10 Travel Tips for Hormonal Harmony During the Holidays

So many of us are starting to travel again after being home for almost two years (yay!). When we travel, there are so many factors that conspire against us.

• Your circadian rhythm often suffers, and you’re less likely to get a good night’s sleep.
• Poor sleep may make you choose worse food and drinks the next day

That leads to a leading to a snowball effect of no sleep, overeating and eating junk, drinking too much alcohol, and facing January 1st with a bad case of regret and tight jeans. Not happening this year!!

Here are my 10 best tips for staying in balance while traveling and having tons of fun during the holidays.

1. PLAN AHEAD

I’m sure you’ve heard: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” What I mean is, if you wait until you get to wherever you’re going to plan the way you’re going to eat and move and supplement, you will miss out on the winning formula for success: planning for it.

Find out where the yoga studios, plant-based restaurants, juice shops, and hiking trails are. Find an accountability partner as someone in your family and take them along for the wellness ride!

2. START YOUR DAY WITH A PROTEIN SHAKE

If I’m staying at a hotel, I pack my travel packets of protein powder. Every hotel or house usually has a blender and you can go to the grocery store to get your healthy fat, fiber, and plant-based milk. You will be able to maintain your weight and make better decisions with food for the rest of the day when you get a healthy, hormone-balancing breakfast.

3. FIBER BEFORE THE FEAST

Fiber is the key to a flat belly. It fills you up and makes you calm and present, especially when eaten before attending a party with tables of tons of food.

4. WATER BEFORE ALCOHOL

I know you want to party, but travel usually means dehydration more than normal. To understand what you’re dealing with, look at the color of your urine when you use the restroom. Is it light yellow, the color of straw, or dark and concentrated?

Drink a big glass of water before you hit the booze—you’ll be more present for the taste of your next glass and be able to rehydrate your cells. I also recommend water between each drink. Too much alcohol robs you of quality sleep, so more water will help you sleep better tonight and dilute the damage.

5. BETTER BOWEL MOVEMENTS

I know no one wants to talk about this… but it has so much to do with HOW YOU feel and function while traveling. When you’re adequately hydrated and eating lots of veggies when your gut health is in good order, your bowel movements are well-formed and S-shaped. Ideally, you go number two anywhere from one to three times per day. Anything less is constipation and could be a sign of dysbiosis, where you have too many harmful microbes compared with the good. Travel can make you constipated, so be sure to eat lots of vegetables each day, especially the green and leafy kind that feed the good bugs in your gut and stay hydrated.

6. GET THOSE STEPS IN

You’ve heard the 10,000-steps per day rule, right? This is going to keep you feeling lighter, less bloated, and more energized. If it’s late at night and you haven’t gotten your steps in, dance party, or a late-night walk with the dogs, it is!

7. MOVE WHEN YOU GET THERE

I don’t know about you, but whenever I’ve been sitting on a plane for a long time, I HAVE to move when I get to my destination.  It’s like this pent-up energy. Whether I’m at a hotel or staying with family, I try to get something in because it impacts my serotonin and my overall mood.

8. SIT LESS

Of course, you have to sit on a plane or in the car, that’s why I love to move right when I get somewhere… but I think we’re all so much likely to be lazy and want to lay on the couch all day when we’re traveling to visit family. Resist that urge to lay around and get up every 30 minutes or so and move around. This tells your metabolism to stay alert; it keeps your bones strong and makes it so fat is burned instead of stored. Saying no to blood sugar dysregulation and weight gain

9. DETOX THE TRAVEL

I know that alcohol and sweets are everywhere this time of the year, and while I’m saying to make better choices most of the time, that doesn’t mean NEVER indulging. But with that sugar and alcohol + age, for me, comes worse hangovers. You can take some good supplements like berberine for blood sugar and milk thistle for liver support to make a difference in how you feel the next day!

10.  BETTER SLEEP

Whether you’re sleeping in a strange hotel or traveling across time zones, melatonin levels can drop and make sleep more challenging.

Instead of suppressing your melatonin production by watching TV or looking at your phone at night, give yourself a screen shut down two hours before bedtime (for me, it’s around 8 PM) so that your melatonin can rise.

If you need additional help, take 0.3 mg of melatonin (no, that’s not a typo: 0.3 mg) four hours before bed. As the level of melatonin gradually declines, your body will make more just in time for sleep! It’s better to microdose it.

Hopefully, these tips are helpful to keep you feeling your best as you journey through the holidays! Let me know your favorite travel wellness tips!