I have lots of clients that travel often and have used it as an excuse to either not eat well or not exercise.

But traveling is no excuse.

Some of my clients who have long plane rides to different countries claim that the problems all start because of jet lag.

Can I just say…”THAT IS A FREAKING LAME EXCUSE!”

Just because your body is tired and a bit out of whack doesn’t give you the excuse to eat crap and not move. AND your body doesn’t have to feel like crap when you travel if you FAST.

Yep! Studies have proven that fasting may help with cancer, weight loss and even JET LAG!

An article called “A “Fast” Solution to Jet Lag” states:

Dr. Clifford B. Saper and colleagues at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston now think that food — or, more specifically, the lack of it — may resynchronize body rhythms faster than light and dark. They have studied a second “master clock” in mice, located in a cluster of brain cells called the dorsomedial nucleus, that can take over when food is scarce. Sure, humans aren’t mice, but both have a dorsomedial nucleus that responds to hunger. The researchers reason that because food is as essential for survival as sleep is, hunger can influence circadian rhythms as much as changes in light/dark patterns do.

So maybe if you fast to help reset your “master clock” you won’t suffer from jet lag…aka you have no excuse to eat crappy and not workout!! Here are suggestions from the article about how to make fasting work to prevent jet lag:

So, why not manipulate your feeding clock, rather than your sleep clock, the next time you try to fend off jet lag? Specifically, as Saper has discussed in the press, you can try fasting both before and during your long flight, then eating in a pattern that puts you in sync with local time. For instance, if you’re taking a 14-hour flight from New York to Beijing, it would work like this:

• Avoid all food from the time you get to the airport (i.e., about two hours before departure)
• Don’t eat during the flight — but still drink plenty of water
• Eat soon after you land, as close to a local meal time as possible

Because it is hard to workout when you are staying in a hotel, right?

WRONG!

There are exercises and workouts that you can do anywhere…including a hotel room, office or even outside. I even wrote a post about the 10 Best Exercise to do ANYWHERE!

You can even bring your own resistance equipment with you if you don’t want to miss a strength training workout. Resistance bands are easy to pack in any piece of luggage and weigh next to nothing. And they aren’t expensive. It is about $30 for a set.

Shoot you don’t even have to do strength training when you travel to remain active and healthy. You can even just go out for a walk around the hotel and get in some nice slow cardio!

And if it is too cold outside to walk or run, most hotels either have a pool or a small gym with a treadmill. Why not go for a swim or walk on the treadmill and enjoy a nice light magazine?

Honestly, there is no excuse to be a huge lump when you are traveling. I mean just even walk around and go sight-seeing for goodness sake!

Now…eating when you travel…

This section isn’t for the person planning a family vacation or taking a nice relaxing vacation. If you are going on vacation, of course indulge and enjoy. IT’S A VACATION.

This section is for the person that travels often and uses this as an excuse as to why they can’t be healthy/in shape/lose weight or WHATEVER.

For one, you don’t have to buy a crap snack at the airport. You can bring your own healthy snacks with you. You don’t even have to put your snacks in a separate bag when you go through security.

Second, almost every little snack shop in the airport at least has nuts – you don’t have to grab those Reese’s no matter how tempting.

Third, almost all restaurants have at least ONE thing you can eat.

Take Cheesecake Factory for instance. They have steaks, which aren’t breaded or fried. Yes, some come with french fries, but how hard is it to sub in mashed potatoes, veggies or a side salad?

NOT HARD.

And trust me, most people WON’T realize you are on a diet if you are eating a steak because most of society still follows the low-fat mantra.

And if you’re not feeling a steak? Try a Cobb Salad with Vinaigrette dressing!

There are a ton of different options at most restaurants. Yes, some restaurants, like Italian restaurants, are harder to find things at, but trust me it is possible.

Just take a look at the menu BEFORE you go out. This way you will be prepared for the options and know what you can and cannot eat. You will also be less likely to cheat once you get there and are hungry if you know ahead of time what you can order.

And with all of this I’m not saying you can’t try some “local” cuisine. I’m just saying, you CAN eat well when you travel. You CAN be healthy.

If you want to make something work, you will find a way.

So stop making excuses and try some of this advice. It might make traveling more fun since you’ll be energized from eating well and relaxed from working out!