7 steps for Mindful healthy travelling

Know someone you travel share their experiences about how challenging traveling and staying healthy can be? Maybe you have heard something on these lines - 'I can control what I do, what I eat when I am home but when I travel, all bets are off. Work, fast food, waking up to Caffeine, Struggling through the day with Sugar and ending the day with alcohol is how it works'.

You get the point. We can always find a reason to give in to our temptations and indulge while we are away from our loved one's. We can also always find a reason and a way to stay healthy whether we are at home or traveling. Here are a few easy tips to stay mindfully healthy while traveling

Step 1 - Booking your hotel

if you are going to be staying in a hotel, make sure that you get a room that at least has a small fridge if not a small kitchenette. You will eat. If you do not get things which will nourish you, you will be forced into consuming items that do not provide nourishment and put you back by weeks if not months. If you don't have a fridge option, don't sweat - there's always ways around it. If your trip is short (2-3 days) then the items you will buy listed below will stay consumable even outside of fridge in shaded areas of the room.

Step 2 - Getting ready. Leaving home

You will be on the road, in flight or some other mode of transport for a while. Your system will be bombarded by toxins and temptations from every direction. Make sure that you give it an extra boost of pro-biotics, anti-oxidants and vegetables right before you leave. Follow the recipes shared here

If you are traveling by air, you cannot carry drinks but you can carry nuts and/or dry sandwiches made with Organic whole grain bread and any vegetables you like in it. I know it sounds way too dry, but trust me, hunger finds it's way at super sonic speed when you see food establishments around you at airports. Being prepared and being nutritionally fulfilled is the best way to combat the temptations

Step 3 - In the temptation island. Your mirror neurons at work

You might find yourself sitting at an airport lounge watching Tom Cruise flaunt his Tag Heur watch and six pack abs right next to a bar where they serve 20 and 32 Oz. mixed drinks full of High fructose corn syrup, alcohol that has no signs of healthy fermented material and of course a few different colors and dye's that belong only on your car and toilet cleaner vs. inside your body. Or you might be busy catching up on the movies you have missed over the years and really love how Vin Diesel looks pulling up on his motorcycle next to a biker bar and lounge. You order that 32 Oz. drink, pull in your gut, take your fancy sun glasses out and hang them somewhere on your clothes where they don't belong. You know what's happening? It's your mirror neurons copying what you see around you, what you see in ads, in movies. It's Marketing at its best and you are unknowingly imitating what you see around just like the primates. Vin Diesel, Tom Cruise and every celebrity you have ever known an spend an inordinate amount of time sculpting their bodies and mind to deliver their best. Their evenings are not what this advertisement makes it look like.

You cannot change what is happening around you. You sure can change your reaction to it. Be mindful. Observe everything, appreciate it if you want, then let it go and walk a little to find something that will deliver your body the nutrition it so desperately needs again.

The only food choices you see are a heart attack special Pizza, a bag of chips that will stay forever on your butts and a tall glass of beer that you so rightfully deserve for some odd reason. Here are some of the food items that are readily available in most establishments that you can choose from and still stay on your journey to great health

1. Water. That's right, just water 
2. Consume Organic. I know this sounds obvious but we have a switch in our minds which somehow suggests that when we travel it is all-right to eat stuff which we otherwise know and believe should not be fed to any human being. At least not as a source of nutrition, maybe to test how diseases can take over a perfectly healthy body in no time. If you do not find organic, at least look for non-GMO food from vendors you trust.
3. Nuts. Look at the packet for ingredients. If it's a packet of Almonds, then ingredients should say - Almonds and maybe Sea salt. If the list of ingredients is a long list of things your grandmother does not recognize, skip it. Nuts are an excellent source of protein and much needed nutrients and travel times are a great opportunity to load up on them. They also keep you full for a longer time so your cravings will be subsided considerably 
4. Tea. Green/White or Black. Skip the sugar and creamer/milk. Milk protein binds with the anti-oxidants in tea and nullifies the health benefits
5. Coconut juice. Again, check the ingredients. Get the one which says - 'Coconut water' for ingredients and ideally the one that is 'not from concentrate' 
6. Kombucha. This is an awesome probiotic drink you will love. It is tea and sugar based, but what's different is that it is fermented which completely changes the properties of this drink. It will also help you curb your cravings as it has some calories which will keep you full for a while 
7. Salad - Eat salad only if you trust the vendor. While raw food, salad is great - pesticide laden, Genetically modified food wrapped in carcinogenic paper and material is far from being called food

Step 4 - You get to your destination. It's getting late and you desperately need something salty and warm and something you can call food. Enough of water and nuts. Good news is you can find what your body in many different food establishments. Here are a few suggestions

