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Holidays are usually a time most people find it difficult to maintain a healthy and eco friendly lifestyle. Travelling to other countries always brings about challenges and some bad habits. We recently spent five weeks in sunny South Africa, our home land. The trip was absolutely amazing and these tips helped us through...
- Soap berries and essential oils.
Washing clothes while you are constantly moving is never easy. Washing powders are messy and liquids often leak. I hate the smell of strong detergents and most places you go provide harsh chemicals if they have washing facilities. Soap berries were my answer. They're light and compact, you'd only need 10 berries for a long trip, that and a combination of sweet orange and lime essential oils left our clothes clean, sweet smelling and completely non toxic!
- Fitness
Staying active on holiday can be a challenge, nobody wants to spend an hour in the gym or on a treadmill. We always plan our days the night before and
try to plan something active each day. If we know we will have a pretty lazy day we wake up and do 20 minutes of yoga, I use the FMTV yoga classes because they have such a great variety and they always leave me feeling good. On other days we used hiking as a way to see beautiful places and stay active. Sometimes bush hikes and other times just hiking around the city. You'd be amazed at how much more you get out of a city by walking instead of getting in a taxi. Some days we just needed a good old sweat to give us an energy boost. The 7 minute workout app is my favourite. Its great for getting your heart pumping, muscles aching and leaving you just the right amount of stiff for the next day!
- Health food
Before I go anywhere I spend as much time as I can mapping out health food shops and cafes. I always find the menu online before I go to a restaurant. To me there is nothing worse than arriving at a restaurant to find there is nothing decent or even slightly healthy on the menu. On holiday we do let loose and indulge but I feel so much better when I've eaten fresh healthy food. No matter where I am I always order extra greens or a salad with my meal; and I make sure I eat them first. Its never about calories, its about getting in the right nutrients.
- Water
Staying hydrated is number one. Some places you can't safely drink the tap water and sometimes its difficult to access bottled water. We always carry a stainless steel bottle and we recently added charcoal sticks. Wherever we went we filled our bottles up. Sometimes the only option was bottle water so we filled our metal bottles straight away to avoid as much BPA as possible. We made sure we drank around 3 litres a day because it was so hot and we were always active. Drinking water helped prevent those energy lags or bad moods you normally get when you are dehydrated!
Most important thing about being on holiday is to relax, do spas and massages, sleep in, nap and allow yourself to recharge. Its okay to indulge on delicious food and to be a bit lazy. I always think the happiness the comes from eating something amazing and enjoying yourself is far more beneficial than stressing constantly!