What I Eat in a Day – My Daily Diet Routine

As discussed on Episode 13 of the Wise Eats Podcast:

MY DAILY DIET ROUTINE

To give you an idea of the Wise Eats diet plan in practice, let me run you through a typical day for me as it relates to diet.

PRE-BREAKFAST

When I first wake up, the first thing I do is get hydrated. You can see exactly how I do this in my recipe video, “Always Workin’ Water”, available at Wise-Eats.com/water. Usually, I’ll follow hydration with black coffee, sometimes with MCT oil, and a fasted walk, core workout, stretch, or foam rolling. I’m a huge fan of coffee so go check out Wise-Eats.com/Coffee to see my favorite blends. Four Sigmatic sponsor!!

BREAKFAST

My first meal of the day is usually scrambled eggs with some sort of vegetable, potato or rice, and spices. If I skip on the egg scramble, I’ll do a salad, smoothie or the power oatmeal. Whatever the meal is, I always plan it ahead of time, especially if I know I’ll be on the go. That’s why food prep is so important. If you don’t give yourself healthy meals to choose from, you’ll end up in a situation where your starved with nothing on hand, forcing you into poor dietary choices. And that won’t be anyone else’s fault but your own. So, take control and be accountable.

LUNCH/DINNER

Lunch and dinners are pretty interchangeable. For me, it’s typically a salad made with spinach or kale mixed with a lean protein like chicken, sardines, or salmon. Our other favorite proteins are grass fed steak, wild caught fish, and ground turkey. Then, I add some combination of spices, peppers, beans, cucumber, pickles, olives, dried cranberries, shredded almonds, pumpkin seeds, tomato, feta cheese, onion, and hemp seed. For dressing, I’ll use extra virgin olive oil, liquid aminos, balsamic vinegar, salsa, or even pasta sauce. Sometimes, I’ll throw on some fresh fruit like apple or blueberry and don’t use dressing at all. Salads are terrific because you can rotate ingredients to enjoy a variety of flavors, while getting the benefit of many different nutrient profiles and all major dietary needs in one meal. I used to think of salad as just a pile of iceberg lettuce with some chicken, shredded cheddar cheese, some crotons, maaaaaybe a cucumber slice, and a pile of ranch dressing. Well, those days are long gone. Salads are your one-way ticket to better health if you make them a staple in your diet and get creative with the ingredients. Aside from salad, we’ll do some type of stir fry or ground turkey chili, and for a side we’ll have baked potato, quinoa or rice. To get an idea of these meals in action, go to Wise-Eats.com/Recipes and you’ll find a complete list of recipes broken down by category.

DESSERT

I have a bunch of recipes over on the website, like Banana Bread, Coconut Oil Chocolates, the Muscle Milkshake, and many others that are all made with wholesome ingredients. Just remember that it’s still dessert at the end of the day and should be enjoyed in moderation. That said, I have dessert pretty much every single day. Usually, it’s chocolate protein pudding, a bowl of Greek yogurt, or a protein shake. Sometimes it’s as simple as some apple with almond butter or some frozen fruit. I always switch it up depending on where my calorie count is for the day, and usually aim for something high in protein. So, dessert is my last meal of the day, and that’s what a typical diet day looks like for me. Hopefully, that gives you some ideas on ways you can make some changes to your own diet. I’m by no means perfect, and try to get better every day. The bottom line is that the more ways you can get whole foods in their most natural states and from good sources, the better you’re going to feel, and the healthier you’re going to be.

