As a Holistic Nutritionist, I prioritize eating healthy wholesome foods. But there seems to be this expectation that because I'm a Nutritionist, I eat healthy all the time which just isn't the case. I truly believe there is room for all foods in our diet and that by restricting ourselves of specific foods, it builds a novelty around that food and creates an unhealthy obsession with it.

With that said, I know I feel best when I eat a whole foods-based diet or what I refer to as #RealAssFood so when I travel, I make a point to continue to do so. Again, not because I feel like I *have* to but because my body genuinely craves it. That's the beauty of intuitive eating!

But a big reason why I travel is for the cuisine. I love indulging exploring the various cuisines from around the world and eating like the locals do. I was a little bit sad to sacrifice this when my boyfriend Randy and I went to Iceland last year (we actually brought a lot of our food from home because food in Iceland is SO expensive!). My favourite cuisine that I've had the opportunity to experience first-hand so far though has been Thai. I could eat Thai food 24/7, I swear – green curry, khao soi, mango salad, fresh spring rolls – I LOVE IT ALL! It emphasizes fresh vegetables, various spices & herbs and healthy fats (from the coconut milk used in curries) which is primarily how I eat at home.

So when Randy and I were recently in Colombia where they deep fry just about everything, I was presented with a bit of a challenge. As much as I wanted to indulge in the local cuisine as much as possible, a girl can only eat so many deep-fried empanadas! After a while (aka 1 day), my body was yearning for vegetables which are generally far and few in Colombian cuisine. Regardless, I was able to find a happy balance between the local cuisine and fresh wholesome foods (and cervezas, of course) and continue eating intuitively throughout our travels so I thought I would share how I went about that!

What I ate during my travels through Colombia

As I mentioned, a lot of the staples in Colombian cuisine is deep fried. One of the common breakfast (or "desayuno") options is an empanada (a pizza-pocket looking pastry that's typically baked or deep-fried and filled with meat and corn) with a squeeze of lime and spicy salsa/hot sauce. I had this on the first day we arrived because #WhenInColombia, right?

And of course, it wouldn't be a true Colombian experience if we didn't chase that down with a locally sourced cup of Colombian coffee (which was delicious, by the way). Interestingly enough though, we learned that Colombia exports their best grade of coffee because that's what makes them the most money and in turn, supports their economy. For that reason, most of the coffee that you'll enjoy in Colombia is considered "second best" but in my opinion, was still gosh darn delicious!

Another common food found in Colombian cuisine is arepa which is a pita-like food made of corn, water and salt. We had so many different variations of arepa and almost every meal we had included an arepa! I actually found it quite dry, but this variation we had of it at a breakfast spot was my favourite. It was an arepa with their local cheese, scrambled eggs and ham. While it was yummy, I think I was just really excited to have something that wasn't deep-fried, haha. My palette and body generally don't find deep-fried foods very exciting.

After about one day of diving into the Colombian cuisine, I was in major need of a sally (aka salad!). Thankfully, we came across a fun healthy restaurant called Pezetarian in Medellin which had fresh salads with raw fish. Music to this vegetable-loving Nutritionist's ears!

And this delicious Thai Noodle salad from Cafe Stepping Stone in Cartagena, Colombia (OMG – it was so good!)

*Cafe Stepping Stone (Cartagena, Colombia)*

When I wasn't in the mood for a deep-fried empanada for breakfast, I would often just have a Genuine Health fermented vegan proteins+ bar which I stocked up on before getting to Colombia. These were awesome to have for the odd breakfast here and there or as a snack during hikes, flights or bus rides.

From there, we kind of just alternated between Colombian food and more "Americanized" food which both Medellin and Cartagena had a lot of.

We also made our way down to Salento which is known to be one of Colombia's top coffee destinations, situated in close proximity to a number of coffee farms. Salento is known for its "trucha" aka trout and you'll find it on almost every menu there. I don't eat much trout at home but I was so surprised at how yummy it was! It was often served with "patacone" with is deep-fried plantain and a variety of deeps. There was a chunky tomato sauce dip I was OBSESSED with (on the far left in the photo below).

And of course, I needed another healthy hit of vegetables which is when we conveniently stumbled upon this vegetarian restaurant where we had a Mediterranean Salad and a Hummus & Falafel plate. Yum!

Another typical meal you'll find in Colombia is Bandeja Pisa which is basically red kidney beans, plantain, beef, sausage, pork belly, over easy eggs, salad (yay!), avocado and arepa (pictured below). YEP. Needless to say, I only had this once. It was good, but a little too much. To be honest, mid-way through the trip I had a bit of a meat-eating "crisis" from all of the meat we were consuming.

Eating meat was something I was struggling with before we left for our trip (for ethical reasons) and I guess because it was in just about everything and you didn't always know what meat you were consuming, I started to reflect on whether being a meat-eater was still for me. I'm still trying to figure out where I stand on this knowing that my body thrives with animal protein in my diet (and doesn't always do best with plant-based proteins like beans and legumes) so for now, I've taken a break from beef and pork. I'm not smacking any labels on it – simply listening to my body and what it needs :).

