Here's how Elana Drell-Szyfer recently spent two weeks: She flew to Israel and stayed a week. She returned home to New York for less than a week. She flew to Minneapolis for a day. Then she dashed off to Venice.
Such is life on the road, of which Drell-Szyfer, 43, is a pro. Drell-Szyfer logs more than 70,000 miles a year as CEO of Ahava North America, which produces skin care products from the Dead Sea.
As a veteran business traveler, she's developed plenty of strategies for staying physically and mentally healthy amid the potential hazards of airline cuisine, long hours at work and on planes, no gyms at some hotels – and the temptations of the hotel minibar.
Eating in the air
Because many of her flights last several hours, Drell-Szyfer often can't avoid airline food.
Before any flight, she maps out her meals to try to minimize the effect of the high-sodium, high-caloric food often served on planes, although airlines have begun offering healthier choices. She also drinks plenty of water.
"There's lots of room for eating things that make you feel sedentary and fill you with water and are filled with calories," she says.
If she's taking an overnight flight overseas, on which dinner and breakfast is served, she'll skip the airline dinner and eat a healthy one she packs. The next morning, she'll eat the fruit and yogurt that is typically included in the meal.
The food she carries includes tuna fish in a bag or a salad with a protein. She also carries flax seed, peanut butter packages, almond butter and some graham crackers for snacks.
Flying back from Europe, which brings her home in the evening, she'll eat the airline dinner. But she says she'll only eat the salad and protein, and she'll avoid the dessert.
She says she doesn't think she's missing out on any culinary experience by skipping some of the meals, even if flying business class. When she flies coach, she says, she avoids the snack boxes that are often for sale. "I never found it to be simultaneously healthy or appetizing," she says.
Eating on the ground
Drell-Szyfer has been traveling frequently for work for years, thanks to her time at Estée Lauder, L'Oreal, and Lancome, among other cosmetics companies.
It can be exhausting, and she says she often sees people seeking out unhealthy things to make them feel better.
"The thing that people crave when they're very tired is comfort," she says. "Generally, the two things they reach for, one is food, and it's comfort foods, and the other is caffeine."
She has worked with a nutritionist on and off to help her make healthy choices when traveling. She makes sure to eat plenty of fish and vegetables. If there's a buffet at the hotel restaurant, she'll grab some sandwich bags and fill them with raw vegetables. She always takes the free apples many hotels have out for guests. She limits alcohol for the first two days.
When she eats at a restaurant, she says she tries to plan what she'll order. She'll have a first course of a salad or a vegetable. For her second course, she'll have fish or chicken.
She admits, though, that sometimes when she's having a business dinner in another country, it's difficult to maintain a strict food regimen.
"Honestly," she says, "you have to forgive yourself when there are times it doesn't work."
Recently, she says, she went to a dinner at a Georgian restaurant in Israel. Most menu items were stews or wrapped in Phyllo dough.
"You're part of a group eating. It's a social activity," she says. "You don't want to feel uncomfortable, and you don't want others to feel uncomfortable. Sometimes, you have to throw caution to the wind."
Her one guilty pleasure, she says, is the hotel minibar. The chocolate selection is a temptation.
"That's a really hard fight between you and the minibar," she says. Before she checks in, she says, she makes a contract with herself not to eat the minibar items.
She spends Sunday to Thursday in Israel, where Ahava has its headquarters. She says she usually is able to keep her minibar contract until Wednesday night, when she's overtired and overworked after a full work week.
"Wednesday night is my biggest issue," she says. "Sometimes I win. Sometimes I lose to a bag of M&Ms or a Snickers bar. You have to learn to forgive yourself."
She forgives herself for indulging by working out.
Getting exercise
Hotels around the world are inconsistent with their gym offerings, Drell-Szyfer says. Hotels in Asia and the U.S. tend to have very good fitness facilities. Hotels in Europe, not so much.
Either way, she says, she finds she's more motivated to work out when traveling because she doesn't have to spend free time getting her three kids off to school or helping them with their homework.
Her workday often begins at 9 a.m. If there's a gym, she asks that the gym open early so she can get a morning workout. At the least, she says, the gyms will have treadmills, elliptical machines and free weights.
But she doesn't always hit the gym because she wants to vary her workouts.
She travels with a jump rope, which she can use outside. She also exercises in her room to DVDs guiding her through a method that combines yoga, ballet and pilates. "I move some of the furniture and do my best," she says.
Even if she only has 10 or 20 minutes to work out, she says, she'll take advantage of the time.
If all else fails, she takes a stroll.
She was in Paris at the end of January. It was cold, and the sun didn't come out until late in the morning. Still, she forced herself out for a brisk walk.
"That's my rule of thumb," she says. "Just do something."
Top tips:
- Fight jet lag and get into the time zone that you travel to immediately. Don't take a nap.
- Drink tons of water. It helps wake you up, and it's healthier than caffeine.
- Don't be seduced by business-class food on airlines. Bring your own meals and snacks.
- Walk whenever you can.
- Be creative with your workouts in case you end up at a hotel without a gym. Pack a jump rope, workout DVDs, or stretchy bands for exercises you can do in your room or outside.
Source: USA Today
