That's Fit

For many people, the summer is a prime time for vacations. When you hit the road, it's important to keep good health in mind. You'll have more energy to enjoy your time away if you don't let healthy habits go to the wayside. Shape Magazine has some reasonable tips for staying fit while on the road:

• Eat healthfully. Does this mean you can't enjoy a decadent dinner at a restaurant? Of course not. But it does mean you should make wise choices. For example, if you're going on a road trip bring along a small cooler filled with fruit, healthy sandwiches, veggies, and other healthy foods. Having good choices handy may just save you from a trip through the drive through.
  
• Pack smart. Be sure to bring along any medications you and your family might need -- prescriptions, OTC pain relievers, etc. Band-aids and other basic first aid items are also a good idea. As for fitness, be sure to bring a good pair of walking shoes. You can also throw small fitness items like a jump rope and resistance bands in your suitcase.
• Keep moving. While your regular fitness routine is likely to chance while you're on vacation, there's no need to let it slip altogether. One of the best ways to stay active is to plan fun activities that require lots of walking. Go sightseeing or walk up and down the beach. You can also try swimming in the hotel pool (or the ocean). Any exerting activity will add to your fitness.
  
• Rest up. Don't let travel tire you out too much. Try to get to bed at a decent time each night and get a full night's sleep. If you're traveling to a different time zone, try to adjust your schedule to the new time zone as soon as possible.
  
• Unplug. Part of going on vacation is to relax, so put away the cell phone, laptop, and Blackberry, and unwind. Vacations can do wonders for reducing stress, but not if you're carrying work responsibilities with you the whole time.

Travelling this summer? Anticipating jet lag? You might be surprised to hear that new research suggests that a great way to cure jet lag is by skipping meals

I used to travel for work; often for three weeks out of the month if not more. I've stayed in my fair share of dives (in fact, there was one place in Texas where you had to request the "big room" otherwise you couldn't open the bathroom door without standing on the bed and jumping in). But even in the nicer hotels, fitness wasn't usually high on their list of comforts.

But my traveling days were several years ago; today, hotels are putting more emphasis on fitness equipment and making work outs easier for their guests. Some hotels are even adding to the standard weight machines and having Pilates and other classes conducted on site. The Kimpton hotel chain supplies guests with yoga mats and equipment; a channel on their in-room TV allows them to follow a yoga routine.

If you're traveling this summer and aren't sure your hotel room will be quite so well-equipped, consider throwing a jump rope in your suitcase. It hardly takes up any room at all and provides an excellent aerobic workout.

Do you have any great vacations planned for this summer? Along with a friend's family, my son and I are renting a cabin in what I deem as the prettiest part of our state. Also, if I can scrape together the funds, I might be bringing my son (who I adopted a year ago) back to his home state to visit his foster family. Whatever your summer plans are, don't let good nutrition go on "vacation" too. Some tips:

• When eating at a restaurant, don't order an appetizer and skip the bread basket.
  
• Select healthier fare from the menu -- for example, baked, broiled, or grilled foods are a better choice than deep-fried.
• Visit the local grocery store -- if you have a fridge in your hotel room your options are greater, but even if you don't you can still stock up on some foods that you can eat "in." Fresh fruits and veggies, sugar-free instant oatmeal (use the coffee pot to heat water). You can also use your hotel room's ice bucket to keep some foods chilled.
• Go on a picnic. Pack healthy foods and visit a park, beach, or nature reserve at your vacation destination. After lunch, go for a hike!
• Avoid the pastries and other high-carb options at the continental breakfast.
  

When shopping for a bike, you have to make choices. Do you want one that's made for off-road or for biking around town? What about speedy versus sturdy?

If you've ever had to travel with a bike in a small car, you'll probably be as excited as I was about the idea of a bike that folds up (don't ask about the triathlon I drove to alone in my tiny little car -- let's just say that some names were called, things were said, and my relationship with the bike was never the same). However, I always assumed that a folding bike wouldn't be as good as a bike that doesn't fit into a suitcase -- I figured they would be flimsy and not a great choice for long rides.

