We're headed to my hometown of Sydney Australia for Christmas (yay!). I'm so excited to be by the surf and sand. I always knew ocean did something wonderful to my soul, and now there's scientific proof to support just how wonderful nature is for us. Just looking at a photo of nature can reduce cortisol levels. How amazing is that?! So I know my adrenals are going to thank me whilst I sit in our beach-side pad (I'll try not to make you all tooo jealous). However, traveling is wrought with airport “food”, plane “food” (I should be saying “food-like substances”), dirty plane air and lack of sleep. This is why I have prepared a travel pack of essentials, which include the below items. Hopefully these will keep us happy and healthy, even after the 20+ hour journey (?).
- St. Francis Herb Farm Canadian Bitters tincture. This is a tincture I use ALL the time. Bitters help to stimulate our digestive juices, which helps us better absorb nutrients from our food. I like to take it when I travel so I can absorb every last bit of nutrition from the minimal produce I'll be eating. This particular tincture also contains herbs that are very supportive of liver health, which is fundamental when trying to keep yourself healthy whilst flying in the sky.
- St. Francis Herb Farm Deep Immune tincture. We all know planes can be nasty incubators of viruses and other germs, that's why I take St. Francis Deep Immune with me when I travel. I take one tincture for my husband and I and another for my kids (Deep Immune Kids). This tincture will help boost our immune system so we hopefully don't catch anything nasty during our journey.
- St. Francis Herb Farm Triphala tincture. I take this tincuture along with me when I travel because triphala is a bowel tonic. What this means is that if you're constipated it'll help to get things moving. Many people become constipated whilst traveling so I'm taking this tincture in the hopes of sorting that out should it occur for myself or my husband. Additionally, it's also a powerful blood and liver cleanser and is very high in vitamin C.
- Probiotics. With over 70% of our immune system located in our gut, probiotics when you travel are a must. However, be mindful of keeping your probiotics insulated as best as possible. I wrap mine in aluminium foil to protect the delicate bacteria from heat. If you pack them in your luggage and your luggage is in the cargo hold they should be fine, as it's very cold in there. However if you pack them in your carry on luggage you might also want to bring an icepack along with you to keep them extra cool.
- Broccoli and kale sprout powder. In order to keep our nutrient intake up whilst traveling I'm taking along my broccoli and kale sprout powder. We put a teaspoon in some water (or juice, to make it more bearable) and shoot it back. I even make my 5 year old do it (she's a good sport about it, and in juice it's hardly noticeable). You can also sprinkled it on your food. Broccoli sprouts have INCREDIBLE health benefits and are far more potent than actual broccoli. Studies have shown that three-day old broccoli sprouts contain 10-100 times the amount of glucoraphanin than that found in mature broccoli. Glucoraphanin is an anti-cancer compound that helps the body detoxify environmental pollutants (important when traveling on planes). They also contain sulforaphane, a compound that has been shown to help normalise DNA methylation, act as an anti-cancer agent, benefit our liver detox pathways and play an important role in activating over 200 genes in the body. Additionally the isothiocyanates in broccoli sprouts are also cancer preventative and cruciferous vegetables are able to promote intestinal immune function by locking onto “Ah” cells in the gut. I love sprouts or sprout powder because you get significantly more bang for your nutritional buck verses the amount of actual broccoli you'd have to eat to get the equivalent nutrition, (you'd have to eat a huge amount of real broccoli to even come close to the nutrition in broccoli sprouts). I just bag up a bit of it in a small sandwich bag and put the rest in my luggage, ready for us when we get to our accommodation on the other end.
- EXO bars. These bars are made with cricket flour. Yep – crickets. Now before you look away in horror let me tell you about the nutritional benefits of eating crickets. They're extremely high in protein – more so than chicken and eggs – they are a complete protein and they contain 2.2 times more iron than spinach. They also contain significant amounts of omega 3s, fibre and calcium. You're eating 5 crickets per bite of an EXO bar! A very decent whack of nutrition in each bite. 80% of the world eat insects and I think they're onto something. I'm taking a few for my husband and I (the kids don't like them) so we have a healthy snack for when we're feeling peckish.
- GoMacro Bars. These bars are great. They're gluten-free, organic and taste delicious. They make for a yummy quick snack that's relatively healthy.
- Melatonin. Jet-lag totally sucks and sleep deprivation is incredibly taxing and unhealthy on your body, that's why I take melatonin with me. Melatonin will help us all get back on a more regular schedule once we land at our destination.
- Herbal Teas. When I'm up in the air I like to have a stash of my favourite herbal teas on me. I simply ask the flight attendant for some boiling water and whip out a tea bag for a relaxing cuppa 30,000 feet up. The ones I'm taking on this trip include peppermint, turmeric lemon and ginger (all in one teabag – this is my favourite tea of all time), hibiscus (for some serious antioxidant power) and holy basil (an adaptogen that helps our body adapt to stress).
- Individual Almond Butter packs. These little almond butter packs are awesome. If nothing else you can grab an apple at the airport and smear some almond butter on it to create a healthy, blood sugar balancing snack on the go. Almond butter is packed with calcium, iron, magnesium, fibre and healthy fat, so it's a fabulous accompaniment for any traveler who's looking for a nutrition-fuelled snack.
- Essential oils. I'm also going to be packing some orange essential oils and my “pocket pharmacy” from Saje wellness, which includes multiple oil blends that help with immunity, stress relief and indigestion. Orange essential oil has been shown to help alleviate anxiety and trust me – this stuff works! It always makes me feel so happy and calm. So if myself or anyone in my family needs a bit of help with anxiety or something else whilst encapsulated high in the skies, I have these essential oils that I can put on a tissue so we can inhale them and relax.
What do you do to keep yourself healthy when you travel? I'd love to hear your secrets. Please share them below in the comments!
SOURCES
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC23369/
- http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=news&dbid=38
- http://nutritionfacts.org/video/broccoli-sprouts-vs-supplements/
- http://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-broccoli-receptor-our-first-line-of-defense-2/
- http://nutritionfacts.org/video/broccoli-versus-breast-cancer-stem-cells/
- http://nutritionfacts.org/video/sulforaphane-from-broccoli-to-breast/
- http://nutritionfacts.org/video/orange-aromatherapy-for-anxiety/