7 QUICK DIET TIPS

  1. DON’T OVERHAUL YOUR DIET. Add one thing in or take one thing out. Pop, fast food. Add in veggies, drink more water. Keep it simple at first. Don’t have to change everything at once, just gotta start somewhere.
  2. STAY HYDRATED. Most overeating comes when you’re dehydrated or bored. Keep drinking water and stay active. Go for walks between meals and don’t hang around the kitchen.
  3. COUNT CALORIES/KEEP A DIET JOURNAL. Can’t recommend this enough. If I were to train any one person today that would be the first thing I would tell them to do. How can you know where you’re going if you don’t even know where you are currently?
  4. AVOID BUYING FOODS YOU TEND TO OVEREAT. Peanut butter, dates, popcorn, other snacks. Even greek yogurt!
  5. VISUALIZE YOUR FITNESS GOALS. Is this food going to bring to closer to or further away?
  6. FIND SOME CONSISTENCY. With diet you have to find consistency somewhere in your life. My diet is pretty clean most days of the week. It can’t be a little bit of this today and a little bit of that tomorrow. You need to have a period of time when you’re only eating real food, otherwise you’ll never achieve any sort of consistency with your diet.
  7. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO GET STARTED. It took me until age 25 to finally wise up and get serious about my health. My Dad was stricken with diabetes and had a leg amputated before he decided to quit drinking, quit smoking, and start eating healthy. At age 55, he lost 60lbs and cured his diabetes. Work with another guy near retirement age who’s just now starting to work out and get in shape. Riding his bike, lifting light weights, and taking charge of his health. Change is possible no matter what your age, weight, or fitness level. Sooner or later, your health is going to become your #1 priority, so why not start today before it’s too late?

For a deeper dive into healthy diet philosophy, check out the Wise Eats Diet Plan.

Submit questions, comments, feedback to WiseEatsPodcast@gmail.com. Thanks for watching, listening, reviewing, liking, subscribing, and sharing. Be good to yourself, be good to others, and make wise choices!

The Wise Eats Diet Plan – Change Your Diet, Change Your Life

As discussed on Episode 12 & 13 of the Wise Eats Podcast:

In this article, we’re diving deep into diet philosophy and exactly the types of foods you should be eating to lose body fat, build lean muscle, and optimize your life. This is Part 1 of the Wise Eats Diet Plan. Among the topics discussed:

  • The Wise Eats Diet Philosophy
  • My Personal Diet History & Relationship with Food
  • The Foods We ALL Should Be Eating & Avoiding
  • Best Sources of Carbohydrates
  • Grocery Shopping Tips & Tricks
  • Importance of Hydration
  • Macros: The Best Sources of Proteins, Fats, and Carbs
  • Cooking Tips
  • Ketogenic Diet
  • Supplements
  • Seven Quick Diet Tips!

For an example of my typical diet day, head over to Wise-Eats.com/Ep13DietRoutine

Recipes Mentioned in This Article:

WELCOME TO THE WISE EATS DIET PLAN

What’s up wise guys and gals? Today, we’re diving deep into diet philosophy and exactly the types of foods you should be eating to lose body fat, build lean muscle, and optimize your life. This is an important topic to me because there’s so much confusion these days. So many diets to follow and so many workout regimens to choose from. So many greedy corporations trying to sell garbage and lies and personal agendas instead of educating people about what actually works. But I’m hoping to change all of that with Wise Eats. We’re bringing it back to basics – telling you the tactics that will truly help you become the very best version of yourself. We’re all different with varying nutritional needs, beliefs, and goals, but no matter what YOUR diet philosophy is, there are some simple truths that apply to all humans in general, and that’s what I want to get into with today’s episode. We’re not talking shortcuts or quick fixes here. No pills, no potions, no macro restrictions, just what works coming from someone who has overcome some of the worst diet habits imaginable.

WISECHOICENATION.COM FOR A FREE GIFT

Before we dive in, head over to WiseChoiceNation.com and subscribe to my free newsletter, if you haven’t done so already. When you do, you’ll immediately receive a welcome e-mail containing the full list of Wise Eats Approved Foods, Drinks, and Supplements. Building your diet based on these real foods will help you lose weight, build muscle, increase energy, fight depression, prevent disease, and feel amazing. So, get over to WiseChoicenation.com right now, sign up for free, and get that list of approved foods delivered instantly.

THE WISE EATS DIET PHILOSOPHY

Now, the idea behind the Wise Eats Diet Plan is a real simple philosophy that you may have heard before and that is to EAT REAL FOOD. We eat for optimization, plain and simple. No soda, no processed foods, no junk food, take out, or added sugar. Of course, we all have these things from time to time, myself included, but as a general rule, you want to be consuming foods from whole sources, because the nutrients you fuel your body with make up your physical appearance, attitude, mental clarity, energy levels, creativity, mindfulness, and so much more. Literally your entire existence is defined by the things you put into your body. When you put in nothing but junk, that’s what you’re going to get back out. Tired, sick, depressed, and worst of all, imprisoned both mentally and physically from lifestyle-related choices.

