5 Holiday Travel Tips to Keep You Healthy Through the Season
The holidays are here, and for millions of people, that means hopping in a plane, train or car and traveling to see family and friends. The holidays are definitely a chaotic and wonderful time of year, but holiday traveling can leave many feeling stressed, tired and under the weather. With the right strategy, though, you can make it through your holiday travels feeling your very best. It’s all about planning ahead of time, fueling your body with the right foods, and supplementing where necessary. If you’re dreading holiday travel this year, you’ll definitely want to keep our holiday travel tips handy so that you and your family can make it through your holiday travel feeling healthy and energized. Below are our top tips from Pure Green (the fastest-growing juice bar franchise) experts for staying well while you travel this season.
Pack Meals and Snacks Ahead of Time
Do not, we repeat, DO NOT cross your fingers and hope that the airport will have something healthy for you to pick up pre-flight. Rather than relying on subpar airport food to fuel your holiday travels, or hitting a rest stop for fast food on the highway, plan ahead of time and pack you and your family healthy, easy meals to take on-the-go. A marinated kale salad with garlic and ginger, and any fresh produce of your choosing is a great option for something healthy, filling and energizing. For snacks, we love raw almonds, homemade granola or fresh berries. Whatever you choose, make sure to pack dressings on the side and separate dry and “wet” ingredients. This way, your meals and snacks will stay extra fresh and you won’t be tempted to head for fast food.
Of course, our favorite travel snacks always include cold pressed juice. While you can’t take a cold pressed juice through airport security, you can pack frozen juice in your carry-on so that you have it waiting for you when you arrive at your destination. For long car hauls, pack a couple of fresh cold pressed juices and a couple of frozen bottles so you can pop them in the fridge when you arrive and enjoy them in the morning. Cold pressed juice floods your body with vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients to rid your body of toxins, hydrate you, and build immunity. Our favorite travel juices include the Rockin Beet and Pure Greens ALG. For travelers who are prone to upset stomachs and motion sickness, we highly recommend packing a few bottles of Wake Up Call.
Fueling your body with the right foods while you travel is essential, because traveling often adds extra stress to your body, ultimately affecting your immunity. When your body is susceptible to sickness and you’re filling it with junk, you’re likely to end up ill. Flooding your body with vitamins and nutrients is key to keeping things moving along and protecting yourself from illness.
Remove Toxins with Charcoal
Activated charcoal is a must-have during holiday travel, as it is an excellent cure for food poisoning and hangovers. Whether you enjoyed one too many cocktails at your holiday dinner, or you picked up a bug at a hole-in-the-wall diner during a highway pitstop, activated charcoal can help latch on to the bacteria or toxins in your gut and effectively remove them, cutting your downtime in half.
If consuming activated charcoal for hangover purposes, it is important to note that activated charcoal will not bind with alcohol and remove it, as alcohol is very quickly absorbed into the bloodstream. Instead, activated charcoal taken after drinking can help ease hangover symptoms by binding with other ingredients, such as sulfites found naturally in wine, that many people do not tolerate well. Take one pill before bedtime to avoid a morning hangover.
Activated charcoal can also help during a detox program, as detoxification causes toxins to become loose in the body, leading to flu-like symptoms. If you plan to undergo a detox program such as a cold pressed juice cleanse after your holiday travel, consider including activated charcoal in your plan to bind with those loose toxins and remove them effectively.
Activated charcoal can be taken in tablet form or as a juice, like our Activated Charcoal juice. You can also find it in powder form. Whichever way you choose to consume activated charcoal, there are a few rules of thumb to follow. First, make sure you consume activated charcoal at least one hour before or after any other supplements, as it binds with nutrients. Make sure to drink eight to ten ounces of water with every dose to avoid constipation.
Activated charcoal has dozens of uses and is an excellent addition to any emergency travel kit. Left your toothpaste at home? Activated charcoal powder can also be used as a toothpaste to help whiten teeth. We also recommend drinking an Activated Charcoal juice on your way home from your holiday travels to rid your digestive system of any lurking toxins that could lead to symptoms later.
Ease Indigestion with a Ginger Shot
As much as we all promise ourselves that we’re not going to overindulge at our holiday dinner, sometimes it is just unavoidable. For times like this, it’s helpful to have a cold pressed ginger shot handy to ease indigestion and keep your digestive system humming along smoothly.
Not only that, but ginger can also help ease the symptoms of the common cold, including runny nose and sore throat. Traveling is prime time for colds and flu to spread, so make sure that you and your family are protected with cold pressed ginger shots. We recommend taking it straight or mixing it with hot tea and honey.
Have a queasy traveler with you? Ginger can help ease motion sickness and upset stomachs. Take a ginger shot prior to your car, train, or airplane ride to prevent symptoms before they start.
Exercise Away Illness
While it can be difficult to find time for exercise while you travel, it is important to keep your body moving in order to keep your immune system strong. Exercise does not always have to mean a trip to the gym. Instead, grab your walking shoes and take a brisk stroll through a new city, or grab a family member and do a quick partner workout using bodyweight exercises. Think outside the box and you’ll realize that there are plenty of moments in a day to get moving and burn calories.
Exercise is important to stave off illness, but if you are already feeling under the weather, exercise may not be your best friend. Our rule of thumb is that if symptoms are above the neck (think sore throat and runny nose), you are safe to exercise gently. If symptoms are from the neck down (think fever, chills, body aches) then it is best to rest and recover. Of course, it is always important to listen to your body, as it knows best. If you’re feeling rundown, get some extra sleep and pack your running shoes away for a few days.
Make Time for Meditation
Whether you meditate on a regular basis or not, carving out space in your day to sit quietly and reflect with your thoughts is crucial to staying well. The holidays are a joyful time, but they can also be a stressful time for many, and making time for a daily check-in with yourself allows you the opportunity to listen to your body and what it needs before illness strikes. You may be running around holiday shopping all day and not even notice how exhausted you are until you sit down and check in with yourself. Make sure that, whatever your body is asking for during your mental check-in, you give it. Whether it’s water, sleep, or a good healthy meal, listen to what your body tells you it needs to stay energized and healthy.
Meditation carries many connotations with it, but you can choose to meditate however works for you, whether that be a walking meditation or lying down in bed in the morning before you get up to start your day. You can meditate in silence or repeat a quiet mantra to help focus your thoughts. Your meditation can last for ten minutes or sixty minutes, whatever makes the most sense for your body and what it needs. Whatever route you choose, make sure that you are comfortable and free of distractions from others. That means turning your phone off, shutting your bedroom door, and alerting your family if needed, to avoid any interruptions.
Have Fun this Season with our Holiday Travel Tips
Hopefully you’ll take these tips with you on your journey so you can stay healthy and have fun this holiday season. Make sure to share our tips with friends so that everyone around your holiday table feels healthy and energized through the holidays. We wish you all happy, healthy and safe holiday travels from the Pure Green team.