Don't Leave Home Without It! The Must-Haves in My Travel Bag

   "Just because I'm traveling doesn't mean I have to eat junk and stop exercising."

         -The Healthy Librarian-

On the road again!  Whether I'm traveling for business or pleasure, for a weekend or a week I've got about 10 must haves in my travel bag. Especially if I'm going to be stuck in a hotel room and not have access to a kitchen.  In no particular order, here's  what goes in my bag.

1. My IPOD Nano.  The best $138 purchase I ever made.  Got it at Costco.  I may be the only person I know who has no music on her IPOD, but this little gizmo keeps me well-informed, educated, entertained and enlightened.  I load it up with my favorite podcasts, and listen to all my NPR favorites on my time.  Before my Nano, it was only catch-as-catch-can to hear Diane Rehm, This American Life, or Science Friday, and forget about Krista Tippett's thought-provoking Sunday morning show, Speaking of Faith.  No way am I listening to the radio at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning! And then there are all the amazing books that I never had time to read.  I download one a month through Audible.com.  Right now I'm listening to The Book Thief (fiction) and Three Cups of Tea  (non-fiction).  With my loaded Nano, I'm set for car or plane travel.  I even have a walking and exercise companion, and who cares if there's a plane delay! The variety of podcasts available for free is beyond anything you can imagine, including lectures from Stanford University and Harvard Business School.

 

2. Dr. McDougall's Breakfast Cups.  If I don't want to fuss at all, and I want a fast, delicious, non-dairy, organic, high fiber, nutritious breakfast, this is where I turn.  Every hotel room has either a coffee maker to boil water, or you can get some boiling water at the hotel restaurant.  They come in these flavors: Cranberry Muesli (made with organic grains), Organic Maple 4 Grain with Real Maple, Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, and Peach Raspberry Oatmeal and Barley.  Just add hot water to the fill line & there you go.  Each cup says it contains two servings, but that's ridiculous.  They only say that so dieters won't freak out that the calorie count for a full healthy filling cup comes to 260-320 calories.  They must think 130 calories sounds better.  You'll get about 8 grams of fiber and 10 grams of protein.

 

3. Flax Meal or Ground Flax Seed.  I never travel without a ziploc bag of this stuff.  Not only is it a great portable source of omega-3's and healthy cancer curbing lignans, it has soluble and insoluble fiber.  I just add 2 tablespoons to my cereal, or mash it into nut butter spread on top of toast, or sprinkle it on a salad. It will keep you regular, and everyone knows that travel can be your worst enemy in "that department".  I've shared this stuff with very grateful fellow travelers at a medical mission in Honduras and at a meditation retreat in New York. 

 

4. Running shoes & exercise clothes.  Pretty obvious!  But still, no matter where I'm going there will be someplace to work-out, or at least to walk.  Having comfortable shoes, a sports bra & work-out pants or shorts will get me on the treadmill if there's a gym, or allow me to power-walk, not just stroll, if I'm outside.

 

5. My Polar F6 Heart Rate Monitor.  Before you scoff & think I've gone off the deep end with this, hear me out.  This is one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten and I wouldn't travel without it.  A heart rate monitor is one of the best exercise motivators around.  I helps you stay in the right heart rate zone for you- it keeps you honest - and it keeps track of how long you've exercised, how many calories you've burned, and how many times you exercise during the week.  You'll see how hard you really are working because your heart rate will be staring you in the face.  For years I've worked out without a monitor, and now that I have one, there's no going back.  Besides, it will keep you from working out too hard if it's humid or you're tired.  When your heart rate starts flashing you're working too hard, and you can slow it down!  Even Dr. Roizen, the wellness guru recommends this as a "must-have".

 

6. My favorite vitamins & supplements.  I've really grown to believe in the "whole food" over the vitamin/supplement model, but I still have a few favorites that I always travel with.  Using a trick I learned from my dear friend Babs, I divide each day's vitamins into a separate ziploc bag, so I'm not fishing around in one bag for what I want each day.  Oh, I guess I could use one of those daily pill cases, but they're so darn tiny.  My must haves are:  Vitamin D (1000 IUs); magnesium citrate (200 mg. 1 in a.m., 1 in p.m.); Citracal with D (calcium); a Centrum Silver multivitamin that I take alternately with a B-50 complex ; Omega Brite (pharmaceutical grade omega-3s). For "Why Vitamin D is My Favorite" click Here!

 

7. Zicam and my Sinucleanse Neti pot. This is my insurance policy just in case I start to feel the sniffles coming on.  Nothing will ruin a trip more than getting a cold. I don't know about you, but travel can be stressful for me.  All that rushing around getting ready, and I never sleep well the night before I have to leave on a trip, especially when I have to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the airport on time.  Nothing makes you more vulnerable to a cold than stress and flying on an airplane.  Zicam & my neti are my security blanket.  And they don't sell them in Honduras, that's for sure. For more on why I use Zicam & Sinucleanse click Here!

 

8. Larabars .  By far one of the healthiest pre-packaged snacks around.  It's billed as "The Original Fruit & Nut Food Bar".  It's vegan, it's kosher, it's gluten free, it's raw, it's unprocessed, need I go on?  Right now I'm looking at Cashew Cookie (just cashews & dates); Cherry Pie (just dates, almonds & unsweetened cherries); and Apple Pie (just dates, almonds, unsweetened apples, walnuts, raisins & cinnamon).  Calorie count ranges from 180-210; protein count from 4-6 grams; with 3-4 grams of fiber.  Whole food, just fruit  & nuts & it will kill the munchies until you can really eat.

 

9. Dry roasted almonds.  Another portable snack to have on hand, just in case.

 

10. A half cup of almond butter & 4 slices of Ezekiel bread/or Rye Crisp Crackers.  Just in case you need a quick breakfast, lunch or snack. The almond butter stores easily in a Glad Ware mini-round container.  Almond butter on Ezekiel bread, sprinkled with flax meal is a great breakfast.  My husband takes almond or peanut butter & La Tortilla Factory whole wheat tortillas when he backpacks.  They don't need refrigeration and they pack a protein & fiber punch.