A Few Tips For Ways to Stay Healthy While Travelling

When you are on holiday there are two things you must remember in regards to food. The first and most important is to eat, and enjoy eating. Make time everyday to eat. It's not uncommon for travellers to be on both time and money budgets and kind of over look eating as an important part of each day. If you don't supply your body with fuel, put simply, it will not work for you! Secondly and most obviously is to monitor the quality of the food you put into your body. Yes this means ask yourself if the food is safe, but not only that, is it healthy for you. It's all too easy while travelling to shove in high energy, cheap and easy to access snack foods and overlook proper balanced meals. Without good food your body will not function properly, you will be more susceptible to illness, have less energy and be prone to headaches, get irritable and enjoy yourself less.

Eating Cheaply does not have to mean getting sick

If you are on a budget, go local, look out for busy locally ran places. The busier the place the better the food is likely to be. Also go to the local markets, eat fruit, you will be surprised how cheap and good fruit is in Asia. Its clean, it's good for you and it's easy to obtain. Peel able fruit is a good option, if you are susceptible to upset tummies or the water is not too good in that particular country, as an added safety precaution don't forget to rinse with bottled or purified water.

How to avoid food poising

Of course you don't want to get sick so check the restaurant over, it's never going to pristine, but just see, if the food is freshly cooked, or is it in a Bain Marie or reheated? Is the water clean? Are the tables clean? Is the raw produce used acceptable? All these are small signs to the quality of the food, if a proprietor cannot be bothered to clean tables, sweep floors etc he/she is hardly likely to be paying much attention to the cleanliness of your food! Another precaution is, always choose hot food from road side or local restaurants, and never go for warm rice or noodles, huge no, no.

You should note though, that most cases of food poising do not come from the food, it comes from bacteria accumulated on your hands, on plates, cutlery and glasses. So use your common sense -

o Wash your hands or use a sanitizer gel
o Carry your own drinking glass and travel cutlery, or just eat with your hands like locals do
o Make sure what you order is freshly cooked and not reheated
o Go for items like noodles, soups and stir fries that are quickly prepared, or meat curries and stews that have been cooked for a long time, just make sure they are re heated sufficiently! Avoid, rice that's not freshly cooked, dried meat and fish dishes and anything that looks or smells a bit iffy!

Follow these simple rules and you should never get the travellers runs. Remember don't mistake an upset tummy from change in diet as food poisoning!

Helpful hint: Quite a few trekkers swear by a bottle of coke with each meal, the acid in coke tends to kill off any bacteria taking a lap around your stomach juices.

Water - Stay Hydrated

Drink, drink, drink. Keep yourself alert and hydrated by drinking 2 to 3 litres a day. In most countries in Asia, the tap water is not acceptable for drinking, and even if it is deemed so, I do not advise to drink it unless you are a seasoned traveller whose body has acquired the right balance to do so. Buying bottled water is the best bet, though it's much better for the environment to carry your own water bottle and either treat the water or go for refills. Many places in Asia allow cheap refills from 10 gallon mineral water jugs. Also hotels should be more than happy to provide filtered or boiled water for you to treat. If you do buy mineral water, always check the seal and sell by date first. Another good tip to save money is to buy water from local shops, it's the same water just half the price than in your hotel or tourist restaurant! Don't forget brushing your teeth in some way is consuming water, so if you really don't want to risk it, use bottled, treated or boiled water when doing so.

Heat - Keep Your Cool and Don't try and Do too Much in the Heat.

Keep yourself cool and stay fresh. If you are travelling in a hot climate, you need to slow down and pace yourself. Avoid spending excessive time in the sunshine. By wearing loose light layers of clothing and a good pair of sunglasses you will be surprised at how much better you feel. Heat and glare will add to your stress and "over it" levels! Take frequent rests in shady places and drink plenty of fluids. Water is a must but try some local items like coconut milk in south east Asia, fruit or yoghurt lassies in India and Nepal and fresh fruit juices (make sure they don't add water or use local ice!) in Malaysia and Indonesia, although you will find in most restaurants and hotels in Malaysia that filtered water is used for ice, just ask. Avoid drinking beer, as cold and refreshing as it may be it's not a good day time substitute for water! Try and plan you day to be most active when it's cooler in the mornings and evenings and take rest during the hottest part of the day.

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