Staying Raw When You Travel

Making healthy choices when you travel should be both easy and enticing. Staying raw when you travel may seem to be a bit more difficult, but it shouldn't be so.

Room service

I travel a lot and managed to develop very successful strategies over the years. You may have your own ways to stay raw on the road, but if you abhor traveling because it makes your life too complicated you may want consider following a few simple steps that will make any trip less stressful.

If you travel by air remember to order a special meal. Most carriers offer fruit platters on their long haul flights. Some may even accommodate you and prepare a salad or a raw vegetable plate. To avoid disappointment you may have to prepare a salad at home and take it with you. Pack some raw nuts, raw food energy bars, raw chocolate, dried apricots, carrot and celery sticks, bell pepper, apples and some other fruits that do not spoil. If you do not have the means to prepare your own food for your flight or are in transit, consider eating at the airport. Most airports have restaurants, salad bars and juice corners. You can have a nutritious raw food meal before you board the plane or take something raw on board. If you travel overseas keep in mind that you may not be permitted to "import" any food items and you will have to eat your raw goodies on the plane, before your arrival at a destination.

Things are a bit easier when you travel long distances by car. Simply take a cooler and fill it with raw goodies of your choice. Make a salad or a smoothie and pack it safely for the trip.Your cooler should be able to keep your food fresh for a few hours. Study your road map before the trip. Check if there is a place you can stop to have a freshly prepared lunch. You may have to travel a few miles off the road to find a farmers' market or a health food store, but such a diversion pays in gold. Think ahead. Buy something you can take with you if you doubt that your hotel offers any raw food alternatives at the time of your arrival. They may have juices and salads during the day, but if you arrive late at night the only item on the room service menu may be a club sandwich.

Farmers' market

Most hotels recognize nutritional needs of their guests. They offer a variety of healthy choices, but raw food as such is not always advertised. Be menue-wise and choose items that are definitely raw. Ask the waiter or the room service if they are able to prepare a  raw salad or a fresh juice. Order a fruit basket to your room. The better the hotel the easier it will be for you to satisfy your needs. Make your room reservation accordingly. However, if your company makes the reservation for you and you have no say about it, you have to be a little more industrious upon arrival. If you do not find anything on the menu you will have to explore other options. Ask concierge for a restaurant that may be serving raw food. Look for Greek,  Italian or Lebanese. They always serve salads and raw vegetarian appetizers. Find the nearest juice bar, health food store, supermarket or a farmers' market. You may have to buy fruits and raw nuts to sustain yourself during your stay.

In some countries eating raw food is not advised. When you travel to countries such as China, India, Egypt, or Sub-Saharan Africa you may have to eat foods that are cooked - partly because there is no tradition of eating food in its raw state, partly because of the hygiene standards. But everywhere you go you will be able to find wonderful fruits. Eating fruits only for a few days is not a bad idea.

If your diet consists mostly of raw foods you may not be able to digest food that is cooked. Take digestive enzymes with you whenever you travel and go on a 3-days juice detox when you come back from your trip. This will help you restore the pH equilibrium in your body.

Keep an open mind and be ready to compromise when you travel. But, most importantly, remember that if your lifestyle prevents you from living freely, there must be something wrong with the lifestyle you have chosen.

In radiant health - passionately raw - Dominique

By Dominique Allmon ©2013

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Staying Raw When You Travel by Dominique Allmon is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.