Low Glycemic Eating While Travelling

"We are leaving for a two-week cruise and I am determined not to undo the month's work."

Travel doesn't require a different plan. It requires a shorter one.

The travel version, in three lines

Protein at every meal. Vegetables where you can find them. Walk after eating.

Everything else is optional while you're away, and those three will hold most of what you've built.

Airports and planes

Airport food is nearly all fast carbohydrate. The reliable moves: buy nuts and jerky before you fly, choose a protein-led option over a sandwich where one exists, and drink water rather than juice.

Plane food is what it is. Eat the protein, leave the roll if you don't want it, and don't make a project of it.

Hotel breakfasts

Usually the best meal of the trip, because a full breakfast buffet is one of the few places where 30 grams of protein is easy.

Eggs, cheese, yogurt, fish if it's there. Then fruit. The pastries and cereals are the trap.

Restaurants

Order the protein first, then decide about the starch. Most menus are built around a protein with a starch attached — you can usually swap it for vegetables without any fuss.

Ask for sweet sauces and dressings on the side.

Vegetables and protein before the bread basket, or ask for it to come with the meal.

Split a dessert rather than declining it, if declining is going to leave you feeling deprived all evening.

Cruises specifically

A cruise is a two weeks of unlimited food, so it deserves its own note.

Eat at set mealtimes rather than grazing continuously. Use the buffet by building a plate the way you would at home — protein and vegetables first. Walk the deck after dinner; ships are extremely walkable and most people are already doing more steps than usual.

The expectations part

You are not going to eat perfectly for two weeks, and trying to will spoil the trip.

The realistic aim is to come home roughly where you left. Not improved — that's not what a holiday is for — and not undone. Protein at breakfast and a walk after dinner will do most of that on its own.

Coming back

Resume at the next meal. No compensating, no restarting, no penance week.

Try this week — or on your next trip: commit to protein at breakfast and a walk after dinner, and let everything else go.

Education, not medical advice.