Vacation is certainly our favorite time of the year, where we finally get the chance to break loose of our everyday routine, do something exciting and just unwind from all the stress of our 9 to 5 jobs and all our other daily obligations. It’s a time to cut yourself some slack and blow off all that steam so you can be happier and more efficient in the office when you get back.
When you do get back, however, perhaps you’ll find that it’s a bit difficult to keep adhering to all the rules and regulations concerning your health that you set for yourself, because let’s face it, you probably didn’t adhere to them during vacation itself. And you shouldn’t, by any means – vacation is a time to let go of all that and just stop caring for a while, but when it’s over you’ll probably want to go back to your healthy lifestyle as soon as possible.
I’ve been through this several times in the past and I know how annoying it can be, so today I want to share some of my experience and give you some simple tips that will help you get back to a healthy diet (avoid these 4 diet mistakes), a regular fitness routine and everything else that’s been contributing to your healthy lifestyle up until now.
Rehydrate
Water is one of the most potent solvents in the world, which means that it’s very good for diluting and getting rid of all the nasty stuff that’s been accumulating in your body during the last few days. If you’ve been noticing pimples coming up anywhere on your body, if you’ve been feeling itchy and irritable, that’s a good sign that your body is telling you to drink more water and expel all those harmful toxins.
Drinking more water can also be a great way to supress cravings and prevent sugar crashes, and if you’ve been overdoing it with the sweets and junk food during the last few days, that’s an effect that will certainly be desireable.
Take an Extra Day Off
I find this one to be a life saver personally. Vacations are fun and relaxing, but they can also be kind of stressful and fatiguing, especially the very act of being on the road. That’s why, when you come back from at trip at 3 AM in the morning the last thing you want to do is think about how you have to get up in three hours and get ready for work.
If you go through with that, your low-on-dopamine brain is going to want to find a way to boost the levels of the feel good hormone in your body; and that probably means craving sugary foods or drinks, caffeine and all of that other stuff that you should probably be avoiding. Simply sacrificing a single day of your vacation and using it as a “buffer” when you get back can easily prevent all of that, because you’re giving your body a chance to catch up, eat some healthy food and actually get enough sleep. Which brings me to my next point:
Catch Up on Sleep
Sleep is a phenomenon that still has scientists baffled as to why humans require it and why they require so much of it, but regardless we know that sleep is very important and lack thereof can lead to serious physical and mental problems. A huge number of people nowadays are constantly sleep deprived, which significantly impacts the quality of their life and actually makes them less efficient at work.
And since traveling can be pretty fatiguing, it’s a good idea to let your body get as much sleep as it needs the first thing you get home. Forget all your other obligations; your health is your highest priority, and the best thing you can do for your health in such a situation is to let your body catch up on all the sleep that it probably didn’t get during the last hectic few days.
Detox Day
Finally, I highly recommend that once you finally get home, you ease up on any “heavy” foods for at least 18 to 24 hours, and give your stomach a break from all the potentially unhealthy stuff that it’s had to digest – and also to give it a hand as much as you can.
By this I mean eating foods that help your body get rid of all the toxins present in it; foods high in fiber, antioxidants and, as I already mentioned, lots and lots of water. The more often you have to go to the bathroom, the better, because that also means your body is getting rid of everything it doesn’t need. Absolutely avoid processed foods with lots of sugar even though you will probably crave them, and skip the meat as well. If you can pull this off I guarantee that your body will thank you for it, and you’ll find it much easier to get back to your healthy routine when all of that is out of your system for good.
Vanessa Davis is a 32-year-old fitness enthusiast, mother of two and content writer at www.diet.st. She’s originally from Long Island, New York, and when she isn’t cooking up some new health and fitness article, she enjoys doing yoga and figuring out new, delicious organic-based recipes for herself and her kids.
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