Vacation time, rightly, is a time to shake up our routines. But sometimes that change can have negative health consequences. Plan ahead and you will avoid these common vacation pitfalls.

Pitfall # 1 -- Overeating and drinking

Attitude is many people's biggest diet downfall. The “hey, I'm on vacation,” feeling leads us from merely tasting our hotel's famous Key Lime pie on vacation day one to ordering dessert after every meal by vacation day three. Vacation is not a license to indulge in every whim. Make a plan to enjoy yourself without wrecking your good nutritional habits:
If you eat in reaction to stress, do everything you can to keep your travel and sightseeing schedule light, flexible, and carefree.
Research the regional specialties on your itinerary and choose, in advance, the few dishes you most want to try on this trip. Enlist a traveling companion (or two) to share an order. Pretend you are a food critic and analyze the color, the taste, and the texture of your treat. You'll eat less and enjoy it more!
Offset that serving of New York style strawberry cheesecake with a light entree. You're planning ahead, remember?
Limit the liquor, including wine and beer. In addition to packing on extra calories, drinking reduces inhibitions -- for snack food, big meals, dessert, and more drinks.
Incorporate exercise into the vacation, even if you can't maintain your usual routine. Walk as much as possible, toss a baseball to the kids, go out dancing – give yourself permission to play. It's your vacation, after all!

Pitfall # 2 -- Taking a break from medically prescribed diet restriction.

If you or a traveling companion are on a special diet for a medical condition like diabetes, hypertension, or food allergies, there is no vacation from that illness. Maintain the diet prescribed by your health care provider during the entire trip. A registered dietitian can help you think through the issues that traveling with an illness may bring. You may need to call ahead to order special meals from airlines or cruise ships or, depending on where you will be traveling, even provide your own food items like artificial sweetener, sodium-free seasoning, and Lactaid. Be prepared to discuss ingredients and food preparation methods with restaurant personnel. And always bring an extra supply of your medication and a back-up prescription.

Pitfall # 3 – Vacation spoiled by illness.

A range of digestive illnesses can plague the traveler. You may want to bring a small supply of over-the-counter remedies, especially if you tend to get heartburn, diarrhea, or constipation.
Depending on where you are traveling, heed warnings and restrictions about the advisability of eating raw fruits and vegetables and drinking from the public water supply. If you have a particularly sensitive system, you may want to stick to bottled water where ever you travel.
Often travelers' food choices are limited and we can't get as much high-fiber foods as we do at home. Fiber tablets and wafers or foil-packed prunes are easy to pack and can help maintain regularity.