The best 5 supplements for traveling

The best thing about winter (other than pomegranates, that is), is escaping to a tropical place! I’m writing this post from Belize where I’ve been traveling since mid-January.

To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about traveling overseas again after the health fiasco I experienced from Southeast Asia last year. Travel is never easy on the body. Or on the mind for that matter. The last thing I wanted was to get sick or trigger another Epstein-Barr attack from exhausting myself and not eating well on the road.

But I really wanted to escape winter in the states. I finally chose to travel to Belize for a few reasons: 1) short plane ride from the US, 2) it’s primarily an English-speaking country which means easier communication around food, and 3) Placencia.

I knew I wanted to base myself in Placencia from the start – I felt drawn to its laidback beachy vibe and knew from research online that I’d be able to find fruit markets there. I’m going to do a separate post on eating raw vegan in Placencia and Belize in general – but right now, I want to talk about a whole other side of supporting your health while you’re on the road: supplements!

When you travel, do you bring any supplements with?

Are there a few choice supplements that are especially important to always take traveling?

YES.

Keeping your health up is important all the time but especially when you travel because you’re up against SO much. Busy airports and planes are some of the top places to catch colds and viruses from other people; on top of that there’s travel exhaustion and jet lag – when you let yourself get rundown, that’s when you’re most susceptible to getting sick. And finally, let’s not forget about food safety issues… depending on what country you’re in, you may need to be very cautious with what you eat and drink.

So, this doesn’t mean we should never travel… it just means it’s a good idea to come prepared! Bringing along powerful supplements is one of the easiest ways to support your health while traveling – and I’m going to breakdown the top 5 that I think are the most essential for having on the road.

1. Spirulina

I’ve written about this supplement and my long history with it before. What I didn’t mention in that post is that I take spirulina daily in place of any multi-vitamins. This blue-green algae IS my multi-vitamin. It’s what I use to keep my energy up, my immunity strong, and just generally keep me functioning well. There is SO much nutrition in spirulina and it makes me feel more nourished having this supplement in my diet when I travel as I usually avoid eating any salads or raw greens from restaurants. I’ve learned the hard way that food contamination is not something you want to mess around with… the risk of getting food poisoning and/or picking up bad bacteria from poorly prepared raw food in restaurants is just too high. Spirulina acts as wonderful “green” nutrition during travels so you don’t become malnourished.

I prefer the powdered form of spirulina the best and when I’m not traveling, this is super easy to blend into a smoothie to disguise the taste (if you’re not familiar with spirulina, trust me… you’ll want the taste disguised!) For traveling though, definitely go with spirulina tablets.

2. Zinc

A daily must for keeping your immune system strong. Zinc is an essential mineral… meaning that your body needs some zinc in order to function well. I used to think that I could get zinc entirely from food like pumpkin seeds (and it’s true that we used to be able to do this in the past!) but these days our food supply is seriously lacking in this mineral. And you want to keep your stores of zinc up when you’re traveling… this is THE supplement that helps prevent you from getting sick when you’ve been exposed to tons of germs in your surroundings. If you do start feeling ill on a trip, taking increased doses of zinc can help knock a cold out before it even fully takes hold if you catch it fast enough!

3. Colloidal Silver

Let’s say you do get sick while traveling. Whether it’s a virus, bacterial infection, UTI, ear infection, pink eye or even food poisoning… colloidal silver is the medicine you want to have on hand. It functions like an antibiotic, killing off bacteria, fungi, viruses… but in a safe and gentle way without all the harsh side effects that prescription antibiotics bring.

I grew up with a mom who always kept a bottle of colloidal silver in the house for when we got sick and I have to say, this is powerful stuff. You can take it by mouth or you can actually drop the formula right into the area where you’re experiencing any kind of infection – for example, in the ear or in the eye. I have done this so many times to cure heavy duty ear and eye infections that doctors have given me antibiotics for. And guess what… colloidal silver alone cured them all! I’ve also put colloidal silver on wounds to help them heal faster. The absolute best natural medicine you can have in your travel bag!

4. Ginger

This is my top supplement for motion sickness and nausea. I’m pretty sensitive and get motion sickness at least 50% of the time when I travel on a bus, boat, or plane (much to my dismay)… so I always have a bottle of ginger capsules on hand just in case. Ginger is also an amazing de-stresser, good for those times when everything seems to be going wrong on your travels – you’ve missed your bus or your flight’s been delayed or you accidentally lost a bunch of money, plus you’re sleep-deprived and hungry and have a blaring headache… Ginger is the supplement that’s going to soothe the stress response, calming you down so you can shift from reactive to relaxed.

5. Activated Charcoal

Hopefully you never have to deal with food poisoning on your travels but unfortunately, it does happen. If you’re backpacking in a third world country, the risk of picking up toxins from food or water of course gets much higher. Last year during my Southeast Asia travels I got food poisoning twice and was SO grateful to have activated charcoal on hand. In fact, every time I’ve gotten food poisoning in my life, this supplement has literally saved me, stopping the vomiting so I could find some measure of relief. It works by soaking up and absorbing any toxins that you’ve ingested – it could be taken for an upset stomach or even indigestion. This is such a vital healing supplement to have around and it’s also not expensive at all – my bottle of capsules cost $10 and has lasted for years. If you bring only one supplement with on your travels, this is the one I’d say do not leave home without!

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So there you have it, my top 5 supplement recommendations. Are there other supplements that you’re a fan of or consider essential for traveling that I missed? Let me know in the comments below and let’s spread the healthy travel vibes! I really believe that with some extra work and preparation, we can travel at our best while exploring the world💖

xx