This summer, I went on a 10-day cruise with my family that stretched my limits (and sanity) as a sugar-quitter.
The constant stream of buffet food, dessert bars and cocktails wasn’t exactly healthy (not to mention, seasickness-friendly).
And while I might have had a piña colada or two, I now feel way more equipped to navigate a cruise. Setting sail for the high seas? Here are my best health tips.
Avoid the buffet!
Choose à la carte dining. At the buffet, plates are the size of dinner trays. We ventured there once for breakfast – one family member piled their plate high with beignets (French pastries).
I witnessed A LOT of food waste at the buffet. Whatever you don’t eat, we were told, gets liquified and dumped into the ocean (beignets and all). In fact, sharks are known to follow cruise liners for their next meal…
That’s not to say all the restaurant options were healthy. On the right, there’s my sister freaking out about Nutri-Grain-encrusted brioche French toast. I freaked too, but for different reasons.
The dessert bar is not your friend.
Yeah, there’s a dessert buffet, too. If you’re trying to stay relatively sugar-free, I recommend not going there. There is way too much temptation to try everything just because it’s free.
Instead, tickle your sweet tooth by choosing ONE dessert option at dinner if you want (and maybe even share it!).
Sugar coma starting in three… two…
Grab on to fresh food and don’t let go.
On my boat, it seemed like most of the fruit onboard was carved and made into displays. You could get a salad, but it was usually drenched in sugary dressing.
So, when fresh fruit and veg is on offer, don’t pass it up. Most days, I chose fresh grapefruit for breakfast with poached eggs and it was one of the most delicious things I ate on the boat.
I want to eat my fruit, not be creeped out by it!
Go easy on the cocktails.
I’ll admit, when I first boarded, the piña coladas were calling my name. The booze was really cheap and the weather was sweltering!
But I went right off them once I saw one being made. SO. MUCH. SYRUP. From then on, I mostly treated myself to a glass of wine (sugar-free, y’all) or the occasional cheeky vodka soda.
The first day was over 40°C, alright?!
Don’t go near the kids’ stuff.
This is a general rule for life, but seriously. Being the eldest sibling of five, I was dragged along to a Dr Seuss breakfast. The savoury options were few. I was handed a yoghurt parfait on entering that made my taste buds shudder.
I chose Green Eggs and Ham thinking perhaps the eggs would be scrambled with spinach…
No… they tasted heavily of food colouring and came, for some reason, with a macaron.
I do not like Green Eggs and Ham… I do not like them on a boat…
Embrace the adventure.
Don’t make the cruise about the food. The best part about the whole trip was docking at the islands, where we took long hikes, swam in coral reefs and drank green coconuts chopped fresh from the tree.
And even if you do end up indulging more than you would’ve liked, don’t beat yourself up about it. I just started afresh by jumping straight on the next I Quit Sugar: 8-Week Program. What happens on the boat, stays on the boat!
Now that’s way better than a piña colada.
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