WHAT IS REAL FOOD?

So, what exactly is real food? It’s things that come from the Earth, not a science lab. Things that were alive at one time. Fresh fruits, vegetables, free range chicken, grass-fed beef, wild caught fish, nuts, seeds, and grains. We want foods that are raw, organic, and as close to their natural source as possible. Farm fresh and locally sourced. That’s real food. Potato chips, cookies, cheez-its, and monster energy drinks are not real food; they’re poison. They’re scientifically engineered, modified in a lab, then loaded with chemicals, additives, preservatives and fillers. They’re marketed to generate profits but provide no real value or life force to your body. Now, this may seem like common knowledge to you, but it wasn’t always obvious to me.

MY DIET HISTORY & JUNK FOOD ADDICTION

Back in my mid-twenties, I didn’t understand what real food was. I’m sure I had a general sense of what was good and bad for me, I just didn’t pay it much attention. Back then, buy-one-get-one free whoppers from Burger King were life. I would buy entire large pizzas for myself, usually 2 at a time, spread over breakfast lunch and dinner. My most prized kitchen utensil back then was my fry daddy. French fries, mozzarella sticks, fried mushrooms, chicken nuggets, and bosco sticks were all I knew. My life was a constant cycle of junk food. At 270lbs and miserable, I stumbled across a fitness article very similar to the podcast episode I’m recording today. It told me to ditch the junk food and processed food if I wanted to change my body. Imagine that. I wasn’t going to get into great shape eating McDonalds and Taco Bell all the time? Get out of town! Call me naïve, ignorant, or just plain dumb. I simply didn’t realize the impact my diet was having in all areas of my life. Now, I understand proper nutrition, and hope this message can impact someone else who may be in the same spot I was.

FOODS TO FOCUS ON

So, what kinds of real food do we want to consume? Starting with the most important, it’s vegetables in all forms, especially green leafy ones. There are literally an endless amount of benefits for eating green vegetables, like fat loss and disease prevention, but they basically turbo charge your existence. For most of my life, I rarely ate vegetables outside of an iceberg lettuce salad. Today, I have smoothies, salads and stir fries made with all kinds of greens like kale, spinach, and broccoli. Any way I can think of to add vegetables to my diet, I do it, and the health benefits are dramatic! Just try a google search on any way to improve your health and fitness, whether it be getting better sleep, preventing cancer, fighting disease, becoming stronger, or feeling energized, and eating vegetables is going to be very high on the list of ways to accomplish these things. It simply helps with so many different areas of life. It took a long time for me to get used to it, but now I have them with nearly every single meal and can’t live without them. I know if my junk-food addicted self can grow to love vegetables, ANYONE can.

FAVORITE CARBS

My favorite carb sources other than vegetables include oat bran, quinoa, white jasmine rice, sweet potato, and fresh or dried fruit. One of my favorite easy carb recipes is the Slammin’ Sweet Potato which you can find at Wise-Eats.com/SweetPotato – Baked in coconut oil with cinnamon – the perfect complement for a lights out delicious meal!

FOODS TO AVOID

Now, I talked a little bit about the things you should be eating, but how about some of the things you should NOT be eating? For starters, eliminate fast foods, completely. No Taco Bell, Burger King or McDonald’s. I can already hear the 2009 version of myself cringing at the thought of eliminating fast food. But, it happened. I went from having fast food pretty much every day for most of my life to  barely touching the stuff. These days, it doesn’t even register to me as food. Of course, the idea of fast food sounds pretty good when I REALLY think about it, but then I just have my normal, delicious, healthy food that I prepared ahead of time and forget all about it. It’s simply not worth it to poison myself when I know the negative effects it will have on my mood, energy levels, and focus. Of course, I do eat out from time to time or for special occasions, but almost never fast food, it really is the worst of the worst. It’s usually some combination of refined flour, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavor and colors, trans fats, salt, genetically modified toxins, petroleum products, cow feces, and antibiotics. Your body doesn’t even recognize these foods as fuel, so instead of digesting them, it stores them away as excess body fat. I cringe when I think that I’ve lived more than 2/3 of my life eating these types of foods on a regular basis. These days, my cheat meals consist of home cooked food or a dinner out with my wife, where I’ll fully enjoy myself for one meal then get right back to normal eating afterward.

