If you’ve ever traveled to another country or even a state you may have noticed how extremely different from each other they can be. Because of their unique climates each geographical area on Earth has it’s own bacterial flora and viruses specific to this particular region. Wherever you grow up, your body is the most immune to the viruses and bacterias from this area. That’s because you were exposed to them and your body fought them and created antibodies so – if your immune system is functioning properly – you don’t have to worry about them anymore. That’s why when you go to a place, that your body doesn’t recognize as its own, you may experience some serious health issues called traveler’s sicknesses like fever, muscle pain, all spectrum of stomach revelations like diarrhea, nausea etc. The good part is, you can avoid most of these unpleasant experiences if you prepare yourself in advance. All you need to do is strengthen your immune system by providing your body with proper nutrients and healthy bacteria. If you’re planing your trip to an exotic place, make sure you start preparing your body at least 3-4 weeks before the trip. If you’re planing on exploring more rural places, eat local street food etc., I highly recommend on giving yourself at least 5-6 weeks of preparation. And finally, the two most important items to pack with you: Natural Fist Aid Kit and Anti-Malaria Mixture (recipe down below) to stay healthy on a tropical trip.
How to prepare your body for the trip
These are very important steps to strengthen your immune system. Preparing your body ahead of time (a few weeks before traveling to a tropical place) is crucial. You can easily do it by supplementing your body in these:
- Probiotics – The best source of probiotics is organic, raw fermented food like yoghurt, kefir, souerkraut, pickles etc. In fact, in just one spoon of raw kefir you’ll typically find the equivalent of a whole bottle of average probiotics in capsuls. If you don’t have an access to raw fermented food, you can buy probiotics in capsuls in every health store or order from a trustworthy source (www.draxe.com, www.naturalnews.com, www.mercola.com etc.) Chose the ones with the largest amount of living bacterias. If you experience some stomach issues after you start taking them, just lower the dose and slowly build up your tolerance.
- Vitamin D3 – It is one of the most important immune system boosters known to man. Sadly enough, most of our population nowadays is Vit. D3 deficient which can lead to many serious health problems. Your skin naturally produces Vit. D while exposed to a proper sun light. However you have to be very selective about the time of the day you’re going out on the sun. The rule of thumb is to check your own shadow when you go outside. If the length of your shadow is shorter then your height, it means that you’re exposing yourself to the good type of sun light called UVB, which is the only type of light that makes your skin produce vit. D. If your shadow is longer then your height – then you’re exposed to a harmful UVA.
- Vitamin C – Another immune system booster. The best source of Vit. C are fruits and vegetables, you can also get a significant amount from a Camu-Camu powder etc. If you’re preparing for a tropical trip I recommend you doing a HDVC (High Dose Vit. C) Therapy. The optimal HDVC therapy involves 2000mg Vit. C x 4 times a day for at least a couple of weeks. Note, that it has to be a Vit. C of natural source or extracted from the actual plant, not a synthetic one. You need the one with bioflavonoids, otherwise you won’t be able to absorb such a high dose in your body and it will be a gigantic waste of money.
Another very important thing to consider: taking care of all 3 types of stress is the best way to strengthen your immune system known to man. With that being said – there are actually 3 types of stress: physical, chemical and emotional. All 3 of them are tightly connected together and quite often they can actually trigger each other. Physical stress can be caused by a tissue damage, subluxation in your spine, X-ray, obesity, lack of sleep etc. Chemical and emotional types are pretty self explanatory. Chemical stress can come from anything, that our body recognizes as toxic or generally bad for us. Emotional stress is probably the most obvious one – it can be caused by fear, grief, sadness, pressure etc. Whether it’s a wild animal we suddenly fear, toxic substance or a knife cut – your body’s response to stress is the same. It immediately secretes three hormones – adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol. Because of them our body shuts down or significantly slows down most of organs, metabolism, ability to heal and all the other functions that are not directly needed for physical strength to “fight or flight” in dangerous situation.