Upon learning about SwissBike folding bicycles, I realized I was wrong.

A good percentage of today's career opportunities involve at least some traveling, and whether it's required or voluntary, fun or a drag, close to home or across the world, if it involves overnight stays and hotel rooms, it's most likely going to have an impact on your exercise schedule. And that impact, for most business travelers, is a bad one. How many of the hotels that you've stayed in have had nice workout facilities with enough equipment, and enough of the right equipment for you to keep your home routine going seamlessly? For me, just being in a different place with a different atmosphere is enough to make jumping on the treadmill for my usual routine hard.

Things have been crazy busy lately. After just getting back from a cross-country trip, I just found out I have to make the same trip again next week. Great. Nothing says comfy like being stuck in an airplane seat for six hours. On top of that, with all this time spent sitting in a cramped chair, there's always concern for DVT -- deep vein thrombosis.

Sometimes referred to as coach class syndrome, this is a formation of a blood clot that commonly occurs in the veins of the legs after people spend an extended period of time seated. Bigger problems can also arise if the clot embolizes; that is, if it separates and travels into the lungs, where it can cause a pulmonary embolism.

Many airlines, aware of the threat of DVT, are now suggesting that you get up and take a little stroll once and a while if you're aboard a long flight. This is easier to do on some flights than others, just as finding comfort in a seat can vary greatly depending on .... well, about eight thousand different factors. That's why you may want to check out SeatGuru.com (www.seatguru.com) before you book your next flight. It gives a great breakdown of each seat on the plane on which you are about to travel -- comfort, leg room, ability to recline the seat or not, if it has power port, etc. Knowing this information in advance may help protect against DVT (as well as major frustration), as it will provide you with the chance to fly as comfortably as possible.

After winning the Tour de France seven times, Lance Armstrong is certainly worthy of a relaxing retirement. However, that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Since his retirement, the 35-year-old has found himself constantly on the road, promoting LiveStrong Challenges, the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research, joining with Nike and Apple to publicize his involvement in their partnership, and trying to be home to spend time with his kids. Still, his crazy schedule hasn't stopped him from running marathons.

At any given moment, there are 2 million passengers on board commercial flights high above the earth. That's what this article claims, but the amazing thing is that one company is responsible for taking calls from flight attendants if a passenger feels ill. While it gives me a little comfort to know medical events can be called in to professionals, the CNN articles reveals that you should think twice before going airborne if you aren't in tip-top shape to begin with.

The reason being is because flight attendants are not medically trained. If you get sick or ill, the pilot (not a doctor) must weight various factors before deciding if he can divert the plane off-course. This can leave a person feeling very icky thousands of feet in the air.

Consider this: if you just got a cast for a broken bone, there's a chance your arm could slightly swell due to altitude changes which could cause discomfort. The bottom line is simple. If you're not feeling well, don't fly. These are not airborne hospitals with trained professionals, and planes don't always divert for sick passengers. It's easy to understand why this is a hot-button issue, but experts agree that staying grounded is the best choice for unwell fliers.

An important part of being successful in your working life is to take advantage of vacation time benefits to refresh and revive your mind, body, and spirit. But obviously getting sick on vacation and spending the majority of the time not relaxing but recovering and suffering instead does nothing for you but waste your money and your time and send you back to work feeling more exhausted than when you left.

Taking some simple steps towards staying healthy can be the difference between coming back from vacation feeling relaxed and refreshed and ready to hit the ground running or coming back tired, drained, and barely able to get motivated. Whether you're going on a cruise through the Caribbean or on a drive across the country Forbes has compiled some tips to help you stay healthy and make the most of your time away from your desk, your career, and all the other stresses of your everyday life.