PROCESSED FOOD

Another poison disguised as food that you should avoid as much as possible is processed food. Chips, cookies, cakes, and snack foods are off limits. If you are buying something packaged, check ingredient lists and avoid chemicals you don’t understand. If it has some type of health claim like low calorie or low fat or low sugar on the package, don’t trust the marketing. Read nutrition fact labels and choose foods with simple ingredients. Educate yourself and take accountability for the things you’re putting in your body. When you sign up for my free newsletter at WiseChoiceNation.com, you’ll instantly receive a list of foods that I recommend as part of a normal, healthy diet.

GROCERY SHOPPING

Now, let’s talk one of my favorite past times: grocery shopping. I used to get everything done at the big supermarkets like Meijer or Wal-Mart. Now, I only go there as a last resort. First, I hit local farmer’s markets as much as possible. Fresh, local produce is the way to go. The closer to the original source, the better. We live in a suburb of Detroit and have a farmer’s market that meets two days per week to offer fresh vegetables and farm fresh eggs. This market was there my whole life and I never took advantage of it! Finally, a couple years ago I decided to try it out, and have been hooked ever since. I try not to buy my vegetables anywhere else. Next to growing your own, I think these markets are your best option. So, find out where your local markets are if you don’t know already. It will be a game changer.

MY FAVORITE SPOTS TO SHOP

My top three places to shop other than farmer’s markets are Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Amazon. When I do go shopping, I stick to fresh produce sections and avoid the middle aisles where most processed junk is located. The bulk of your time in a grocery store should be spent in those outside sections where the fresh produce and meats are located. I stay away from the majority of frozen items unless it’s produce or meat. Frozen dinners and packaged snacks are loaded with sodium, refined sugar, preservatives, and additives. I know because I used to eat them every single day multiple times a day, and they were a staple of my diet when I initially lost 90lbs. Sure, low calorie foods can help you lose weight no matter how processed they are, but all they’ll do is leave you skinny and sick just like they did me.

HYDRATION

You can’t talk diet without touching on hydration. Because I exercise in some form every single day, I usually have about a gallon and a half or more of purified water, but I challenge any person, no matter their fitness level is, to get at least a gallon per day. That might sound outrageous to some, but it’s not hard when you make it a priority. Back in the day, I hardly drank water at all – just pop, Kool-Aid, and fruit juice. I remember as a kid constantly waking up in the middle of the night so miserably tired and thirsty. I’d get up out of bed, do my sleepy eyed, zombie walk to the fridge, and suck down a heaping glass of ice cold kool-aid, Hi-C fruit punch, or Boppin’ Berry. It was the best thing ever, and I was completely oblivious to the toll it was taking on my body. Those were the good old days! But nowadays, water is automatic, and it’s my #1 priority when I wake up each day. By the way, the home filtration system I use is called the Berkey, but there are less expensive options out there. If water quality has not been a priority for you up to this point, it’s time to Wise Up.

MACROS

The three dietary macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Your diet should include various possible amounts of each of these depending on your goals. In general, your total calorie intake each day should be made up of about 15-20% fat, 30-40% protein, and 30-50% carbohydrate. I’m a 34-year-old male, 6-foot-tall, about 200lbs, with very active lifestyle. I’m lifting weights 3-5 days per week and stay pretty active on my off days. In order to maintain my current weight, I need about 2,900 calories each day. In order to gain weight, I need to bump that up to around 3200 calories per day. In order to lose body fat, I need to drop that calorie amount to about 2,600 calories per day. Obviously, your body has different requirements than mine. These numbers are just estimates that will fluctuate based on your individual characteristics, goals, and genetics, but it’s a great place to start. There are many resources out there that you can use to estimate your required calorie intake based on your goals and the macro amounts you need to hit in order to lose weight or build muscle.