This is my go-to immune booster and deworming tincture for the tropical scenarios:
2 Tbs ground Cinnamon
2 Tbs ground Cloves
2 Tbs ground Cardamon
2 Tbs ground Ginger
2 Tbs Turmeric
1 Tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 cup Coconut Oil
3/4 cup Raw Honey (I like Manuka Honey)
1/8 Tsp GSE
1 Tsp Black Walnut extract
2 mini scoops of Black MP Living Powder
Mix it all well and keep it in a sealed container while traveling. Take 1-2 tsp of mixture a day and multiple doses if you’re traveling for extended amount of time.
So this my thoroughly researched and personally tested, life saving set of goodies. Obviously since many of them have similar effects you don’t need to take them all, just select the ones you like the most, do your own research. I travel constantly and this is my one and only immunization and my first aid kit, that works wonderfully. I can vouch for the amazing healing properties of each and every ingredient on the above list from my own experience. HOWEVER. If you decide to travel to a remote, tropical place you need to take a charge of your own health and life and take it very seriously. That means, in order for it to work you need to be diligent about taking your supplements. If you cut yourself – disinfect it immediately, if you get bitten by a tropical mosquito, have a fever, diarrhea or stomach issues – act accordingly. Things happens when you travel and you need to be always prepared and stay focused in order to truly enjoy your trip. When I travel to a new place, whether it’s a fancy old town in Italy or a tribal village in a remote island on Pacific Ocean, my goal is always the same: to have a real local experience. I eat street food, find local people to hang out with, try to learn their language and truly soak their culture, and tradition. But I don’t play Russian Roulette with my own health and life – I’m prepared to fight any physical condition of the region I travel to and I do it all naturally backed up by a ton of research and experience. Always.
Before I close this article, I want to shortly explain the back story behind being so serious about this topic. A few years ago I nearly lost my husband to a dengi fever followed by a terrible staph infection he got when he cut his foot on a reef in Philippines. We had so much fun cliff diving that day, that he forgot to disinfect his – what he thought was just a small scratch and we continued exploring the island we stayed on until late at night. A few days went by and one night I woke up to him shaking next to me from an extremely high fever half conscious in the middle of the night with his whole leg doubled in size. If that doesn’t sound scary enough, we were stuck on a tiny remote island without any access to a hospital or even a doctor. His immune system was already weakened by a topical dengi fever he went through 2 weeks earlier after drinking a water with ice made from a tap water (obviously not a smart choice, he learned his lesson). That itself was super scary. Sitting by his side, crying and waiting until 6am for the first boat that could take us to the closest somewhat urban town located on another island was the longest few hours of my life. Luckily, we got to a hospital on time, the infection didn’t spread to his vital organs yet and after a few days of taking antibiotic he finally got better. Here is the thing though. That situation could have been really easily preventable – a simple act of disinfecting a scratch, strengthening his immune system before and during the trip or at the very least loading his body with some natural antibiotics and immune boosters could’ve saved him from experiencing that critical situation. But at that time we didn’t have any of them, we just didn’t think something that stupid can lead to something that serious. And it’s not like we didn’t have the knowledge to prevent it – my husband had a few months left to become a doctor at the time, he already had a degree in human biology AND he does medical research for living for God’s sake! We just didn’t take the whole health preparation seriously enough at the time. We didn’t have the Natural First Aid Kit (forget natural! we didn’t have anything except of some electrolytes), didn’t strengthen our immune systems before and during traveling. That trip thought us both a lot. We still travel to tropical places, we eat street food and hang out with locals. But we prepare our bodies for every trip and make sure we take all the necessary steps to stay in control of our own health.
I’m very fortunate to share my passion for traveling and healthy life style with my wonderful husband Mike, who I love deeply and to whom I dedicate this article to.
This is us in in Carabao Island, Philippines 🙂
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Refferences:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/information/question565.htm
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/12/30/herbal-treatment-that-really-works-for-malaria.aspx
