Bodyworks Integrative Health, LLC

Lots of us use routine and discipline as key elements in our effort to stay healthy. But when we start a trip, all of our usual routines can go out the window. Discipline is easy when you have control of your environment, but travel generally puts us out of control and into unknown territory.

What can you do to stay as healthy as possible given these factors? Here are seven simple tips to incorporate into your trips:

1. Try not to use the trip as one giant “treat meal.”

I remember when a weekend trip was my opportunity to “cheat” for 2-3 days. I also remember when it was easy to recover from that trip … it’s not so easy now.  There’s a lot to be said for keeping a degree of discipline while you travel. How much discipline is up to you, but it can make you feel more “at home” in unfamiliar places.

2. In airports, find a quiet(er) place to eat. Make the experience as much like a regular meal as possible.

Airports are so full of busyness and constant noise and movement. Eating in this type of environment can often make us eat extremely quickly, which results in overeating or digestive issues. Since neither of those things are comfortable during a trip, try to find a quiet (or at least quieter) spot for your meal. Get your food to go, and walk all the way to the end of the concourse. You’ll get some space plus a few extra steps of exercise. Find the least busy restaurant (which sometimes is the one with healthier choices!) and eat there. Sit at a table as far away from the edge of foot traffic as possible. Remember to breathe and to chew your food.

3. Make water your main beverage for air / car / train travel.

Plain bottled water has so many benefits for our bodies. No calories, no sodium and just pure hydration. It supports healthy digestion and fills us up so we snack less. Stick to water during your travel days instead of soda, alcohol or juice.

4. Look for fruit & vegetables

A lot of fast food stops are offering fruits and vegetables as a part of their menu selection. Pick up a banana or an apple in the airport terminal to replace the snacks on the plane. Or choose a salad with limited cheese, fried toppings, and dressing – focus on the vegetables in the salad instead.

5. Think about and plan ahead for the entire day’s meals.

Whether you’re traveling or have reached your destination, make your meal and snack choices mindfully. If breakfast is the only meal where you’ll be able to choose the source, then choose the healthier options for breakfast. If every meal choice is up to you, then enjoy some new and healthy options in your travel location. (see tip number 6)

6. Use available online and smart phone apps to get review & suggestions that lead you to healthier choices.

When I was a kid, we always took a guidebook from AAA on our vacations. We used the book to find things to do, but also restaurant choices. It’s pretty wonderful when you imagine how far we’ve come from that static information! There are so many fantastic resources to find healthy quality food choices on the road. In airports, I like GateGuru. In a new city, I use Yelp almost exclusively when choosing restaurants. The reviews from real people are an incredibly helpful resource.

7. Pack one small bar of decadent delicious dark chocolate and use it as you sweet treats – for the entire trip!

For me, sweets are the ongoing temptation. Now before I travel, I pack a bar of fantastic dark chocolate in my bag. After choosing to skip all the overly indulgent sweets during the day, I will often treat myself to just one square of that dark chocolate at the end of the day. I find it helps me when I aim for “healthier” instead of “perfect” while traveling.

What are your favorite tips for healthier food choices when you travel?

I love coffee … but it doesn’t love me back … I’ve tried decaf coffee, and I still have issues. Since coffee is naturally caffeinated, the process of decaffeination only removes about 97% of the caffeine. In some decaf blends, I have found that even less is removed.

As a result of my experience over the last few years, I have tried a variety of other warm beverages that are 100% caffeine free. My current favorite is a product called Dandy Blend.

The flavor is so smooth and it’s so easy to use. While I don’t enjoy instant coffee, I love the instantly mixable ease of making a cup of Dandy Blend. Other than heating the water, there’s no brewing time necessary!

According to the product web site, Dandy Blend is made from the water-soluble extracts of roasted roots of dandelion, chicory and beets plus grains of barley and rye. There is a naturally occurring sweetness from the fructose in the dandelion and chicory. I sometimes add stevia to my cup of Dandy Blend, but you could just as easily skip the sweeteners.

And … there are 50 trace minerals in each cup of Dandy Blend. Minerals are something that we just don’t get enough of from our standard diets. So any opportunity to add these valuable nutrients is terrific!’

If you’ve tried to go caffeine-free and struggled, Dandy Blend might be for you. If you prefer decaf in the evenings, there’s another reason to try this product. Let me know what you think!

