WELLTHY Generation Podcast!

87. Travel Prep to see BenitošŸ° In PR: Don't Torture Yourself Before Vacation

ā€¢ Naihomy Jerez ā€¢ Episode 87

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We explore how to maintain wellness while traveling, focusing on preparation strategies for staying healthy and feeling good throughout your trip instead of torturing yourself with last-minute crash diets.

ā€¢ Building a wellness foundation by understanding your body's needs before travel
ā€¢ Packing protein-rich snacks like jerky, protein bars, and nuts for travel days
ā€¢ Taking a small cooler with perishables like cheese sticks, yogurt, and fruit
ā€¢ Bringing an empty water bottle and electrolytes to stay hydrated during flights
ā€¢ Packing workout clothes, resistance bands, and a jump rope for optional movement
ā€¢ Using pill organizers to maintain supplement routines without extra bulk
ā€¢ Bringing basic medications for emergencies while focusing on prevention
ā€¢ Making mindful choices that allow you to enjoy your trip without feeling terrible
ā€¢ Recognizing that your body still needs hydration, nutrition, rest, and movement

Tune in next time for the second part of this travel series where I'll share what to do once you've reached your destination to maintain your wellness routine while still having fun and enjoying your trip.

Thank you so much for listening!


Speaker 1:

hey, friends, welcome back to wealthy generation podcast. Do y'all know where we're going today? Hey, hey, hey, all right, all right, let's get into it. Welcome back to Wealthy Generation Podcast. I know I've been away for a few weeks gathering my life, but guess what's coming up? And that is the Bad Bunny concert in Puerto Rico.

Speaker 1:

So I decided to hop back on and record a little something for you, because I know how tough it can be to travel and keep your wellness together. To travel and keep your wellness together. I think that usually when we're going on vacation, is this all or nothing? You work so hard for a certain period of time, for a certain goal, whether it's vacation or a wedding or something like that and then you kind of fall off track on vacation and then you come back home and it's really hard to get back on your routine. And I know that when I was a wellness newbie, back back back in the day, that was a part that I struggled with so much and it happened like in my first two years of just trying to live my life rooted in wellness, which I didn't even know that's what I was creating and doing at the time. All I know is that I loved how I felt.

Speaker 1:

This was way back in 2017, 2018. I just loved how I felt I had gotten the results I wanted, which was losing weight. After having a baby, I had lost 50 pounds without planning on it. It just happened because of the lifestyle changes I was making, the food choices I was making, the consistency with exercising and all that. And I remember I went on vacation to the DR for 10 days and I just could not get it together again and I knew what I had to do. I knew what I had been doing. I had been tracking my food for a year and I went back to my nutritionist and I was like, hey, I'm having such a hard time just coming back to what I was doing before and I was like I need to continue with your support because I'm just having a hard time reintegrating. And she was like, yeah, that happens, like she was very validating around that. So I want to take this time I'm sure you are out here going on vacation, staying in a staycation which is also great doing road trips, visiting family, and maybe you're going to the Bad Bunny Residency in Puerto Rico, as I am and I just want to share how or what I do what I do before a trip and what I do during a trip, and I think this is going to be a two-part episode where, on this one, I'm going to talk about what I do before the trip and what I pack, and then in the next recording, I'm going to talk about what it looks like when I'm actually in the location and I haven't gone yet. I'm not there, I'm still in New York.

Speaker 1:

However, I've gone on many, many, many trips since I started my wellness journey eight to nine years ago, everything from like months at a time at the Dominican Republic or short work trips to places like Las Vegas and LA, to week long road trips. I've just been like going to Disney at one point, not only like by myself or with a partner, with my partner but also like um, as a family right, like when everybody's there and everybody's looking, and I think that there's tips for all sorts of circumstances, but I want to really support you in this season, this summer, and what it might look like. So I'm using my trip to this concert as an example, because I feel like it might be one of those circumstances where you really want to look good in your clothes. You really want to feel good in your clothes. You have a very um, important or like events that you're excited to go to, you have plans, there's activities happening going on and you don't want to miss out. So here we go. I want to share these tips with you of what I'm doing and hopefully it will help you.