CARBS & KETO

In Part 1, I touched on carbs and my favorite sources, which are fruits, vegetables, jasmine rice, potatoes, and oats.

Carbs are a bad word nowadays because keto is the hotness right now, but I believe healthy active individuals should be eating healthy carbs, period. I love eating carbs and feel amazing when I have them, so that’s my preference.

My understanding is that following a keto diet can help curb cravings and provide some mental clarity. I know it’s also popular because it does result in rapid weight loss initially, but often it’s only temporary and there’s often a massive rebound effect when you come off the diet where you’re cravings intensify and your appetite skyrockets. I can’t speak from personal experience, but that’s what I understand about keto. The bottom line is that the fitness and nutrition experts that I trust do not recommend keto. A healthy balance of all the macros coming from real food combined with good sleep, exercise, and stress management are the keys to unlocking all of your fitness dreams.

If keto helps you get closer to your fitness goals, fantastic, but you shouldn’t be worried about whether you should be on Atkins, or paleo, or carnivore if you’re not even eating at least three servings of fruits and vegetables a day or going for daily walks or exercising a few days per week. Stop focusing on all the nitpicky stuff like fad diets and start doing the legitimate fundamentals that actually matter like getting good sleep and meditating and drinking tons of water and avoiding sugar. If you sleep well, exercise regularly, eat plenty of vegetables, and avoid sugar, it really doesn’t matter what diet your following.

PROTEIN

Protein is extremely important if you’re looking to lose body fat and/or build muscle. Most adults looking to improve their body composition want to aim for about 1g per pound of body weight. My first recommendation to any person trying to improve health, lose weight, or improve their physique would be to increase protein intake. I always make sure I get enough protein for the day whereas my fat and carb intake will fluctuate. My favorite sources include chicken, fish, sardines, ground turkey, steak, tofu (beware of estrogen), eggs, beans, black bean pasta, Greek yogurt, chicken broth, cottage cheese, and whey protein isolate.

FAT

Dietary fat is very healthy but also the macro most easily converted into body fat, so be careful. I usually keep fat intake as low as possible because it’s really easy to overdo it. My favorite sources are almonds, avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, MCT oil, peanut butter, feta cheese, sardines, walnuts, flax seed, and chia seed.

Balancing these three macronutrients is critical for accomplishing your fitness goals as efficiently as possible. When I first lost 90lbs, I focused strictly on total calorie intake, and it worked. I only had a general sense of the amount of protein, fat, and carbs my body required, but because I was taking in less calories than my body required, I lost weight. Now that I’m focused on improving performance and building muscle, macros are much more important to me. If you understand your needs ahead of time, you’re going to have a huge advantage.

In the past, I haven’t been too obsessed with macros, I just focused on real food. I believed that by eating a variety of healthy foods in moderate amounts, you’re likely going to end up fulfilling your requirements. Just because you didn’t get enough healthy fats in on Monday, doesn’t mean you can’t make up for it on Tuesday. To an extent, this philosophy works, but it’s very easy to overeat this way. Over time, I have learned that you can eat very clean and still gain excessive weight, so getting a handle on your total calorie intake and macro ratios is really useful when you want to fine tune your eating habits, accelerate progress, and change body composition. In general, I keep my dietary fat moderate, about 40-60g, protein intake at about 1g per pound of body weight, and the rest of my diet is made up of healthy carbohydrates.

COOKING

Everything we prepare is done in the oven, on the stove, or in our Blend Tec blender. No fancy gizmos or microwaves. We actually haven’t owned a microwave in years and don’t miss it at all. We either heat everything up on the stove, in the oven, or eat it cold. Actually, some food is better cold, so don’t hate.

For high temperature cooking, we use olive oil, coconut oil, and avocado oil. Avoid refined vegetable oils, since those are inflammatory and low in omega 3’s. You’re going to run into those a lot when you eat out also.

