Summer And Holiday Travel Tips
Niti Sheth • 23 July 2024
Stay healthy while you travel this Summer!
We recently went on a week-long holiday to France, and while holidays are fun, there is a tendency to let your health slide and go for a holiday too! The older I get, the more I realise that while you may be on a break from work and household duties, don't be on a break from your health - it will just take more time to get back on track, plus even though you've been on a holiday mentally, your physical body will suffer. So whether you're flying or driving, staying in a 5-star hotel or a budget Air BnB, here are some tips for you to ensure you stay healthy on your holiday:
- Find balance through your day's meals:
we love to indulge in delicious food while we're travelling. Whether it's sampling the regions local cuisine, or enjoying the hotel's breakfast buffet - if you know that breakfast/lunch/dinner is going to be a big meal that's heavy to digest - then keep the other meals of the day light. Just have some local fruits for breakfast, or opt for a simple soup/salad for the other meal. For us, because we were generally out and about for the day, our lunches ended up being the heaviest meal which we generally got from a cafe or restaurant nearby. Then back at our Air BnB, I would make some dal and rice for dinner, or roast up some veggies in the oven.
- Maintain routine while on holiday:
we often love to see holidays as a time to let loose - eat whatever we want, sleep whenever we want, wake up whenever we want. But the truth is that our bodies don't know we're on holiday, and so when we do things that throw off our normal routine (in terms of our eating, sleeping and waking times) our bodies get confused. We thrive on routine, and letting this go in the name of relaxing can do us more harm than good. So stick to similar eating, sleeping and waking times - no matter where you travel to.
- Foods to help keep you regular
💩 new places and new foods can sometimes throw your digestion off track a little and result in constipation. Remember to use these foods as medicine to help keep everything moving smoothly. Try one remedy at a time:
- 4-5 prunes as a snack anytime during the day
- 9-10 raisins soaked in water and kept overnight, to be consumed first thing in the morning.
- Local and seasonal fruit as a snack during the day. Especially: bananas, prunes, pears, apples, papaya, soaked figs and raisins.
- 1 teaspoon ghee in half cup of warm water at bedtime.
- 1 teaspoon triphala in half cup of warm water at bedtime.
- Lots of water and movement during the day.
- Do your food research before you travel:
we visited a few small French towns that were very limited in their vegetarian options. So we travelled with provisions to cook our own meals a few times while we were away. I packed all the spices I would need for one dish in a small container, some dried lentils and rice, ghee and my trusty pressure cooker. And these few things helped us have healthy, delicious and quick meals while we relaxed in our Air BnB. Another night we bought some local veggies and roasted them with olive oil and a herb blend for a lighter dinner. If food options are limited where you're going, think of these foods that you can quickly make in your accommodation: dal + rice, kichdi, soups, roasted veggies, pasta or stir-fries.