Speaker 1:

And it's not just what I'm doing is also like what I support my clients with consistently. I've had clients who wanted to get ready for their own wedding. They were doing a cross country trip, you know, from West coast to East coast. Clients who were afraid of going on vacation had avoided vacation because their health was so inconsistent and so unpredictable that they were afraid they would get so sick while they were away. And they didn't want to be that friend who everybody had to cater to or slow down for because they were not feeling well, especially in another country. I've had clients who have had to travel for work multiple times a year to Europe and they were also very nervous because every single time they went on these work trips they got really sick. And they were like Naomi, I always like get sick over there, it's very cold, or I get sick when I come home and I'm out for another week and it's really difficult. I've had clients who were running work trips, right Like where they were on set for a couple of days and they were the one running things and they had to be there early and they also had to entertain at night.

Speaker 1:

So one of the foundations that I support my clients with when it comes to the health and wellness is building a wealth of knowledge and a toolbox of resources and strategies that they can use when they are out of their typical routine, typical routine. And as women who either have jobs where they need to travel and they're the boss, if they're stay-at-home moms and they're responsible for their little ones, if they are caretakers of aging parents, if they're aunties taking care of nephews, we all have a lot of responsibilities on us and sometimes we don't realize how well we have to take care of ourselves in order for us to show up in the way that we want to, and that also includes showing up for ourselves, showing up for ourselves when we want to treat ourselves, to do something fun and exciting. So when I'm supporting my clients and they're traveling for all of these kinds of circumstances, I want them like the way that we build things is, in a way, so they are aware of their body, aware of their tools that are with them and what is available to them in those places, what they can control ahead of time and what they can do to help themselves still feel good and show up at whatever capacity they need to for that trip. Cool, so let's get moving, because I want to keep these things short. Actually, full disclosure I have a meeting with my therapist in a little while, so I want to wrap this up for you before I meet her. Isn't this podcast fun? It's literally like I'm talking to my best friend. I'm like yo, let's go through this so that I need to get to therapy. Anyway, let's go through this so that I need to get to therapy.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, I'm going to start off by telling you what I don't do when I'm getting ready for a trip, especially something like this, where it's like clothes is minimal if you choose to, because you're going to a Caribbean island, right, and you want to be cute in your bathing suit and in your shorts and in your summer dress or whatever it is, and then, like a few months before, and sometimes a few weeks before, you're like oh shit, I want to look good or I want to feel good, let me try and lose 10 pounds. Let me try and do all these types of craziness to in order to to like have fasting. Let me do this juice detox. Let me do these you know weight loss pills. Let me like not eat. So I'm already getting into it.

Speaker 1:

But what I don't do is torture myself a few weeks before and it kind of let's play ping pong here for a little bit, because I don't do that. But at the same time I do want to feel ready for these trips. So, if you haven't heard me say it before, I want to just stay ready. I don't want to put so much pressure on myself. Like a few months before it's like, oh my gosh, I have to go to the gym five days a week and I have to lift heavy and I have to restrict everything I love to eat, and I have to be freaking miserable for two months for me to then hopefully look a certain way, lose a certain amount of weight when I go on this trip.

Speaker 1:

You feel me. I know you feel me because I've been there too, sis, I have. So, a few weeks before, a few months before, I'm not starving myself to lose weight, I am not doing extra workouts at the gym. You know what you're doing there. You're impacting your immune system and then you're going to be sick AF when your trip comes because your immune system is like WTF, what is going on? Why are you torturing me like this? Your body has no freaking idea what's happening. Your mind does, and you're trying to manipulate your body to look a certain way and to show up for you in a certain way, when you haven't been showing up for it in a very long time.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we want to start thinking of staying ready. So you ain't got to get ready to that extent because, yeah, there's like a few things that I do here and there extras. I'm like let me tighten things up a little bit, right, or let me not make myself bloated, or you know things like that beforehand, but I'm not like pounding at it. So how do I stay ready? And then I'll go into, like the finer details, but I think the bigger picture is so important here. It's so, so important because you want to just start, whether it's now, whether it's next week, whether whenever, when your kids go back to school in September. You want to start Because, essentially, you want to start preparing for whatever future trips you have, let's say a year beforehand.

Speaker 1:

You need to give your body time to adjust. Okay, just slowly. We want to start making change slowly, right? So I would, you know, suggest that you start way before. And guess what? That also takes habit building, that also takes discipline and all of that. And precisely why I support my clients for six months so they can start to understand what that looks like, instead of just torturing yourself and rushing into things when you could have just been in a lot more peace, graceful and loving towards yourself If you would have just stuck to it a few months before. And it doesn't mean that you start everything at once either. It can be you start with your food, you start slow Again. It's not this all or nothing, it's not this zero to a hundred.

