Tips for staying well on holiday
As promised in my last blog, here are my top tips for staying healthy during holidays. If you haven’t read the previous blog where I explained why we often fall ill or have health issues when we go on holiday, you can read it here.
So what can you do to stay well on your holiday and arrive back home rested and ready to take on the world again?
Here’s my 7-step guide for healthy holidays.
1) Calm your nervous system down right from the start, daily!
Make a commitment to do some self-care before your holiday to manage your stress, and your work- and lifeload better. Self-care should be part of your daily routine really, and it doesn’t have to take long. Try not to jump out of bed in a mad rush, grab a coffee, get the family and yourself sorted and out of the door.
Self-care before your holiday is crucial to manage stress, and your work- and lifeload. Start your day with 5 mins (or 2!) of something calming, e.g. yoga, stretching, breathwork, meditation, before you do anything else.
If you need a gadget and further incentive to do this daily, check out the Sensate vagus nerve stimulator (you can use my code METAWELL to get £20 off the retail price).
It also helps if you set your intention for the morning and prepare your calm space the night before bed. Set your intention to get out of bed when the alarm goes rather than pressing the snooze button several times before getting up.
Then have your morning cuppa in the garden listening to nature’s sounds before the rest of the family demands your attention. While enjoying your cup in the garden, you also get exposure to the morning sun-/daylight, or low solar angle daylight, that supports a healthy circadian rhythm and hormone balance.
2) Prioritise sleep
Sleep is not just for holidays! Sleep is your most important weapon for fighting illness. The more you neglect your sleep, the more vulnerable your defenses will be.
Keep to a regular bedtime routine. Your body thrives on routine. So go to bed always at the same time and get up at the same time (even at the weekends), and aim to get 7-9 hours of sleep every night.
Avoid bright ceiling lights and screens at least 1-2 hours before bed. Blue light from these can suppress melatonin production that is one of our sleep hormones.
Avoid strenuous exercise too late in the evening as it can raise your cortisol level, further suppressing melatonin and interfering with good sleep. And to support your sleep, circadian rhythm and melatonin production even further, get the morning daylight exposure to your eyes as mentioned above. Lack of daylight/sunlight in the morning (as in staying indoors) and lots of blue light in the evening (as in lights and screens in full brightness) is the ultimate recipe for sleep and health problems
Drink your last cup of coffee, no later than early afternoon as caffeine again can cause stress hormones to be secreted. More on caffeine and its health effects here.
With your stress hormones and sleep sorted, you will have also supported your gut, and you will make better food choices. Studies show that those who have had a good night and long enough sleep choose healthier foods the next day and vice versa. So good sleep is one of your tools for weight manage too if weight is your concern.
3) Prepare for the flight
You can make the entry of viruses into your airways less likely by using a barrier cream on and in you nostrils during the flight. Any natural lip balm or face cream will do but there are also specifically formulated creams for this purpose (but make sure they have no harsh synthetic chemicals in them). This is also a good way to reduce pollen entering your airways if you are prone to hayfever. During the flight or when pollen counts are high, wear glasses, or (wraparound) sunglasses to protect your eyes from viral/pollen entry.
Keep your mucus membranes well hydrated and healthy by sipping water from a large bottle that you’ve bought/filled up before boarding (see Hydration below).
Get a pair of compression socks for the flight, measured for your calf and your ankle circumference, for comfort and support for your circulatory system. Compression socks help the vital venous return (the flow of blood from periphery back to the heart) and reduce swelling and any serious effects from blood pooling in the leg veins.
4) Keep hydrated
To prevent dehydration, electrolyte loss and any uncomfortable consequences such as headaches, low energy and constipation during hot weather and on flights, keep your body well hydrated. The best way to hydrate your body is to drink plenty of filtered water, with a pinch of good quality sea or Himalayan salt, or some electrolyte solution, mixed in. You can also flavour your water with fresh or frozen berries and fruits (if you use frozen you don’t need ice cubes), ginger, lemon, cucumber, herbs like mint….
Get creative with mixing your healthy hydration cocktails.
Herbal teas are great too and if you prefer chilled drinks in the heatwave rather than hot tea, you can just brew a pot of your favourite herbal tea and chill it, then add ice before drinking.
Some fruits and veggies can be very hydrating too, so add them to your meals and treats. My favourites are watermelon and cucumber, but many salad vegetables can add to your fluid intake.
