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Conscious Parenting with Meg Brown: 6 Tips to Eat Healthy with Body Ecology on Your Family Vacations

At Body Ecology, our mission is to improve the health and happiness of adults and children. Along the way, we discovered Meg Brown, former corporate executive, single mom of two adopted boys and Body Ecology follower.  Meg’s focus on empowering parents to create healthy, happy families is what inspired this Conscious Parenting column. You can follow Meg and her family’s journey at www.ConsciousFamilyJournal.com.

Can you enjoy a great family vacation and still follow the Body Ecology lifestyle? Absolutely!

Cruising, The Body Ecology Way

It was just a year ago that my children and I were preparing for our first (and so far, only) Disney Cruise. I was a novice in more ways than one.

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Are you considering a family cruise vacation? With just a little planning, you can sail the high seas while still following your Body Ecology lifestyle. But don’t forget your Passion Fruit Biotic — true to its reputation, it’s great for traveler’s diarrhea, it’s probiotic-rich, and it tastes so good even kids love it!

We’d never been on a cruise vacation before, and I was just a wee bit nervous. Would I feel claustrophobic, “trapped” on a ship for days on end? Would we all get seasick?

And, perhaps worrying the most about… what would I eat?

At that point, I was a relative newcomer to Body Ecology as well. I was just completing stage 1 (the initial healing phase) of Body Ecology and I was still very tentative about food choices. How was I possibly going to survive an entire week with no cooking facilities of my own and no access to my local health food store?

And most of all, is it even possible to eat healthy on a cruise vacation?

As it turned out, my fears were unnecessary. With just a little planning, I was able to enjoy my cruise immensely – and my tummy was happy, too!

6 Tips for Eating Healthy on Vacation

1. Set Your Intention

Sometimes, we just need to relax and trust in our body’s ability to take care of us. My friend (and Body Ecology coach) gave me some good advice: Decide ahead of time that you are going to be just fine.

I am a great believer in the power of affirmations, so I used this one throughout our journey: “All of our travels are safe, restorative and joyful.”

Let’s say it together, now: “All of our travels are safe, restorative and joyful.” And so they were.

2. Bring Healthy Supplies

In addition to our bathing suits, camera and sunscreen, I packed a few Body Ecology essentials in a sturdy, padded cooler bag. These are the items that I bring on every trip with me, regardless of destination:

Once onboard, I stowed the perishables in the small refrigerator in our cabin. Everything stayed cool and fresh throughout our voyage. Even if you are not cruising, hotels often have small room refrigerators or will provide one if you request it in advance.

3. Schedule Mealtimes That Work for You

The first thing we had to adjust was our dinner seating. (I always feel best if I finish my last meal of the day at least three hours before bedtime.) With the number of small children on Disney Cruises, the early seating fills up fast. We had been assigned to an 8:00 pm dinnertime.

Fortunately, the five-year-old traveling with us illustrated our plight rather graphically when she spent our first dinner sprawled, unconscious, across her mother’s lap. We were graciously moved to the 6:15 pm seating the following day.

4. Chose Your Food with Body Ecology Principles in Mind

The good news: Breakfast and lunch were buffets, so we could pretty much construct our own meals.

The bad news: Except for the tiny, chopped peppers and onions at the omelet bar, there were no veggies to be seen at the breakfast buffet.

The solution? I could still eat healthy meals by being creative.

I made a delicious green shake each morning before breakfast, mixing two ounces of a probiotic-rich liquid like Coco Biotic or Passion Fruit Biotic, two scoops of Vitality SuperGreen and one cup of spring water, sweetened with a couple drops of Stevia. (I wasn’t eating cultured vegetables at the time, but if you are, consider packing some for the trip!)

At the lunch buffet, I would make a big green salad and select the healthiest protein I could find. I always carried a small bottle of apple cider vinegar in my bag, which I combined with olive oil to make my own salad dressing. A couple shakes of Herbamare finished it off nicely.

At the end of lunch, I would fill a Tupperware bowl with an assortment of veggies from the salad bar. Some vegetables would serve as an afternoon snack, while others went into the crock pot with some spring water for a couple hours, to make a nourishing broth for sipping before bedtime.

For dinner, I simply ordered off the menu. There were always creative salads and vegetarian options to choose from, or I would order a meat dish and ask them to leave off the starch accompaniments.

While the ingredients were not always 100% correct for Body Ecology, I was able to follow the principle of food combining pretty successfully. Plus, thiswas my family vacation treat: A delicious, superbly prepared dinner each evening!

5. Drink Healthy, Delicious Beverages

I sipped a couple cups of organic ginger tea between meals each day, just to keep my stomach happy on the high seas. (Not that they were all that high… we were blessed with a beautifully calm week in the Caribbean.)

Since I would not be enjoying my old favorites (think: pina coladas and margaritas), I came up with my own ways to enjoy a “tropical” beverage while lounging in the sun.

“Body Ecology Lemonade” – When we stopped at Disney’s private island, we spent an entire day on the beach. I filled a cup with ice water at the drink stand, grabbed a handful of lemon wedges (and my trusty Stevia) and made my own lemonade. Delicious, refreshing and good for you!

“Body Ecology Margarita” – For something a little more exciting, I would squeeze a couple lime wedges into a margarita glass, add two ounces of CocoBiotic, two ounces of fresh spring water and a couple drops of Stevia. (Note to self: Purchase plastic margarita glasses for next excursion.) Now that is a delicious and festive way to enjoy the health benefits of a probiotic liquid!

6. Feel Good, No Matter What

After a lovely but reckless day in Cozumel (let’s just say, I over-indulged in the fresh guacamole; or maybe it was the ceviche, a popular seafood appetizer), I was able to test one of Body Ecology’s recommended uses of their probiotic liquids like InnergyBiotic, Passion Fruit Biotic, and CocoBiotic. Yes, they really do relieve traveler’s, ummm… diarrhea.

Family vacations are precious times and we all want to make the most of them. If there is a cruise vacation — or any vacation away from home — in your family’s future, know that you can enjoy it fully while following the Body Ecology lifestyle.

Bon voyage!

Note: On your next cruise vacation be sure to ask your cruise line about any specific regulations for your ports of call. You may be visiting a location that prohibits bringing food or beverage items on or off the ship. This may apply to any family vacation that involves flights to or from international locations as well.

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