Preparing to travel (physically and mentally) as a Clinical Nutritionist

I am very excited to be setting off in a weeks time to travel across many different parts of Asia. As a Clinical Nutritionist, taking care of my health and wellbeing whilst travelling is very much front of mind, including maintaining good nutrition, supporting gut health, avoiding jet lag, and most importantly, prioritising self care.

1. Maintaining Good Nutrition

   One of the best things about travelling, is the opportunity to trial new foods and embrace meals eaten by other cultures.

   The gut loves diversity (especially when it comes to plants) so I am very much focussing on embracing the opportunity to trial lots of new foods.

   In saying this, take it slow and steady is also important.

   When the body hasn’t consumed a specific food before (or much of it) it will often have less of the enzymes required to break it down, so therefore, smaller amounts at the start are a good way to go.

   Another things to remember… ACTUALLY chewing your food, whilst embracing enjoy the new flavours and textures.

   You might also be thinking, what do I do when the menu doesn’t list my usual meals of choice?

   Again, being open to trialling new things is important but can take time to wrap your head around, so a simple guide to making conscious food choices is to embrace wholefoods where you can, and consume protein with each meal (again, where you can).

2. Prioritising Gut Health

   We are super privliged in Australia to have high quality hygiene and sanitation, with minimal need to be concerned about the bacteria that may make its way into our food. This is not always the case when travelling, so therefore, taking a probiotic prior to and during my travels is something i’ve implemented to avoid unwanted illness.

   Saccharomyces boulardii, also referred to as SB, is a specific strain of probiotic which has been supported by clinical trials for the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal conditions, including traveller’s diarrhea. It is a good one to have on hand whilst travelling, with options for acute and maintenance dosage found specifically on the individual supplement bottle.

   I will provide a link below to a paper which goes into more depth on this specific probiotic strain, if it is of interest to you.

   Efficacy and safety of the probiotic Saccharomyces boulardii for the prevention and therapy of gastrointestinal disorders (2012).

3. Avoiding Jet lag

   A common symptom of travelling is jet lag, due to the dysregulation of our bodies circadian rhythm. Jetlag can often be unavoidable on some travels, however, there are little things we can do to decrease the effects.

   Circadian rhythm is a term that describes the network of “clocks” that modulates different bodily systems. These clocks are continuously being regulated by our behaviours and environment, such as our exposure to light, when we are being active and when we consume food.

   Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman speaks at length about how to minimise the effects of jetlag, most of which describe, eating, sleeping and moving your body at similar times to that which your would in your new destination. This can be a process which take a couple of days prior to your trip, depending of course on where you are travelling. Luckily for me, Asia is not too far away, with relatively similar timezones to Australia.

   In saying this, some research does suggest just one to two hours difference in timezones can have an effect on the circadian rhythm and cause a form of jet lag.

   Learn more here with - Andrew Huberman Podcast

4. Prioritising Self Care

   Last but not least, self care is something that I think is often not considered as much when travelling (some may consider travelling itself is a form of self care), but the simple day to day things that bring you joy are important to keep in mind.

   Pinpointing a few things that you know bring you joy, can always be useful not only for your own wellbeing, but provide yourself with some form routine, to keep your grounded whilst away from home.

   For me this looks like:

   1. Morning sunlight: sounds simple but always brings a smile to the start of my day (and helps regulate circadian rhythm).

   2. Daily movement: yoga, long walks and maybe the gym if there is one where I am staying.

   3. Read my book (even if it’s just a couple of pages): I recently invested in a kindle and am loving it.

      As always, this list will look different for everyone and doesn’t need to be extensive.

If like me, you have some travels coming up in the near future (or maybe this has inspired you), I hope this post has been insightful and informative.

Happy travels x