NATURAL REMEDIES: ARNICA OIL for Aches and Pains 🌸

 

 So many times when I travel I have days when I am on my feet ALL DAY! There are the days spent outdoors hiking, swimming in the ocean, or maybe cycling to a great picnic spot, but there are also just those days when you are walking around enjoying a new town, shopping, having lunch, catching subways, or even a day at a museum when your 10,000 steps a day can easily turn into 15,000-20,000 steps a day! That recently happened to me on our trip to Hawaii in March, when we packed too many things into one day and by the time I got back into our hotel room at the end of the day, I was dead tired. Not only was I exhausted but my legs were achy and actually wobbly. I was grateful we had a kitchen in our room and didn’t have to venture out to dinner after such a tiring day. To get my aches and pains under control I did two things. First, I took a very warm bath with 2 cups of Epsom Salts and soaked for about 15 mintues. I know I have mentioned several times how great an Epsom Salt Bath is. It is a wonderful detox as well as the best thing to sooth tired and achy muscles, any time, anywhere. When I got out of the bath I felt much more relaxed but my legs and feet were still a bit achy and I knew I needed some ARNICA.  ARNICA is a little miracle in a tube, tablet or bottle. Many of you may know it as a wonderful remedy for bruises, but it is also amazing for achy muscles. I found some beautiful ARNICA OIL by WELEDA at our local Co-op, and thought I'd give it a try. I poured about a teaspoon in my hands and rubbed it into my legs and feet. It smelled so nice and felt great and, honestly, within 10 minutes, my tired, achy legs were back to normal. I couldn’t believe it! When I was in the bath, I thought I might have to take a couple ARNICA homeopathic remedy tablets and then lie down and rest my feet until they felt better, but after I used the ARNICA OIL, my aches were gone! I had no problem cooking dinner and then going for a nice relaxing nighttime stroll on the beach before bed. In future I’m going to include WELEDA ARNICA OIL with all my travel essentials. A must have! 

Arnica cream and gel is great too, especially for bumps and bruises. It is a staple in my "natural" travel first aid kit.. I also carry Arnica homeopathic tablets in my purse, which are especially when my kids get bumps and bruises during an active day out, and they are easy to tuck inside a pocket, purse, or day-pack.

As with all homeopathic remedies, if you are traveling on a plane, ask if you can have your homeopathic items hand-checked and not sent through the x-ray, as this weakens their properties a bit. Personally, in recent years, I haven't had too much luck getting things hand-checked because of heightened airport security, so if you do have to send your beloved remedies through the x-ray more than once or twice, just make sure to increase your dose slightly to make sure you get the full strength necessary for full effectiveness.

ALSO SEE: All Natural and Homeopathic First Aid Kit for Travel

Airlines Dirty Secrets

I guess these aren't secrets anymore! Another article on the scary stuff on an airplane and what to be careful of. I knew about the airline water, blankets,  and bathroom floors but it's always distressing to hear again.

Read this article on Budget Travel:
http://www.budgettravel.com/feature/airlines-dirtiest-secrets,33050/?page=1

An Easy Way to Fit In Exercise While Traveling

I find one of the hardest things to keep up with when I travel is daily exercise. Time changes, jet lag, social events,, and new and unfamiliar locations make it difficult to fit in some exercise. So MY favorite thing to do while traveling is walking. Actually, it’s my favorite exercise at home too. It’s easy on the joints and muscles, needs no equipment except good walking shoes (more on this later), and you can do it anywhere! My new favorite item is my Step Counter or Pedometer and I love the new popular goal of doing 10,000 steps a day. Studies show that walking at least 10,000 steps a day insures you are getting enough activity to get all the great benefits of regular daily exercise. I use my pedometer at home every day and I love to challenge myself to see if I can get at least 10,000 steps a day. I find that on a trip, it is often even easier to reach my 10,000 steps a day goal. Last month when I was in Hawaii, even on the laziest of days I got to at least 12,000 steps. Walking to the beach, walking to restaurants, and even shopping added up ,my steps really quickly.. And that didn’t even count the activity I did in the ocean snorkeling , swimming and paddle boarding. I have to say that Hawaii is an easy vacation to fit in a fair amount of daily exercise, but if you set you mind to it, you can easiy reach that 10,000 step goal every day! ANYWHERE!

Try it at home first before you leave on your trip. My favorite pedometer is the Omron. It is the top seller on Amazon right now, and I love it too! Take a look...

http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HJ-112-Digital-Pocket-Pedometer/dp/B0000U1OCI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398279110&sr=8-1&keywords=omron+pedometer

There are also some books available about the benefits of reaching 10,000 steps a day for good health. I haven’t read these books, but you might want to ❤

http://www.amazon.com/000-Steps-Your-Optimal-Weight/dp/1566252873/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398279197&sr=8-1&keywords=10%2C000+steps

Doctors recommend a minumum of 30 minutes of exercise 5 days a week for optimum health ❤

Too Much Indulgence On Your Vacation? Time To Get Back On Track...

