With the pandemic regulations easing up in some countries, more people have resumed traveling again, and with that some digestive issues may arise.
Constipation or diarrhea are common struggles for world travelers. If you are part of this group, you may want to check out the five tips to make your next journey easier, as well as two common myths to avoid.
HOMO SAPIENS MIGRATION Vs. MODERN HUMAN TRAVEL
Ancient Homo Sapiens would travel by foot and go through gradual adaptation to new environments.
Walking is one of the best known remedies for constipation. One of the reasons is that while walking the top of our thigh bone (the head of the femur), serves as a pump massaging the gut walls to push food forward.
The association of constipation with travel is not known to have existed at prehistoric times, as it is today. In ancient times walking was the means for human migration, and nowadays we spend time covering large distances while sitting in an airplane
Enter Modern Day Travel:
Traveling by planes and trains can make your food travel through your gut slowly. In addition, leaving home in a hurry in the morning to catch a flight, or to go to work can cause our elimination schedule to become misaligned with our natural circadian rhythm.
Excessive sitting and rushing in the morning are not the only problems that modern day travel causes to our gut microbiome. There are evolutionary mismatches between modern ways of traveling and our ancient intestinal cells.
The speed and amount of travel of modern humans are not easily integrated by our gut microbiome. The enteric nervous system (ENS) in our gut existed way before the origin of human race. Our species is about 2 million years old, while the enteric circuits existed 500 million years ago, even within invertebrates. Our “second brain”, the ENS, has even been ranked as the 'first brain', because it developed earlier and independently from the central nervous system.
Our microbiome is affected not only by the food we eat, but also the water we drink, the air we breath, pollution that we are exposed to and stress. When we travel long distances very fast, i.e. car, plane, or train, all changes happen at once. The body has to integrate new air quality, new water, new food, new microbes along with and excessive sitting. These are big changes to which the microbiome needs to adapt, and diarrhea or constipation may occur as a symptom of that mismatch.
Let’s look at how we can mitigate some of these sudden changes that happen with modern travel.
FIVE WAYS TO MAKE TRAVEL EASIER ON THE GUT
Cultivate Your Baseline Gut Health
Trying to make gut health better just before travel may not hurt, but neither it is a game changer. If you have a tendency for constipation or diarrhea its best to ask for help and understand what is out of balance while you are at your home base. Make gut health a priority, treat pathogens or stressorS that may be hidden in the gut to achieve a regular elimination schedule, no bloating and a healthy appearance as in numbers 3 or 4 on the Bristol stool chart.
Walk
As we mentioned above, walking is a needed massage that the gut receives that acts like a pump and moves food along the intestines towards elimination.
Make walking or jogging a daily habit and throw in a couple extra short sessions if you can before travel. As soon as you arrive at your destination take a a 10 to 20-minute brisk walk or jog before you rest and another one within 48 hours of arrival.
Water
In my practice, I see several cases of constipation, particularly with frequent travelers. Many of the problems have root causes on gut dysbiosis, or hidden stressors like parasites that we discover through lab testing, and address with a nutritional and antimicrobial approach.
But across all people, dehydration due to forgetfulness of drinking water is a common cause or aggravator of constipation. Many of my clients find help by setting an alarm, or putting a bottle of water on the floor in the middle of the office or living room where they will see and remember to drink.
During travel, think of taking a small amount of the water that you drink at home in your suitcase, as long as your gut health is on point at home. Upon arrival at your destination, mix that water with a larger amount of water that you can drink a little bit of it everyday. Even though this seems minimal, it is significant and familiar for the microorganisms in your gut and can help to maintain microbiome balance and gut function.
Take a Little of Your Familiar Fermented Foods or Probiotics With You
Probiotics within fermented vegetables have shown to be one best ways to keep optimal gut health. All clients in our practice receive tips for making their own fermented vegetables. Homemade fermentation when done right has amplified benefits because it will integrate the bacteria from the makers’ hands cultivating and strengthening their own ecosystem. When a family creates the habit of making their own fermented foods and drinks, such as sauerkraut, kimchi, or kefir, the microbiome becomes stronger and more resilient throughout the years.
We suggest to our clients who travel to take a small “seed” or sample, of their homemade fermentation with them during travel, so that they can proliferate it at their destination. It can also be beneficial to drink a bit of the fermentation juice during travel. This can send familiar signals to the microbiome and help it to adapt to the sudden changes in air, food, water and geographic dislocation.
Those with traveler’s diarrhea will find protection if their regular probiotic intake is maintained during travel. And for acute episodes of diarrhea, the probiotic strain of Saccharomyces Boullardi has shown to be the most helpful.
