Let’s start by saying we are by no means health addicts or follow very strict dietary guidelines - not that there is anything wrong with that/them; that’s a lifestyle choice and we totally respect it, it’s just not ours. We are the type of people who enjoy lounging around in our pajamas, eating popcorn with our movies (maybe caramel popcorn… it’s sooo good!), one of us looooves meat (some would argue that’s not healthy), and we absolutely love ice-cream! We also have no evidence that these tips actually ARE making us healthier, all we can tell you is that we feel better when we eat this way. So, when we are in a place for a longer period of time (like 5 days), this is what our meals generally look like:

BREAKFAST - we generally try to buy granola ,or oatmeal, or muesli. Granola is Fermin’s favorite so we stick to that a lot and although it’s not the ‘healthiest’ choice b/c it tends to be higher in sugar than muesli and oatmeal, it’s better than a butter croissant (which we also love!). Yogurt we’ll buy day-to-day if we are traveling, but if not, we’ll just get a big container to be less wasteful and also save some money. Fruit is a staple throughout the day and it’s generally anything that’s cheap - we try to stay away from more expensive fruits, not just for the cost, but usually b/c it means they are not locally sourced. We also use the same container pictured to either store cut-up fruit in our fridge or take fruit with us for snacks on days we know we’ll need a snack.

LUNCH - We tried to have this be the biggest meal of the day, and in Peru it totally worked b/c meals there are huge. On days when we are sightseeing we’ll pack some fruits and peanut butter sandwiches (or any nut butter we can find) and some water. When we do have a lunch like this, we’ll try to have dinner early, like 5pm because by then we are starving. Also, not pictured are the snacks we might buy along the way - we try to stay away from chips, chewing gum, sweets, etc… but we do want to experience local snacks, so fresh coconut juice, or maybe some street food that looks appealing, we’ll definitely try that!

DINNER - This one is generally the meal we eat out. Depending on how late we had lunch, dinner is either early or very light. In Thailand, a light dinner might be a Thai omelette, a spicy fish (looks big but it’s very bony), steamed corn and 2 coconut shakes (no sugar), all from the local night market. A heavier dinner might be from a food court (which are amazingly delicious and cheap!) or a local restaurant. The only difference between the two is the volume, night market portions are not huge and are perfect when our lunch has been big.

SNACKS - Like we said earlier, fruits are a big snack for us; bananas, papayas, watermelon, grapes, apples, pears, whatever is local. We also favor nuts, although we do try to keep our portions to just 1 handful; I know, so little?! but nuts are very fatty so unless you are planning to burn all those calories, the easiest way to not gain weight is to limit your consumption. We also like carrots and celery but these are more work than fruit, especially when you don’t have a peeler. Oh, and we love to cut up lime for our water!

What about exercising? We each have our own preferred set of exercises but we do 10 Chaturangas together. We’ve modified these to be slow, they are not meant to be a cardio workout. We go through them slow and have added breaths to hold the plank longer and the down dog. On top of that, we’ll do planks, squats, pushups and such. Sometimes we go out for a jog, but that’s less common when we are moving a lot. And in the few places that have gyms, we’ll use the treadmill to get a jog in. But our exercising isn’t what it was at home, although our walking isn’t either - we walk more now, than we ever did at home.

Update: We posted our workout routine here if you are curious.

That’s it! I hope you find this helpful. Leave a comment below with any tips you might have to stay healthy(ish) on the road.