My Top 10 Tips for Gut Health While Travelling
About to go travelling and scared about Bali Belly / Delhi belly?
I have been there done that. Wiped out for days in the delicious hostel shared bathroom. But to be honest when you are in that state it doesn’t really matter whether you are in a 5 star bungalow bathroom - it’s just the worst thing ever and you seriously think it’s never going to end. Plus the major guilt and FOMO that you are missing out on your holiday.
I have been travelling for a while to a lot of different countries and have put together a list of the most important things I do when travelling to avoid picking up anything. And no the answer is not to only eat at 5 star resorts. Believe it or not, I legit eat street food in India. This list is not just a list of what food to order but a holistic checklist of what to do in all aspects of travelling to keep your gut healthy and happy - because who wants to have diarrhoea on an overnight train or bus?
So first thing is to think about what your gut is starting out like. Do you have a history or IBS / gluten intolerance / coeliac / parasites? Most important thing to do is to sort out your sh*t before you get there! You can’t expect to not get Bali belly when you literally have diarrhoea every day at home anyway…
See a Dr or Naturopath before you go to get it sorted and you will have a much more enjoyable time.
Masala box - no Indian kitchen is complete without one
My TOP TEN TIPS for gut health when travelling are below:
Beautiful Rajasthani girls
1. WATER FILTER
I use OKO or Lifestraw. This is also to avoid gross single use plastics which is usually increased a lot when we travel and drink all our water from plastic water bottles that have been sitting in the sun at the corner store for the past 2 months. Did you know that plastic from plastic water bottles actually leaches into the water you drink from them? I would rather not be drinking plastic thanks.
These filters remove all parasites, bugs, and chemicals from the water and are literally a lifesaver! If you can’t get a hold of these, you can ask restaurants for R.O. (reverse osmosis) water in most places.
2. DO NOT EAT PLANE FOOD
Plane food is full of preservatives, an epic load of salt and sugar, usually just starchy carbs or powdered “food”. This is not a good start to a holiday for your gut. As well as long haul flights I also would not recommend eating on short flights either. It actually shocks me when people order food on 1 hour flights?? Like why pay 5 times the price for something that is going to be a crap version of something you can wait an hour for once you get to where you are going?? Anyway... I usually fast on plane trips and just drink plenty of water. See my future blog on how to avoid jetlag and have a happy plane ride and recovery too.
3. ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS WITH A BIG SMILE
Some people get nervous or feel like they are offending the owners of the restaurant if you ask questions. Just ask with a big friendly smile on your face and you will be fine. In saying that, if you are in a tourist area, most places will always use filtered water for cooking/ washing salads and for ice in drinks. But if you are more remote or rural I would recommend to ask if the ice in the drinks is from filtered water and eat cooked food only. Water is generally the main place you will pick up bugs from.
4. HAND SANITISER
I use the Dr Bronner’s Hand sanitiser or Perfect Potion hand sanitiser. They are both natural sanitisers that aren’t going to strip your hands raw like other stronger ones do but still protect against germs around. Hand sanitiser can be used before eating, after eating, after using public transport, Uber’s/Ola’s and after touching money.
5. SB - Saccharomyces Bourlardii.
A beneficial yeast strain that helps prevent traveler's diarrhoea. I always bring a couple of bottles of this with me when travelling. I take it daily as a preventative but also you can high dose it if you do feel like something is not quite right in the tum tum!
6. MAKING PEOPLE VOM IS BAD FOR BUSINESS
So eat where the locals are eating. Yes you can eat street food when you’re in Asia. Does that mean to walk up to any random street van and randomly order? No! It is usually very obvious which street vans are the busiest with locals. You can ask locals, your BnB owners, shop owners where certain types of street food is if you have specifics you want to try.
Don’t be afraid to ask people what they have ordered at the vans as well - locals can be super helpful to share their food knowledge with you in foodie areas. Some cities have street food tours that you can join in with as well which I find quite fun. I have done some in places like Jaipur (India), Hanoi (Vietnam) and Osaka (Japan).
In saying that, at some food vans/food tours in these places I have been offered things like:
Balut - a developing duck embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell
Ox tongue
Crickets
Mok Huak - developing tadpoles
Not to scare you away from street food AT ALL because I have seriously had some of the best food of my life from street food! Just always ask questions - Google translate can be your best friend in these situations.
Coconut Charcoal is the best option for travelling
7. CHARCOAL
Charcoal capsules in BULK. Charcoal is great at binding to toxins and bacteria so is a life saver when bloating, gas or bigger emergencies happen. I recommend coconut charcoal like this one
8. BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH FILTERED WATER
Did you know you have mouth biome? Your mouth is actually the start of your digestive tract where you have billions of beneficial bacteria! I always use filtered water to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth. It might seem excessive but your mouth biome is such a huge part of your digestion so it just makes sense to me. Check out my future post on mouth biome cleansing and why I use this Ayurvedic technique.
9. DON’T EAT OFF THE WESTERN MENU
If you are in Asia and you choose to eat off the Western menu on the back page of the menu (think burgers, pizzas, parmigiana’s, pasta etc) then you are at more risk of getting sick in my opinion. If you are at a specific Western cafe then that may be a different story. But if you are at a local restaurant and ordering off the dodgy back page, you are shooting yourself in the foot! The only time I usually eat from one of those token Western cafes is when I am feeling a bit homesick and I’ll get a juice or smoothie bowl to hit the spot! Eating fresh local food is the way to go - plus you can eat that other stuff when you are back home - embrace the local cuisines and country you are in.
10. VEGETARIAN CAN BE A GOOD OPTION
When travelling in Asia, I usually go completely vego as sometimes the meat cleanliness/storage is not the best depending where you are. India is super easy to be pure veg and a lot of traditional curries are vegetarian anyway so I’ve never missed it at all being here. Places like Vietnam I have found to be a bit more difficult because they consider pork and pork broth to be “vegetarian”...??? There also seems to be meat in a lot of the traditional foods there so can be a little hard to avoid when in places that don’t understand English well. I found the best way to avoid it was to ask for “monk food” in Vietnam as buddhist monks are strict vegetarians so locals can understand this rather than a tourist trying to explain that pork broth is still non-veg…!
All in all - don’t be scared of food when travelling. Embrace it & learn how to tell the owner that the food is delicious in their language for bonus points.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this post is not to diagnose any condition or disease or prescribing any herbs or nutrients as treatment. All the information is purely information only and for use to maintain and promote healthy lifestyles. Always consult your health care practitioner before making any changes to your current health and lifestyle to make sure it is the right thing for you.