Speaker 1:

Again, that year timeframe is to give yourself time. So then, when things pop up, you can just make minor changes or you feel pretty ready. So the way I stay ready is to know myself and to know what my body needs. Right, when you know yourself and you start to build that intimate relationship with yourself, like your digestive system, like what do you need to eat, how do you need to sleep? What are your movement needs? Them like? What do you need to eat? How do you need to sleep? What are your movement needs? Then you are able to much more easily meet your body's needs and communicate your needs to others better as well. You don't need to be that oh whatever. Y'all want friends on the trip, because you're very clear as to how to meet your own needs and you can go ahead and do that on your own or with the friends or your partner who's along with you. But knowing what your body's needs are, you can learn how to meet yourself halfway, meet your own needs, whether you're at home or on these trips, on vacation.

Speaker 1:

And I also stay consistent with my food, my exercise, my sleep, my daily habits. And by consistency I don't mean that there's no flexibility, is that? Is it goes back to kind of that 80 20 rule, where 80% of the time I'm working on being consistent because it allows me to feel good. And let's be real, most of our life is just based on routine. Whether you're on the routine with your children, with the school schedule, whether it's your work schedule, it can be there's something keeping you in routine most of the time in your regular everyday life. So building in consistency, as in taking care of yourself with your wellness, can be done, because most of the time, the time we're spending on vacation is part of that 20%, but we want to show up and show out for that 20%. Cool. So now cool. So now that's like bigger picture, right?

Speaker 1:

What I'm not doing, what I do to prepare or to feel ready, and not like I have to torture myself when events are coming up or when I want to look cute or feel cute for something. So how do I prepare for the trip? Specifically, how do I meet my own needs? Well, here are some of the things that I pack. I think about what can I take with me to support me on the trip, depending on the circumstances of where am I going to be? Am I going to be in a hotel? Am I going to be in an Airbnb? Am I going to be staying with family? Like, what are the circumstances In this particular trip? I'll be in a hotel, right. So that's one.

Speaker 1:

I also think about the travel days and what can I have with me to support my wellness. One thing that I always have with me is my brain. Okay, you didn't think about that, huh. One thing I always have with me is my brain, my knowledge base and my skill set. Okay, that you always take with you. No one can take away from you, and that is one of the most precious things that I support my clients with, because we always assume that it's something external and that something needs to be perfectly provided to us in order for us to be successful. But that's generally not the case. When you build a good knowledge base, when you build that relationship with yourself and you know how to meet your needs, and when you're able to just think from a wellness perspective to meet your needs, it's a game changer. It's a game changer, okay, so that is the number one thing that I'm taking with me my skillset. Other things I think about is um, that I want to take with me is. So let's talk about travel day, right Before you even get to go on this trip.

Speaker 1:

I like to think of things like food items that I want to buy that are non-perishable. Okay, usually you're not able to take food with you, right, like regular food, and actually you can. It's just that most of the time, especially if you're traveling internationally you cannot leave the airplane with it, but most of the time you can take food with you on the airplane. Think about whatever you buy at the airport. You're able to take that ish with you on the airplane. It's just that most of the time they won't let you pass it through customs to go into another country, so you can do the same thing from home. There's been plenty of times where I've gone through TSA and JFK or in other airports and they allow you to bring certain foods with you.

Speaker 1:

So, in terms of non-perishable food items, that I like to have with me is jerky steaks clean version of jerky steaks or ones that are not filled with extra ingredients that my body doesn't need. It usually has about nine to 10 grams of protein in there and it keeps you full for a little while. It'll give you some energy that you might need if you're tired, if there's delays, if it's late at night, if you haven't had an opportunity to get to a meal. I also like to have protein bars with me, nuts, certain kinds of chips that you can just stuff in your bag when I'm leaving from my house. There are some times that I decide to take a little cooler with me that I can put in my backpack, and that is totally acceptable. I put things in there like cheese sticks, yogurt parfaits, tuna, salad fruit, sandwiches, boiled eggs. These are all things that you can take with you and, if you have not noticed, a lot of the things I'm talking about are high protein. High protein so that it can keep you calmer.

