Summer holidays were made for sunshine, great food, and relaxing on a well-deserved break. The last thing you want to worry about is an upset stomach when you should be lounging on a sunbed with a cocktail in hand!
Read on to discover how to stay healthy on holiday by looking after your gut health.
How Travelling Affects Our Bodies
Travelling to exotic destinations can be, and should be, an amazing experience, but this generally also results in having a huge shift in our usual daily routine. Even on short haul breaks, our bodies experience...
🏖️ New & exotic foods
🏖️ Long travel times
🏖️ Different time zones
🏖️ Different sleep patterns
🏖️ Different water
🏖️ Usually a hotter climate
Unfortunately, these can all have an impact on our health, and the digestive system generally takes the hit.
🍹 We usually drink more alcohol while on holiday, which can also have an impact on the digestive system and reduce the number of good bacteria in our gut.
🍦 Consuming more processed foods, sugary treats and fatty foods can also reduce our levels of good bacteria. Maybe rethink that fourth ice cream by the pool?
These changes to our routine increases the likelihood of contracting Travellers’ diarrhoea (TD), bloating, and constipation – not something you should have to worry about when on holiday!
How Can Probiotics Help?
Studies have found that probiotics can be effective in preventing TD (1,2).
A great way to help give you peace of mind is to take a good quality probiotic to help support the digestive system when travelling abroad.
Probiotics contain friendly bacteria that are naturally produced in the gut. The friendly bacteria act as a protective barrier to support the digestive system and provide support to the immune system.
A combination of probiotics and prebiotics can help digest food into nutrients and support the gut microbes to produce neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine - aka our happy and feel-good hormones.
PRObiotics Need PREbiotics To Work – Simple!
pHKind Gut Health contains a unique blend of friendly bacteria and prebiotics to encourage growth of healthy bacteria.
Inulin provides prebiotics to feed the probiotics and increase the number of friendly bacteria. Prebiotics such as Inulin provide long term benefit to the gastrointestinal tract.
Psyllium Husk provides added fibre to improve digestion and reduce bloating. This blend of ingredients helps to replenish the gut flora and sooth the gastrointestinal tract and can help to ease symptoms of heartburn.
When Is The Best Time To Take Probiotics?
☀️ Probiotics should ideally be taken one week before travel, throughout the holiday and continue for a week on return, although is generally beneficial to continue taking regularly to support digestive and immune health.
References:
1. Prophylactic efficacy of probiotics on travelers’ diarrhea: an adaptive meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - PMC (nih.gov)
2. Meta-analysis of probiotics for the prevention of traveler's diarrhea - PubMed (nih.gov)
