Holistic Tips To Keep You Well While Traveling
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My husband and I recently had the pleasure of traveling to Spain and Ireland, and it was the trip of a lifetime! We’ve been planning a trip like this for a long time. We got married in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, so we put off our travel plans in hopes things would open back up soon. As you all know, it went on a lot longer than planned, and between that, moving states, and me getting sick the DAY before we were supposed to leave on a 10-day road trip…. we just put the vacation on the back burner and decided to try again later. And it was so worth it! Everything went so well, and we had little to no hiccups, which is such praise and a rare occurrence while traveling.
I have done my fair share of traveling, but I wish I would have known what I know now about staying well while traveling. It would have saved me a lot of stress and anxiety, and I probably could have avoided getting sick as much as I did. Here are some of my tried-and-true tips that helped me to stay in tip-top shape for our adventure.
Sleep
This is one of if not THE, most important thing you can do while you travel. I ended up getting a little cold on our trip, and you guessed it right, it was after a couple of nights of long travel and little sleep. Thankfully I came prepared and was able to kick it within a couple of days, and overall it didn’t affect our travel plans. But getting enough sleep with all the stress that travel causes your body is an absolute must. Sleep helps to repair your body and it helps to boost your immune system. I fully adopted the old siesta tradition, and I’m happy to announce that I took a long, fat nap almost every day we were on vacation. If sleep is something you struggle with, you can read about my tips and tricks to improve sleep.
Snacks
I am notorious for undernourishing my body when I travel. I’m out of my routine, and therefore I don’t pause and think about fueling my body appropriately. This often leaves me overly hungry, or hangry, and then I overeat to the point of discomfort and bloating. I know myself all to well, so this time I decided I wanted to be prepared. I went to Costco before we headed out, and I loaded up on Chomps Beef Sticks and Midday Squares. When traveling, especially on the plane, they tend to feed you a lot of carbs and not as much protein. I wanted to make sure I had a way to supplement with some extra protein to help me feel satiated and to help keep my blood sugar levels stable. This very simple hack helped me a lot!
Nourishment in Mind
While good and nourishing snacks can definitely fall into this category, this is a bit different. We were on vacation and I really didn’t want to spend time stressing too much about what we were eating. So I didn’t! I wanted to have a good time and indulge in some fun foods I typically don’t eat at home. The nice thing about Europe is that they have a lot higher of standards for their food, and they do a significant amount of nose-to-tail eating. Going out to eat left me feeling a lot less bloated than eating out in the States does. I was happy to know that a good majority of our food was high quality and just as equally delicious. But I did make sure to apply some of the same standards I do at home for my meals and snacks; I made sure that every meal had some form of fiber and protein. This was an absolute must for me. This is probably the most simple and easy way to balance blood sugar levels, assuring I wasn’t on some sort of blood sugar roller coaster. It helped to keep my energy levels stable, and left me feeling my best after meals! I also applied some of my other blood sugar balancing tips, which you can read about here.
Hydration
We started in the southern part of Spain and traveled our way up the coast. By the time we made it to Barcelona, the air was a bit chillier, and Dublin was definitely cooler weather than we’d experienced in Spain. But the southern part of Spain actually ended up taking me by surprise with how warm it was. Hydration was a nonnegotiable. To help us stay hydrated, I packed a small thing of high-quality sea salt, as well as my Trace Mineral Drops. This helped us to make sure we were absorbing the water, not just flushing it out of our system, as well as replenishing all of the minerals we were sweating out
Take What You Need
I pride myself in packing as little as possible… which sometimes gets me in trouble, but the last thing I wanted to do was lug a big suitcase around Europe. I opted for a backpack and a small carry-on. I made sure to dive up my supplements in a non-plastic pill divider to help me remember to take them while taking up very little space in my suitcase. As I mentioned earlier, I also brought my travel-sized minerals to add to my water. As far as toiletries go, I know it can be hard to find high-quality products that are small enough to go through TSA, so here is a list of my favorite items that I found to take with us:
My favorite castor oil for moisturizing and oil cleansing my face
Tea tree oil and coconut oil for any scrapes, injuries, or rashes
Relax and Have Fun
It goes without saying that this was a once-in-a-lifetime event! We might go back one day, but it’s not something we plan to do again soon. One of the worst things you can for your health is stress, so just go and have fun! Remember that a few days of eating out of your norm won’t set you back, and enjoy making memories worry-free!
