked the restaurant you just have to do the best that you can! Ask your questions and settle on something that’s typically fairly clean- a salad with olive oil & balsamic and a squeeze of lemon or a bunless burger.
- If you really can’t eat a thing on the menu, eat beforehand so you’re not hangry and don’t wallow in it. No one will want to sit with you complaining the whole time about not being able to eat. Maybe there’s a delicious cocktail, or a mocktail that you can order instead!
PLANNING
The most important thing that will prepare you for all of your summer adventures is PLANNING in advance. Don’t scramble things together at the last minute, because you will forget something! Maybe it’s just me because I LOVE food and planning but I start making lists at least a couple weeks before my trip to make sure I have a running list of things to prepare, instead of just relying on my brain to remember all of it! It’s also better to be over-prepared with food if you get stuck somewhere, or things just don’t go as you planned.
My rule of thumb is always plan like you’re going to the middle of nowhere and have to rely on everything you bring with you. Overkill? Nah, I’m always totally prepared. Then, if you don’t eat all of your food, you have something to eat the day you get back and your fridge is empty. I call that a win-win.
I hope these tips help you stay healthy all summer long, and that you get out there for some adventures while summer is still here!