1. If you make it in time, usually before 8-9PM at your destination: Find a Whole Foods or Earthfare market near you. These stores typically have a hot food bar along with a salad bar. Founders of these companies vouch for not using GMO products so there is a large subset of junk and chemicals you avoid by just choosing these type of establishments over anything else. 
2. If you arrive late and/or your destination does not have a Whole Foods/Earthfare equivalent: You still have a lot of options you can avail. Chipotle, the mexican food chain is committed to non-GMO food sourcing and is a great option. Of course, watch your intake and use a lot of commonsense along with limiting portion size and picking your condiments. Stick to greens, veggies and Guacamole and go light or skip meats, dairy based products like cheese and sour cream
3. Panera Bread also has some very good soup and dinner entries which mostly have organic ingredients like Quinoa, Kale etc. If you go to Panera, again go heavy on Veggies and go light on breads, dairy and meats and you will still have a hearty and nutritious meal 
4. Nothing should push you to a deep fried french fries along with a bowl of mac n cheese, burger or a drive through dinner wrapped in a ton of carcinogens. Worst come worst - get a couple of baked potatoes from Wendy's or equivalent (Skip the butter look alikes and stick to salt and pepper) and you will still be sticking to your mindfully healthy rules of the road

Step 5 - Shopping for the time you are staying at your destination

1. You are there for a purpose, whether it's pleasure or business. Last thing you will be focused on is hunting for food every 2 hours. Easiest way to do it - Plan for it. Shop as soon as you get to your destination for the next 2-3 days or however long you are staying there. Here's a minimum bar list of things you should get and keep it in your room fridge.  
2. Green/Black tea bags - you might already have some in your room but see if you can get better quality organic one's instead. Have it only in AM if you need and skip milk and sugar. Just add hot water to a tea bag
3. Coconut water - account for 32 Fl. Oz. (~ 1 liter) / day. One glass in morning, one in evening 
4. A probiotic drink to kick start your day - There are many options. Easiest is a bottle of Organic Kombucha, or Organic drinking vinegar (usually has coconut water, lemon, vinegar in it) 
5. Banana - 1/day. If you know you will be going longer early AM, get 2 in the AM 

Step 6 - Lunch

1. This is tricky for most people. Most of our work and personal arrangements are around food and the folks you are visiting have made elaborate arrangements to welcome you. See if you can stick to the equivalent of a portion size that will fit in a 9 inch plate (half - one inch high max) and try to fill your plate with 80%+ veggies at least. more the better of course. Point is to avoid getting junk in, recognizing that this might not be the opportunity to get a whole lot of nutrition intake - at least find a way to minimize, reduce or eliminate harm. 
2. Along with your food, see if you can stick to plain water with lemon vs. sodas. Most establishments have hot green/black tea and that's a great alternative as well. 
3. And if you can pull it off, skip the dessert. Processed sugar is the # 1 cause of inflammation in our body. Inflammation is the # 1 cause of most fatal diseases including Cancer, Diabetes and many more auto-immune dysfunctions.  

Step 7 - Dinner

1. You are back in your room and probably exhausted. Here's a common experience - if you have managed to stay away from indulgences thus far in your trip, there's a distinct chance that you are feeling a lot lighter and energetic even vs. normal days when you are not traveling. Because you have been a great carer of your body throughout the day, it's time to reward it. Reward it with a bottle of Coconut water and Kombucha first 
2. Attempt to have small dinner portion size wherever you go but stick to establishments that serve food not chemical, hormones and antibiotic laden material that is a food pretense
3. See if you can walk for at least 2 miles after dinner - hotel gym, around the block - everything works. Just find a way to not get sucked into TV in your hotel room along with a 6 pack of beers and order in Pizza/ Chicken wings with microwave popcorn  

If you made it thus far and Day 1 is done. Congratulations. Day 2 will have it's own temptations and Day 3 it's own. Review and repeat Steps 3 through 7 every day. You don't have to stick to every word, get this gist of what each step is about and get comfortable making healthier decisions even if it seems awkward. Do you remember anyone close to you in a hospital ever with a terminal illness like heart disease or cancer? Would you rather be in that state because of the inability to say No to others and your own temptations or be out in the world living a full, holistic healthy life serving or finding your life's true purpose. When we get sick, it is not one single action that has contributed to it - it is a sum total of all actions that have depleted our body's healing potential - food choices are the biggest contributor to health or lack there of.

I know there's a lot to think about. We think about food 200+ times everyday in any case. The only difference is thinking about it before hand and in the moment so we can take care of our bodies vs. letting the temptation of the moment ruin it. Just because you are working, on the road traveling - your breath does not stop, your heart does not stop to beat, your cells do not stop re-cycling, your immune system does not go to rest. Infact, when you are out of your comfort zone - bodies defense mechanisms need a lot more support than usual, so take extra steps and caution to pre-plan how you will take care of it. One last thing, be mindful of what you are doing and have a blast doing it. Wish you safe and mindfully healthy travel