Staying Healthy On The Road

It is hard to travel with kids. It is even more challenging to travel with kids for more than a month, which is right about where we’re at!!  During the longest leg of our Great American Roadtrip we drove 2,500 over 10 days.  

They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.

One of the hardest things about traveling is trying to keep up healthy habits.  During the first week of our trip we celebrated the 4^th of July, enjoyed a music festival and visited our family in Tennessee.  All of this involved food.  A lot of food.  Fried food, baked sugary food, BBQ food and basically everything one normally eats in moderation we ate in excess.  

 Of course I did not eat this by myself! 
Yes I did.

We all began to feel sluggish, irritable and frankly, sick to our stomachs.

When we continued onto the next phase of our road trip, we knew we had to make some changes.   

A few things that really helped us over the next 1,800 miles were:

-Stay at a hotel or lodging facility with a kitchenette.  Preparing your own meals will save you money and calories!

-When you do have to get fast food, go with greens!  Salads are my favorite pick for a healthy lunch and most restaurants (even fast food)  have several to choose from.  Quick tip: Pick a low-calorie dressing and if you’re a meat lover opt for grilled chicken over fried.

- Drink LOTS of water and make sure your kids do too!! Juice and soda don’t count.  A few years ago Cole started showing flu-like symptoms that lingered for weeks.  Finally after a trip to the ER and a stomach X-ray we discovered that his intestines were totally impacted.  He had not been drinking enough water to flush out the waste that was building up (grody, I know).  He had to be put on liquid laxatives for 30 days to clear his system.  This can cause serious damage to a kid’s body, so bypass the risk and just make sure your kid is hydrated! 

-Give your kids a supplement, such as Culturelle Probiotic.  Culturelle is the #1 pediatrician recommended probiotic. It boosts digestive health, provides ongoing maintenance for a healthy digestive tract and helps support kids’ natural defenses.

 (When I gave this to Peanut the first time I was prepared to mix it with juice in order to mask whatever taste it might have.  However, I first tried mixing it with water and he had no idea I had put anything in it-Score!)

We're still traveling and we still indulge occasionally, but if you're doing enough right the little splurges won't feel so wrong!

I was compensated for this post.  All opinions expressed are my own.