How to Travel, Eat, and Feel Good
Kauai
Traveling can be a beautiful, life changing experience. It can also be very demanding and exhausting. In order to enjoy visiting amazing places, we have to stay healthy. That’s no small feat considering the challenges to our immune system when traveling. Often our sleep schedule gets thrown off, there can be moments of pure stress, and we eat wildly different foods. To travel healthy, preparation is the most important thing you can do.
Here are some tips to stay healthy wherever you wander.
Bring some dehydrated food with you, like you’re backpacking. That way, you’re sure to get at least the basics, just in case. Most places have hot water available in your room.
If you’re a backpacker and you have a sleep system you like, bring it. Or you could at least bring your sleeping pad. If the beds are awful, you can still manage to get a decent night’s sleep. Inflatable sleeping pads roll up small for easy packing.
Keep tracking your food. It can be easy to forget to bring your food journal or enter your meals in an app. Make a point of at least taking a few minutes at the end of each day, even if it’s on hotel stationery.
When traveling to tropical areas of the world, drink bottled water and avoid raw fruits and veggies. At restaurants, it’s okay to ask for a capped bottle. To be on the safe side, you can even brush your teeth with bottled water. Most places offer glass bottles instead of plastic. You can also use a water filter as you would when backpacking to avoid using bottles.
Before you go, look up grocery stores, hotel menus, and restaurants where you’re headed. Locate restaurants that serve the foods you’re looking for, like vegan options. Make reservations if you need to.
If you’re staying in hotels or an Air bnb, stay at places that have a kitchen or kitchenette. It’s a good option so you can cook at least a few familiar meals during your stay. The price may be a little higher, but cooking for yourself instead of eating out can save some money. You can also control your intake of salt and sugar better.
If you’re backpacking, make sure and test out your sleep system before you go. Take a few short practice trips, at least overnight. The last thing you want is to get out there and you find out you hate your sleeping pad. A practice run will also help you learn your gear better, so you can pitch your tent and get your bed ready smoothly even when you’re exhausted.
Track the weather where you’re going for at least a week or two. Get a feel for what the weather is usually like in the area. If you’re traveling during the off season because it’s cheaper and less busy, the weather where you’re going is probably not as nice as it would be during the height of the tourist season. Adjust your gear and clothing to what you’ll likely need.
