A healthy life on the road?

Living a life on the road also means that we have to live healthy. Before we would go on shorter vacations and we would eat more unhealthy than we usually do at home, because when we came back home we would go back to our normal life with exercise and healthy food. BUT when traveling on the road for a longer time period, we have found out, that telling ourselves that healthy food and exercise have to wait until we get back home, that does not work for us. So we have really been working on a healthy lifestyle on the road. We all know that is comes down to exercise and eating healthy, but how do we do it? What works for us maybe not be working for you, but we hope that you will find this post inspiring.

 

Our basic rules:

1. Keep it simple – so don’t go crazy when you grocery shop, but only buy food for 2-3 days (usually it takes us 4 days to eat anyway)
2. No sweets – we try to avoid sugar (processed foods with sugar), and we replace it with fruit
3. Eat vegetables for lunch and dinner
4. Do strength training once a week
5. Try to walk 10,000 steps per day (that’s a challenge on a long driving day)
6. Use the new bicycle (mostly Camilla)

Remember you eat what you buy

 

Buying fruit and vegetables (go for the local and cheap things)

   

We try not to buy more than will fit in our electric cooler and in a vegetable tub.

 

FACE IT!

In Buenos Aires we went crazy, remember this post: “The famous Argentinian meat”? We also ate a lot of cake, and this is how we left Buenos Aires

 

We could feel the extra kilos when putting on out clothes. We went to a pharmacy and there was a scale, so we decided to face the fact, and stepped on that scale. It works for us to face the facts, now we are sure that we have to do something, and we also know that those extra 5 kilos is not gonna be gone in just a couple of weeks. A lot of pharmacies in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and a few in Brazil have scales, so when we get the chance, we will jump on the scale.

 

Breakfast

We (mostly Camilla) love oats, so our standard healthy breakfast is old fashion oats (Esben eats half and half old fashion and 1-minute), a small scoop of vanilla protein powder (Pure Whey with about 80 grams of protein per 100 gram), low fat milk and some fruit on top fx banana, apple and cinnamon, mango, melon, pear etc. (buy local produce). Our second choice of breakfast is 3 eggs for each with vegetables (we prefer tomatoes) on the side and one slice of bread.

 

Now that we travel in a van, we bought a blender – it is smoothie time! Mix fruit (here is one with honey melon and one with mango add line juice or passion fruit – something sour), one handful of oats, 2/3 scoop of vanilla protein powder and some milk.

 

Smoothie in the jungle – I keep posting ideas for new food traveling on the road on Instagram: @sund_camilla

 

Lunch and dinner

A stew with meat, a lot of vegetables and spices. In Patagonia we used butternut squash (left picture), because it was cheap. After getting to Brazil we tried using bananas (a special kind for cooking), here it is cooked with chicken, curry and coconut milk. Sometimes we eat it with rice, beans, lentils or bread, BUT we also like just to eat the stew. A lot of the strew also taste great when they are cold.

 

Burger or a dish with homemade bread (just to feel when it is Friday)

 

Homemade bread, baked on a pan. Made from oats, flour, milk/water, salt and baking powder – this bread also as garlic and olives

Salad with cabbage and onions marinated in lime juice salt and pepper add tuna and egg. Coleslaw with papaya – that is a first, but has great flavor!

 

Salad with eggs and avocado

 

Snack – mostly fruit, nuts and sometime sugar free cacao powder mixed with milk

 

The Brazilian pine nut “Pinhao” is a great snack (172 kcal per 100 gram)

 

Pure peanut butter! But don’t eat too much, it is high in calories

Eating out – restaurants

It is harder to eat healthy when eating out (I know that there are exceptions). If we buy local snacks or food, we only buy one and share it. It is not only half the calories, but it is also half the money. We usually only eat out, when we are together with friends, and when we do we enjoy it.

Do you really have to have that pizza all to yourself? We were four people sharing this, and the pizza was still amazing

 

The exercise part

We have two options for strength training (1) finding a cheap gym 3-6 USD per person per day, if we are lucky the gym has a shower or (2) using our TRX, an exercise rubber band and the surroundings. In Praia Grande we could exercise at the local picnic/camping area.

 

In São Sebastião, Brazil we went to a local gym

   

This is what happens when the gym doesn’t have a shower – a river shower

Then there is the use of the bicycle. We use it both for sightseeing and for exercise. Only having one is a limitation, on the other hand Esben can take a nap while I go on the bicycle, and he will catch up later in the van after his nap.

This is how much the locals exercise – why take a bicycle when I can take my scooter or my horse?

 

The 10,000 steps per day – walk around town even when buying groceries (Praia Grande, Brazil)

Go hiking! Half a day, full day or multiple days… it is up to you

   

Even when we visited Itaimbezinho canyon on a cloudy and rainy day, we went for a walk (left picture). The same in Pumalin National Park, Chile (right picture): “Hiking in Pumalin National Park”

 

It is all up to you, how you want to live your life on the road, but find the out what works for you. We are ready to hit the road – next stop the Florianopolis or rather the island of Florianopolis Ilha Santa Catarina, where we are gonna explore the southern part of the island.