How to Stay Raw and Healthy while Traveling

(NaturalNews) Whether you are traveling for work or leisure—planning and preparation is key! You've discovered that the raw food diet and lifestyle definitely allows you to feel your best. Now you need to maintain that level of energy as best you can while traveling and enjoying life in another city. It can be easy to fall into bad eating habits while away from home, so you need to make your raw lifestyle and personal health a priority when you're away from the comforts of your home kitchen. Bringing along dried, portable foods and supplements, as well as some fresh foods can be the difference between staying raw and completely falling off the wagon and experiencing a wave of regret. Planning ahead, doing some Internet research before you leave, and getting to know the local natural food stores will help you enjoy the healthiest trip of your life.

A couple of days before you leave, start thinking about what raw snacks, superfoods, and supplements you'd really love to have with you. Portion-divide any snacks or superfoods into small plastic baggies, and keep them in a larger zipped bag (for example: handful of almonds, goji berries, pumpkin seeds, dried figs, etc). Packing at least one raw food snack bar for each day you'll be away can be very helpful as well. Other handy (and super-nutritious) travel snacks could be sea vegetables (such as whole leaf dulse), bee pollen, and an old vitamin jar full of superfood powders (green powder, maca, a little stevia for sweetness). Make sure to bring a glass jar with a screw top lid to make shaking up the green powders in water a lot easier and cleaner. If you use a high-quality sea salt or rock salt on your food, or in your water, be sure to bring your own shaker bottle or put some in a small baggie, otherwise you'll be using bleached, iodized salt. All this, believe it or not, will fit in a large plastic zipper bag.

If you take multivitamins and other supplements, bring those too. Most of us will need this kind of nutritional support the most while traveling because we may not have access to all the foods we're used to. The tin cases mints come in are perfect for toting around vitamins, enzymes, and other supplements.

A couple more things you may want to pack: a thin plastic cutting board, silverware (including a butterknife or something similar—packed in your checked in luggage, please), and some herbal laxatives--a change in diet plus travel makes for constipation—you'll thank me!

You're almost set. If you're staying in a hotel, be sure to ask if there will be a refrigerator in your room. There is usually no charge for one, especially if you say you have a special diet. If you're staying at a friend's place, let them know about your diet and ask them if they don't mind you having a special area in their fridge for your foods. If you're going to be in a car for a while, maybe think about bringing a small cooler. The bottom line is, you'll want to keep your salad greens, vegetables, and fruit cool so they don't go bad.

Also, before you leave, be sure to spend some time online checking out all the raw vegan, vegan, vegetarian, and/or organic restaurants near you. Write down the addresses and phone numbers before you leave. Find out where the nearest natural food store is and see if there are any farmers markets in town. These should be some of the first stops you make when you reach your destination. Natural food stores will be essential in supplying your greens, organics, and other fun snacks you'd like. Many times you can find a raw food section with prepared gourmet raw entrees as well!

Here are some great websites that will help you:

• http://rawfoodrestaurantguide.com/blog/(Enter your email on the website and the guide link will be emailed to you. )
• www.sunfoodtraveler.com
• www.HappyCow.net(lists all vegetarian, vegan, and raw food restaurants)

The key is to not feel nutritionally deprived at any point during your trip. The people you will be traveling with may have to make an extra stop just for you, but as long as you have what you need, you can hang out with them from that point on.

Some people wonder if raw foodists travel with their high- powered blender or favorite mini-blender. Most don't. But theyaremore willing to carry the weight in their bags if they are traveling for more than a week and a half. Green smoothies in the morning are just too good for them to go without for that long. Also, with a high-powered blender, they can also make fresh vegetable juice using a nut milk bag. It's up to you to decide if the length and kind of trip would be appropriate for a blender. For trips of only a week or less, organic fruit and maybe some nuts and seeds in the morning might be perfect.

It also might be a very good idea to make a salad for the plane flight, or long car ride, too. This is for several reasons:

1. You might have plenty of greens, veggies, and ripe avocados in your fridge that will go bad while your gone, so why not use them?
2. You might like to get one last awesome meal in before switching to more dried foods and possibly non-organic meals.
3. You might like saving money on meals and snacks.
4. You will need a couple of reusable plastic containers for salads you'll make in your destination city anyway, so why not start using them now?

Now you're really set! You have most of the non-fresh foods on you or in your luggage and you'll be buying your organic fruit, greens, salad veggies, and avocado (great to use for dressing) when you get there. Sure your bag might be a little heavier than your friends, but you'll most likely eat it all up by the end of your trip. And you'll be happier that you took the highest possible care of yourself and your diet. Enjoy your travels, stay raw, and have the best time ever!

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