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Who doesn’t like to go on vacation? I know I certainly do. A lot of my daily focus and motivation is based on earning the next trip. However, many of my healthy habits go out the window while on vacation. This article is all about how to do a post-vacation detox to get the mind and body back on track and feeling good as quickly as possible.
Back from Alaska
Our family just returned from a fantastic two-week vacation in Alaska. We spent one week cruising the Alaskan waters, exploring different ports, and another week traveling on land, discovering the beautiful backcountry of this state.
While the trip was recharging in some ways, it also detracted me from many healthy habits:
- I only did one yoga practice
- I ate much more food than normal
- I ate food that isn’t good for my body (due to my IBS, allergies and intolerances)
- I drank way more alcohol than what is good for me (or for anyone 🙂 )
- I slept poorly due to the almost constant daylight
- Less fasting
How to plan a post-vacation detox
Define your healthy habits
The first step is to define what habits were abandoned during the vacation. This list will serve as the base of your plan. Here is my list:
- Working out and activity level
- Drinking more water
- No alcohol during the week
- Return to my normal intermittent fasting schedule
- Take my vitamins and supplements daily
- Return to healthy eating 90% of the time
- Resume regular bedtime and wakeup time
Create a plan
Now that you’ve honestly acknowledged what went out the window during your vacation, you are ready to create a plan for your post-vacation detox.
Remember that the longer you go without following your healthy habits, the harder getting back “on the wagon” will be.
In order to be successful, it’s important to create a realistic plan that fits your lifestyle. If you’ve been living according to these healthy habits for an extended period of time before your vacation, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get back on track.
Do not add new healthy habits during your post-vacation detox. It’s already difficult mentally to re-enter your normal daily life with all of its responsibilities. Adding new healthy habits or accountabilities to your list will not set you up for success. The post-vacation detox is all about getting back on track (not making a new track!).
- Set a goal for each healthy habit. Make sure the goal is measurable. For example, taking your vitamin each day. You either did it or you didn’t.
- Write down each habit and goal in a visible place. It can be in your calendar, planner, or even on a post-it note.
- Prepare what you can to make your goals easier to achieve. For example, meal plan for the week to ensure you eat healthy home-cooked meals every day.
- Review your goals at the end of each day and reflect on why you failed at any of them (if you did) and what you can do differently to increase your success rate.
- Reward yourself at the end of each successful week.
- Repeat this process for at least 3-4 weeks until you have fully reintegrated your healthy habits into your daily life.
My plan
I want to share my post-vacation detox with you all to help me stay accountable for my plan,
| Healthy Habit | Goal |
| Yoga and pilates practice | 5 weekly sessions of 30 minutes |
| Lower alcohol intake | 0 alcohol during the week |
| Intermittent fasting | 18-hours fast during the week and 16 on weekend |
| 90% healthy eating | No more than one restaurant meal per week |
| Eat non-inflammatory food | Zero trigger fodmap or inflammatory |
| Take vitamins | Every day (take multi-vitamin, fish oil, cranberry supplement) |
| Improve sleep | Take magnesium each night and go to bed at my regular time |
| Drink more water | Drink at least 6 (8 ounces) glasses of water each day |
I like to use my planner to visualize when or how I will do each of my healthy habits. This makes for a much easier reflection at the end of each day and week.
In conclusion
This way of creating a post-vacation detox plan really helps me take control of my health.
I hope this article helped you understand how simple it can be to put a structure in place to help you rapidly get your mind and body back where it was pre-vacation.
For me, this is also a great way to remove any vacation guilt and remind me that it is not a big deal to “take a break” from my regular healthy habits because I have a foolproof plan to get me back on track.
Thanks for reading!
Cat xx