There's a version of "healthy eating on holiday" that sounds exhausting. Researching restaurants in advance, tracking macros by the pool, negotiating with yourself over every meal. Eating becomes a project instead of a pleasure, and that's the opposite of what a holiday is for.
So here's a different approach. A few loose principles that keep you feeling good in the heat, energised, light, not sluggish, without turning food into a thing.
Follow What Your Body Actually Wants
Here's something worth knowing: in hot weather, your body naturally gravitates towards lighter food. Cold things, fresh things, high water-content things. Salads, fruits, grilled fish, vegetables. That's not discipline, that's your digestive system being sensible.
Heat slows digestion down slightly, so heavy, rich, or heavily processed food tends to sit differently when it's 30-something degrees outside. Your appetite often shifts to reflect that. Trust it.
The places people tend to go wrong on holiday isn't the food itself, it's eating out of habit or boredom rather than hunger, or swinging between skipping meals and then overeating later. Neither feels great.
The One Thing to Keep in Every Meal
If there's one nutritional anchor worth holding onto on holiday, it's protein.
It's the thing most people drop when eating out or grazing through a lazy holiday day, and it's also the reason so many people feel tired, snacky, and vaguely flat by mid-afternoon. Protein keeps you full, keeps blood sugar stable, and keeps energy steady.
You don't need to plan around it obsessively. Just: eggs at breakfast, fish or chicken at lunch, a decent dinner. Simple.
Hydration in the Heat
When it's hot, really hot, 30+ degrees, your body is working significantly harder to regulate its temperature. You're losing water faster, and mild dehydration sets in more quickly than you'd expect.
Fatigue, headaches, brain fog, and cravings for sugar are often dehydration in disguise. Drink more water than you think you need. Add electrolytes if you're sweating a lot (a pinch of salt in your water, or coconut water). Eat fruit with high water content — melon, cucumber, strawberries, grapes.
Coffee doesn't count. Neither does alcohol, which dehydrates you further. Both are fine in moderation, but they need water alongside them, not instead of it.
The Extras? Enjoy Them.
The gelato. The glass of local wine. The bread with good olive oil. The dessert you wouldn't normally order.
These are part of the experience — of traveling, of summer, of being somewhere that feels different from ordinary life. Food is one of the great pleasures of being somewhere new. Eating something indulgent doesn't undo anything. It's just a good meal.
What actually makes you feel bad isn't the treats, it's the guilt spiral afterwards, or the all-or-nothing thinking that turns one indulgent dinner into a week of eating things that don't make you feel well. Enjoy the extras. Then eat something fresh and nourishing the next morning and move on.
This Works in London Too
If you're not actually going anywhere this summer, you're just sweating through the hottest week of the year while everyone else posts pictures from Santorini, the same principles apply.
Lighter meals. More water. Protein at every sitting. Fresh food over heavy food. The odd treat without the guilt.
And when it's 35 degrees outside and you genuinely cannot face cooking, having a NUUDA meal in the freezer is not a compromise, it's a good decision. Ready in under an hour, made from real ingredients which are actually nourishing. Sometimes the easiest option really is the right one.
When You Get Back
Post-holiday is when most people's nutrition takes the biggest hit, not the holiday itself, but the week after. Fridge empty, routine gone, nothing in the house, defaulting to whatever's easiest.
Stock the freezer before you go. Come home to something proper.
Our build your own bundle option is designed exactly for this — real food, made with care, ready when you are. Whether you've just landed back or you're just getting through a hot Tuesday in London.