0 comments Jul 26/12 babymoon, Healthy Eating, Pregnancy, Vacation

How I stayed (relatively) healthy in Aruba

 

Last summer, Michael and I took a vacation to Cabo (which was awesome), and after we returned, I did a post about how I stayed healthy while we were there.

All of those tips definitely still apply, and I still believe that when you’re on vacation, you should enjoy yourself and not worry about following some super strict diet and exercise regime.

Last year, I obviously wasn’t pregnant when we were away though, so there were definitely a few differences while we were in Aruba.

 

Food

As a naturally healthy eater, it’s pretty easy for me to make lighter choices when I am browsing a menu because those are the things I actually want to order.  For example, I stuck with salads, grilled chicken sandwiches, and fish for lunch and dinner while we were in Aruba.   And while I did have Belgium waffles for breakfast, I went with normal portion sizes and always had a healthy side of fruit.

 

Speaking of fruit, I’d snack on apples or nuts in between meals whenever I got hungry- never allowing myself to go more than three hours without eating.

Now that I’m thinking about it, we never ordered dessert while we were away.  We’re typically pretty good about stopping when we’re full I guess!

 

There was one night around 9 pm though when I started to crave chocolate chip cookies and Snapple in a bad way.  I couldn’t focus on anything else!  We were sitting at the bar when the craving hit, and all the bartender had to offer were peanuts.  Thank goodness for the hotel gift shop because we found what I wanted there.

Pregnancy cravings can strike anywhere!

 

Drinks

The biggest difference between Cabo and Aruba (aside from the size of my stomach) was that I couldn’t drink alcohol in Aruba.  Even though I’ve never been a big drinker, it was weird to have a fancy dinner without wine, and I kept forgetting that I couldn’t take a sip of whatever Michael was ordering.

 

Even though I could have easily ordered virgin fruity drinks the whole time, they are too sweet and filling for me to drink a lot of them.   In fact,  I only had one fruity frozen drink the whole time were there!

The rest of the time I had water or Diet Coke with lime- something that I never ever drink but found to be so refreshing (and a nice change from water).

Exercise

As I shared in Aruba recap #2,  I’d go to the gym in the morning while Michael was sleeping.  Not only did it give me lots of energy throughout the rest of the day (something pregnant women don’t often have), but it was a great way to kill time while he was sleeping (although I have to say that he was very sweet and always got up early, so I could have breakfast).

The hotel had those Sleep Number beds which were very cool, but apparently, my number wasn’t set properly on that first night.  The next morning, I woke up with horrible back pain and knew that I should skip the gym.  We still worked in some light exercise later in the day when I was feeling better though by taking a walk along the beach.

 

Of course, I also had to make sure that I took my prenatal vitamins every day while we were there.  I take calcium supplements and B vitamins as well.  If I wasn’t pregnant, I probably wouldn’t have stressed too much about remembering to take my vitamins.

 

Do you exercise when you’re on vacation? 

If you’ve ever been on vacation while pregnant, what did you drink as a replacement for alcohol?

Enjoy the rest of your day!