As Britain basks in a heatwaveand many people’s thoughts turn towards holidays abroad, spare a thought for those who have a secret dread of taking a flight, car or train to foreign climes.
Our appetites may be reduced during hotter weatherbut many of us still have stomach or gut problems on holiday – from a restaurant meal or a change in diet – or on a long journey. Yet in a survey of 1,000 customers by Holland & Barrett, carried out earlier this year, 58 per cent said they were too embarrassed to talk about the “taboo” subject of gut health, and more than a quarter (26 per cent) said they simply ignored their declining digestive health.
Poor gut health can have a huge effect on your overall wellbeing, and more than half (57 per cent) said they experienced low mood connected to their stomach or digestion, 52 per cent said it affected their sleep quality and 39 per cent their stress levels. One in 10 even claimed their gut health issues had a negative impact on relationships.
Unfortunately, going on holiday and making changes to our habits can make gut problems worse if we’re not careful.
Lucy Williamson, an award-winning nutritionist who specialises in gut health, says: “The change in diet, routine, time zone, and even just the flight can adversely affect the gut and digestion, resulting in constipation, or the other extreme, diarrhoea, quite often as a result of stress. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and by just making some simple choices, it can make the difference between a holiday you never want to forget and one you really do!”
How can you help your gut – starting before you have even left home? Williamson offers the following tips.
Address your stress
Stress can play havoc with our digestionnot least when we’re busy preparing to go away on holiday. “The key is to ‘rest and digest’,” Williamson says. “It’s a very real need by our body: carrying tension creates a poor digestive environment, so we need to feel calm.
Travel can be stressful in itself. “If stress is creeping in,” says Williamson, “do some breathing exercises while queueing – nobody will know, and your gut will be thankful for the de-stress.
“Our relaxing vagus nerve, part of the vital gut-brain axis, has nerve endings all along the gut wall and if we encourage it to work well with simple daily relaxation techniques, our gut health and digestion improves. A 10-minute breathing meditation or listening to music can be enough to break the stress cycle each and every day.”
Eat for gut health
Eating a bigger variety of plants is the single best thing we can do to nurture our gut health. “This includes spices and herbs as well as fruit and veg, beans, pulses, such as lentils and chickpeas, nuts, seeds and grains,” says Williamson. “Most of our immune system sits within our gut wall so looking after our billions of beneficial gut microbes really helps to build our resistance to those holiday bugs.”
Eating fermented foods, such as Kefir or live yoghurt, is also good for this.
Get into good habits
“Sleep is vital for good gut health,” says Williamson, “and if you have problems getting to sleeptry avoiding eating anything after 8-9pm (herbal teas and water are fine though). When you’re away on holiday, keeping up these habits can be really helpful.”
Keep hydrated
Staying hydrated is especially important when travelling to a hot country, and helps support your immune system. Aim to have water on hand while out in the sun – but also while flying, says Williamson.
“Once on the plane, changes in the air pressure can alter water balance between tissues in the body, often resulting in swelling or bloating,” she says. “But it can also make the gut medium become more watery. A decent amount of fibre in your breakfast such as porridge could be helpful in absorbing extra water and therefore avoiding excessive bowel movements in the gut.”
Moderate your drinking
“Alcohol may also upset the water balance during flights so try to avoid it however tempting a celebratory holiday toast might be,” Williamson says.
Once you’re on holiday, have one or two glasses of wine each day – but try not to overindulge. “A lot of preserved foods contain sulphites, including wine,” Williamson says. “These can upset our beneficial gut bacteria, so go easy or build in some ‘dry days’.”
But drinking is not all bad. “Red wine and cider are high in gut-loving polyphenols so as always there’s a balance,” she says.
Fast overnight
Overnight fasting is friendly to your gut. “If you’re eating a bit later in the evening,” says Williamson, have your breakfast a bit later too – at least 12 hours fasting overnight will help you to stay gut-happy.
“Take advantage of local, seasonal food – the Mediterranean diet, high in fish, colourful fruit and veg and olive oil is well known to be a gut healthy diet.”
Get your sunshine vitamins
Vitamin D from the sun – exposure to UV rays directly on your skin for 10 minutes earlier in the day or late afternoon – will boost your Vitamin D and your immune system, Williamson says.
Make good choices
It’s easy to let healthy living slip while on holiday, but reining in the excesses will be kinder to your gut.
“Remember, sleep is so important here so keep going with those breathing exercises at bedtime,” Williamson advises. “Try to maintain a variety of veggies and other plants while you’re away, hydrate well and look for foods rich in natural phytooestrogens – ideal choices are apricots, flaxseed, soy products, cashew nuts, coffee (espresso is best), garlic, onions, and legumes like green beans.”
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