It’s one thing to keep up with healthy habits when you’re at home. But how on earth are you supposed to balance your hormones, keep your blood sugar levels at bay and maintain a healthy weight while you’re travelling?

It might seem like an impossible feat. But I’m here to tell you that’s not the case. In fact, not only do I have clients who travel for work who hit their health goals, but I actually went travelling mid-year – and despite being squeezed into a caravan with the family, I kept up my healthy habits!

So with that in mind, it’s time for me to share my top tips for how you can keep balanced, calm and in control while travelling.

A perimenopause naturopath’s top travelling tips

Keep it simple

This is my first tip for good reason. Rather than getting caught up in what you can’t control, focus on what you can do based on what’s available to you. Make sure you keep this in mind for all of the upcoming suggestions and ideas!

Stick to the basics

I know what works for me in terms of nutrition. So I make sure that I stick to those key steps when it comes to travel. They include:

• Prioritising protein at every meal
• Sticking to 3 meals a day, without snacking
• Drinking plenty of water (filtered is ideal, but not always accessible on the road)
• Eat an apple a day
• Making sure that coffee, alcohol and sweet treats come after food, not before!

And of course, since I’m Coeliac, I also eat a strictly gluten-free diet.

Keeping to these guidelines help me to feel energised, balanced and calm – yes, even in a caravan with multiple children! If I were to sum it up into one equation, it would be:

Colourful plant foods + protein + fibre + phytoestrogens + healthy fats = the key to eating well in perimenopause!

Moderate your caffeine and alcohol intake

This is true for both home and away for me. While I love a coffee, too much caffeine can send your nervous system haywire. And alcohol is a burden on the liver, which means it has less capacity for processing things like pesky excess hormones (looking at you, oestrogen!)

When you do have caffeine or alcohol, make sure it’s after you’ve eaten a good meal. The same goes for sweet treats – your blood sugar will thank you!

When in doubt, there are always quick healthy options!

What about those times where you realise you have nothing to eat? Rather than reaching for UberEats, use the healthier quick options available to you.

For example, I often recommend picking up a bag of salad, a ripe avo, and apple, and your choice of quick protein:

• BBQ chook (not great for those who are GF, unfortunately!)
• Good quality ham, prosciutto or smoked salmon
• Tinned salmon
• Goat or sheep’s cheese

Just like that, you have a balanced, nourishing quick meal that is yummy AND supports your health goals!

So what do you actually eat, Sarah?

Great question! Obviously my nutrition options are tailored to my Metabolic Balance personalised nutrition plan. But even so these ideas can still help you see how you can nourish yourself even while travelling.

Breakfast:

• Sheep’s yoghurt, fruit and ground flaxseeds
• Almond butter on toast with ghee, grated carrot and apple, sunflower seeds and cinnamon (sounds strange, but I promise it’s delish!)

Lunch:

• Whipped goat’s cheese, avo and GF lavosh crackers
• Protein of choice (egg, ham, turkey, chicken or pulses) with veggies in a wrap
• Protein and veggies as a salad with a high-quality mayo – ditch canola oil for olive oil or avocado oil-based mayo!

Dinner:

• Chilli con carne
• Butter chicken
• Curries
• Nachos/tacos
• BBQ

All of the dinner options are protein-rich foods prioritised, veggies and potentially a carb like potato, rice or pasta (depending on what I ate at lunch, as most of my carbs are veg-based!)

Think that you can’t work towards your health goals while travelling?

This is simply not true. I have many clients who travel for work, and they do just fine on their personalised nutrition plans.

Why? Because we're working with guiding principles and meal suggestions, rather than a specific meal plan. You’ll never be told you must make baked salmon + veg stir fry for dinner on Thursday night. Because if you don't have that handy or you forget to pick up ingredients, you end up feeling lost and confused about what the heck you should eat.

When I work with clients, they are given a framework of which foods work best for them, the portions that are right for them, and when it’s best to eat them. As the saying goes, if you give a person a fish, they eat for a day – but if you teach them to fish, they eat for a lifetime!

If you’re looking for an approach to nutrition that is tailored to your body, lifestyle and goals that is adaptable and tastes great? I’m here to help! To get started, book in for a free Clarity Call today.