Eating for blood sugar balance on vacation

Hello! After enjoying cooler temps the last couple of weeks in the Pacific Northwest, I’m back home and happily back in my own kitchen.

I love vacation, but I also know it can make eating for blood sugar balance feel a little more complicated. Travel days are unpredictable, routines are thrown off, new experiences and restaurants beckon, and we naturally want to have fun and relax.

When it comes to eating, vacation doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing experience. A few simple habits can go a long way toward keeping your energy steady, supporting balanced blood sugar, and helping you come home feeling good instead of like you need to “get back on track.”

Here are my top five eating tips that work best for my family:

This is my best tip, and it might be your least favorite. 😜 I don’t suggest you cook every meal. It doesn’t mean we skip the local restaurants or vacation treats—it just gives us a little more flexibility and balance throughout the trip. This is one of the reasons we almost always choose Airbnbs when we travel (or stay with family).

A kitchen gives us the freedom to choose “home-cooked” meals when we want to. They can be as simple as grilled veggies like asparagus paired with grilled chicken and a yogurt sauce, salads, or burger bowls.

If an Airbnb is not an option, try to choose a place to stay that has a semi-kitchen, or at the bare minimum, a refrigerator. A fridge or mini fridge gives you flexibility to store healthy snack or breakfast items like cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, chia puddings, fruit, fresh-cut veggies, hummus, and hard-boiled eggs.

On this trip, we focused on packing nutrient-dense, balanced snacks, not just for the kids, but for everyone. They came in handy during plane and car rides, outings, and other activities throughout the day. Having balanced snacks on hand also prevents impulse food purchases, a win for your budget and your blood sugar.

My go-tos include meat sticks, olives, cheese sticks, fresh fruit/veggies, and nuts (like the hot honey trail mix I’m sharing today).

Even (and especially!) on vacation. We enjoyed a protein-forward breakfast every single day. This supports steady blood sugar, keeps you full longer, and reduces cravings (which can already be noticeably higher when you’re vacationing and surrounded by so many tempting foods!).

It also gives you energy for busy travel days that can often be unpredictable. Even if our meal times were thrown off schedule, I could count on our days beginning with a balanced, filling breakfast. Cream fried eggs, egg scrambles (tuck them into grain-free tortillas for breakfast burritos) and Greek yogurt/skyr or cottage cheese bowls were the breakfasts I rotated during our trip.

Eat the foods that are worth it. Enjoy local specialties. If needed, request modifications to your meal when eating out (like swapping simple carbohydrates for another side of vegetables). Vacationing is all about new experiences, enjoying yourself and time with family/friends, and taking a break from your regular routine. Food is a big part of that, and perhaps one of the best parts.

The tips I share are not about restriction, but about creating an eating routine that regularly supports your blood sugar and allows you to enjoy treats with intentionality instead of out of hunger or convenience.

Pair complex carbs with protein and fat, eat fiber first and carbs last, walk after meals, get a good night’s sleep, stay hydrated. All of these are just as important on vacation, and will affect everything from your energy to your moods and how you respond to cravings.

Karina Baloleanu, CFNC touched on these tips in last week’s newsletter, and I think some of them are almost easier to follow when you’re in vacation mode, e.g. take the walk after a meal to enjoy nature or local sights, get to bed early, etc.

While these tips might not be groundbreaking, that’s sort of the point. Make these a habit in your everyday routine, and sticking to them on vacation becomes much less overwhelming. 💛

In case you’d like specific suggestions on snacks and foods we like to pack for travel, check out this list of my favorite road trip snacks and tips. I shared this two summers ago, but many of these still apply and work for any type of trip!

free recipes for blood sugar balance

And speaking of snacking, I have a good one for you.

This recipe was inspired by a comment under my Vanilla Almond Butter Grain-Free Granola. The reader said she adds hot honey at the very end, which I thought was genius. I decided I needed a trail mix with similar flavors. It can be hard to find a trail mix with blood sugar friendly ingredients, so why not make your own?

This trail mix is sweet and savory, with a little cayenne kick. It’s a great combination of healthy fats from nuts and seeds, paired with antioxidants like dark chocolate or freeze-dried blueberries.

The nuts and seeds are tossed in a spiced honey mixture, then roasted until golden brown. Once they cool, the honey hardens a bit, creating the perfect sweet-and-spicy glaze.

Yield: 17 servings (serving size ¼ cup)

Prep time: ~30 minutes