Watermelon, rhubarb and cucumber with mint leaves and goat’s cheese make a lovely hydrating salad to serve with BBQs. Check out my healthy BBQ blog here that includes a new potato, broccoli and caper salad recipe too.
5) Choose your drinks wisely
It’s tempting to reach for chilled white and bubbly, beer or fizzy drinks in hot weather but they won’t keep your body hydrated and can further compromise your health when consumed in larger quantities.
Check out the previous points for the best hydrating drinks but if you want something special, think out of the box. Here are some ideas:
- Kombucha contains probiotic live bacteria and can help support optimal gut health. Watch out the shop-bought ones, they can still be quite sweet and if you are prone to gas or bloating, may aggravate your symptoms.
- Beetroot juice and ginger shots, mixed with sparkling water are my favorite mixers for my special dinner drink.
- Apple cider vinegar, mixed with sparkling water can help balance blood sugar levels.
- And if you really miss your Coke, try a couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar mixed with sparking water. You might be surprised!
The discount health shop WellEasy stocks many good options for healthier drinks, and if you use my code MINNAWOOD, you’ll get a further £15 off your first order. Some of my favourites from the WellEasy shop are OHMG Magnesium Water, Dash Water and Perfect Ted Matcha Energy drinks to name a few. Always read the label so you know if sweeteners were used to make the drink. Even natural sweeteners like stevia can be harmful, particularly in the sense of keeping your sweet tooth alive, which is not helpful if you want to change your palate to accept less sweet flavours.
6) Eat the rainbow!
Support diversity of your gut microbiome well before your holiday. When you eat a varied diet every day, you are supporting a great diverse gut microbiome, the foundation of good health!
Every time you eat a different plant food you feed a different probiotic strain that can then flourish and produce beneficial compounds that benefit your gut health, as well as improve your overall physical and mental health. So think ‘Add one more’ whenever you are preparing meals.
Studies suggest that for optimal gut health, you need to eat at least 30 DIFFERENT plant foods every week. Are you getting anywhere near that?
Remember that small things count towards your 30. Spices and herbs, nuts and seed, sprouted seeds and microgreens, beans and lentils and berries are great sources of polyphenols and other plant compounds that feed your gut microbes.
Read more about the importance of dietary diversity in this blog post.
Stay away from processed food and choose and eat mindfully from the all-inclusive buffet and reserve treats after main meals. Enjoy a plateful of colourful vegetables as a starter, then have a smaller main course (with more veggies alongside some good-quality protein of choice) and finish your meal with a small dessert.
When you look after your gut health every day, you are less likely to end up with food poisoning or traveller’s diarrhoea. I always carry some pro- and prebioitic supplements with me when I’m travelling, such as saccharomyces boulardii and PHGG. They can help keep you regular and normalise bowel movement, should you end up with either constipation or diarrhoea.
7) Move your body
Your body is meant for moving, and a holiday can be a great time to do various activities. If you are staying in a resort, they may offer various classes, e.g. morning / evening yoga (my favourite), or a well equipped gym.
If you are staying by the sea, lake or pool, you’ve got the best place to move your body! Swimming is a fabulous form of exercise, so do a few daily lengths in the pool or along the shoreline in the sea or lake.
I always doing my morning and evening swims when by the Finnish lakes, on a holiday by the sea or at a resort with a pool. I also love walking or cycling to places on my holiday whenever possible. The beach is a fabulous place for walking too.
See how you feel when you do that consistently throughout your holiday. It really makes a huge difference.
So here we go! I hope this has given you plenty to go with to support optimal health before and during your holidays.
Health is a journey!
Remember health is a journey, not just a destination! It’s what you do most of the time, the everyday context, that counts! You can still enjoy and treat yourself, while being healthy. Just make an informed choice and then if you choose to have the treat rather than the healthier option, enjoy every bite/drink etc. without guilt.
When you enjoy the journey, your mindset changes and it becomes easier. Changing your mindset about what a holiday looks like, can make a huge difference in how you feel when you get back.
“What you are not changing, you are also choosing.”
–Bruce Lee
************
To find out how powerful diet, nutrition, lifestyle and mindset can be for our health, please book your FREE no-obligation discovery call with Minna and let’s have a chat.
You can also contact me via the contact form or [email protected].
Download your FREE copy of Happy Gut – Happy You for simple everyday hacks to feel happier and healthier.
Join my FREE Facebook Group Healthy You – For Life for health and nutrition tips and advice and delicious healthy recipes.