Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Laid Low By Travel

I know this may come as a surprise to you, but I caught one of the various plagues running around now. After a high stress week where my diet was crap, I was lucky enough to spend 6 wonderful hours in an airport waiting for a delayed flight. The airport is particularly busy as it is in a city know for its child oriented tourist attractions. It was a little “Goofy” there.

That, my friends, is a recipe for disaster for your immune system. Stress, poor diet, poor sleep, no activity to speak of, no sun as I was inside from 7:00 am to past 9:00 pm everyday, then exposed to a bazillion noisy plague bombs all happy to be leaving Mouseland. None of those facts alone are very rare or harmful by themselves. It really is the combination of all of them that set me up. Now, ideally your healthy immune system is up to the challenge. But this is really more about playing the odds. This was my seventh trip through Orlando, eventually the odds of rolling craps is against you.

Gosh, oh Vita-Guru, what ever can we do to avoid such a disaster?

I am glad you ask. The first rule, which I broke, is take your Foundation 4 supplements. Yep, multivitamin, omega 3, vitamin D, and probiotic. For numerous bad reasons I chose to not bother with them this time. These are your body's key backups under times of stress. Not taking them was like not using your starting offensive line in football. Ya, the other guys are pros but not your best.

Next, shore up your immune system against the oncoming assault. I like Emergen-C products for that. They are easy to use powders that taste good. They provide a healthy dose of vitamin C plus a complement of B vitamins and electrolyte minerals. This is a nice little gift to immune system that is about to need the extra help.

The third suggestion is for that extra stress you are under. Look to the adaptogens like gingseng, rhodiola rosea, or ashwaganda. All of which help the body deal with stress and maintain healthy energy levels. Under extreme stress? Pull out the big gun, holy basil, which helps with mood as well.

But, Vita-Guru, if you are so smart why didn't you do these things?

You can stop asking questions now. What it comes down to is after 6 years of no issue traveling, I got lazy and let myself go with out prep. Like leaving for work without your phone and wallet. We all do it, but usually when we do we don't get a flat tire on the way.

VG

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