Last week I went on vacation to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. It was a fun time with my parents and my best friend. When people go on vacation they typically eat whatever they want whenever they want. While it is okay to indulge a little bit on vacation, eating processed unhealthy foods frequently is still unhealthy. There is a boardwalk at Hampton Beach, and there are many stores that have anything anyone could ever want. Fried foods are everywhere, especially fried dough. The thought of eating a fried dough doesn’t appeal to me at all. Today, food is very prevalent, it seems everywhere you go there is food available. Most of the time it is processed so that it has a longer shelf life. Next time you are out, take note of all the processed foods that are available. Most of the time the processed foods are less expensive than whole foods, which is why people might gravitate towards those foods more often. This also explains the obesity epidemic, which many people are working very hard to solve. However, I try to avoid those types of food at all cost, and this is what I ate while I was on vacation.
For breakfast I typically ate oatmeal with a banana and a yogurt. The oatmeal I had was from a coffee shop that was in our hotel. The oatmeal had 22g of sugar for a 73g or 2.5 ounce serving, which is a lot of sugar. Consuming everything in moderation is completely fine. During the four days I was on vacation, I ran two of them and one day I went surfing for a good portion of the day. When you are active consuming a little extra sugar is completely fine. For lunch and dinner, I typically had salad with grilled chicken on it. It might sound boring, however it was delicious and the week after we returned I had a race and I wanted to make sure my nutrition was on point leading up to the race. Whenever I stray from my healthy ways, I notice that my stomach usually does not feel well and I do not perform at my usual level.
For snacks during the day I would have apples, bananas, snap peas, green peppers, and cherries. I even had some organic gummy bears that are made from real fruit as well as dried fruit. Bringing your own food with you is always a fantastic way to combat giving in to eating the unhealthy foods. If you are trying to lose weight or eat healthier, it is very important to stay on track.
The entire vacation was an amazing time and I am very excited to finish out my obstacle course racing season and I am excited for my cross country season to begin as well.
