There was a point just a few years ago where I was eating homemade blended soup three times a day and hardly wanted to leave the house because my bloating was so embarrassing. Contrast that with this past May, when I backpacked for two weeks with my husband through Italy and southern France on the vacation of our dreams!
I love travel, and always have. Some of my fondest memories are of adventuring through Europe in my early 20’s and subsisting off of croissants and cheap pasta for weeks. What a time in my life that was!
Travel with Hashimoto’s looks different, but with a few key ideas in mind, it’s no less doable!
Here are the things that I needed to know to travel successfully with Hashimoto’s.
First and foremost, I needed to understand how Hashimoto’s works, and how it affects me personally. Being able to understand my symptoms and adjust accordingly is what enabled me to travel so freely. For example, I understood that if my adrenals took a hit on long travel days because of the disrupted schedule, so would my thyroid. I also understood that if my anxiety picked up, or if I was feeling particularly fatigued and apathetic, my thyroid needed some TLC.
Hand in hand with that, I also needed to understand my major triggers. Gluten, disrupted sleep, stress, and toxin exposure are all big ones for me at home, so being abroad would be no different.
Gluten: Even though food quality in the EU is much better than here in the states, and many who are gluten sensitive are able to consume wheat there without issue, I chose to continue to intentionally avoid it while abroad. This meant researching ahead of time some safe options and being prepared to ask questions to restaurants. I’ll have another post with more specifics on eating gluten free while traveling, so stay tuned for that!
Sleep + Stress: To manage these, I started syncing my schedule to Italian time as much as possible when we boarded our first flight out of the US, and also gave myself as much time as I needed to sleep and adjust when we arrived. I was mindful about my caffeine intake too, because I knew that pushing my adrenals too hard would only negatively impact my thyroid. I also traveled with some extra adrenal support. I use this product, and have also used this one in the past with good results!
Toxins: Lastly, I minimized my toxin exposure as much as possible by bringing a small bottle of Branch Basics to use for cleaning (use that link for $10 off), my own soap and personal care products, and supported my toxin output with things like dry brushing, liver supportive foods, and glutathione. Toxin overload bogs down the liver, and a healthy liver is essential for healthy hormones, including thyroid hormone! I also traveled with a Go Pure Pod, which helped ensure that I had access to as much purified water as I needed, and packed my usual supplements to help support my system overall!
I packed extra thyroid meds, and traveled with them in their original container. There is always the possibility that flights could get delayed or travel plans disrupted, so I packed a few extra days worth of my T3, just in case. I also adjusted my dose on flying days, since there was a 9 hour time change, and did my best to take my pill within a 20-28 hour window from the last one, to keep my body as much on a schedule as possible.
I understood that things wouldn’t be perfect and my routine would change. I found a balance between indulging in those foods that were worth it, and sticking to the foods that I knew would support me best so that I could enjoy my trip to the fullest. Part of travel for me is getting to enjoy the local cuisine, and gelato and wine are both big parts of that! I chose to enjoy them freely, which looked like having small portions most days, but listening to my body for feedback on in/when I needed to stop. While my meals definitely looked different than at home (less veggies, more GF bread, etc), I embraced the change, enjoyed every bite, and it all worked out just fine!
I can’t even begin to describe how much more equipped and empowered I felt to manage my health on this trip compared to the last time I traveled abroad just two years ago.
That empowerment has come from consistently tuning in to my health and truly understanding my Hashimoto’s. Understanding my Hashimoto’s has enabled me to heal my Hashimoto’s and get back to living my life! If this is something that resonates with you, I put together a free PDF of my The Top 5 Things I Did To Heal my Hashimoto’s Naturally. You can grab that free download here! I’ve also created a course all about the ins and outs of Hashimoto’s, how it works, and how to overcome it. If you want to learn more about that, head on over here to get all the details!
I’d love to hear about your travel tips as well! What strategies have you used to travel successfully with autoimmunity, or even just to stay healthy in general while abroad?
Until next time,
Tracey