Your Travel Health. Nutrition for Fitness and Energy

When I visit large cities, I like to do a lot of walking. To explore and visit little back streets off the tourist tracks, inaccessible to tourist buses.

Most large cities are made for walking. How could you visit London without walking through Hyde Park and the markets of Notting Hill? When in Paris, visit the gourmet delights of the market areas around Rue De Montague. The area where the Parisians shop and live. Walking across Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Brooklyn Bridge provides views that are breathtaking. You can stop, take photos and enjoy the discoveries that only walking can provide.

To fully enjoy these walks, you need to be healthy and fit. This article focuses on the importance of boosting your immune system before you travel and nutritional supplements to keep up your energy and fitness levels while traveling.

BOOSTING YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM.

Up to 80% of people suffer some form of travel sickness, says Dr Jonathon Cohen, medical director of Travel Clinics Australia. Poor hygiene in eateries and a change of bugs going into your stomach are to blame. If you're in a country where you don't trust the food or water, the secret is to eat or drink it only if it has been boiled, cooked, bottled or peeled.

"Using a daily dose of a high quality acidophilus supplement while on holiday is also a great preventative treatment", says Sharon Baker of the Wholistic Medical Centre in Sydney.

Her views are shared by two doctors who are well informed in the art of traveling in good health : Dr Robert Rountree, a frequent traveler and director of Boulder Wellcare of Boulder, Colorado and Dr Mark Wise, author of "The Travel Doctor: Your Guide to Staying Healthy While You Travel".

Dr Rountree says you should start buttressing your immune system during the countdown to your trip. His main focus is improving the gastrointestinal system. Having a healthy GI tract frees up your body's resources to fight other potential problems, especially respiratory bugs. Furthermore, if you are traveling overseas, you'll have to deal with bacteria that your body is not used to.

To keep your GI system healthy, Dr Rountree recommends starting on a probiotic, containing healthy bacteria, several weeks before you travel. He suggests you take one a day starting several weeks before you leave and continue with it for the duration of your travels. For this reason, you should look for one that doesn't require refrigeration.

To keep you regular, a daily intake of oat bran, psillium husks or other high fiber carbohydrates is suggested. For minor stomach upsets, I always take with me some ginger tablets. Ginger is a great stomach soother and is excellent for problems ranging from indigestion to relief from nausea, fever and seasickness.
A brand I have found to be particularly effective is "Travel Calm Ginger".

BOOSTING YOUR ENERGY.

Dr Rountree advises travelers to get lots of antioxidants, natural viral disease fighters that help protect your immune system from potentially damaging free radicals. There are many available, but the two I take with me on my travels are also great energy boosters.

COENZYME Q10 is a powerful antioxidant present in all body cells and helps with the production of energy. It is an important for fuelling organs such as your liver and heart and is sometimes called your body's "spark plug". Both organs will be kept busy during your travels, so it is important to protect them.

KOREAN {PANAX} GINSENG is noted for improving stamina and is popular with those involved with endurance sports because of its anti fatigue effect. It is called an adaptogenic herb, as it enables the body to create more energy and vitality during the day and promotes relaxation at night. It has a tonic effect on the body and is popular in Asia primarily because of its fame for extending lifespan. It also increases resistance to stress and disease.