I don't love to travel. I've done my fair share of it -- I can't even count how many times my family trekked from our home state of Ohio to Florida when I was a kid or how many trains I hopped in Europe while visiting country after country after my high school graduation. I've been to Hawaii, Arizona, Tennessee, Missouri, California, and a handful of other states too. I've been on two cruises, an abundance of car trips, and airplanes galore. You'd think I'd be OK with shuttling to and from worldly destinations. But I'm not. I just don't like to travel. I don't like the packing or the time it takes to get to faraway places. I don't like living out of suitcases, re-packing, unpacking, and the dreaded return home. And now that exercise is a part of my daily routine, I don't like the struggle of fitting in fitness while on the road. I'm getting better at it, though.

While in Virgina visiting family recently, I managed to accomplish a workout every day, just like at home. I did it by scoping out the area around me and making it happen. What I found on this trip was a great path that wound me through beautiful scenery for four miles. After working out in the Florida heat lately, the chilly temperatures were a welcome change and the hills I encountered offered me an extra challenge. Working out on the road wasn't hard at all. And that makes travel, for me, a bit more manageable.

Next time you head out on the road, see what kind of fitness feats you can master. Look for outside workout opportunities, find a gym at your hotel, or pack some essentials -- like resistance bands or water weights -- so you can achieve your goals wherever you land. Take it from me, staying on track with your exercise expectations can make a world of difference.

For a no-equipment travel workout, check out this site.

My family of four walked into a North Carolina Cracker Barrel not long ago, fresh out of our mini-van after logging more than 500 miles on the road. We'd almost reached our destination at the time of our stop but needed to stretch our legs and put something healthy in our bellies so we could happily complete our Florida-to-Virginia trek. Now I'm not sure what the Cracker Barrel offers in the way of health food, but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't found some sort of salad on the menu. Without creamy dressing, it would have done us adults well. For the kids, sandwiches would have worked.

We didn't eat at the Cracker Barrel for two reasons. First, we weren't prepared for the long wait. Second, the hostess asked us upon checking in, "Smoking or Non-Smoking?"

"Are you kidding me?" I thought. Spoiled by the public smoking ban in my sunshine state, I'd completely forgotten other states still allow smokers to light up in eating establishments. My kids, ages six and four, have never dined with smoke swirling around their heads. There is not a first time for everything -- as long as I'm in charge, my kids will never fall prey to such a toxic environment. So we walked out of the Cracker Barrel and headed across the street to McDonald's. Another toxic environment, you might be thinking. You'd be right. But we did the best we could with the evils facing us. Sitting bundled up in our winter coats to avoid the indoor smell of grease and to keep the same odor out of our vehicle, I ate an Asian Chicken salad -- no dressing -- and my hubby ate fruit we'd brought along for the ride. Our boys ate plain hamburgers and a few chicken nuggets, some fries, and flavored water from the car. Not my ideal scenario. But we made good on it as soon as we got to a local grocery store. And we packed some nutritious meals for our trip home.

We may be over the hump, but the holidays aren't over yet! Are you headed somewhere to celebrate the New Year? I'm hopping on a plane, which means just when I want to look my cutest for the party I'll be smack in the middle of eating out all the time and having no time or place for my usual exercise routine. I may not be able to do exactly what I normally would at home, but many exercises travel just fine. Some that can be done almost anywhere with little or no equipment:

Here at That's Fit, we're constantly telling you what we think about things, but sometimes it's nice to know what you think. So from time to time, we'll ask you a question. Don't be afraid to speak up -- we love feedback.

The holidays are a time for families, but if you live in another city from your family, you might end up being one of the hundreds of thousands of people traveling this week. Not only is this the biggest week for travel, it's also the most expensive one.

If you're travelling this season, be sure to practice safe travel habits. Be sure to stretch your legs, and bring along some healthy snacks too. And as always, drink lots of water.

I usually stay in my hometown for Christmas but for the first time in over 15 years, I'm heading west to see some out-of-town relatives. What about you?