BATCH COOKING

One tactic that I’m a big fan of is batch cooking. I don’t just prepare one meal. I quadruple the recipe to have for multiple meals. Make the most of your time in the kitchen by multitasking. This works especially well if you lead a busy life or work a full-time job, which most of us do. This way, your meals are always ready to go, leaving no excuse to eat out or buy from that vending machine or catering truck. I’ll usually steam a large batch of frozen vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower rice. Then, I’ll bake a few chicken breasts and have those chopped up ready to go. Then, I’ll make a starchy carb like white jasmine rice, quinoa, or potato. Once you have food prepared, sticking to your diet goals is a breeze. Grab a little bit of this, a little bit of that, reheat on the stove with a little avocado oil and some fresh greens for a quick, convenient, healthy meal any time. One hour or so of preparation one day can set you up for several days’ worth of delicious, healthy, and convenient meals. Very often, our lunches and dinners are just stir fries of stuff we already have prepared and ready to go.

SUPPLEMENTS

The bottom line when it comes to supplements is that you truly don’t need any of them. You can do just fine by eating healthy foods and exercising regularly. That said, supplements can help you achieve your goals more quickly and conveniently. Because I’m lifting weights often, I use several different proteins, including whey protein isolate, pea protein, and casein protein. The brands I currently use are Naked and Legion Athletics. For strength training, I take 5g of creatine in my post workout drinks to help speed muscle growth and recovery. Black coffee w/ MCT oil is my favorite pre-workout. Most other pre-workouts are just overhyped, overpriced junk. Once in a while, I’ll use Legion Athletics Pulse, so if you’re really deadest on taking a pre-workout, that’s the one I recommend. I try to stay away from it because the stimulants tend to affect my sleep. If you’re going with a pre-workout, beware of ingredients and go with a company that you trust.

On a daily basis, I usually take a fish oil, multivitamin, and vitamin d. Sometimes before bed, I’ll take broccoli sprout tablets or magnesium. But, most of these nutrients can be covered through a healthy diet. Supplements are good for optimization, but you don’t really need them. The truth is, the best supplement you can take is a diet that is rich in a variety of earth grown foods and vegetables. This isn’t the sexy answer, but it’s true. Supplement companies won’t make any profits by selling kale or olive oil, which is why so many different pills and powders exist. Block all of that fancy marketing out of your mind and know that real food is the supplement that actually works!

7 QUICK DIET TIPS

  1. DON’T OVERHAUL YOUR DIET. Add one thing in or take one thing out. Pop, fast food. Add in veggies, drink more water. Keep it simple at first. Don’t have to change everything at once, just gotta start somewhere.
  2. STAY HYDRATED. Most overeating comes when you’re dehydrated or bored. Keep drinking water and stay active. Go for walks between meals and don’t hang around the kitchen.
  3. COUNT CALORIES/KEEP A DIET JOURNAL. Can’t recommend this enough. If I were to train any one person today that would be the first thing I would tell them to do. How can you know where you’re going if you don’t even know where you are currently?
  4. AVOID BUYING FOODS YOU TEND TO OVEREAT. Peanut butter, dates, popcorn, other snacks. Even greek yogurt!
  5. VISUALIZE YOUR FITNESS GOALS. Is this food going to bring to closer to or further away?
  6. FIND SOME CONSISTENCY. With diet you have to find consistency somewhere in your life. My diet is pretty clean most days of the week. It can’t be a little bit of this today and a little bit of that tomorrow. You need to have a period of time when you’re only eating real food, otherwise you’ll never achieve any sort of consistency with your diet.
  7. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO GET STARTED. It took me until age 25 to finally wise up and get serious about my health. My Dad was stricken with diabetes and had a leg amputated before he decided to quit drinking, quit smoking, and start eating healthy. At age 55, he lost 60lbs and cured his diabetes. Work with another guy near retirement age who’s just now starting to work out and get in shape. Riding his bike, lifting light weights, and taking charge of his health. Change is possible no matter what your age, weight, or fitness level. Sooner or later, your health is going to become your #1 priority, so why not start today before it’s too late?

