Boondocking or RV Parks: The Healthy Choice

by | Dec 30, 2021 | RV Life

RV Fitness

Ready to head off on an adventure with your RV, and weighing the healthy lifestyle benefits between boondocking or RV parks? There are many differences between camping at an RV park or RV boondocking, so let’s explore the differences as they pertain to the ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

First, the RV boondocking definition is off-grid, dry camping without hookups for water, sewer, or electricity. Usually out in natural surroundings on public lands.  Not having access to unlimited water or sewer is the biggest negative against boondocking for a healthy lifestyle. 

Food & Diet while at an RV Park

There are many good reasons for staying at an RV park when it comes to food and diet.

Staying at RV parks will provide you with unlimited water to use for food prep and washing dishes. This means you can focus on preparing healthy RV meals with no extra stress. Plus you’ll have trash on-site, which is a definite pro for preparing whole foods-based meals with lots of organic matter to dispose of. RV Parks are also often centrally located near city services, allowing you access to shopping for any healthy RV food you need to restock. So, you won’t need a fancy solar setup to power your RV cooking accessories and equipment. Lastly, many RV parks offer propane filling on-site, a pro if you cook with gas, like to grill, etc. 


There are only a few cons to consider, depending on how prone to temptation you are.
With close proximity to city services, comes close proximity to restaurants, happy hours, and other temptations you might find near many RV parks. Plus, if you make friends with your neighbors there are likely to be happy hour invitations many nights a week. 

Food & Diet while Boondocking

Boondocking definitely can’t compete against the unlimited water, electricity, and trash of RV parks. That makes these items the biggest cons against RV Boondocking for a healthy lifestyle.  Cooking and cleaning can be a challenge with limited resources, but many healthy RVers take pride in figuring out the ways to make easy healthy RV meals.  Try searching for ‘healthy RV camping recipes’ if you’re just starting out. This will get you some RV cooking tips before you hone your own RV cooking hacks.

The obvious pro of boondocking for your healthy diet is location.  You’re probably camped out in beautiful nature, miles from any town. Which of course makes driving to a restaurant or bar a lot less tempting. Even if you’re craving something, it’s a pretty big barrier to entry to pack up camp and drive a ways to the nearest town, where your options will likely be quite limited.  

Options for Fitness & Exercise for Boondocking or RV Parks

Whether you choose RV parks or boondocking, having your own RV fitness equipment and a plan for your travel workout is critical to maintaining fitness on the go.

The pros for fitness and exercise while boondocking are easy access to abundant outdoor activities from hiking to biking. Also, you can usually walk for miles right from your campsite.  You can be an extra savvy healthy RVer by carefully selecting your RV boondocking locations to support your fitness on the road. 

The exercise cons for boondocking are primarily about the weather conditions. If you’re planning a beautiful hike and it rains, it’s easy to skip that workout. It’s easy to fall into the goldilocks pattern, it’s too hot, too cold, too windy, and too rainy to complete your RV workout routine.  So if inside space in your RV is possible, a little RV fitness gym is a good way to protect your workout from the elements. Exercising while RVing can also be a challenge when you don’t have unlimited water or power for regular showers.  Many fit RVers swear by body wipes to stay fresh without sacrificing their workout routine.

The amenities at RV Parks can make exercising while RVing a bit easier and maybe even more exciting. Say, you pull into a new RV Park and it has an inviting outdoor pool or a renovated fitness center. That’s likely to peak your interest and you’ll want to go check it out.  Some RV parks even host yoga classes or walking groups. You may find pickleball courts, tennis courts, any number of amenities that support your fitness goals. Plus, there’s plenty of hot water for post-workout showers every day!

While it may appear easier to live a healthy lifestyle while at an RV Park, it is possible to live a healthy lifestyle with either RV camping setup.  Boondocking definitely takes a bit more planning and practice. But, for some, it just may be worth it for the natural surroundings and outdoor access. 

Helping Others Life this Mobile Lifestyle to the Fullest

This post may contain affiliate links, which are links to products we use, have been recommended, and trust. It doesn’t cost you any more, but we do receive a small commission from it. Thank you for your support! laughing

More from Healthy RV Living

Nutritional Supplements for Optimal Health

Nutritional Supplements for Optimal Health

Do we need to take nutritional supplements for general health? It’s fair to say that yes, most of us do. Up to 90% of Americans aren’t getting enough critical nutrients for healthy functioning. We are functionally deficient in minerals, micronutrients, fatty acids, and vitamins.

read more
How to Start a Food Prep Ritual

How to Start a Food Prep Ritual

Food prep is the key for many people to be prepared and stay on track with their nutrition goals. Without it, you may find yourself getting so hungry and short on time that you reach for convenient food and fast food. Food prep in an RV is a lot like food prep in a traditional household. The purpose is the same, to take raw ingredients and prepare them in ways to make meal time and consumption efficient and convenient.

read more
Can You Use an Air Fryer in an RV?

Can You Use an Air Fryer in an RV?

Air fryers are very popular in home kitchens these days, but what if you’re cooking in an RV kitchen? Can an air fryer still be one of your cooking essentials in an RV? Absolutely.  Considerations for bringing an air fryer on board include counter space, storage space, and power requirements. 

read more
Winter RV Destinations

Winter RV Destinations

Winter RV Destinations are a driving factor in the annual route plans. We call this travel style “by region, by season”. In the winter, most RVers flock to the sunbelt destinations.  Snowbirds and sunseekers alike make places like Florida, Arizona, and California their home for the winter season.  If you live in a cold and snowy region of the country, taking your RV south for the winter might be a great way to maintain your healthy RV lifestyle year-round.  We all know that the cold of winter drives us inside and makes us less active, especially outdoors.  But what if you could skip winter entirely by choosing your winter RV destinations wisely?

read more
RV Travel to Canada

RV Travel to Canada

RV Travel to Canada is on many RVers bucketlist.  It’s a big trip with lots of ground to cover and involves an international border crossing, so it’s worth being prepared and planning ahead. This blog is kind of an “RVing Canada 101”.  Today we’ll just cover the basics, and you can decide if RV travel to Canada is right for you. 

read more
Should You Buy a Class C RV?

Should You Buy a Class C RV?

Today we’re exploring if you should buy a class C RV, and how it may support a healthy RV lifestyle. Here at Healthy RV Living, all things health and fitness factor into most of our decisions.   You may be asking “which RV is right for me” and we hope this post can help you decide.

read more
Strength Training Mistakes to Avoid

Strength Training Mistakes to Avoid

Strength training mistakes happen, and they could be keeping you from seeing progress. Nobody likes putting in the effort and not noticing results over time. It can be demotivating, and sometimes even dangerous. While some of these strength training mistakes are more impeding than others, it’s worth brushing up on all of them to make sure you’re in the green.

read more
Resistance Training – the Basics

Resistance Training – the Basics

Whether you’re brand new to resistance training or it’s been a year or two (or ten!) since you last trained, these basic explanations will help you get the motivation to start up.

read more

0 Comments

0 Comments