The last Colombian-staple item we had was Ajiaco aka chicken and potato soup. This was a really fun meal because again, it wasn't deep fried (haha) and it came with so many fun additions and toppings such as corn on the cob, rice, avocado, banana (sounds odd, but oddly GOOD!), arepa (naturally ...), cilantro and hot sauce.

Once we arrived in Cartagena, we had a lot of Mexican and Carribean-inspired eats to turn to including fresh fish, sushi and tacos.

One of my favourite snacks was a cup of freshly sliced mango from one of the street vendors. It's common for the locals to dress it up with fresh lime and sea salt. I did it once, and then reverted back to my tourist ways and simply enjoyed the fresh mango on its own. It's good enough as it is without the salt, although the locals would definitely disagree with me!

A couple time we had these "Boli" ice cream treats which were tasty and refreshing in the +32 degrees Celsius (feels like +46 degrees Celsius) temperatures in Cartagena. But while they were good, the wrapper they came in made me feel like I was eating a condom and kind of freaked me out, haha! If you do end up trying these at one point, I recommend the avocado flavour!

You'll either see someone selling them on the street for 1000 COP (50 cents CAD) or there are certain homes that are known to make them. You just have to yell for someone at their front window and they'll come to greet you (which is what we did while on a street food tour in Cartagena). Imagine we did that here in Canada? I would definitely go knocking on every Thai person's window and ask them for some of their curry, haha!

From a beverage perspective, we enjoyed everything from the local coffee, water aka "agua" (so necessary in the Cartagena heat!), watermelon or cantaloupe smoothies and the local beer, because #balance :)

We enjoyed the odd cocktail, but not too often. One of the best ones I had was a Basil Spritz of some sort at El Rack Medellin made by our new Colombian friend, Hansel. We ended up talking to him for 2 hours straight and he was letting us sample all of his homemade syrups he uses for cocktails. Then he pulls out this amoeba-looking thing in liquid and immediately I realize it's a SCOBY (and he thought he was schooling me ;) as he's been practicing Kombucha Cocktails! As you may know, I teach Kombucha Workshops on a monthly basis at Left Field Brewery and so naturally I was super excited about this!

Okay, so I know what you're thinking – I just came to this Holistic Nutritionist's blog and she's telling me how she drank beer and ate a bunch of gluten and dairy-filled (often deep-fried) food for 12 days. What kind of Holistic Nutritionist is she?!

Well, I'm still a Holistic Nutritionist, but I'm a Holistic Nutritionist that believes that life and food is meant to be enjoyed and that obsessing over every morsel of food that goes into our mouth is a recipe for a lifetime of disordered eating behaviours (i.e. chronic dieting, yo-yo dieting, guilt/shame cycles etc). Ultimately, I believe Intuitive Eating is the answer to bringing the joy back to mealtime and ensuring our body's nutritional and innate needs are being met.

Fun Fact: Evelyn Tribole & Elyse Resch who are at the forefront of the concept of Intuitive Eating actually believe (and have proven) that Intuitive Eating is a more effective weight loss and weight management strategy than dieting will ever be.

The Key Takeaways

If you're traveling soon and want to take this style of eating for a whirl, these are a few things you'll want to keep in mind:

Remove the "I'm on vacation and I can eat whatever I want mindset": I mean, YES, you can eat whatever you want but what often happens when we go into "I'm on vacation" eating, is that we consume way more than we might when we're at home. I know this sounds confusing but what I'm trying to say is to give yourself permission to enjoy all foods whether you're on vacation or at home. When we do that, we let go of the idea that we only have a week to go balls to the wall and eat whatever we want until we need to "clean up our act again" and can simply enjoy all foods without over-doing it.
Prioritize how you feel (and feeling GOOD): I most definitely want you to make the most of your travels and enjoy all of what the local cuisine has to offer. But if you aren't feeling your best (i.e. suffering from digestive upset, low energy, bloated etc), listen to that and honour that. In those moments, listen to your body and figure out what it needs. Does it need a break from the empanadas and perhaps have something like a smoothie for breakfast?
Release the idea that every morsel of food that goes into your mouth has to be healthy: It's totally possible to eat healthy and maintain the eating habits that you do at home, but don't miss out on what the local cuisine has to offer because you're worried it's not "healthy". Again, this sets us up for a lifetime of disordered eating habits and keeps us stuck in a cycle of shame and guilt. It will also make you obsess about the food more and perhaps eventually "cave" and binge or overeat it. You can still be healthy while enjoying an array of foods that aren't all kale and cauliflower :). Listen to your body though – it will tell you what it needs!

Do you struggle with eating while traveling or on vacation? Tell me in the comments below!

What a Holistic Nutritionist & Intuitive Eating Advocate Eats While Traveling

What I ate during my travels through Colombia

The Key Takeaways

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