By Michelle Vale
Functional Nutrition is recognized as preventative medicine to optimize health and prevent chronic disease before symptoms appear. It focused on the root causes of health issues by considering genetics, lifestyle, environment, and the interconnectedness of body systems, rather than just counting calories and treating symptoms. The goal is tailoring dietary plans to reach optimal wellness. Functional Nutrition is deeply linked to Functional Medicine, which recognizes food as medicine to support healing, inflammation reduction, and overall physiological functions.
This ideology of food as preventative medicine can help individuals to live healthier and longer, while maintaining strength, energy, mental clarity, and other healthy attributes. Foods that fall under the label of Functional Nutrition are as follows: organic whole food proteins including fish, grass-fed beef, poultry, grass-fed and finished beef, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains such as brown rice and barley, and healthy fats including avocado, olive oil and coconut oil. Minimally processed foods that are pasteurized and fortified – such as Greek yogurt and cheese – can also be part of a well-balanced diet and fall under Functional Nutrition.
Lifestyle fads come and go, and the world is on a never-ending quest for the holy grail of longevity. More than ever, people are working diligently to improve their health and quality of life to extend their lives. We look to the Blue Zones for evidence of what is working. In the news cycle we are now bombarded by articles about stress, sleep, social community, fitness, and nutrition, to aid in our search for a longer, healthier life. All the above-mentioned are things we often turn to vacations for, except there is a real challenge when it comes to nutrition and travel, particularly in North America where the food guidelines are vastly different than they are abroad. There is currently a push to change this, which is positive, but it will take time.
In the meantime, fast food and highly processed foods tend to reign supreme at many hotels and resorts. It may not look like that initially, as your food doesn’t arrive in a plastic package with an ingredients list. The illusion of the meal in front of you often appears to be homemade; however, much of what we find are plated meals using packaged, pre-made ingredients. Think of the breakfast buffets in the mornings, including volume prepared eggs, pancakes, pastries, breads etc. all likely made with a host of ingredients that won’t typically read as nutritious and many of which are known to cause inflammation, blood sugar spikes and other negative body reactions. Typically, many of these establishments are serving big portions of low-nutrition, low-quality foods.
Because of this you will often find that most people tend to go off the rails when it comes to eating and drinking when on vacation or traveling. They typically throw the practice of healthy eating to the wayside. Either they have bought into an all-inclusive package and want to get their money’s worth, or they simply become consumed with trying to figure out what the healthiest option offered is, and become overwhelmed because they don’t know the ingredients behind what they are eating.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly acceptable to want to indulge a little while on vacation, food brings joy, especially when sharing with others and most aren’t looking to eat 100% healthy. But because of the lack of quality whole foods offered, people tend to take on more of an all-or-nothing mentality while on vacation and it doesn’t need to be that way.
So, what if we challenged the current norm when it comes to food and travel. It starts with YOU, the traveler. You need to vocalize your wants and needs, and when this starts happening more regularly, more hospitality establishments will start to do better. More fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly baked breads made with simple ingredients and proteins cooked in quality, nutrient-dense oils like avocado, olive and coconut. How about a smoothie bar onsite or a food concession where one can choose a build-your-own bowl or salad with whole food options? We are talking about simply prepared proteins; grains cooked without oils and fresh fruit and vegetable options to customize to the traveler’s taste preferences. Most proteins and grains at many hotels and resorts are cooked in or made with cheap oils, and they don’t need to be.
In restaurants on-site, how about if they added one option on every menu where guests don’t have to guess what’s in the meal? Many individuals feel that when they opt for a yogurt parfait with fruit and granola, they are making a safe choice, however, granola is often loaded with sugar, seed oils, and other fillers and sometimes the fruit is mixed with sugar too. A simple switch would be to offer plain Greek yogurt with honey, walnuts and fresh fruit. Think that you’re safe, choosing almond or oat milk? Think again. Many of us might believe that when choosing plant-based milks, we are making a healthy choice, not realizing that many of these milks are loaded with filler ingredients to cheapen the price.
It’s much easier to control your nutrition intake when you’re at home and you can read the ingredients in the items you purchase to prepare your food.
This is a call to action for more transparency and better choices at hotels and resorts. Yes, whole foods are more expensive, but hotels and resorts are buying volume, and if they tap into their local food suppliers and purveyors, they can reduce costs across the board. There is also a tremendous amount of food waste, so by curating their food and beverage programs, they can also curb their environmental impact.
Let’s hope 2026 will be a year of nutritional change for the better.
Certified in functional nutrition, Michelle Vale is a travel and lifestyle writer with a focus on sustainability. If you work at a hotel or resort and are interested in learning more on how you can make changes to the existing food and beverage program please reach out to Michelle at michelle@michellevale.com