Travel has layers of stress built in before you even leave your front door. From the beginning stages of planning to arriving at your destination, vacation can feel overwhelming.
One of the final stresses leading up to big trips is often the fear of getting sick. With the recent trauma of illness and being stuck at home, we struggle to set aside the age-old worry of ruining our vacations with illness.
What if we can reduce the chances of falling ill on our vacations with a few simple tips? Let‘s talk through ideas we can use to take the best care of ourselves so that we can enjoy our vacations!
Nutrition is KEY
Food is a hot topic with a lot of mixed messages. With fad diets continuing to rule the media popularity contest, it is hard to know what is truly helpful for our bodies. In our everyday, here’s my top 3 tips to the best pre-travel diet.
The first important tip is eating whole foods and reducing our packaged items. We are quick to grab protein bars or packaged snacks which while convenient, can add extra ingredients that can be harder on our body to process. Stick to cold cut veggies, fruits, and nuts for easy snacks.
Secondly, cut out alcohol or other stimulants like caffeine and sugar. Our bodies work extra hard to eliminate these items which can run down our natural immunity levels. We are more susceptible to illness when our bodies aren’t running at optimal performance.
Thirdly, avoid inflammatory foods. When I prep to travel and on travel days I stay away from key foods like dairy, sugar, and extra caffeine. When our body intakes these ingredients, it holds onto more water to help process and digest them fully. Cutting out these foods will reduce the bloating feeling, and allow our bodies to focus on eliminating any germ cells we have picked up instead.
Water, water, water
Nutritian is super important for gaining the best nutrients for our bodies. In order to keep our bodies functioning at maximal capacity, we have to drink LOTS of water. Lack of adquate water intake is the number 1 reason for so many ailments. With my clients, the first goal we make is 100 daily ounces of water and there is immediate positive feedback. Want to feel better? Drink water. Want to sleep better? Drink water. Want to have more energy? Drink water.
When I fly for work, I double my water intake because our bodies use TWICE as much water to perform natural bodily functions in the air. TWICE! This means on my long haul 6 hour redeyes, I am drinking 80 ounces of water to feel my best.
Leading up to your travel and the hours prior to your trip, make sure to be extra hydrated and stay hydrated. Using the bathroom is a minor inconvenience when you feel your BEST.
Boost with Vitamins
Eating whole foods will increase our exposure to nutrients and help our body provide the best immunity to germs. Unfortunately our food can lack many of the vitamins and minerals we once had when we grew more of our own food in its’ natural state. I always recommend staying on top of Vitamin D, even if you live in a sunny place. Adding extra Vitamin C will make sure your immunity levels are operating at prime levels. The last vitamin I recommend is Zinc which aids in the binding of Vitamin C and D in our bodies so we can store extra nutrients and not lose the energy we take in.
Move your Body
Walking is finally being recognized as one of the best exercises for overall health. When the running craze existed, walking was reduced to being perceived as less than worth our time. The reason for this is because cardio is all about burning calories so the energy output for that specific task has value. But, walking has shown to overall have so many wonderful benefits. From providing lubircation for joints, stretching and strengthening muscles, to reducing stress by decreasing cortisol levels in our brain. Scientifally, walking is the best overal movement we can add daily for short and long term benefits.
But, can we still have FUN when we travel?
Vacation is queen. All of these tips are to help you arrive at your final destination as healthy as possible. We can live it up and balance with some of these helpful tips to stay healthy throughout the trip, but one should enjoy holidays to the best of our ability.
Happy travel. Stay healthy!
Lee