A beneficial alternative to this is to take probiotic capsules from time to time at your home base, ensure that you adapt and benefit from them first, and take them with you during travel.
Avoid Carbohydrates From Flours and Grains
Acellular carbs are those that have been pulverized into flour forms or dried whole grains, even if not in flour form. Acellular carbs also include the starch from roots, including tapioca starch, or yuca flour.
The problems with acellular carbohydrates are that they will breakdown into bacteria in the gut much sooner than when we need it. They will ferment in the small intestines instead of the large intestine, where it is supposed to breakdown. This can create bloating and if not addressed, it can turn into SIBO, Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. Also acellular carbs are extremely dense and can contribute to weight gain and blood sugar dysregulation.
Cellular carbohydrate, on the other hand, will increase and maintain gut health. Some examples of cellular carbs are taro, yuca, potatoes, sweet potato, all squashes, all vegetables and fruits. Having cream of vegetables upon arrival at your destination can be a helpful way to keep things moving in the gut.
Tolerated cellular carbohydrates are essential for gut health, they nourish the good bacteria, resulting in fermentation, beneficial fatty acids and strong immune system. Lack of fermentation in the gut can create lack of acidity, which in turn can weaken the immune system and make the whole body vulnerable to pathogens, parasites and free radicals.
Sleep
Sleep is essential for food transit. Sleep deprivation can mess up our circadian clock and affect food transit badly resulting in constipation.
At home follow best practices of sleep hygiene practices for regular robust sleep schedule and strong circadian entrainment.
In case your destination time is different than your origin, gradually change your sleep schedule slightly, to resemble your destination time zone a few days before travel.
Bring all your blue light blocking tools, and sleep masks with you when you travel. Getting that walk at daytime at your destination will also optimize your new sleep schedule.
My article on Sleeping Like Pro for Gut Health has all the specific tools for optimizing sleep and gut health.
MYTHS
Added Processed Fiber
Adding fiber supplements when traveling can fire back. As shown in this study. There have been been several studies done to expose evidence about supplemental insoluble fiber’s role in worsening gut dysbiosis such as IBS. Added fiber in general is industrially processed derived from grains can be very irritating for the gut mucosa.
When industrialized added fiber is consumed without increasing your water intake it may aggravate constipation and cause increase irritation in the gut wall. See this and this study.
A better option is to implement regular habit of consuming carbohydrates that are cellular in nature, such as leafy greens and soluble roots and tubers as explained above. They will have natural fiber content and can easily provide the recommended 20 to 30 grams of fiber per day. Nothing wrong with adding fiber from fresh fruits and vegetables!
Probiotics That You Have Not Tried Before
This can be a hit or miss or worse, a reaction can occur. As we described earlier, consider bringing familiar strains of probiotics, that you have been using for a while, with you when you travel. It can be a sample of the water that you drink at home, a small starter or of your homemade ferments like sauerkraut or kimchi, or your already approved probiotic capsules.
A new probiotic product will probably not hurt if you don’t have dysbiosis. However, if you have a gut issue and introduce a new probiotic while traveling, it may backfire creating symptoms like bloating or even histamine reactions, or allergies. You may want to try the probiotic out for a few weeks first. The better option is to take with you the microorganisms that your body has already known for a longer time.
Call To Action:
Longevity and Travel
Anecdotal data has shown that centenarians have not travelled much in their lives, at least for the last several decades. Many of them have never left their birthplaces.
Centenarians are seldom asked about their travel history when being interviewed about their health.
I encourage those doing longevity studies to scientifically work on this question, so that we can have better insight on the impact of travel on the microbiome, health and longevity.
TAKEAWAYS
BENEFICIAL FOR THE GUT DURING TRAVEL:
Cultivate Your Long Term Baseline Gut Health
Walk.
Water.
Take Your Homemade Fermentation With You.
Avoid Acellular Carbohydrates, Like Flours and Grains.
Sleep.
MYTHS TO AVOID:
New Added Processed Fiber Products, Specially Without Additional Water and With Gut Issues.
New/Unfamiliar Prebiotics and Probiotics.
REFERENCES:
Did this article ring a bell for you? I would love to hear your thoughts or questions.
Cheers!
Laura Leite, NBC-HWC, FDNP, Kresser Provider, Founder: Ancestral Health Center of California, LauraLeite.com Instagram
~ This article contains general information regarding nutrition and stress management only. It is not to be used as a prescription, or to replace medical advice or recommendations, in the prevention or treatment of any diagnosed condition, or any health issue.~