I think there are certain foods I love because they remind me of my childhood. Rhubarb is one of these foods. My dad had an organic garden back in the 60s and 70s … and it flourished! I remember huge rhubarb plants and hundreds of zucchini every summer. Over the last few years, I’ve rediscovered the joys of rhubarb. And I finally have a little rhubarb plant in my garden, courtesy of a client whose plant got large enough to share.

I usually find my rhubarb at the farmer’s markets or sometimes friends give me stalks because they know I love it! I think even the stalks are beautiful. Some are pale green, but the “traditional” color is more of a dark ruby red. However, rhubarb is poisonous when raw … so never, ever eat it without cooking!

It’s great to make a strawberry rhubarb crisp or pie – they just taste like summer to me. I’ve found lower sugar recipes that bring out the tart flavor of the fruit. But I’ve always heard that rhubarb must be cooked with some type of sugar to break down. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

I recently saw a link to a recipe for Rhubarb Juice, and I think this is a fantastic way to enjoy rhubarb flavor without added sugar. It’s super easy to make and has a couple of different uses. Plus the article includes some additional links to other rhubarb recipe ideas.

First you chop up your rhubarb. Then cover it with water in a saucepan and boil until the rhubarb is soft. This took my small batch about 10 minutes, so watch it closely. The original recipe suggests you include a split vanilla bean in the boiling process, but I didn’t have one handy. It still works … and you could add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the completed juice if you choose.

Once the rhubarb is soft, use a strainer to drain the juice and collect the pulp. I have to say, the pulp from my mostly green rhubarb stalks was pretty ugly. But the juice is a beautiful pale pink.

If you taste the juice by itself, it’s quite tart. But take about a tablespoon and put it into a glass of water. The flavor is lovely! Or take the juice and freeze it into small cubes.

I’m also planning to use the pulp in banana smoothies. I did something similar to this last summer and liked the flavor combination of sweet with tart.

Enjoy this wonderful fruit in a whole new way this year!

Is there anything coconut oil cannot do? I am amazed at the many ways this product can be used. Here’s a small list of the ways I have used coconut oil recently:

• Oil for massage clients
• Eye makeup remover
• Instead of WD-40 to stop squeaky wood on my massage table
• Oil for popping popcorn
• Replacement for vegetable oil in a bread recipe
• “Greased” the loaf pan I was using to bake bread

I also know people who use coconut oil as a moisturizer and a hair styling cream. Think of all the space you can save in luggage when you’re traveling!

The benefits of coconut products are varied, and the list is long. Here are a few:

• No trans fats
• Hypoallergenic
• Non-Toxic
• Gluten-Free
• Anti-bacterial
• Anti-fungal
• Anti-viral
• Anti-parasitic
• Beneficial to immune system function

The first question clients ask is what about the saturated fat content? Yes, coconut oil is more than 90% saturated fat. But don’t panic and please keep reading. Coconut oil’s saturated fatty acids are about 60% medium chain fats. These are “good fats” that our bodies use to produce energy. They are also primarily made up of Lauric Acid, which is the primary fat component in mother’s milk. It is long-chain fatty acids that have negative effects on cholesterol and heart disease. In fact, among Pacific Islanders, heart disease is remarkably low. These are people who eat all parts of the coconut and have done so for many generations.

Coconut oil also contains Vitamin E, Vitamin K and minerals such as iron.

When you decide to buy some coconut oil, look for organic, virgin and cold-pressed if possible. You can find it in many grocery stores and natural foods stores, as well as online.

Coconut oil will remain solid in colder temperatures. I tend to keep it in a warmer part of my kitchen so that it stays semi-solid and easier to measure. Coconut oil will keep a long time without going rancid, so you really don’t need to refrigerate it.

Comment below and let me know how you use coconut oil!

Sources:

http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/organic-coconut-oil/health-benefits-of-coconut-oil.html

http://www.coconutsecret.com/coconuthealthsecrets2.html

I’d like to start a new feature here at my blog – highlighting an idea, service or product that I love each week.

This week, I’ll start by telling you about Happy Hal’s Jalapeño Relish.

I love spicy food and it’s even better when you know some details about the product. My friend Susie started The Happy Jalapeño Company because her friends and family encouraged her. They loved her homemade Jalapeño relish, and now all of us can too!

I use Happy Hal’s in egg dishes – even just scrambled eggs! It’s fantastic in soups, especially my summer gazpacho. Another way to use it is in dips, like this yummy Avocado Dip. Susie has a lot of recipes on the Web site, so you can get a bunch more ideas there.

