You might know I’m kind of into herbs and natural health 🙂
I always travel with a standard first aid kit, but I also like to bring a selection of natural health items and remedies. They’re useful if we get sick, but I prefer to use them in advance to support our immune systems and to keep us in balance as we travel.
I don’t usually bring quite this much – but this is a 10 week trip in extremely dry cold weather in winter, so I assumed we’ll be exposed to lots of new germs and probably get at least one cold along the way. Plus at least one upset stomach.
I set aside all the items I’d like to bring, and then packed what I could fit into one gallon-sized Ziploc bag. So it IS a lot that I brought, but I like having it and I imagine I’ll be using these things regularly, so for me it’s worth the space. Some of the items I would not have brought, except I already had them in Hong Kong — so brought them along to finish up (like the bottle of Elderberry tincture!) I’ll be curious to see what we use and what I throw out en route to save space. Will update this post with the results when we’re back in London!
Herbal Teas
I use herbal teas a lot to support wellness. At home I have a big stash of loose individual herbs which I blend depending on what I need that day. Of course that’s not practical for travel. So I tried to reduce the tea selection to teas I already owned and that would be multi-purpose for a variety of issues we might face while traveling. The beauty of these teas is that we can drink any of them anytime … so we don’t need to save them for the specific ailment. They all taste nice too. I brought a full box of Sleepytime and Belly Tamer, the rest I only brought a few bags each.
- Sleepytime Tea – Relaxing blend for evenings but also just to keep me chilled out on long journeys.
- Belly Tamer Tea – Peppermint/Ginger/Fennel, for stomach upsets.
- Throat Coat – for dry or sore throats
- Breathe Ease – for chest colds
- Moon Time – for PMS
- Teeccino – roasted herbal coffee substitute. Yeah, it’s not the same as coffee. But I get really wired if I have more than 1 cup of coffee per day, and decaf doesn’t seem to exist in Asia, so I brought these…
Supplements / Herbs:
ESSENTIALS:
- Probiotics!! I always travel with probiotics, and it’s the one supplement I insist that Zak takes before any travel as well. We start several days before travel and take one daily the entire trip. Builds up your gut biome with good bacteria to help you deal with different food, water etc. This is the only medication we brought a 60 day supply each of. We each brought a different kind of probiotic, and we’re alternating, to diversify the bacteria we’re getting.
- Activated Charcoal – This is my key food poisoning remedy. Brought a lot of these.
- Triphala – an Ayurvedic blend which tones your digestive system, to use after food poisoning or diarrhoea to reset your digestive system. Love this! Works very well.
Things I only brought because I already had them, and thought they might be useful. Repackaged in individual labelled Ziploc bags to save space.
- Milk Thistle – liver support to process any toxins, especially helpful if you’ve had too much to drink or think you might have a night of heavy drinking ahead (vodka train, anyone??)
- Turmeric – general anti-inflammatory
- Multi-vitamin – brought about 20 of these, to take every couple days.
- Vitamin D – only brought a few of these, to take once a week or so.
- Digestive Enzyme – only brought a few of these, only use them when eating something I think will be hard to digest, like a lot of milk/cheese or heavy meat etc.
- Biocidin – natural antibiotic drops – only to use with food poisoning or bad chest colds etc.
Essential Oils
- Lavender – ESSENTIAL – This is always with me, everyday. Good for relaxing, disinfecting, baths in hotels, headaches.
- Peppermint – for headaches, digestion
- Anti-infective Blend – DoTerra OnGuard. To use in crowded spaces, and throughout trip to boost immunity and eliminate germs.
- Breathing Blend – DoTerra Breathe – in case we get a cold, feel stuffy
- Digestive Blend – DoTerra DigestZen – stomach problems
- Clary Sage diluted in a roller ball – for menstrual cramps
- Small muscle rub blend – DoTerra Deep Blue, only brought 1ml of this, don’t think we’ll use it. Just in case.
- Small bottle of almond oil
- Small spray bottle – currently filled with OnGuard and water as a disinfectant spray to use on my scarf and face mask in crowded places.
Miscellaneous
- Manuka Honey – A client gave me a jar of amazing Manuka honey shortly before we left Hong Kong and I couldn’t bear to throw it out, so I brought it along! We’re adding it to our tea.
- Digestive Bitters – ESSENTIAL – I’m using Neals Yard Remedies Dandelion and Burdock – I’ve always got a bottle of this with me, everyday. (I decant it into a small 10ml bottle to take in my handbag). Good for upset stomachs but I try to take it before meals to boost my digestion before eating, when I think the meal might be heavy or possibly dodgy.
- Elderberry Tincture – LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I made a batch in Hong Kong and brought the rest of the bottle with me. It’s hugely supportive for your immune system and tastes delicious. We’ll take a spoonful a day until it’s gone.
- Magnesium Spray – the theory is it helps you sleep. I got a brand new bottle before I left HK, so I decanted some into a small spray bottle and brought it along. Not totally convinced it works yet…
To save space for travel, I took most of the pills out of bottles and put them in labeled ziploc bags. The herbal teas are also in small ziploc bags by flavour. The essential oils all fit into a small zippered pouch. Will update this post later with what we used, and what got tossed out to save space halfway through the trip…