Traveling is most people’s ultimate goal, and figuring out your travel plans can be challenging when you have a food intolerance. Even though food intolerance isn’t life-threatening, it’s still very uncomfortable and can prevent you from enjoying your trip.
When attempting to travel safely, you need healthy travel tips to help you stay on top of your health and not stop you from exploring how you want to. When you have food intolerance episodes when traveling, it can easily ruin your itinerary, preventing you from exploring how you want to. It can also be difficult getting medical help when you’re in a new country and have no medical insurance there.
What is food intolerance?
Food intolerance is also known as sensitivity. It occurs when you consume a food your body is sensitive to or can’t break down and absorb. When you have food intolerances, you will suffer from digestive symptoms like diarrhea, vomiting, bloating, gas, and stomach aches. It’s also common to experience headaches when you’ve got food intolerance.
Some people, like those with lactose intolerance, have the condition because they lack the enzyme required to break down lactose. When food isn’t broken down in the small intestines, it’s pushed into the colon to get out of the body. So when this undigested food is in the colon, it pulls in water into the large intestines, which causes bloating and pain as it tries to get rid of that waste.
There are also bacteria in the colon that ferment the undigested food, causing you to have gas and bloating. Food intolerance symptoms tend to last for up to a week or more, depending on your body and the amount of the trigger food you’ve consumed. Once you’ve passed food you’re intolerant to, your body will adjust, and you’ll feel better.
Healthy travel tips with food intolerance
Food intolerance can be hard to deal with, especially when you have no control over cooking your food, which is often the case when attempting to travel safely. Taking an Intolerance Test, will help you learn more about your intolerance and thus allow you to travel safely.
En-route
When trying to get where you’re going through whichever means of transport, you may need to eat food or have drinks during the travel. When doing so, you need to ask about that menu and what you’re being asked to consume so you can know whether it’s safe for you.
If you have a short flight, you can always pack your food. However, if you’re on a long flight or traveling on the road for quite some time, you may need to eat food on the way since it can be impossible to carry enough food to sustain you through a long journey.
If you’re mainly on a long flight or a road trip, you need to get your research underway to know non-perishable items to pack and take with you so you can eat food whose ingredients you need to be aware of. You also need to know if various flights allow you to carry your food or if you need a doctor’s letter explaining your food intolerances and why you must bring that food.
Medication
Always carry medication that will help sort out your digestive symptoms if you accidentally consume foods you’re intolerant to. You can take antidiarrheals, antacids, and painkillers. Carry medication that will help with the symptoms you often suffer from when you have a food intolerance. For example, if you always need fiber supplements to help relieve you, you can carry them.
These medications will help you deal with food intolerance symptoms whenever you feel bad. When you’re in a new environment, it can be challenging to figure out where to get a pharmacy or even the best way to explain how you feel, especially if there’s a language barrier. It is safer to have these over-the-counter medications just in case you need them on your trip.
Eating out
Explaining the foods you’re trying to avoid can be hard when there is a language barrier. However, you can convey it by writing it down or talking to your server, who is well-conversed in English. Properly explaining your food intolerances can help you prevent food intolerance symptoms.
You can also research restaurants and food joints that are allergy-friendly. In such places, you’re likely to find that they’re more cautious about food intolerances and allergies, and you’re less likely to suffer from food intolerance symptoms.
Since food intolerances require you to consume large amounts of a specific food to suffer from symptoms, it’s easy to get away with contamination when similar utensils are used for your food and the one you are intolerant to. All you need to do is ensure you only have a portion of meals that comprise your trigger food.
Accommodation
When trying to travel safely with a food intolerance, you can decide to get accommodation that allows you to prepare your meals. In such places, you can easily manage your diet by cooking what you desire, which stops you from eating outside because you can always cook in your rented space.
Cooking for yourself when traveling allows you to choose your ingredients, which can keep you from intolerance symptoms. You will get to control your diet in this manner and won’t have to worry about the signs.
Apps for translating menus
You can always use Google Translate or Microsoft Translator apps for menus, labels, and ingredients. You can always put your app on camera mode. When you view the label or menu through camera mode, it will overlay the translated text. This can be helpful if you’re trying to read a form of writing unfamiliar to you, like Chinese.
Final thoughts
Attempting to travel safely when you have food intolerance can be challenging at first. However, once you have a plan and know how to handle it, you can easily travel worldwide without any problems. The first step is, however, learning about your food intolerances. You can only manage something you’re aware of. But if you take an Intolerance Test, you will know your food intolerances and manage them accordingly.
