10 Travel Tips to Keep You Healthy This Summer!
The summertime can be busy with travel, family visiting or running back and forth between activities. I travel a lot for work, too, and want to make it all work on the home front and on the road!
A lot of you have asked, so I thought I’d share my ‘secrets’ for staying healthy on the road, especially when a lot of us have kids in tow.
Here are some travel tips to get you through the end of the summer!
- Hydrate. I can not emphasize this enough. Being dehydrated impacts everything, from your digestion to the look of your skin to your mood. Start pounding water the night before you leave and pack a water bottle for each one of you that is traveling. Our kids hook them onto their back packs. I’ve carried one from my dear friends The Butler Bros across continents. Don’t leave home without one.
- Refill Your Water Bottle in Hotel Gyms. I can not remember who told me this back in the day, but I love this tip. You always get fresh, filtered water from a dispenser in a hotel gym. Most gyms offer this, so reload and refill!
- Pack easy to carry, easy to eat snacks. Some of my favorites are Health Warrior and Taste of Nature certified organic bars (truly the best!), dried fruits and lately, the grab-bags of flavored chickpeas (I love them!). For the kids, they will pack a Bobo’s Oat Bars, Clif’s Z Bars, squeezable applesauce or some oranges.
- Bring magnesium. Seriously. It’s the magic mineral that helps with stress, bloating and digestion. Travel can lead to all three! Sitting immobile for long periods of time, at the airport, on a plane, in a car, can back things up! Not to mention, that more often than not, food choices on the go are less than stellar. Magnesium helps with all of it. I love Natural Vitality’s travel packs.
- Pack wipes. Things get messy, whether you have toddlers or teens. Accidents happen, and you’ll be glad to have some wipes on hand for when they do. Whether it’s a drink spilling in the car or something getting tossed on the plane, wipes are a handy resource for controlling the fallout!
- Grab-bag your greens. It’s impossible to know what food or food like items you are going to find when traveling, which airports carry healthy food and where you can find good food when pinched for time. There are so many companies filling in this space, from Garden of Life to Vega. Grab a few of their single serves and throw them in your bag. When you are short on greens, they come in handy, and that fiber and nutrition help keep things running smoothly.
- Bring running shoes. You can lace them up any where any time. If you suddenly find yourself with some monstrous travel delay, you can walk. If you are visiting family and just need a breather, you can lace them up and get outside. It is one of the first things to go in my bag every trip.
- Remember medication. For some it may be the Epipens and Benadryl, for others diabetes meds, for others, blood thinnners for heart conditions. Make a note, especially when traveling with children on airplanes. It’s impossible to know what conditions you may face.
- Keep your hands clean and away from your face. Think about how many people go through the airport and onto planes every hour of every day. Bring along a hand sanitizer, wipes or just get yourself to the closest bathroom and wash your hands. A little prevention can go a long way to keeping you healthy all summer.
- Pack a lid. I always keep a hat in my bag for shade from the summer heat. In the winter, it’s equally as important for staying warm, on planes or wherever you land. More often than not, one of the kids ends up snagging mine to keep the sun out of her eyes or to stay warm! It’s an easy thing to toss into your carry-on or suitcase.
Have fun!
Robyn O’Brien is the co-founder of rePlant Capital, an impact investment firm, deploying integrated capital from soil to shelf in order to build soil health and financial resiliency for farmers. She is also the founder of Do Good, a strategic advisory firm, and the AllergyKids Foundation. Random House published Robyn’s book, The Unhealthy Truth, in 2009, and her TEDx talks have been translated into dozens of languages and viewed by millions around the world.