Speaker 1:

It's always easy to find carbohydrates. I feel like out in the streets you can have croissants and cookies and sandwiches and pastas and things like that, but oftentimes I think it's harder to find decent protein. So, if at all, I try to pack those kinds of things in a little cooler bag Now, usually on the way back, that's empty. I don't need it and I haven't found a place to freeze it, let alone buy these kinds of things. But if I have these kinds of food available to me at home, it's things that I can definitely get, and these are usually options too that they sell at the airports. They usually have cheese sticks or some sort of yogurt or something like that around there.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so what do I put in my actual luggage Right? Um, actually, before we get into the luggage, there's a few things I also have handy with me, like a water bottle not full of water. You can not pass the water bottle full of water through TSA. But you can take your water bottle with you and a lot of times they have filtered water fountains at the airport so you can fill that little baby up for free once you pass TSA and have water with you. In addition to that, electrolytes you can have some electrolytes be well hydrated before you get get on the plane. While you're on the on the plane, um, it is very dehydrating to travel. So those things are things I also carry in my bag and I also like to have tea bags in my bag. I like to have my own tea bags that bring me comfort and oftentimes when I'm on the airplane I can just ask the flight attendant for a cup of hot water, which they usually have, and I get to enjoy my tea. So those are little things that I take with me On in my like carry on or my backpack.

Speaker 1:

I also take a serving of protein powder. There was one time I was we were traveling for so long, I was so hungry there was no time to stop to get anything, and I use my water bottle to make myself a protein shake, because I did have water and I just dumped the powder in there and we kept it moving. So those are and I was out of perishable snacks or I needed something that was heavier. So these are things to consider and even have if you travel often like even have this little travel pack with you of a few electrolytes packets in there, like travel size, a few travel protein packs in there, your tea bags, if that's something that you enjoy and you just grab that and take it with you. Okay, so what are other things that I pack with me when I'm going away? One of them is workout clothes. Does it mean I always use it? Not so much it doesn't mean I always use it, but there were, have been, times where I don't pack them and then I'm like, oh, I wish I had my workout clothes because there's a local class or there's a gym in the hotel room or I just want to go out for a walk or whatever it is. So essentially it doesn't take up that much space, right, and I try and pack, at least depending on how long I'm going for, but like one workout outfit for the trip.

Speaker 1:

I also like to take my supplements to support me on trips. It keeps me regular, it keeps my body flowing. I like to take things like a turmeric supplement to help with inflammation and chlorophyll to help my body detox. These are some of the things that I take aside from, let's say, my omega-3s, my probiotics, and I usually have one of those old lady style like pill holders, because usually we're going away more or less for a week, let's say so I, so I fill that up. I don't have to take all the bottles with me. I have one for the morning, I have one for the afternoon. I fill them up with the stuff I have at home and then I take that with me. So, again, I want to keep consistency in my body, because it doesn't know what's happening. I want to continuously support it the best way I can.

Speaker 1:

There has been times where I have traveled nationally like, let's say, to Las Vegas or LA, and I have brought lemons with me just for my morning lemon water. It's something that I do every morning. Sometimes I just have plain water, other times I put lemon inside and I always love to have the option to have some with me if that's something that I want to have. And, believe it or not, lemons are great. Like you can cut lemons just fine with a plastic knife. Some are better than others, but you can totally cut lemons with a plastic knife.

Speaker 1:

I know I went over workout clothes, but something I also take with me, depending again, where I'm going I'm not taking these things with me on this trip but is resistance bands and a jump rope. It does not take up any space. Bands and a jump rope, it does not take up any space, it does not take up weight in your luggage and it can help you get a really great workout in. I know that there's been times where I stayed with family members or Airbnbs and there's no gym available like in a hotel, and I use the resistance bands and the jump ropes to get a workout in if that's something I choose to do. So those are tools to have for when you need them. Am I using these kinds of tools all the time? No, but I do like to have them available for when I do need them and I need something small and light to bring with me, okay. So another thing I do take with me is painkillers.

Speaker 1:

Before, I used to get ready by having just a ton of pharmaceuticals, like I would go to the pharmacy and I would get the Tylenol and the Motrin and the Advil and all the digestive aids, like Gas-X and Tums and Alka-Seltzer and Pepto-Bismol and all of these things. And although I do think it's important to have these kinds of things with us because we never know, like God forbid, we get food poisoning or, you know, something doesn't land too well in our stomach it's really good to have some sort of relief. But in the past, the way I saw it is just like I'm automatically going to need it, because I always get sick when I travel. And it was just because I didn't know how to protect my body when I traveled. I just did whatever to my body. I ate whatever, I drank whatever. It was excessive.

