How to Travel Without Dieting

I stood in my bedroom, packing my carry on with everything I expected I would need for the next several months. I had no idea how long I was going to be gone, where I was going to go, what I was going to do, how I was going to eat, or what I needed to pack.

All I knew is that I had a one-way ticket to Asia, with no end in sight.

Five years ago, I would have never been able to do this.

I wouldn’t have been able to do this for anything like money reasons, or because of a relationship status, or even school.

I wouldn’t have been able to travel because of my diet.

Years ago, I couldn’t have even taken a trip for a half day to go skiing or hiking without anxiously obsessing over how I would take my eat-every-three-hours-or-lose-all-muscle-and-possibly-die meals with me.

Would my friends be annoyed at the smell of tilapia and broccoli coming out of my Tupperware at ten in the morning? Would they be disgusted if I pulled out a container of chicken and brown rice from my meal prep bag?

What time would I need to wake up in the morning to make sure I completed my workout?

Do I need to prepare all of my meals in advance tonight so that I don’t have to worry about packing them up tomorrow?

All of this mental and physical energy was spent each and every time I was away from my kitchen for more than three hours.

Even if I had multiple classes in a row to attend, I would experience inner turmoil about how to shovel in meals either during the class or in between them while I ran to make each one on time. I would let a shake of oatmeal, water and protein powder sit in my backpack for hours in the hot Texas heat just so that I would be prepared for when my next mealtime arrived.

I was obsessed with making sure I ate every three hours on the dot, all thanks to a random magazine that told me I had to eat this way or I would lose my fast metabolism. No exceptions.

I didn’t travel far away from my home because of my obsession. Even traveling a few hours away would create too much stress and anxiety.

Today, and I’m able to travel across the globe without packing more than a couple oatmeal snack bars and travel-sized chocolate granola baggies.

To me, this is ultimate freedom.

I want every other person to be able to enjoy travel to the absolute fullest, free from exercise obsessions and food fears. It’s a process, most definitely, but it’s one that anyone can begin to practice daily, regardless of whether or not they are traveling.

Here are three tips on how to travel without dieting:

1. Aim to feel safe, but be open to feeling uncomfortable.

If you’re working through disordered eating, you will feel uncomfortable at times. The goal is to continue to expose yourself to these uncomfortable situations but to stay safe throughout them. This means that there will be times when you know you’re out of sync with your perfectly scheduled food or exercise routine, and it doesn’t feel pleasant, but it’s doable. You can work through it. On the other hand, if you feel unsafe, you may feel more traumatized and even have a panic attack if you are susceptible to them. That’s not what we want.

If you believe you are at a place in your journey where you can travel without pre-planning any restaurants or places to eat, I say go for it. Go to a restaurant blindly without knowing the full menu by heart. Go to a new city without researching the route to the closest gym. Be spontaneous and go with the flow.

If you believe you’re not quite there yet, take baby steps. Be open to adventuring to new restaurants without first having to look up the menu, but also have some back up restaurants on a list, with meals you know you will feel comfortable eating. Research local gyms, but don’t schedule out which days you “must” get a workout in. Instead, let your intuition tell you which days you desire that movement. This way you feel safe, but yet you’re open to some beautiful, uncomfortable growth.

2. Think intuition, not regime.

Traveling is all about experiences. If you’re too busy trying to live like you do when you’re at home with your special routine, your special foods, and your special workout, you’re going to completely miss out on the opportunities to get out of your routine and embody a traveler’s spontaneous lifestyle.

Travel forces you to work out your intuition muscle. For example, traveling will give you plenty of opportunities to work on intuitive eating, if that’s something you want to practice. When you sit down to a meal, you can really ask yourself, “What sounds good to eat?” as you dive into some of the cultural, local dishes that only the country can authentically cook.

It doesn’t stop there. Traveling will push you emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. There will be times your intuition will speak loudly, perhaps asking you to slow down and rest a bit. There will be times you feel called to do something completely out of character. When your intuition shows up, respond to it! The more you listen to what your intuition is telling you, the more you will feel prepared to incorporate it into your every day life once you return home.

3. Remember, you are not your body.

Depending on where you go, you may lack a kitchen or a way to prepare your own food. If you’re somebody who craves control, this could completely throw you out of your comfort zone and make you feel insecure and unworthy.

In my personal experience, this feeling typically occurs when you confuse your identity with the state of your physical body.

Listen, you are not a good person if you eat good food and you are not a bad person if you don’t. You are not your body, and your identity is not rooted within your appearances or food choices.

If you believe that there are still good foods and bad foods, or good body types and bad body types, then your happiness still depends on how good you are with your weight and food on any particular day. Traveling will provide you with many instances where you can’t eat foods on your “Approved Foods” list because they are not available, or you have no way of cooking them yourself.

In fact, you may be traveling for months and have to eat out for every single meal. How will you be able to fully enjoy the food and the culture if you spend all your time obsessing over maintaining a particular weight?

You are not your body. You are so much more than that.

Your weight will fluctuate all of your life. It’s fact. And chances are, when you’re traveling you will fluctuate a little bit, but your body won’t stray away from your set point weight (or what I like to call, your happy weight) forever. Your happy weight is the weight your body always wants to stay at, so even if you gain or lose some weight on your travels, your body will eventually find its way back without you having to adopt a new diet or rigid exercise routine.

It’s handy to already have an understanding of body positivity and intuitive eating before you travel, but it’s not mandatory. Traveling is a wonderful teacher that will help you learn these lessons and adopt these beliefs at an even faster rate than you would if you were sitting at home with instant (and tempting) access to your special, safe foods and your obsessive, scheduled workout routine.

You don’t need to go abroad to learn these lessons. You certainly can experience transformational shifts from traveling from a simple day trip or going to another city close by. All you have to do is pack a bag and choose to embrace the intuitive adventure ahead.

Has your body image been holding you back from fearless travel? #bodyimage #HAES