I love travelling, and it so happens (or rather, I made it happen) that my business is travelling, which means I’m in between planes and cities almost every week. This makes eating healthily quite difficult to do, and that’s already hard enough when you’re in one place! In any case, I try to stick to a few golden rules so that I’m always operating at 120 percent!
Start early
It’s true what they say, breakfast is your most important meal. Not just on a daily basis, but even more so when you’re travelling. Make sure you eat before you leave on your flight, because if you’re rushing around and you forget to get that all-important meal in, you’re going to be stuck with indigestible mystery meat that is plane food, no matter how good it smells. I try to eat muesli with yoghurt or low-fat milk and grab a fruit to go!
Nourish yourself
I usually travel with a mini pharmacy, but that’s because travelling does strange things to my digestive and immune systems. I try not to pop any pills unless I absolutely have to, but natural vitamin supplements are a must. My go-to? Probiotics, carbon pills and Imodium for tummy emergencies, vitamin B-complex for energy, melatonin for jetlag and Esberitox Echinecea – an antiviral and immune-stimulating herbal medicine to ward against colds!
Juice up
If you didn’t manage to eat beforehand and find yourself feeling a little peaky, you’ll see that most airports have a juice bar. Head for the first one you see, STAT! Forget the concentrated juices with plenty of sugar and go for fresh fruit blended right before your eyes. Juice bars offer great combinations filled with antioxidants and fibres, together with a wheatgerm shot, energiser, immune or protein boosters. It’s only a matter of time before there are vegetable juice bars as well – thanks to the ever-growing trend of green juices that are great for detox!
Snack away
On the subject of plane food, well, let’s just not go there. I don’t know how fresh the food is or how long it’s been frozen! In any case, if it’s a short flight, I’ll bring my own snacks. High protein snacks like nuts, dark chocolate, muesli bars, dried fruit, cheese or jerky are great and filling. But stay away from “feel-bad” foods like chips and candy. Be sure to eat in small portions but often so that you stave off hunger. You’ll be surprised how little you actually need.
Get hydrated
It goes without saying; keeping hydrated is a no-brainer. The air in planes is super dry, so your hunger feels that much more amplified if you’re parched. Combat this by drinking plenty of water before and during your travel. What I do is either drink lots of juice before I fly, grab a bottle of water at the airport, drink it while I wait, and fill it up when I’m in the plane. That way, you don’t have to waste your water bottle at the gate or buy another bottle during the flight!
No-binge rule
You may be travelling to a glorious foodie destination, but that’s by no means a reason to binge! Of course you can indulge in the odd Din Tai Fung in Hong Kong or delicious Tarte Tatin in Paris, but why not explore the growing trend of organic restaurants that are sprouting around all over the world? There’s a whole new world of yummy and healthy food that is becoming more readily available for those who want to stay healthy on the go!
Photos from our Nomads-on-the-Go: Photo 1-4: Margaret Zhang (@margaret__zhang), Photo 5: Van Ness Wu (@vandaliztik), Photo 6: That Food Cray (@thatfoodcray).
Stephanie Chai is the founder of TheLuxeNomad.com; discover amazing destinations and more atwww.theluxenomad.com.