Preventing Gut Upsets During Your Travels
Going on holidays is always fun if not a bit stressful to start off with. Planning that relaxing or adventurous holiday takes a lot of care and consideration into what needs to be done to pull it off so that everyone has an enjoyable time.
But how many of us actually think about taking preventative measures with our gut health before we go?
Firstly, start taking off by taking along a good probiotic that has a protective strain of good bacteria in it. This helps to reduce the instances of bad bacteria getting into your gut. This can happen for any number of reasons, and just a few of them could be due to the water quality, tainted foods (it only takes one little bite of food that has one tiny bad bacteria starting to grow in it or to be cooked in something that doesn’t agree with you for this to happen). Bad bugs can come from any source picked up along the way in your travels.
Remember, not all probiotics do the same things and one probiotics action is different to another. You just need to look at all the different strains that different brands and products have to know that they are all different and, this is for good reason.
The probiotic you need to arm yourself with to keep your gut defences up is one that has the Saccharomyces cerevisiae (bouldardii) strain in it. This strain supports the establishment of friendly bacteria in the gut and discourages the growth of harmful micro-organisms. It is used extensively for the symptomatic relief of traveller’s diarrhea, antibiotic associated diarrhea and candidiasis (thrush).
Another herbal staple for preventative travelling measures for any gut/gastro discomfort is a bottle of what I call “Gastro Calm”. I ensure that my patients take a bottle with them for any unforeseen gut irritability, indigestion, cramping, bloating, nausea and any other general gut uncomfortable symptoms. It has a combination of Marsmallow (herb acts as a lubricant and is calming to the gastrointestinal system), Meadowsweet (acts as an antacid for burning, indigestion), Fennel (to calm the bloat), Chamomile (for any tension or constriction in the gut that occurs) Ginger (for nausea) and Peppermint along with maybe one or two other herbs (dependent upon individual requirements). This little bottle of magic can help calm any unhappy gut down and can settle it quickly, leaving you to enjoy your holidays, upset free.
I highly recommend these preventative measures for anyone considering travelling here or overseas to ensure your holiday is not spoilt because of gut problems. By taking away with you this strain of probiotic and variety of herbs you can cover all bases when it comes to possible gastro or gut upsets that may occur that make gut problems while on holidays a pain in the gut!
Trudy Kither is a registered Naturopath with her exotic herbal dispensary and nutrition business Nature’s Temple, located in Palmwoods, in the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