Organic green tea with fresh ginger and freshly squeezed lemon

A Nice Detox Day to Get Back on Track ❤

Yesterday I hosted a (vegetarian!) Spring Tea for 16 guests. It was really lovely but a bit of an over-indulgence for me. I don't drink alcohol very often but I do LOVE nice sparkling wine and champagne, so for my Spring Afternoon Tea I served mimosa's, my favorite cocktail. Although I did all the right things: 1) I used my favorite LOCAL sparkling wine (I live near Napa Valley!) and organic orange juice, 2) I drank a large glass of filtered still water between mimosas and 3) I spread out drinking them over several hours, I still went to bed not feeling as healthy and, well,  "clean" as I usually do. I also partook in a few cookies and chocolates throughout the late afternoon, and then had quite a late dinner. All these things added up to a general feeling of blahhhh for me. I don't indulge too often, but love to entertain, and, of course, sometimes just have some fun and try new things, and I realize that this happens most often when I travel. Although yesterday I hosted this Tea at my home, I had guests from as far away as France attending, and realized that when you travel there are times you throw caution (and healthy habits!) to the wind and just have a good time. So when I woke up today, I knew I needed a little detox day! I'm not a great believer in a fasting detox, and know that they aren't easily done when traveling, but I usually do a few things after an indulgence that really help me get back on track. 

On normal "non-detox" days, I start my day with a green tea latte I make fresh with Almond Milk, but this morning I brewed my organic green tea plain and left out the milk. Instead I added a few slices of fresh ginger and squeezed in a half of a fresh organic lemon. Perfect start to the day. For travel, I always brings my own organic green tea, but the fresh lemon and ginger might be harder to find on the go. If you think you may be needing a little detox here and there while traveling and don't have access to some fresh food, bring along some green tea and ginger tea and brew them together. Lemons can usually be found fairly easy in shops, and fresh is preferred over the lemon juice concentrates available at markets, which usually contain undesirable additives.

For breakfast, I had a big bowl of berries! Fresh organic strawberries, blueberries and blackberries! Perfect!

My favorite detox soup always starts with a miso base.

FOR LUNCH I was actually hungry, which is always a good sign for me the day after an indulgence, so I decided to make a light healthy soup. My soup stared with a fresh miso soup base and I added some sliced daikon radish, carrots, sliced ginger, shitake mushrooms, and some brown rice noodles. YUM! I also added some calcium and omega-3 rich nori on top. The perfect light meal. 

Daikon radish, shitake mushrooms, and ginger
are the perfect additions to a detox soup.

If you do not have access to a kitchen when you travel, most of these ingredients are readily available at most Japanese Restaurants. 

I will drink my detox green tea throughout the day, go for a walk in the sunshine (must get those 10,000 steps in!), take a nap, and end with a light meal tonight.  My final farewell to my overindulgent day, will be a soothing detox bath before bed. 

2 cups of epsom salts added to a warm bath is one of my favorite detoxes. Dr. Oz recommends adding some Baking Soda as well if you prefer. Hmmmmm. So good....

This is a great regime to follow to get yourself back on track after a little indulgence and if not possible to do while you are away, is easy to do when you return home after a stressful and perhaps, overindulgent, trip.

Finally, a good night's sleep, and tomorrow I will be back on track, although thinking fondly of those mimosas....❤

VegNews Article Has Some Great Advice for Healthy Travel

VegNews is a great magazine. It is geared towards those who are vegan but is actually really wonderful for anyone who is interested in a healthy lifestyle, and they often have great articles on travel.

Although this article doesn't have any new ideas, they do mention some products that I would really like to try, namely, GREENS ON THE GO POWDER and HEALTHY BELLY PROBIOTICS. Both sound like they could be great additions to Healthy Travel.

http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=4794&catId=4

Where Are The Most Germs Lurking?

Ask to leave the lemon out!

        

Here is a great article that mentions some of the germiest PUBLIC places and things to avoid when traveling.  I'm not surprised about the Airplane Bathrooms AND I have always looked suspiciously at that lemon wedge floating in my water glass at a restaurant. Now we know!!!

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/germiest-public-places/story?id=19439413#.Ucdfhq49PEd

Eating out: ENGLAND

WAGAMAMA: The best chain restaurant for vegans, vegetarians and healthy fare

Wagamama is (thankfully!) a chain restaurant that pops up all over England (and Europe!). It is based on a Japanese Noodle Bar and has reliable good, clean fresh noodle and rice dishes as well as great starters and side dishes.

Our favorite starter is the Yasai Gyosa which are yummy vegan vegetable dumplings. Other favorite starters are edamame and Goma Wakame Salad, which has carrots, onions and seaweed for a unique flavor. They have a lovely choice of Ramen, Donburi, Teppanyaki (fried noodle dishes) and Curry dishes, several are vegetarian or you can order any dish with tofu instead of meat.

May favorite main meal is the Saien Soba, which has yummy asparagus, leeks, mushrooms, tofu and more- mixed with nice soba noodles and light broth. Yum!

Seating in many of the Wagamama's is "group" seating where everyone sits together on long tables. The restaurants are all usually busy places,  so it is best to go early or later than usually eating times.

Please read my review on TRIP ADVISOR for Wagamama in York, England. (Note my reviewer name on TRIP ADVISOR is HealthyGyspyTraveler -only one "l" in traveler):


http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g186346-d2453288-r160917146-Wagamama-York_North_Yorkshire_England.html