Travel, Digestion + Immunity
The body needs vitamins, minerals, calories, and proteins for all its parts to work properly, including the immune system. Without these, function of immune system becomes less effective, thereby increasing your risk of becoming sick.
A huge portion of the immune system is in the GI tract, and the source of these necessary nutrients is from food and is absorbed by our digestive tract, so nutrition and digestive health play a crucial role in immune health.
Traveling can be rough on digestion. Routines are thrown out the window and being on holidays is a great excuse to make exceptions to good dietary habits.
Then consider the food provided on airplanes and trains. It tends to be extremely processed and lacking in nutrients. The ingredients are poorly sourced, riddled with toxins such as pesticides, and the meal is full of questionable ingredients such as preservatives; all are damaging to the bacterial flora in the gut and can cause inflammation, thereby reducing the digestive tracts ability to breakdown food and extract nutrients, and negatively impacts its ability to act as a barrier against pathogens that may cause infection.
Plus the act of traveling takes a toll. Being seated for long periods of time, stress, and lack of sleep. These factors can cause poor digestion by reducing motility and production of enzymes necessary for the breakdown of food and absorption of nutrients.
With all these factors in mind, the digestive tract has a lot working against it, let alone provide what is necessary for an optimal immune system.
That being said, a little bit of preparation and planning goes a long way! Bring your own meals and snacks, get up and move around if you are traveling for long periods of time, and get a good nights sleep when you arrive at your destination.
Supplementation can be used in addition to ensure you are topped up on immune supportive nutrients. I'll talk about those in the next post.
Want more individualized advice? If you are located in Toronto, feel free to book a naturopathic intial consultation with me.
Best,
Dr. Cristina Allen ND