• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Creatine
      • AG1 Review
    • Equipment
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Healthy Eating

4 Tips for Healthy Digestion on Summer Vacation

Don't spend your whole vacation in the loo. These tips will help you stay comfortable while traveling.

Written by Marc Halpern Last updated on June 18, 2015

Eating well while traveling can be a challenge. But maintaining digestive health can be the difference between a successful trip and an uncomfortable one. Whether you’re traveling for a business meeting or a relaxing vacation, both present challenges for your body.

No one wants to waste time on vacation looking for the nearest restroom.

Even though we may typically do well in terms of fat loss (or maintenance) while away from home, there are other things to think about when it comes to what to eat and drink. Constipation and diarrhea are common issues for travelers, and the fault can usually be found in consistency (or lack of it).

Of course, when we’re on the road, we will be eating different foods and probably drinking more alcohol, but let’s look for a few common themes we can still maintain to keep our guts from sabotaging our travels.

Hydration

Water intake has huge implications on how well your body functions, and this includes the digestive system. The theme for traveling is to stay consistent. Whatever daily fluid level you normally take in is exactly what you want to do when away. Being dehydrated can lead to poor digestion and constipation.

That said, there are many factors working against you when traveling:

  • Air travel may be the worst. You can’t bring liquids through security, time is usually short, you either have a tiny cup of water on the plane or an alcoholic beverage, and the air in a plane tends to be very dry.
  • Alcohol and salty food intake are usually higher when dining out or at conferences.
  • A difference in the type of water you have available. Not all tap waters are created equal.

So, here are some quick tips to keep your fluid levels in check:

  • For every alcoholic beverage, have one equal size glass of water with it.
  • Bring an empty water bottle in your carry-on, and fill it from the water fountain as soon as you pass security.

If you do find that different tap waters have effects on you, then only buy bottled water and only from a company you’ve tried and tolerated well before. A small amount of tap water, like in the above two suggestions, may be fine for you, but for the duration of your trip stick to as much bottled as possible.

You’ll enjoy those drinks a lot more if you have a glass of water, too.

Irregular Exercise

As a reader of this site, I’m sure you exercise regularly. You may even sneak a workout in the hotel gym. But even though we try to be active, most trips wind up being relatively sedentary. While workouts are great, they still represent a small moment in time. Which becomes a problem when you remember that digestion is aided by movement.

Here are my tips for keeping moving while traveling:

  • Walk whenever possible, especially after a larger than normal meal.
  • Take stairs.
  • Stand whenever you can.
  • Avoid prolonged sitting.

Sounds simple, but it can make a big difference given that we typically move very little when on a trip. To keep you on track, use a cell phone alarm that can buzz you every half hour or so as a gentle reminder to move.

Consistent Fiber

Getting the right amount of fiber can be difficult. Usually the problem is not getting enough relative to what you normally consume. Sometimes we can’t control things like schedules and activity planning when on a trip. But, at least keeping our fiber consistent will go a long way toward staying regular.

“Constipation and diarrhea are common issues for travelers, and the fault can usually be found in consistency (or lack of it).”

At every meal, order a side salad and eat it first. For breakfast, a fruit cup will work. Eating the salad or fruit first is the key. Whatever happens after, at least you got in some fiber. This eliminates the need for too much thinking. Making this a habit over time will make things even easier.

At every meal, order a side salad and eat it first to make sure you get enough fiber.

Gut Bacteria and Food Sensitivity

Many of us have certain foods or ingredients that tend to bother our systems. But when we are on a business trip or just dining out with company, nobody wants to be that person grilling the waiter on how the food was cooked. Depending on where we’re traveling, it might also be perceived as rude to not accept foods that are offered to us.

“Keeping the gut bacteria healthy can help fight any acute digestive issues. A healthy gut can usually handle a meal or two of sensitive foods.”

But there are ways to manage our symptoms and avoid issues. Keeping the gut bacteria healthy can help fight any acute digestive issues. A healthy gut can usually handle a meal or two of sensitive foods. Of course, a diagnosed food allergy is something to respect, but for sensitivities the following advice will work:

  • Take a probiotic of at least three to five billion organisms. I usually don’t advocate long term use of probiotics because our diet should be one that keeps the gut happy. However, traveling is a different story, and there are many reasons why the gut bacteria can become altered, from food sensitivities to invasive bacteria.
  • For a few weeks before you travel, make sure you are absolutely spot-on with keeping the bothersome foods off your menu.
  • Control what you can. When eating alone or when you have choices of where to go, try to pick something that is generally safe. For most people, breakfast tends to be this meal. Don’t be adventuresome. Just order what you would normally eat at home.

Sticking to the foods you eat normally whenever possible will keep your gut happy.

Remember the 80% Rule

In a groundbreaking article published in the New Zealand Medical Journal, Hans Pommergaard and his associated reveals they don’t believe in controlling your digestive health in their appropriately named paper – Flatulence on Airplanes: Just Let It Go. The writers even recommended that airplanes put active charcoal in the seats to control odor.

As funny as it is, this highlights the point that research in digestive health, especially when factoring in travel, is extremely difficult. Different lifestyles, genetics, and the extent to which we can experience foods from all over the world make measuring anything impossible.

So, maintaining digestive health on the road needs to be a customized routine. If you can get within 80% of what you do at home in terms of water, exercise, fiber, and avoiding sensitive foods, then your trip should be smooth sailing.

More Like This:

  • 5 Ways to Eat Smart and Stay Lean on Summer Vacation
  • Shake Off Travel Stagnation With This Quick Yoga Flow
  • Healthy Travel Tips, Part 1: Car & Plane Travel
  • New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

About Marc Halpern

Marc Halpern: likes to lift heavy things because of what it enables him to do elsewhere in life, like skiing and hiking. He doesn’t eat egg whites and lettuce for breakfast, he eats real food.

As a Registered Dietitian and strength coach, Marc's philosophy is to keep it reasonable and feeling good.Marc has over fourteen years of experience. He started his journey when he lost seventy pounds in high school. It began a career that has gone from New York, to North Carolina, all the way to Utah.

In addition to working with clients, Marc spends a great deal of time in Dan John’s Lab (aka garage) constantly looking for better ways to do things. He combines evidence-based practice with experience and real-life application.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

Woman squatting by Bev Childress
A Healthy Approach to Holiday Eating
diymealplanning21
DIY Meal Planning
Vegetarian Protein Alfredo
Comfort Fuel: Vegetarian Protein Alfredo
Why Your Diet Should Be Unique to Just You

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

Blessing Awodibu Set to Compete in 2023 Chicago Pro 

Iain Valliere Reveals Shredded Legs as He Preps For 2023 Toronto Pro

How to Do the Hex Press for Chest Size without Shoulder Pain

Daiki Kodama (83KG) Bench Presses 230.5 Kilograms (508.1 Pounds) for IPF Raw World Record

Latest Reviews

Athletic Greens AG1

Athletic Greens AG1 Review: Is This Greens Powder Worth It?

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About