Thanks for reading the Wise Eats Diet Plan. Take at least one thing from this article to improve your habits going forward and contact me below to let me know what it is! Now get out there, eat something fresh, do something good, make wise choices.

9 Tips to Stay Fit on Vacation

As discussed on Episode 7 of the Wise Eats Podcast

Well aloha, mahalo, and welcome to another episode of Wise Eats. In today’s article, I want to share some diet and fitness tips that I took away from my recent trip to Maui that you can apply to your travels in life, not just for vacation, but in other areas of your life:

Tip #1: Food Prep

Prepare food to have in your carry-on bag. Cook meals where you’re staying, if possible. On this trip, my carry-on was loaded with protein bars, energy Bowl, cauliflower fried rice (recipe pending), sweet potato, and other healthy snacks. I had enough food for our 13-hour trip and then some. It was the same theme on the ride home. We cooked everything we had leftover and packed it to go on the plane, so we ended up with chicken, vegetables, energy bowl, potatoes, and rx bars. All we left behind food-wise was a couple extra cases of water.

Many people think you can’t bring snacks on a plane, which is not true. You can bring snacks, prepared food, just have to watch out for fresh produce and liquids.

Resist the urge to given into convenience and stay accountable by preparing your travel meals. Avoid airport food and in-flight snacks whenever possible. Stick to real food and wise choices.

Tip #2: Grocery Shop

Obviously, this doesn’t really work if you’re going on a cruise or all-inclusive. One of the reasons we chose Maui was because we enjoy going to a place where we have the freedom to prepare our own meals when we want. We rented a condo on the ocean stocked with a full kitchen, freezer, refrigerator, blender. There’s a Costco in town, along with a local farmer’s market and grocery store.

No matter what my circumstance, on vacation or in normal life, I need to have healthy options on hand. So, after we got off the plane, we went to Costco which was right around the corner from the airport. We stocked up on healthy options like chicken, rice, fresh and frozen produce, water, and other essentials. We even placed orders on Amazon and had them shipped directly to our room so it was waiting for us when we got to Maui.

Tip #3: Cook Your Own Meals

I know this probably sounds so boring. But I don’t care if I’m on getting on a plane to go across the world or driving across town to a family function, I always stay prepared when it comes to food. I have healthy meals as back up and plenty of filtered water. You need accountability for the things you’re putting in your body, so the more you can control that, the better off you’re going to be.

On this trip, we made breakfast every day: Scrambled eggs, gluten-free pancakes, fresh fruit, energy bowl, protein shakes with kale, and others. We often made lunch or dinner, as well. Of course, we ate out at times, but it was usually only one meal or so per day, not the entire time.

Vacation should involve a break from your normal routine, but it’s not a free pass to just eat crap for a week straight. Eat well as much as possible and save unhealthy meals for the moments where it will truly be memorable, like a nice dinner out or something you know you’ll really enjoy in the moment. A sub sandwich and bag of chips on a plane is not memorable or good for your body.

Tip #4: Control Your Portions

I fight myself with this all the time. Pick your poison, but try not to overindulge. Instead of eating half a pizza or a whole pizza, have a slice or two. Easier said than done, but the more you focus your mindset toward restriction, the better you’ll do in the long run. Portion control is something I struggled with for years, and still fail at from time to time, but has gotten much easier. I did overeat quite a bit on this trip, but it was usually healthy foods. Plus, who’s got time for calorie restriction on vacation? It’s time to enjoy yourself, of course! But you can do that while making wise choices in the process.

Tip #5: Not Every Meal is a Cheat Meal

Treat yourself, but get in as much home cooked, healthy prepared meals as possible to go along with it. If you completely binge the whole time like I used to, you’re going to come back needing a vacation from your vacation. We cooked many meals that we would normally have at home, but also enjoyed some local flavors and fresh produce. We actually enjoyed some sort of “bad” food every single day. We simply limited it to one meal and surrounded it with other healthy meals so we didn’t go too far overboard.