Speaker 1:

And then there were many times where I was just sick to my stomach. I would miss out on a full day of short vacations. I would be so unwell and that is never fun. Like, you plan for this, you paid so much money for this and now you're going batshit crazy and you don't get to enjoy it and all you remember is how you were throwing up or had a major headache. And all that Not saying it's never going to happen, but we want to make sure, like to help ourselves, prevent it as much as we possibly can. Right, but I do take painkillers. You know, sometimes I get migraines because of just the stress of traveling or carrying a heavy backpack for a very long time, or maybe I do get dehydrated a little bit, or you just never know and it sucks to be in pain. So it's something I do like having available to me that I don't have to go out and try and like kind of figure out if I am not feeling well. Okay, so this is pretty much how I prep for my trips, aside from the obvious of finding outfits, looking for a cute bathing suit, doing my eyebrows and my hair and my nails and my pedicure and getting a wax and getting all my toiletries together.

Speaker 1:

We do such a great job at taking care of ourselves externally, from the outside in, and just looking real cute on the outside. However, sometimes we feel like such shit that it's hard to admire ourselves, it's hard to admire our hard work, it's hard to see how beautiful we are because we feel so unwell and most of the time what's ruining it for us is that feeling of bloating and feeling so bloated and so full and so sick. You might be looking like a 10 and you really put the hard work to look like a 10. And all of a sudden, it's like you can't keep up or you feel like absolute crap, so all your hard work goes down the drain. Okay, um so, and I'm specifically, you know, talking about when you out here partying with your friends no, kids trip, girls trip, things like that where it's like, oh, let's go crazy, there's free alcohol or there's all these different things and, trust me, we're going to talk about it on the next episode.

Speaker 1:

It's not about restriction and it's not about, you know, being like negative Naomi, negative Nancy on these trips or being like the boring one. But let me tell you, there's been so many times when my clients have gone on trips and we are working together and they are more mindful and aware of their decisions and they're having a blast, by the way. They're still enjoying what they wanna eat, the food that they wanna have, what they wanna drink, like they're still a blast by the way. They're still enjoying what they want to eat, the food that they want to have, what they want to drink, like they're still doing all the things. But there's this huge difference between their friends being like so sick next to them and not being able to keep up and do activities. And then my clients who are like we can keep going, we can keep partying, all right.

Speaker 1:

So I hope this gave you a few ideas of what to take with you, what to take with you for your travel days, what to take with you for the hotels in terms of continuing to move your body, and stuff to eat. Again, I'm not saying that you're going to do this the whole time. I just went on a road trip a few weeks ago and I don't think I worked out now one day, aside from walking, I did walk a lot and I was just so tired I was exhausted from wrapping up the school year and so many activities and I very intentionally decided that a lot of this trip for me was going to be to rest. Like I just had to sleep, I had to slow down, I had to just be a little bit more present. So that was the purpose of that trip. But oftentimes I am away and I'm like, oh, I really want to get a workout in.

Speaker 1:

So, the same way that you take your headphones and your books and everything else, this is also a really good stuff to take with you, especially if you're in the process of building your health and wellness journey and you get that little tinge of being afraid of you're gonna be out of your routine. Is this gonna mess everything up for you? Is this gonna slow down your process? How you're gonna feel? And the answer is that it might look different, but it doesn't have to be all down the drain. You can continue. You can continue meeting your needs. You can continue being yourself and still have a great time and try new things.

Speaker 1:

But we forget that, as humans, we still need to meet our basic needs. Okay, you still need to go take a shit. You still need to go hydrate yourself. You still need to eat. You still need to go take a shit. You still need to go hydrate yourself. You still need to eat. You still need to sleep. You still need to have fun, right? So let's not put our bodies through the ringer, because sooner or later, it reminds us who's boss. All right. So I hope this was helpful as you prepare for your trips. It gives you ideas, not only if you're going to PR for the Bad Bunny Residency, but if you're going on any sort of work trip, family trip, even while you're at home. All right, so I'll see you on the next one with tips on what to do once you're there. Peace.