You’re on a cross-country road trip having the time of your life. You have to go through a drive-thru or maybe two to save time. From Malibu to The Grand Canyon and all the way to the ‘Big Apple,’ your body is thrown out of whack with each stop. Like road trips and junk food — travel and probiotics are a perfect match.
Maybe you frequently fly for fun or business. Either way, the act of flying itself along with the airport food you had to scarf down on your layover—will both throw your body’s natural rhythm off a beat. This is where probiotics can save your travel plans and your trip. Think of a probiotic as tiny travel insurance.
How Travel Can Damage Your Gut Microbiome
You want to go to Rome to see the inside of the Colosseum not the inside of the pharmacy. Likewise, the last thing you want on a business trip is to have to run to the bathroom during your expensive business dinner meeting.
When you travel, there are germs—everywhere. The security line, touch-screen check-in kiosks, the close spaces of a small car. In these situations, germs want nothing else than to ruin your trip.
Your body is used to the rhythm of your typical day. The times you eat and sleep are typically consistent. Your body knows this and manages its defense appropriately. When you travel, this rhythm is completely thrown off. Your sleeping times or patterns are different, and you may be eating different foods or eating at different times. This can spell disaster for your gut.
Dehydration from flying can also weaken your immune system. Unsafe water is another big culprit for damaging your gut microbiome.
New situations can be fun yet stressful. Traveling can often bring up stressful situations. The airport, flying, or the unfamiliarity of a new place can bring anxiety and stress. All of this can affect your ability to fight off a bug. A quality probiotic should be your first line of defense.
How to Minimize the Damage of Travel
Your diet and lifestyle have a profound impact on your gut microbiota. If you travel frequently, you are at a higher risk of damaging your gut microbiome.
To minimize this damage and this risk, you need to make some precautions.
Research to make sure the place you are going has safe water. If not, plan what you need to do to only drink safe water. Ahead of your trip, incorporate probiotic rich food into your diet. Some foods to include are yogurt and sauerkraut.
One of the best things you could do to ensure you do not damage your gut microbiome during frequent travel is to take a probiotic supplement. Take a probiotic supplement before, during, and after your trip. If you travel frequently, you may consider taking a daily probiotic.
3 Steps to Encourage Regrowth of Good Bacteria
Having a healthy gut is essential to your overall health. Your gut microbiome—good or bad—even has a significant impact on your brain.
Most of your immune cells are in your gastrointestinal system. Probiotics contain friendly bacteria to help outnumber the unfriendly bacteria. Probiotics can improve your body’s shield against germs and kick your immune system into high gear to protect your body against invaders.
Encouraging regrowth of good bacteria and restoring your gut microbiome after frequent travel is vital. There are multiple ways you can help restore your gut microbiome after frequent travel—here are a few of the best.
Cut Sugar and Eat Your Veggies
The goal here is to feed the good guys and starve the bad guys. If your gut microbiome is unbalanced, you have too much bad bacteria and not enough good. The bad bacteria love sugar and carbs. The good bacteria love vegetables. It is essential to take care of your good bacteria so they can regrow and become strong. You also need to starve the bad bacteria so they will die. After travel, if you are having gut issues, try staying away from sugar for a little while and double up on the veggies. Fermented foods are also great to help replenish good bacteria.
Get Back to Your Routine
When you get back home after frequent travel, you should try to reestablish your normal routine. Getting your body back on a natural rhythm will help your good bacteria become stronger and replenish. This may also reduce stress which will help your good bacteria thrive.
Take a Probiotic Supplement
Only eating food rich in probiotics is not enough sometimes. Adding a probiotic supplement will help you outnumber the unfriendly bacteria with good bacteria and restore a healthy balance to your gut.
A probiotic supplement provides a variety of vitamins to help boost your immune system and promote good bacteria regrowth. It will also help you absorb the nutrients that you need from healthy foods to restore a healthy gut. A probiotic will also help regulate your mood. This can help combat the stress and anxiety that go with travel and are not healthy for the gut.
Key Takeaways
Probiotics could potentially mean the difference between climbing the Eiffel Tower and being stuck in your hotel room while others gaze at the incredible view.
Frequent travel can throw your body all out of whack and leave you with symptoms like ‘traveler’s tummy’. It is important to get your gut microbiome back to a healthy balance after frequent travel, and a quality probiotic may be the way to do that.
When looking for a quality probiotic, It is important to find one with a CFU content in the billions. It should also contain different strains of Lactobacillus to help replenish good bacteria in the GI tract. If you are a frequent traveler, you may want to look for a probiotic that is safe to take daily to keep you gut microbiota at its best.
MindZymes provides a quality daily probiotic that is specially formulated to provide optimal health benefits for frequent travelers. These probiotics not only help support natural digestion, but they help replenish the microbiota as well. Don’t risk having another ruined trip. Try MindZymes’ clinical grade high potency probiotic before your next travel adventure.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products discussed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.