Also … hot peppers contain capsaicin, which has many health benefits. They include antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s known to have thermogenic activity, which means it increases overall metabolic activity.

If you’d like to try some, it is available at Whole Foods in the mid-Atlantic region and at several Lancaster County locations. You can order it directly from Happy Hal’s too!

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about how coaches can best encourage clients to change behaviors. One of my coaches has been emphasizing encouragement, and I have to agree. Often when we are learning something new, it’s most encouraging to have our coach show us how to change. And it’s even better when a coach can model that behavior for us. I don’t know about you, but just telling me I should change isn’t the same as showing me how easy change can be.

Given all of this, it’s kind of funny that I have a coach/client relationship in my own home. Who is my client? My darling husband (DH)! While he’s 100% supportive of my career, it’s been a slower path for him to make substantive changes in his own health-related choices. As with my other clients, I focus first on introducing foods that are less processed.

Here’s a recent example — microwave popcorn! We both enjoy popcorn as a relatively healthy snack. But my DH has been buying microwave popcorn for years. Gosh it’s just so darn convenient! But then you look at the list of ingredients, and even read things online that may scare you.

On the spur of the moment, I bought some organic popping corn a few weeks ago. I love popcorn popped on the stove, and I thought I might be the only one making the effort at home. No problem. I brought it home and popped my favorite recipe right away. Not surprisingly, the smell drew some interest and we shared the freshly popped goodness. Just a day or so later, DH asked me to remind him how to make fresh popcorn. (Yay!)

But the best part of the whole experience was hearing my darling husband say, “Y’know … we probably should give away all that microwave popcorn. It’s just nowhere near as tasty as the fresh stuff. And it’s all full of chemicals and other yucky stuff!”

So this health coach was reminded again … show me the new way … don’t just tell me!

Here’s my popcorn “recipe” … Really just guidelines.

1/4-1/3 cup unpopped popcorn
1-2 tablespoons coconut oil
Seasonings – I like fresh cracked pepper and sea salt

Pick a large saucepan with a tightly fitting lid. Warm your oil with one piece of unpopped corn over medium to high heat. Be sure the lid fits tightly to keep heat and oil in the pan.

When the oil is hot, the single kernel will pop. Before you add the remaining popcorn, add your seasonings to the oil. Then add the remaining popcorn and close the lid again. Shake the saucepan a bit to get the oil evenly distributed. The popcorn should begin to pop, and you’ll want to keep a close watch over its process. Do not leave the stove while the popcorn is popping! Shake the saucepan occasionally during the whole cooking process.

When you stop hearing popping, the popcorn is finished. You should have a saucepan full of popped popcorn within 4-5 minutes. Pour it into a bowl (or bowls if sharing) and enjoy!

In the midst of all the sadness surrounding the world this week, I happened upon this poem by a twentieth-century Japanese man, Nanao Sakaki. It seems like a wonderful way to remember that each of us is just one small part in a larger whole. And reminds us that we must find quiet time for ourselves, our world and our universe.

Within a circle of one meter
You sit, pray and sing.

Within a shelter ten meters large
You sleep well, rain sounds a lullaby.

Within a field a hundred meters large
Raise rice and goats.

Within a valley a thousand meters large
Gather firewood, water, wild vegetables, and Amanitas.

Within a forest ten kilometers large
Play with raccoons, hawks,
Poison snakes and butterflies.

Mountainous country Shinano
A hundred kilometers large
Where someone lives leisurely, they say.

Within a circle ten thousand kilometers large
Go to see the southern coral reef in summer
Or winter drifting ices in the sea of Okhotsk.

Within a circle ten thousand kilometers large
Walking somewhere on the earth.

Within a circle a hundred thousand kilometers large
Swimming in the sea of shooting stars.

Within a circle a million kilometers large
Upon the spaced-out yellow mustard blossoms
The moon in the east, the sun west.

Within a circle ten billion kilometers large
Pop far out of the solar system mandala.

Within a circle ten thousand light years large
The Galaxy full blooming in spring.

Within a circle one billion light years large
Andromeda is melting away into snowing cherry flowers.

Now within a circle ten billion light years large
All thoughts of time, space are burnt away
There again you sit, pray and sing.
You sit, pray and sing.

- Nanao Sakaki