I am frequently asked, “how do you stay healthy” while traveling for an extended period of time? The short answer is practice, and the long answer is staying disciplined. There are 3 rules I always follow whenever I’m traveling in order to stay healthy so I can enjoy the trip as much as possible and so I can keep on exploring!

• Eat a well balanced diet
• Make time for relaxation
• Exercise

 

How to Maintain a Well Balanced Diet

For some people maintaining a balanced diet is difficult while traveling. This is understandable because since you are in a new place you want to try all the delicacies of the culture you are visiting. However, this does not mean that you can eat gelato for breakfast, lunch and dinner (although we have all done that at least once on a trip to Italy). In order to do this, you have to do your research ahead of time and plan out what types of restaurants you are going to go to on your trip.

The best way to make sure you don’t indulge too much is by choosing a mix of restaurant types, a few high-end splurges, some local cafes and maybe even a farmers market. Remember, Parisians may love food, but that doesn’t mean they are eating at 2-star Michelin restaurants everyday of the week; even they just get a salad at a café once in a while!

Make Time for Relaxation

When you are preparing for a big trip, make sure you don’t try to see every single site in the country you are visiting. Less is always more. Pick a few must sees and then let the rest of the trip play itself out, trust me you will be happy you weren’t rushing around every second of your trip—it is supposed to be a vacation after all!

And since every “trip” should truly be a vacation, I always say that you should make the effort to visit a local spa and try out a new treatment. We recently, tried out a new spa in our own backyard and it really embodies what traveling healthy means.

The Balans Organic Spa is the only truly organic spa in Boston and offers some unique treatments. Most notably is their “flotation therapy”. And if you are asking what that could possibly be, then maybe you have heard it called “sensory deprivation.

As first timers, it was a little daunting because whenever you try a new spa treatment, you just don’t know what to expect. But having lived to tell the tale, I can certainly say that everyone should add in a “float” to their next trip to Boston. You literally just float in a warm bath filled with water that has so much salt in it your body floats with absolutely no effort. Relaxing for a half hour in the flotation suite, will really calm you and allow you to wind down on your trip. This is something that is so important when you are traveling, to just make time for yourself and to take an hour to just breath.

After our floats, we were just dying to try out the organic line of skin care that they have at Balans Organic Spa—the Maria Akerberg “Deepskin Organics” skin care from Sweden will make your skin feel absolutely amazing!

When you go in for a facial or massage, you will be welcomed into the serene space that is Balans Organic Spa, which is also centrally located on Newbury Street. The stress just melts away!

The combination of the gorgeous space, skilled esthetician, and the fantastic Maria Akerberg skin care, will leave you with skin as soft as a baby’s bottom. I’m still dreaming of the papaya scrub the esthetician used during my mini-facial. What a fantastic finish to a day at the spa!

The spa also offers nutritional and wellness consultations in order to maximize the benefits of the Maria Akerberg skin care. And there is also a sister location, the Balans Wellness Studio, located at 376 Boylston Street. There you can receive private fitness training, as well as practice, yoga and pilates or get a massage!

Exercise

Now, I know what you’re thinking, this is vacation, doesn’t that mean I can take a break from my Soul Cycle regiment? Yes it actually does! But that doesn’t mean that all of sudden just because you are a tourist that you have to take taxis everywhere instead of walking or that you should rent a golf cart to tour Versailles instead of a bike!

When you are on vacation it is just as important to be active as it is in your everyday life.

And since you are on vacation, you should find activities that let you both be active and see the city you’re visiting. One of my favorite examples of this is renting bikes to ride through the gardens of Versailles. You get to explore the vast reaches of the estate and get a little exercise along the way! Get moving! How else are you going to check off all those “musts” on your European getaway to-do list anyways?