Our favorite dishes from this trip: Carrot cake (fresh made daily), fresh baked pie, tamales, pizza, shave ice, sushi, haupia

Tip #6: Get Moving

I’m not saying you have to sign up for a nearby gym for the week you’re on vacation, but if you can, it’s not a bad idea. In my previous trip to Maui, I focused too much on getting to the gym, but you have a built-in gym inside you. Take a break from your normal routine and just do some bodyweight exercises. Pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks, running, walking, stretching, playing. There are so many things you can do outside of a normal gym routine. Enjoy nature, get in the water, the sand. At a minimum, keep a mindset of movement.

Normally, I lift weights 5-6 days per week, so I usually try to have a gym nearby whenever I travel, but that was not an option on this trip. In preparation, I really pushed hard in the weeks leading up so I could feel good about taking time off for recovery. Instead of going to the gym, I moved as much as I could every single day. I walked in the airports, did bodyweight squats on the plane, stretched, bodyweight, ab routines. Instead of chest day, I did a push-up challenge. Instead of leg day, I did a bodyweight squat challenge. I also made it a requirement to jump in the ocean every single day: real hard, I know. The idea is to embrace the opportunity to take a break from your normal training routine and try some different things that make you feel good.

Tip #7: Stay Hydrated

Water, water, water. Drink it, a lot. Swim in it. Play in it. Live in it. Staying hydrated will help keep you from overeating and also feeling energized. Hydration is a very simple hack to optimize your health all the time, not just on vacation. We bought like 8 cases of water from Costco and it lasted our entire trip. We were never without fresh water and challenged one another to drink as much as possible every day.

Tip #8: Limit Alcohol Intake

Oh boy, this is the holy grail. Wes, what good is a vacation without alcohol? Trust me, I get it. I used to drink every day whether I was on vacation or not. Wes from 5 years ago doesn’t even know who I am today.

My vacations used to be centered around alcohol. Room was always fully stocked with bottles. Whether I was on vacation or headed to a sporting event or concert, I would travel with mini bottles full of vodka so I always had quick access to free booze.

These days, however, it’s a much different story. Out of our 12 nights in Hawaii, we only drank alcohol twice and never got drunk, just had a few drinks. I really just enjoyed myself more without the alcohol. I want my body feeling good and to enjoy my surroundings fully. I want to rest fully and wake up feeling refreshed, energized, and ready to take on all of the amazing wonders Maui has to offer. I’m not saying I never drink, but it’s less and less all the time because my goals are so much bigger now, and alcohol is a poison that only detracts from those goals. If you want to drink and party all the time, that’s perfectly fine, and I won’t be mad at you because I’ve been there. But if your goal is longevity and vitality, you may want to rethink your priorities like I had to.

All that said, we enjoyed a few local beers while we were in Hawaii, so shout out to the Maui Brewing Company. Loved their nitro brewed coconut hiwa porter. Fantastic.

Tip #9: Enjoy yourself.

Eating healthy and exercising are great, but at the end of the day, it is vacation. I encourage you to make as many wise choices as you can, but at the end of the day, advise you to worry less, and relax more. Have some fun and don’t be so hard on yourself!

In closing, don’t use vacation as an excuse to just eat junk the whole time. A getaway is a chance to recharge your batteries and come back feeling better than you did when you left. It’s not a week long session of poisoning yourself and then spending a whole month just to get back to where you were before.

I might sound like a boring date to take on vacation, but trust me, I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum. From being focused on nothing but eating and drinking myself into oblivion to slowing down and enjoying myself in other ways beyond food and alcohol. I want to feel good on my vacation. I don’t want to be tired, lethargic, or hungover. I want to fully enjoy my surroundings and remember the great times I had.

That’s gonna do it for the lifestyle tips while on vacation. Shoot me an e-mail with any questions or comments you have over at WiseEatsPodcast@gmail.com. I turned my life around completely by focusing on health and fitness, and want to do whatever I can to help you do the same. I haven’t found some magic bullet or special diet or fancy supplement or a quick shortcut. What I did was make a conscious decision to change my lifestyle, then made small positive changes that grew into a permanent lifestyle over time. It’s all about developing a mindset that centers around movement, gratitude, hard work, and real food. So, thanks again for reading, please let me know how I can help, and until next time, aloha, mahalo, and make wise choices!

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