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Top 10 ways to stay thin while you travel
Annette Lang, a terrific personal trainer in New York who continues to work directly with me on my diet and exercise program, devised a great workout plan for me, but it required me to be disciplined enough to use the gyms and follow her instructions. And it also accommodated for all those times when the hotel gym was either closed or not available. Where there was a gym, it involved 15 minutes of weight training, 45 minutes of level and 10 of elliptical training. I'd try to do this on the road at 7 p.m., so I could watch "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune." And that was my real secret to success: The exercise time flew by as I was entertained by very smart people followed by very stupid people.
What about hotels with no trainers and no fitness center? As my readers or viewers may know, I believe there are two kinds of airline bags: carry-on... and lost.
So the exercise program I use in my hotel room involves those carry-on bags, usually full of mail and magazines (and averaging about 20-25 pounds each). It also includes dresser drawers, chairs and closet doors, as well as the telephone directory and of course, the bed.
In general, if you do even a short workout at the beginning of the day, you'll feel better for it, and that might help you not overeat the rest of the day. And, hey, don't sabotage yourself by "forgetting" to pack sneakers or shorts.
Jet Lag, Sleep, and Weight
OK, please don't hate me... but I don't get jet lag. And to the best of my recollection, I have never been afflicted with it. But I feel your pain.
No matter how much you talk about diet, exercise, fitness, food and travel, the great imponderable has always been sleep. How much we need, how much we get, how it affects our performance, both physical and mental, and especially when we travel. Additional research indicates a direct link between sleep, or lack of it, and weight gain.
Scientists argue that jet lag is first and foremost a physical condition that is worsened by high altitudes, dry air or stress. Jet lag is merely a result of our biological clocks all being broken at the same time. So is it simply a matter of how much sleep you can get, and when you can get it? Not quite. It's really a matter of being... sleep deprived. One reason we become sleep deprived on airplanes is the flight is too short. Couple that with our sleep patterns on the ground, and you have a full-tilt recipe for jet lag.
One study concludes that those with jet lag don't just eat at irregular times, they eat larger-than-normal portions. The worst part is the link between sleep deprivation and weight gain: The brain may send out false signals of hunger. And therein lies a big problem among travelers -- combine a rigorous travel schedule and sleep deprivation, and there's a direct correlation with obesity.
People who are sleep-deprived get hungry. When we restrict sleep duration in healthy, lean, normal adults, we quickly observe two alterations. Leptin, the hormone that regulates appetite and promotes satiety, the feeling of fullness, decreases. (When leptin levels are high, you feel satiated. If you're feeling hungry, your leptin levels have dropped). That, coupled with increased levels of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, sends false signals to the brain that you're starving. Hunger increases even when your caloric intake has been more than sufficient.
In the end, it's not just about jet lag, or how well you adjust. It's really all about sleep deprivation and how that affects your ability to think clearly, and in particular, how it affects your brain's ability to allow you to register how hungry you are versus how hungry you feel. My advice for jet lag hunger pains? Water, and lots of it.
Peter Greenberg's best-selling book, The Traveler's Diet, is available to purchase online at PeterGreenberg.com.
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