To All Travelers Who Starve Themselves, This is for You

As much as I wanted to write about Cuban food, somehow the idea of sharing my opinion about the relationship between some travelers and food appeared. In short, they starve themselves in order to travel.

There’s some news about travelers who set an extremely low budget for food so they can travel. One girl walks to the office and eats only vegetables. If she feels like spending more, she’ll have canned fish. Her goal? To have luxury holidays!

Of course, not all travelers go to that extreme. As someone who has done it, I, too, chose to be hungry so I could save more money to fund my travel.

For example, I skipped dinner for almost two years and very seldom spend money on snacks. Because my only real meal was during lunchtime, I made sure that I had a protein-loaded meal.

I swapped chicken, fish and beef with tempeh because it cost much lesser and contained higher protein. I always eat vegetables, fruits and milk every day. On top of that, I never skip my gym routine.

When my friends were enjoying their snacks, ice cream and bubble tea, I chose not to because they were not in my budget. I convinced myself that those snacks aren’t healthy, anyway.

With that, I thought I killed two birds with one stone. I could save money for traveling and my clean-eating habit is good for my health.

By this time, some of you may be thinking that there’s nothing wrong with my habit. I was living a healthy lifestyle, what’s wrong with it?

My dear travelers, you don’t know how that affected me emotionally and physically.

Starving for Traveling Keeps You Longing

Sure, the feeling will disappear when you finally fly to your dream destination. You’ll feel that your sacrifice is worth it. However, it’ll be a never-ending cycle because you’ll never stop traveling.

I thought about food most of the time. I looked like a hopeless puppy when I watched people enjoying their food. I yearned for attending concerts, have nights out with friends, and enjoying nice meals in my favorite restaurants.

I had the money but I chose not to enjoy my life because I thought traveling was all I need.

But Clara, traveling is my passion. It’s the source of my happiness!

Do you know that you’ll also feel happy when you eat yummy, ‘sinful’ food once in a while?

Do you know that you’ll also feel happy when you spend money on a massage, facial, concert and hangouts (not so frequent, of course)?

Also read: “Tony Robbins’ Investing Rules of Thumb – Simplified”

Starving for Traveling Causes Malnutrition

I thought I was living a healthy lifestyle. Some of my friends said that I was a very healthy person – vegetables, fruits, protein, green tea, gym and all those stuff. In reality:

I felt cold easily, especially in my palms. My lips were extremely pale. My muscle didn’t grow much because I didn’t eat enough. I often feel exhausted.

I didn’t eat enough food, fat and sugar that my family members commented: “You looked like a (sorry) refugee child! You’re so skinny that you lost your chubby cheeks and a$$. Why are you doing this to yourself?”

What Changed My Mind

There are three people who finally made me change my eating habit: my cousin’s wife, my mother and my best friend.

• Bad habits during young age could be resulting in something horrible once you reach 30. It doesn’t happen now because you’re still young, so don’t take it for granted.
• If you’re making XXX amount of salary, why are you eating like low-wage employees? Look at them, they’re eating better than you!
• Eating well is an investment in your health. If you’re sick, how can you make money, moreover travel?

If you’re still starving yourself or eating poorly to fund your travel, I hope this post could inspire you to re-do your budgeting. Just like you think you’ll regret if you don’t travel, think about how you’ll regret not enjoying food while you’re still healthy.

Because when the illness appears, you may not have the appetite anymore or not be allowed to eat your favorite foods.